A FOAP is a trust account identified by a unique number for your funded research. Expense accounts within the account number uniquely identify each type of transaction taking place within a research project (salaries, equipment, materials, supplies, travel, etc.)

A separate account number is opened for each research project. Financial Resources is the department that activates the account number and advances the money in the account. You will find your account number in the NOD sent by RMS.

Once an account is activated by Financial Resources, researchers have access to their financial information through the Workday portal (VPN and uOttawa login required). Researchers can also contact their faculty/department administrators to get assistance with financial administration of their grant.

The uOttawa Researcher Guide on Research Expenditures provides essential guidelines, rules and regulations of financial management in research for all funded research.

Inter-institutional transfers occur when a uOttawa principal investigator (PI) sends funds to researchers at other institutions or when a PI from another institution sends funds to a University of Ottawa researcher. A transfer of funds agreement must be renewed every year to confirm that the research project is progressing as anticipated. For more information about how to transfer funds, contact your faculty's designated grant officer at RMS.

For transfers in

For a collaborating researcher from the University of Ottawa to receive funds from a Principal Investigator from another university, the researcher must provide the following documents to your Faculty’s designated grant officer at RMS:

• A completed RE form, containing all required signatures from the department and/or faculty.
• A copy of the application made by the PI from the other university, including the budget.
• A copy of the notification of decision from the funding agency.

Once each of these documents has been provided, the RMS agent reviews the requirements and processes the agreement.

For transfers out

If the grant is administered at the University of Ottawa and there is a request for a transfer of funds to researchers at other universities participating in the research project, the procedure is:

1. The PI from the University of Ottawa must contact RMS and provide a written request for a transfer of funds.
2. RMS contacts the collaborating university.
3. A transfer agreement is signed between the two academic institutions.
4. RMS requests that Financial Resources initiate a fund transfer to the collaborating university.

Internal (between two researchers at the University of Ottawa)

If a PI wants to transfer funds to a collaborating researcher at the University of Ottawa working in a different department or faculty, RMS must be contacted. The researcher must present a request for the transfer of funds. RMS will make a request to Financial Resources for the transfer of funds to the appropriate account.

Contact your faculty for more information on hiring procedures. You can also find related forms, systems and information used to hire human resources on a research project in the Researcher’s Toolbox on Virtuo (uOttawa login required).

IMPORTANT NOTE: You must make sure you have sufficient funds to cover the salary and benefits of an employee before hiring. The HR Resource Tools page on Virtuo (uOttawa log-in required) provides researchers and research managers with tools supporting hiring decisions.

The Procurement service manages the purchase of all goods and services valued at more than CA$5,000 per transaction (excluding sales taxes). Anything less than CA$5,000 (excluding sales taxes) is managed by the faculty or department. Day to day administration, such as the purchase of materials and supplies, payment of invoices, staffing and payroll, are also the responsibility of the faculty or department. 

You can also find related forms, systems and information used to purchase materials on a research project in the Researcher’s Toolbox on Virtuo (uOttawa login required).

When a researcher can demonstrate that additional expenditures are essential to the continuation of the project, advances against future instalments may be granted.

To obtain an advance the researcher must obtain approval:

• From the department chair
• From the dean of the faculty
• From RMS, using the Request for Loan Against Next Instalment form (PDF, 133 KB)All requests for authorization of additional expenses must be fully justified and accompanied by a plan of action to return the account to a positive balance as soon as possible. The grant holder (PI) is the sole person who are authorized to make this request.

Extensions on research contracts and grants must be approved with the sponsor through their respective office (RMS, ISS, IREX). Contact your faculty research office for more information.

Changes between 5% and 10% of the total of each expense account within the account number do not normally require outside approval. Changes exceeding 10% of the budgetary expense account within the FOAP could require approval from RMS, depending on the sponsor’s requirements. For research contracts, changes to the budget must be negotiated with the sponsor through the respective contract office (RMS, ISS, IREX).

Various research policies and regulations play a role in the conduct of research. The University of Ottawa policies are guiding principles or broad statements on courses of action to be consistently followed under specific conditions. Exceptions require the prior consent of an approving authority, very often the Administrative Committee.