4. Ancillary Review (AR) for Department Reviewers

As a department reviewer, you might also receive a request for an Ancillary Review (AR). What is the difference between a department review and an ancillary review? What is an ancillary review?

4.1 Differences between Department Review and Ancillary Review

Department Review

Ancillary Review (AR)

•Automatic notification that is kicked off when the PI submits a proposal. The Department reviewers are a predefined list.

•Manual notification kicked off when a PI/Administrative Contact/Proposal Editor/GCA Specialist adds you as an ancillary review. The review may be sent to an individual, or to a group.

•You receive an email from DoNotReply-GRAMS-Grants@untsytem.edu with the subject line: “Proposal Submitted for Review – Sponsor Deadline XX/XX/XXXX”, which means the proposal is waiting for your review and approval.

•You receive an email from DoNotReply-GRAMSGrants@untsystem.edu with the subject line “Ancillary Review Notification” which means this proposal requires an ancillary review from you. The email contains comments from the initiator letting you know why an ancillary review is requested.

•FP SmartForms have the “reviewer notes” functionality previously discussed.

•The AR might be required, or not required, as indicated in the email. Not required reviews are more of an FYI but may still need action.

•Proposal must be approved by the Department Reviewer(s) before moving on to the Specialist Review state, at which point, GCA will review and approve.

•FP SmartForms do not have the “reviewer notes” Functionality for Ancillary Reviewers.

•After dept approval, the dept reviewer can still view the proposal on the Grants tab.

•The ancillary review will not stop a proposal from moving from Department Review to Specialist Review, unlike the department approval which is necessary for GCA to review. However, all required ancillary reviews should be in place prior to the GCA internal deadlines.

•After you accept and complete the AR, you are only able to view the proposal on the Grants tab if your department is submitting the proposal or if the PI gave you edit or view access to the Funding Proposal.

4.2 Why Ancillary Reviews are sent

Ancillary reviews are sent for many reasons, such as:

  • Cost share commitment approvals, for commitments outside the Lead PI’s home department and college.
  • Compliance concerns.
  • Review of Terms & Conditions.
  • Congruency review at the award stage.
  • Advance Account Approvals.
  • Ad hoc.

4.3 How will you know you have an Ancillary Review to review?

You’ll receive an email from DoNotReply-GRAMS-Grants@untsystem.edu with the subject line “Ancillary Review Notification”. The email will have a link to the Funding Proposal, along with comments from the initiator as to why the review is being requested. It will also be indicated if the AR is required or not.

Note: It is very important to respond to required ancillary review since this may holdup GCA from being able to move forward with proposal submissions or award processing.

4.4 Access the proposal

4.4.1 Access the proposal through email

Click on the link in the email to log on to the GRAMS system. The Funding Proposal workspace appears.

Note that the AR request can be sent to an individual or to a group of people. Only one person in the group needs to approve. Unlike department approval emails, you will not be able to tell from the ancillary review email if the request was sent to a group or not. If you click on the email link and you get a message that you do not have rights to view the proposal, it means someone else in the group already completed the ancillary review for the proposal.

4.4.2 Access the proposal through the dashboard

Alternatively, click on the login link on the GRAMS home page. After logging on, the Dashboard is displayed and the proposal will be in the “My Inbox” and “My Reviews” tabs. As noted above, if this ancillary review was sent to a group, and one other person in the group already approved it, the proposal will not be on your “My Inbox” nor your “My Reviews” tabs.

4.5 Reviewing proposal for Ancillary Review

Review the proposal for the reason specified in the email. Check the proposal “History tab” to see any comments or documents added to the review by the review requestor. These comments will typically be the same as what was added in the email.

Review the proposal; Refer to previous sections in this manual for information on how to access items such as:

  • The FP SmartForms for personnel, dates, and compliance information.
  • Reviewing the financials + budgets tabs and cost share commitments.
  • Viewing attachments via the Attachments tab.
  • If the proposal is being summited via s2s, how to access the SF424.

4.6 Send Email

If you have questions for the PI, use the Send Email functionality to email them through the system to let them know about your concerns. Click on the send email activity in the left navigation bar.

Fill out the “Send Email” popup window. Enter a subject line. You can send email to a group of people, such as all “All team members”, and/or a specific person by selecting on the ellipsis icon to add their name in the “Select any other recipients” box. Type your comment in the Comments box. You can also upload attachments using the Add button or via the drag and drop functionality. Click OK to send the email.

Comments entered here will appear in the email message and on the History tab and any attachments uploaded will appear on the Attachments tab.

4.7 Submit Ancillary Review

When you are ready to approve the AR, click on the Submit Ancillary Review activity in the left navigation bar.

Select 2 and 3 as accepted and completed, enter comments, and upload supporting attachments using the Add button or drag-and-drop feature. Click OK to submit the ancillary review.

4.8 What happens after submitting the Ancillary Review

The ancillary review is complete. The proposal will no longer appear in your “My Inbox” and “My Reviews” tabs on the Dashboard. If your department is the proposal submitting department or the PI has added you as an editor or viewer for that proposal, you will still be able to locate this proposal on the Grants tab. If you do not have additional security access to this proposal, you will no longer be able to access it.