DCG NewsFlash

The DCG listserv sends messages to University faculty and staff with important research administration updates and tips. To subscribe to our mailing list, please send an email to with the subject line “Subscribe to DCG Listserv”.

Latest Updates

Cayuse SP Login Issue

Announcement: We are aware that some users may have been experiencing intermittent issues with logging into Cayuse SP. The root cause was determined to be server upgrades

Increase to NIH Salary Cap (FY 2024)

Announcement: The National Institutes of Health(NIH) recently released a notice regarding the salary limitation for NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards and extramural research and development contract

Updated Subaward Certification Form

Update: The Department of Contracts and Grants (DCG), in collaboration with the Office of Ethics, Culture and Compliance has updated the Subaward Certification Form to address

Updated Unobligated Balance Transfer Form

Update: The Department of Contracts and Grants (DCG), in collaboration with Sponsored Projects Accounting (SPA), has updated the Unobligated Balance Transfer Form to collect information consistent

Thanksgiving & Winter Break 2023

The Department of Contracts and Grants would like to wish you and your families a Happy Holiday season. To prepare for the Holiday season and

Grants.gov Scheduled Maintenance Outage

Announcement: The Grants.gov Program Management Office (PMO) schedules system-wide software releases to bring users new features and fixes. During these releases, downtime is scheduled to

NIH Operates Under a Continuing Resolution

Announcement: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), operates under the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2024 and Other Extensions Act (Public

Potential Government Shutdown

Announcement: Negotiations continue as Congress works to pass a budget by the close of the federal fiscal year on September 30, 2023. If Congress fails to

NIH Subaward Requirements (Webinar)

Announcement: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced an upcoming online webinar on the topic of NIH Subaward Requirements (Domestic and Foreign). Join experts from the

Crash Course in NIH Grants Fundamentals

Announcement: Are you new to the world of NIH grants or looking for a refresher? The National Institutes of Health has curated a playlist of YouTube videos

Critical NSF System-Related Deadlines

Announcement: Please review the following system-related critical deadline dates in relation to FastLane, Research.gov, and Grants.gov for NSF proposals. FastLane September 29th Deadlines Research.gov and

Reviewing Writing Samples

Reminder: If you are new to writing grant applications, sometimes seeing how someone else has presented their idea can help as you are developing your own

New NSF Mandate for Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research

Please see the attached memo from Ishwar K. Puri, Senior Vice President, Research and Innovation *************************************​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​*************************************​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​****** I am writing to inform you of new requirements

New Version of diSClose Released

Announcement: A new version of diSClose is now live and can be accessed on the usual website: https://disclose.usc.edu/. The new system is similar to the previous system

Updated ClinicalTrials.gov Website

Announcement: The ClinicalTrials.gov website has been modernized with an updated design that is more visually appealing and easy to read. This new design includes simple web components,

Recent NIH Guide Notices

Announcement: Please see the below summary of recent NIH Guide Notices.  NHLBI Supplement to the NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing (NOT-HL-23-070) National Heart,

Closing Proposals in Cayuse SP

Reminder: The Department of Contracts and Grants (DCG) has the ability to close erroneously created proposals in Cayuse SP. If you find that you have

Proposal Linking Guide for Cayuse SP

Reminder: Now that all proposals have been converted from KC to Cayuse SP, you can now create proposals that are: Not Related to a proposal or

USC Research and Innovation Workshop

Want to learn about new internal funding opportunities supporting a diverse range of research areas, scholarship, and artistic and cultural expression at USC? The USC Research and

Cayuse SP Proposal Email Notifications

Announcement: Have you ever wondered which Cayuse SP actions trigger email notifications? Below are some of the email triggers and notifications that get generated when routing

Cayuse S2S and SP Resource Guide

Announcement: Do you prepare and submit Grants.gov proposals via Cayuse S2S?  If so, starting March 1st, you will be able to create and link a Cayuse

Cayuse SP is Now Live!

Announcement:  Cayuse SP is now live!  You can now log into the University’s new proposal and award management system, Cayuse SP and: Create a proposal. Route

Updated F&A Rate Agreement

Announcement: The University has negotiated a new Federal Rate Agreement.  Effective February 8, 2023: The University’s current F&A rates have been extended through June 30,

Cayuse SP Post Go-Live Support

Announcement: The Department of Contracts and Grants (DCG) is committed to supporting the research community as we transition to Cayuse SP.  Below are post go-live contacts

Important Cayuse SP Cutover Dates

Announcement: ​ To facilitate a smooth transition from Kuali Coeus (KC) to Cayuse SP, please note the important dates: Please note:  Cayuse S2S for grants.gov

PHS Assignment Request Form in Grant Applications

Announcement: ​ The National Institutes of Health is encouraging the use of the Public Health Service (PHS) assignment request form when putting together grant applications. This form

Increase to NIH Salary Cap FY 2023

Announcement:  NIH recently released a Notice regarding the salary limitation for NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards and extramural research and development contract awards. The

Upcoming Release of Cayuse SP

Announcement: ​ The Department of Contracts and Grants is excited to announce the upcoming release of Cayuse Sponsored Projects (SP).  On February 28, 2023, Cayuse

Revision of NSF Award Terms and Conditions

Announcement: The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that the following sets of NSF Award Terms and Conditions have been revised: NSF Agency Specific Requirements to the Research

Winter Break 2022

The Department of Contracts and Grants would like to wish you and your families a Happy Holiday season. To prepare for the Holiday season and

An Introduction to Cayuse Sponsored Projects

Announcement: The Department of Contracts and Grants is excited to announce the launch of Cayuse Sponsored Projects (SP) training materials. Cayuse SP is slated to replace Kuali Coeus (KC)

Grants.gov Extended Downtime for September 2022

Announcement: Grants.gov will be unavailable for an extended period due to a planned cloud migration.  The Grants.gov Production System will be offline during the following period: Production System will

NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) Program

Please see the important message below regarding the upcoming NSF Engines Proposal Submission. **************************************************************************************** USC’s Office of Research has been coordinating a USC-led proposal that

NIH to Host Two Webinars on Data Management

Announcement: The National Institutes of Health Office of Science Policy (OSP) and the Office of Extramural Research (OER) will be hosting two online webinars that will focus

Updated F&A Rate Agreement

Announcement: The University has negotiated a new Federal Rate Agreement. The latest agreement can be found on DCG’s Rates at a Glance page. Please begin utilizing the new rate agreement in

Updated Fringe Benefit Rates

Announcement: The University has received updated federal and non-federal post-doc fringe benefit rates (highlighted below). Please begin using the new federal fringe rates in proposals to

New Office of Research Zumberge Seed Grant Program

Announcement: The Office of Research is proud to announce the launching of a new Zumberge grant program! The Zumberge Research Coordination & Team Building (RCTB) award provides opportunities to foster

NSF Research.gov Memo

Announcement: The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recently shared an article entitled NSF Research.gov Proposal Submission System: Modern, Agile and Tailored. The article discusses useful webinars and demonstrations as

Updated F&A Rate Agreement

Announcement: The University has negotiated a new Federal Rate Agreement, effective March 9, 2022. The latest agreement can be found on DCG’s Rates at a Glance page and adjusts the FY22 fringe benefit

New Department of Contracts and Grants Website!

Announcement: The Department of Contracts and Grants (DCG) is happy to announce the launch of our new website! Found at dcg.usc.edu, the updated website contains new materials

Increase to NIH Salary Cap

Announcement: Since 1990, Congress has legislatively mandated a limitation on direct salary for individuals under NIH awards. The mandate appears in the annual appropriation act that

Revised NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS)

Announcement: On December 17, 2021, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) ​issued a revised Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS) that represents an update to the April 2021 version

Research Training Finder

Please see the below memo from the Office of Culture, Ethics, and Compliance.********************************************************************* Dear Colleagues, The Office of Culture, Ethics, and Compliance (OCEC) is collecting data on the use

Winter Recess (Office Closure)

The Department of Contracts and Grants would like to wish you and your families a Happy Holiday season. To prepare for the Holiday season and

Revision of NSF Award Terms and Conditions

Announcement: The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that the following sets of NSF Award Terms and Conditions have been revised: NSF Agency Specific Requirements to the

Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Replacing DUNS

Announcement: ​ The federal government is transitioning from using the DUNS number to a “Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)”. The University of Southern California’s UEI has

DCG Training Program Update

Announcement: The Department of Contracts & Grants will be updating The Cardinal & Gold Curriculum and Grants Management Training for Staff program this Friday, September

Voiding Old Proposal Records in Kuali Coeus

Announcement: In preparation for the migration of proposal records from Kuali Coeus (KC) to Cayuse SP, all non-routed proposal development documents that were created from

Effort Certification Schedule

Announcement: ​ Please see the below memo from the Office of Financial Analysis. Good afternoon, As you are aware, the University is moving away from

Postdoc Mentoring Narrative for NSF Proposals

Mentoring Postdoctoral Scholars at USC Text for use in NSF proposals December, 2011 Rationale For grant proposals that include funding to support postdoctoral researchers, the

Creating a BioSketch in SciENcv

Federal Regulatory Checks 1. Create Your Account in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) System: Go to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/ Register with either your USC or

Minimum Salary for Postdoctoral Scholars

Effective January 1, 2020, the State of California’s minimum salary increased to $54,080 annually. The California minimum salary will continue to increase in 2021 and

An Introduction to Cayuse SP

Announcement: ​As July 1st approaches, the Department of Contracts and Grants is excited to announce the release of our first training video introducing Cayuse Sponsored

Late Proposals

Announcement: Last minute and same-day proposal submissions do not allow enough lead time to conduct a proper review of proposals and can jeopardize the ability

Trojan Learn Technical Update

Announcement: ​ In the past year, web browsers have taken an aggressive stance on protecting web browsing privacy and reducing security threats. Unfortunately, this has

IMAGINE Virtual Conference Sessions

Reminder: The IMAGINE Virtual Conference is next week! The conference is a direct response to feedback from the USC finance community and an opportunity to

Increase to NIH Salary Cap (2021)

Announcement: Since 1990, Congress has legislatively mandated a limitation on direct salary for individuals under NIH awards. The mandate appears in the Consolidated Appropriations Act,

Research Grant Application Deadlines (2021)

Announcement: Please see the below important message from the IMAGINE Team regarding the Cayuse SP implementation. After a thoughtful and thorough review of the schedule,

Winter Recess

UPDATE:The below Newsflash has been updated to reflect the additional week of Winter Recess announced yesterday by President Folt. The Department of Contracts and Grants

DCG Customer Service Feedback

Announcement: The Department of Contracts and Grants (DCG) is pleased to announce the release of a new Feedback Form that allows faculty and research administrators

Research.gov Implementation Update

Please see the below memo from Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan, Director, National Science Foundation. “The National Science Foundation (NSF) has been at the forefront in the

Updated Fringe Benefit Rates

Announcement: The University has negotiated a new Federal Rate Agreement. Effective today, July 1, 2020: The University’s current F&A rates have been extended through June

NSF CAREER Program Deadline

Announcement: The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that they are extending the upcoming proposal deadline for the Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) until

Please RSVP – Project Restart Webinars

Dear Colleagues, Please join me for updates on Project Restart this Thursday, June 4 and Friday, June 5 with representatives from the Research, Graduate, Clinical,

NIH COVID-19 Funding and Funding Opportunities

Announcement: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is devoting significant resources to COVID-19. In addition to dedicating regularly appropriated funds, to date NIH has received

New CIRM Salary Cap (Effective 7-1-2020)

Announcement: The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has announced that their salary cap, which specifies the maximum amount of an individual’s salary that can

COGR NIH-Specific FAQ Regarding COVID-19

Announcement: The Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) has released a NIH specific FAQ (attached) regarding COVID-19 and it’s impact on NIH grants. The FAQ covers

Minimum Level of Effort for NCI-Funded Awards

Announcement: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) released a notice requiring a minimum level of effort for funding consideration for NCI-funded grants. In addition to previously

NSF COVID-19 Website, FAQs and Other Materials

Announcement: The National Science Foundation (NSF) has developed a website dedicated to providing detailed guidance on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and its impact on NSF researchers.

NSF Releases FAQ Regarding COVID-19

Announcement: The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released FAQs related to COVID-19. Included are the below general recommendations: Contact your Program Officer (PO) regarding any

Increase to NIH Salary Cap

Announcement: Since 1990, Congress has legislatively mandated a limitation on direct salary for individuals under NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards. The mandate appears in

Launching DCG Training (Adobe Flash Update)

Announcement: The Department of Contracts and Grants (DCG) has three major training programs aimed at research administrators and faculty: Grants Management Training for Faculty Grants