Uniform Guidance (200.308) allows federal agencies to waive the written prior approval requirement for a One Year, No Cost Extension for Federal awards. Most federal agencies allow the sponsored project office, at UNT it is Grants and Contracts Administration (GCA), the authority to extend a project for up to 12 months, for a first One Year No Cost Extension. These sponsors usually include NSF, NIH, NASA, Department of Energy and EPA. All federal agencies however, expect institutions to verify that the scope of work is unchanged and the extension is not being requested merely for the purpose of using unliquidated balances for these first One Year No Cost Extensions. The approval of a first One Year No Cost Extension therefore requires the submission of a justification to GCA. The justification should identify the completion of the remaining project objectives and include an explanation of how the remaining funds will be spent. These first One Year No Cost Extension requests should be submitted by GCA, and require a response from the federal agency before the extension of the award can be processed.
Subsequent extension requests and all other non-federal No Cost Extension requests require sponsor approval and should be submitted through GCA. The request should be in writing, provide a justification related to the completion of the remaining project objectives, and include an explanation of how the remaining funds will be spent. The justification should not indicate a change to the scope of work and the extension should not be requested merely for the purpose of using unliquidated balances for a No Cost Extension. Additional information may be requested for subsequent federal award or other non federal award No Cost Extension requests, based on the specific award. All No Cost Extension requests should be submitted to GCA at least 60 days prior to the expiration date of the award, although some federal agencies may request an earlier submission.