I. General Comments
The purpose of these guidelines is to clarify the procedures surrounding
Intergovernmental Personnel Assignments. These guidelines specify, in order of
preference, the methods of assignment of personnel from a government agency to
UCAR, or the assignment of personnel from UCAR to a government agency.
II. Definitions
Intergovernmental Personnel Assignment (IPA):
An agreement between UCAR and a U.S. government agency used to assign a
government employee to work at UCAR, or to assign a UCAR employee to work for
a government agency.
III. Special Requirements
IPA expenditures are not subject to overhead or fee.
IV. Procedures for Government Employees Assigned to UCAR
A. Agency Reimbursement
The preferred method for handling an IPA for a government agency employee
is for that person to remain on the government agency's payroll (while
assigned to UCAR) with associated benefits paid by that agency. UCAR will
then reimburse the agency for all incurred costs, with a lump sum payment
or as otherwise stated in the IPA. The IPA will be set up in the purchasing
database with an Agreement number, and an encumbrance amount against
object code 5301 to ensure that overhead is not applied to the IPA expense.
When reimbursement is to be made, the paperwork authorizing payment
should reference the Agreement number and be forwarded to Accounts
Payable in the Finance Office. The expense will then be paid against the
Agreement number (similar to payment against a purchase order).
B. Paid Through UCAR Payroll with UCAR Benefits
If the person is assigned to the UCAR payroll, and UCAR is to provide all
benefits, the IPA Agreement needs to clearly specify the benefits involved to
guarantee equivalent benefits are provided to the government employee.
The individual is set up on the UCAR payroll similar to any other employee.
In this case, a separate account key (with overhead set to zero) must be
established to track and record the IPA costs and to ensure overhead is not
applied. UCAR will apply its standard benefit rate to the salary costs.
C. Paid Through UCAR Payroll with Mixed Benefits
In some instances, an agency will insist that an individual be placed on the
UCAR payroll, and the employee receive some UCAR benefits and some
agency benefits. For example, the government employee may not want FICA
withheld and holidays or other benefits might be substantially different.
This type of arrangement must have prior approval from the UCAR Vice
President for Finance and Administration because of the difficulties UCAR
Payroll and Finance Offices will encounter tracking the salary and benefits.
Situations like this should be handled on a case-by-case basis to determine if
practical arrangements can be made and if the accounting system can
accommodate the special arrangement. The necessary individuals inc luded
in these decisions should be a representative from the Payroll Office, the
Contracts Office, the Human Resources Department, and the General
Accounting Manager. In any case, a separate account key (with overhead set
to zero) must be established to track and record the IPA costs and to ensure
overhead is not applied.
V. Procedures for UCAR Employees Assigned to an Agency
Normally, a UCAR employee who is assigned to an agency continues on the UCAR
payroll, receiving UCAR benefits. Payment for this employee's services will be
billed to the agency either in a lump-sum amount or a monthly amount, based on
the UCAR salary and benefit costs. So that overhead and fee will not be applied,
this billing will be treated as a reimbursement of expense crediting object code
5360 for combined salaries and benefits. This is treated very similar to
reimbursable travel in the accounting system.
If an employee is assigned to an agency and payments are to be made by the agency
directly to the employee, the IPA Agreement must be clearly written to specify what
each organization will pay, and must also be acceptable to the employee. This type
of arrangement must also have the prior approval of the Vice President for Finance
and Administration.
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