Now that end of summer barbecues are behind us, children are back at school, and leaves are starting to change color, it is time for a reminder that the September 17 deadline for regular registration for the 2010 NAVREF Annual Conference is fast approaching.  After that date, unreserved sleeping rooms in the NAVREF block will be released back to the hotel and the conference registration fee will go up $100.00.  If you and others from your NPC are planning to attend and have not yet registered or made your hotel reservations, please do so at your earliest convenience.  This will assure you of accommodations at our negotiated rate and will save your NPC $100.00 per registrant.

Shortly after the end of each federal fiscal year, facility Research Service personnel ask NPC staff to report their research project expenditures so they can be entered into the Research and Development Information Service (RDIS) annual report to VA Central Office.

Accurate NPC reporting is important because this database is the source of information used to determine the annual research allocation to VAMCs under the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) system.  This element of VERA provides medical services appropriated funding to facilities for salaries for clinical staff who conduct research and for facility-supported research infrastructure, such as IRB and compliance staffing.  Each facility receives VERA funding proportionate to its share of nationwide aggregated VA research expenditures. 

Accurate reporting of NPC research project expenditures is doubly important because medical centers receive more VERA research credit for NPC-administered studies than for those administered by other entities, namely an affiliated university.

 It has come to NAVREF’s attention that some NPC studies are being miscoded and not all NPC expenditures are being correctly captured.  The result is less VERA research funding for the facility and therefore, less funding available for salaries and infrastructure.

NAVREF encourages all NPCs to ask their Research Service staff to provide them with an ePROMISe-Project Report printout at the earliest possible opportunity so the NPC may verify that all NPC-administered studies have been correctly coded as “Admin Code 06” and that all NPC expenditures in support of research at the facility have been captured.  (The RDIS code number for NPCs is “06 - VA Private Research Corporation.”)  On an ongoing basis, NPCs should be sure NPC studies are correctly coded at the time of R&D Committee approval.  After the Research Service compiles its total 2010 expenditures, NPCs should also verify that an accurate amount is being reported to the VHA Office of Research and Development for NPC-administered studies.

Recent review of a situation prompts NAVREF to encourage NPCs to review their current Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assignments to ensure that they meet all the requirements of this authority.  In particular, NPCs should verify that each IPA assignment is consistent with the purpose of the IPA statute which is to “facilitate cooperation between the federal government and a non-federal entity through the temporary assignment of skilled personnel (emphasis added).”  IPA assignments may not be used to acquire clerical or administrative services even if research related.  Additionally, they are not intended to provide long term staffing for VA research.  Guidance on IPAs, including a link to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) web site that provides the IPA rules, and related VA guidance, is found on the NAVREF web site at: http://www.navref.org/library/IPA_main_page.htm