Tracking Cost Share

The principal investigator should work with his or her departmental grant administrator at the inception of the award to identify the expenses that are anticipated to be used for cost share (with the exception of waived overhead, which is automatically tracked by OSP).

If you have cost share required under your award then any effort expended towards the project will be reported on your Personnel Activity Report.  Effort charged directly to the project will show up under the project budget number.  Cost share effort is that portion of time worked on the project, but charged to another budget (non-Federal).  To designate that effort as cost share simply enter the appropriate information in the available fields at the bottom of the report.  For more information, please visit our Training page

Please email a list or spreadsheet of cost-shared expenses to Wendy Kerr in the OSP Cost Accounting Unit.  This list should include document numbers, amounts, and budgets the expenses were charged to.  Prior to submission please verify that the expenses occured within the grant/contract period, that the expenses were directly attributable to the project, and that the expenses were paid for by non-Federal sources.  OSP is responsible for entering these expenses into the cost share tracking system and reporting cost share to the sponsoring agency.

Cost shared expenses should be submitted to OSP on a regular basis (e.g. monthly or quarterly) and cost share must be completed within the grant/contract period and fully reported by the time final reporting is due to the agency.  For cost-shared effort where a grant/contract has termed but the PAR is not yet due please request a manual PAR report form from Wendy Kerr.

OSP has provided departmental grant administrators with the ability to view and report on cost share expenses entered into the OSP cost share system (OSPRE).  Click here for instructions on accessing this system.

Yes.  It is not enough to provide a letter of commitment from the third-party.  The PI/department must provide written documentation from the third party that committed cost share is complete.  This documentation must be signed by someone with signature authority and specifically indicate that none of the cost share was provided from Federal sources.