Our Services for Your BMBF/Federally Funded Project

The University of Bonn must confirm receipt of the approval notification and acknowledge the conditions in writing. This confirmation will be issued and signed by Section 7.2 after consultation with the project leadership. By signing the confirmation, the University of Bonn acknowledges the funding provider’s funding conditions. It is important for the project leadership to be familiar with the complete funding approval, including any ancillary provisions.

Special ancillary provisions that are an individual component of the funding approval must also be observed. These can include, for instance, special approval requirements for individual trips, etc.

• Between items:

If money is saved for an expense item, another expense item may be overdrawn by up to 20 percent of its total funding amount as per the overall financing plan without involving the project-executing organization. Blocked amounts do not apply to the calculation.

 If the expense item will be overdrawn by more than 20 percent, a formal reallocation of funds and thus a change in the overall financing plan must first be requested from the project-executing organization. The project leader will send a corresponding informal reallocation request that includes the following information:

• what amount will be moved
• from which item
• to which item

Section 7.2 will sign the request and forward it to the project-executing organization.

•  Special feature for “Item 850 – equipment list”:

Since most grant approvals for federal funds include an equipment list, any overdraft for Item 850 must always be coordinated with the project-executing organization in order to change the equipment list. The project leader will send a corresponding informal reallocation request to Section 7.2, which will sign the request and forward it to the project-executing organization.

The financing plan is always changed and announced by sending a change notice to the project leader and Section 7.2.

Requests for funds are created automatically by Section 7.2; the amounts are based on the project (personnel) costs for past months. Section 7.2 will send the form directly to the project-executing organization. The project leadership will receive a copy for the record (via email).

As a rule, it can be assumed that the payment request will be granted in full. In case this does not apply, Section 7.2 will notify the project leadership of any deviations.

Special feature: last request for funds for the year, see No. 8

Special feature: last request for funds before the end of the project, see No. 10

Incoming federal funds that are not spent in a timely manner (as a rule, within 6–8 weeks) are subject to interest of 5 percent above the base interest rate. Since Section 7.2 requests the funds in a careful and conservative manner, there are hardly any interest charges during the year. However, this issue often comes up at the end of the year due to very high cash balances in the project account (see No. 8). These cash balances should be avoided by planning expenditures carefully.

Interest charges cannot be charged to the project account; they must be paid from another institutional account to be specified by the project leadership.

Funding approvals for federal funds require fixed full-year approvals. The total project amount is divided, with a fixed sum allocated to each year of the project term.

 The funds provided for a specific year are subject to validity of one year and are not carried over to the following budget year; if funds are not spent, the overall approved amount will be reduced. To prevent such reduction, the project leader can make a request to alter the provision of funds. In principle, this request is done informally, but must include a technical explanation (why are funds not spent as originally planned and what impact may this have on achieving the project aim by end of project term).

 The due date for the alteration request of fund provision is determined by the project-executing organization and listed on the approval notification.

 The project leader sends the request to Section 7.2, which will sign and forward it to the project-executing organization.

• Overdraft of the annual funding amount:

Overdrawing the annual funding amount does not create an issue. The University will finance any overdrawn amounts.

•  Under-usage of the annual funding amount:

Problems may arise if approved annual funds are not needed or not spent during the respective budget year. Unrequested amounts will fundamentally lapse, and will no longer be available for the project. Therefore, Section 7.2 calls for 100 percent of the approved annual funds in order to avoid a shortage of funds in future years (e.g. for personnel payments). However, this can lead to high cash balances at the end of the budget year, which cannot be spent in a timely manner and will then lead to interest charges by the project-executing organization (see No. 7).

 Section 7.2 urgently recommends creating a projection in June/July of the ongoing budget year for the remaining funds needed in the ongoing year, so that any fund reallocations can be requested from the project-executing organization early on for future budget years.

 The project leader will send a corresponding informal request to the project-executing organization through Section 7.2. The earlier such a request is sent, the greater is its chance of success. Fund reallocation requests made in November/December are refused in most cases.

All requirements and regulations for awarding contracts also apply to third-party funded projects and thus also federally funded projects.

In the event of any questions, the employees in Section 5.3 (Central Acquisitions) will be happy to help you. 

When awarding research and development contracts (R&D contracts) to domestic private-sector companies, the BMBF’s sample contract must always be used. A corresponding template can be downloaded from the BMBF homepage and/or the responsible project-executing organization’s page. Please contact the Research Contracts unit in Research and Innovation Services about all contract-related matters (responsible for managing all R&D contracts).

For other contracts, the obligations stated in the BMBF approval notification must be part of all R&D contracts. For R&D contracts with compensation of more than €100,000 for contractors not already explicitly named in the application, written approval must be obtained from BMBF before the contract is awarded. To this end, the project leadership will send an informal letter directly to the project-executing organization via Section 7.2.

 Please note:

Section 5.3 must always be involved with all contracts valued at > €500.00 (before tax, for newer projects > €3,000 before tax). Even if an offer has already been obtained from the company in the application process for calculation purposes and this item was included in the financing plan, conducting an award procedure is still required. In the event of any ambiguity, please contact Section 5.3 in advance.

Die Zwischennachweise erstellt Abteilung 7.2 und leitet dem Projektleiter eine Ausfertigung zur Kenntnisnahme zu. Der Projektleiter lässt der Abteilung 7.2 im Bedarfsfall ergänzende Unterlagen zum Zwischennachweis (z.B. Beleglisten, Auslandsreiseaufstellungen etc.) zukommen. Der Zwischennachweis ist i.d.R. jeweils zum 30.04. (in Ausnahmefällen zum 28.02. oder zum 31.03.) eines jeden Jahres fällig.

Der Zwischenbericht sollte vom Projektleiter innerhalb der Abgabefrist direkt an den Projektträger übersandt werden.

Die Verwendungsnachweise (= einmaliger Endnachweis über die gesamte Projektlaufzeit) müssen innerhalb von sechs Monaten nach Ende der Projektlaufzeit beim Projektträger vorliegen (Ausnahme Rentenbank, EXIST-Gründerstipendium: hier innerhalb von 3 Monaten). Hierzu werden von Abteilung 7.2, auf Basis der vorgenommenen Buchungen, der Verwendungsnachweis und die Belegliste erstellt und an den Projektleiter versendet. Die Belegliste ist vom Projektleiter um Erläuterungen zu Reisekosten, Personal, und Investitionen zu ergänzen. Der Verwendungsnachweis wird dann vom Projektleiter abgezeichnet und Abteilung 7.2 - spätestens 6 Wochen vor Ende der Vorlagefrist beim Geldgeber – vorgelegt. Abteilung 7.2 nimmt in Zusammenarbeit mit der universitätsinternen Prüfstelle eine Prüfung des Verwendungsnachweises vor, versendet die Unterlagen an den Projektträger und lässt dem Projektleiter eine Durchschrift des finalen Nachweises für dessen Unterlagen zukommen.

Der Sachbericht sollte vom Projektleiter innerhalb der sechsmonatigen Abgabefrist direkt an den Projektträger übersandt werden.

Die Geldgeber bzw. Projektträger übersenden nach Prüfung des Verwendungsnachweises eine abschließende Mitteilung an Abteilung 7.2 und Projektleiter. Abteilung 7.2 sendet den Vordruck „Empfangsbestätigung“ nach Rücksprache mit dem Projektleiter zurück.

Sind nach Projektende auf dem Projektkonto noch Restmittel vorhanden, müssen diese umgehend an den Geldgeber zurück überwiesen werden.

Werden vom Projektleiter geltend gemachte Ausgaben vom Geldgeber als nicht zuwendungsfähig eingestuft und entsteht hierdurch auf dem Projektkonto ein negativer Kassenbestand, so ist dieser aus alternativen Mitteln des Projektleiters auszugleichen.

With regard to BMBF and other federal funding, the project-executing organization demands fair and reasonable accounting of annual special payments for employees working on the project.

For 2020, a fair and reasonable transfer of funds for the annual special payment was performed for research associates. Starting in 2021, a fair and reasonable transfer of funds for the annual special payment will also be performed for employees of third-party funded projects who are not research associates.

 Until 2019, the so-called 1/12-rule applies when accounting for an amount pro rata.

 Fair and reasonable accounting means that e.g. for employees working on the project for a period of four months, an amount for four months is factored in pro rata. As soon as an employee works one day a month, the employee is entitled to a Christmas bonus for that month pro rata.  The billable amount will be calculated by Section 7.2 manually. Taking the difference between October and November salaries as the base, the amount is calculated by dividing by 12 and multiplying by the number of months of working on the project.

 As the annual special payment is currently booked with the WBS element funding the employee in November, use of the 1/12-rule described above can result in discrepancies between the interim report/financial statement and the actually booked amounts in the project. Negative cash balances must be evened out by the project leader. In case of positive cash balances, the respective amount will be credited to the project leader’s WBS element.

In case of any questions or discrepancies, we ask the project leadership to please contact the respective project manager in Section 7.2.

 In case of further problems, Sarah Golla (73-7520, golla@verwaltung.uni-bonn.de), responsible for national funding, or Ralf Lohse (73-7286, lohse@verwaltung.uni-bonn.de), Head of Section 7.2, will be pleased to help.