FSS/PPS 03.04.01
Issue No. 1
Reviewer: Director, Grants & Contracts Administration
Effective Date: 04/15/02
Review Date: 04/06
01. PURPOSE
| 01.01 | The purpose of this PPS is to define and provide a procedure for payment of participant travel under sponsored programs (contracts and grants). |
02. DEFINITIONS
| 02.01 | Participant travel is defined as taking a non-university employee who is covered under a sponsored program on a day or overnight trip. Sponsored Program participants may be students, professionals, and professors at other institutions or any non-employees whose travel expenses are to be paid from grant funds. Texas State student employees and graduate teaching assistants who are also participants on a grant will be treated as non-employees for the purpose of travel reimbursement. |
| 02.02 | The following are examples of allowable purposes for participant travel: - Presentation of a paper
- Attendance at a conference
- Participation in a meet or competition
- Taking a group of underprivileged grade school students to a museum
- Taking participants to a restaurant (only when the funding source has approved such an expenditure)
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03. POLICY
| 03.01 | Travel must comply with funding agency guidelines, university policy, and state/federal regulations. |
| 03.02 | Participant travel should be budgeted and described in the grant proposal. If travel is not in the proposal, it may require prior approval from the funding agency. This approval must be obtained and documentation given to Grants & Contracts Administration prior to incurring any expenses for the trip. |
| 03.03 | All foreign travel applications must be routed through Grants and Contracts Administration prior to incurring any trip expenses. |
04. PROCEDURES
| 04.01 | How to Pay or Get Reimbursed for Participant Travel In order to assure compliance with contract/grant provisions and university, state, and federal regulations, the following procedures are to be utilized for expenditures for participant travel. | (a) | Conference Site
(For cases in which Texas State is renting a facility to host a conference.) Prepare a purchase order following University purchasing guidelines and submit to the Purchasing Office for processing. The Purchasing Office will send the purchase order to the conference site. Refer to UPPS 05.02.02 for Texas State Purchasing Policy. The invoice from the conference site must be approved by the PI after the conference and forwarded to Accounts Payable for payment. If a deposit is required prior to the date of the function, it must be documented on the purchase order. Written documentation of the requirement must be obtained from the conference site and attached to the purchase order when submitted to the Purchasing Office. The Purchasing Office will forward the documents to Accounts Payable. Allow 7 business days for a check to be issued from Accounts Payable. If the deposit or rental fee is paid directly from personal funds, submit receipts for reimbursement using the Texas State Payment Request; Reference FSS PPS 03.05.01 Reimbursement for Personal Expenditures (Supplies, Personal Cell Phones, etc.) | | (b) | Registration Fees
(For grant participant attendance at a conference) Registrations payments do not require use of a purchase order. For direct payments of Registration Fees, submit the Texas State Payment Request, to Accounts Payable with a copy of the completed registration form. Accounts Payable will send a check within 7 business days directly to the organization. In come cases, a P-card may be used to pay registration fees. (Caution: All expenditures on P-card transactions are coded to the supply category. If the funding agency requires detailed reporting of expenses the registration may not appear in the category that it was budgeted in.) Registration fees may also be paid by the individual and included on the Participant/Subsistence Request Form AP-2, Appendix B. | | (c) | Airfare
Airfare for participant travel is usually booked through a travel Agency. Under limited circumstances, the airfare may be charged directly to the university. Contact the Travel Office for information about direct billing of airfare. If the participant pays for the airfare personally, allowable expenditures will be reimbursed on a Travel Claim -- Participant/Consultant Form. | | (d) | Buses
A purchase order should be prepared following University purchasing guidelines and submitted to the Purchasing Office for processing. The Purchasing Office will send the purchase order to the bus company. The invoice from the bus company must be approved by the PI after the trip and forwarded to Accounts Payable for payment. If a deposit is required, it must be documented on the purchase order. Written documentation from the bus company stating that they require a deposit must be attached to the purchase order when submitted to the Purchasing Department. Purchasing will forward the documents to Accounts Payable. Allow 7 business days for a check to be issued from Accounts Payable. | | (e) | Mileage, Hotels and Restaurants Paid by Employee
If an Texas State employee travels with participants, the employee must first prepare a single Travel Application, covering expenses for themselves and all participants. After completion of the trip, the employee must prepare the Travel Voucher listing all participants including name, address and social security number on the form according to Texas State travel policy. The original receipts must be attached to the voucher. Mileage is reimbursed based on actual miles driven. Contact the Texas State Travel Office for the current rate. If an Texas State employee does not travel with the participants, the participants should be encouraged to pay the expenditures personally and be reimbursed. In the event that this is not possible, the grant should attempt to pay the expenses directly. If the only way that the participants can travel is to have an employee charge the expenses on their personal credit card, the employee must fill out a Travel Application as above and state the reason that they did not accompany the participants on the trip. | | (f) | Mileage, Hotels and Restaurants Paid by Participant
If a participant pays their individual travel expenses, request for reimbursement should be processed on the Travel Claim -- Participant/Consultant Form. Reimbursement is made for actual expenses only. The original receipts must be attached to the voucher. Reimbursement will not be made for expenditures not documented by a receipt. Mileage is reimbursed based on actual miles. Contact the Texas State Travel Office for the current rate. | |
