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Division of Sponsored Programs > Award Management > Carryover of Unobligated Balances

Carryover of Unobligated Balances

What is a Carryover?

Carryover is forwarding the unobligated balance of funds from the current budget period that has expired to the next budget period. There are two types of Carryover.  Award specific conditions will define whether carryover is automatic or restricted.

Automatic Carryover

When funds carry from one budget period to the next without the Sponsor providing explicit Prior Approval. For those awards that allow automatic carryover the UF project number or numbers established for spending the awarded funds will remain the same for the life of the project.

Note: Many grant progress reports, for example the NIH RPPR progress reports, require reporting estimated unobligated balance that are expected to be greater than 25 percent of the current year’s budget and if yes, an explanation and expenditure plan for those funds will need to be included in the progress report.

Restricted Carryover (Requires Sponsor Approval)

For those awards that do not allow carryover of unobligated funds from one budget period to the next without sponsor prior approval, UF requires each budget period to be separately accounted for by establishing a new project number or numbers for each period.

Note: Establishment of a new project numbers each year allows C&G Accounting to issue a financial report which identifies expenditures and determines the unobligated balance that will require sponsor approval to carryover.

Project balances are available in myinvestiGator

  • To determine a project’s unobligated balance you should use myinvestiGator or contact your Grant Accountant in C&G Accounting.

Procedures for Requesting Sponsor Approval to Carryover Unobligated Balances

  1. Contact C&G Accounting to determine the unobligated balance available for carryover.
  2. Department or PI should then prepare a formal letter requesting carryover approval signed by the PI and countersigned by DSP.  A Carryover Request Template letter is available on the DSP Forms website.  A complete carryover request should include the following information:
  • PI Name
  • Grant Number
  • Carryover dates or years (from/to)
  • Amount of the unobligated balance to be carried over broken out between Direct and F&A = Total Cost.
  • Reason for the unobligated balance.
  • Reason the carryover funds are needed to accomplish the grant work and why the grant work could not be accomplished by rebudgeting current budget period funds.
  • Attachments as follows:
    • Detailed total cost budget for the unobligated amount. A total cost budget includes direct costs plus indirects at the F&A rate in effect for the current budget period. For NIH use the 2590 detailed budget forms and the checklist page reflecting the requested F&A rate and F&A amount.
    • Budgetary and scientific justifications.
    • A copy of the grant’s annual financial report issued by C&G Accounting. For federal awards this is known as the Federal Financial Report (FFR). If the financial report has not be not been completed, DSP will need to confirm the unobligated balance with C&G Accounting prior to submitting the carryover request to the Sponsor.
  1. Route the request as a Carryover Modification in UFIRST. DSP will review, sign as the authorized business official and deliver to the sponsor.
  2. Upon sponsor’s approval, DSP will issue the NOA adding the approved carryover amount to the   project established for the current budget period, taking into account any sponsor restrictions that may require a separate project be established for the carryover funds.

Questions?

If you have questions regarding carryover of unobligated funds from one budget period to the next, then please contact your assigned C&G Grant Accountant or DSP at ufawards@ufl.edu.