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Purchases and Expenses related to COVID-19

Dear Business Officers


As the impact of COVID-19 continues to unfold, we are trying to get a handle on the magnitude of its impact to WVU. From costs associated with canceled conferences and travel, purchase of additional supplies and equipment, to revenue lost due to canceled WVU events and programs, the financial impact to the University could be significant. Additionally, the determination and documentation of costs and lost revenue related to COVID-19 would be required to support our request for any potential federal assistance
We are asking for your help in gathering financial information to track costs and refunds related to COVID-19, either using a specially created DAs or through self-reporting via the attached templates. Please see the following guidance

  1. New Purchases and Expenses Related to COVID-19
    • We have created a new DA for each College/Division ( HSC DA's can be found here). Please use this DA for all COVID-19 related purchases (example: supplies). Please ensure that the person making the purchase in Marketplace is informed about the new DA.
    • Any purchases that are made as a result of COVID-19 should be made through the standard purchasing methods. Any purchase that is over the bid threshold must be properly documented with Procurement.
    • The person submitting the requisition in Marketplace must use the Internal Notes section to provide an explanation of why the item is needed and that it is related to COVID-19. This can be found under the Accounting Codes section on the cart: Examples of the Accounting Codes section in Mountaineer Marketplace
    • If the expense is made on a PCard, the “notes” filed in MyExpenses must include the explanation.
    • Purchase of COVID-19 related items on grants:
      In most cases, COVID-19 related new purchases should not be charged to a sponsored award. If there are instances where the purchase is allocable and allowable per the sponsoring agency COVID-19 guidelines, approval is required by the PI.
  2. Purchases and Expenses Already Made Related to COVID-19
    • Any purchases that have already been made as a result of COVID-19 must be tracked using the attached template (see tab “Purchases”).
  3. Canceled Travel Expenses
    • See conference/travel – Coronavirus update from PCPS at:
      https://procurement.wvu.edu/
    • Any travel booked through MyTravel or directly with the University’s travel management company, World Travel, will be tracked by PCPS. Please visit https://procurement.wvu.edu/home/news/2020/03/11/coronavirusupdate for information on how to easily cancel these trips.
    • If travel was booked outside of MyTravel/World Travel:
      1. Visit https://procurement.wvu.edu/ for information on how to handle those expenses.
      2. If the expense has already been entered into MyExpenses (i.e. PCard charge was reconciled or traveler received a reimbursement in MyExpenses) – use the template provided to document the canceled expenses (see tab “Travel Expenses”).
      3. If the expense has not yet been entered in MyExpenses, the DA provided to the College/Division specifically for COVID-19 related expenses must be used. Examples of this situation would include reimbursements to employees who paid for their airfare out of pocket and have not yet been reimbursed or if a hotel charges the PCard for cancellation/lost deposit.
      4. Canceled travel expenses on grants
        Specific federal guidance on this topic is inconsistent. In large part, to date, only NIH has provided (NOT-OD-20-083) significant details (question 4). The individual's priority should be to work with the airline and/or hotel, as many are waiving change fees or are offering full refunds for trips that you wish to change. Because the federal regulations explicitly direct us to follow our institutional policies and because we are expected to have consistent treatment across all fund sources, we suspect it is likely that sponsors will allow reasonable cancellation costs as direct charges to grants and contracts in this set of circumstances.
        In order to be allowable, it is reasonable to assume that the traveler has requested and been denied a refund, and that documentation of such a request is retained in the department. But, since direction has not yet been provided by many federal agencies, departments should track COVID-19 related charges or credits on sponsored projects in case federal agency guidance requires a change to be made.

  4. Canceled Events Hosted by the University
    • Any meeting, conference, event scheduled to be hosted by the University that has been canceled must be tracked on the attached template (see tab “Refunds”).
    • If refunds must be provided to attendees via check, please contact PCPS for assistance.
  5. Payroll Related to COVID-19
    • More information is forthcoming about pay, overtime pay, and leave regarding COVID-19 related absences/closures.
    • Salary Charges on Grants:
      Awarding agencies may allow recipients to continue to charge salaries and benefits to currently active federal awards consistent with the recipient organization’s policy of paying salaries (under unexpected or extraordinary circumstances) from all funding sources, Federal and non-Federal. The University’s policy on Charging and Documentation of Personnel Costs on Sponsored Awards Policy can be found at: https://financialservices.wvu.edu/policies.

We encourage you to actively track any costs or loss of revenue related to COVID-19. Please provide the completed templates for your respective College/Division by March 31 to Jacob Kidwell. We would appreciate it if you could provide us tracking updates on a bi-weekly basis.