Federal Financial Report (FFR) Module

A Federal Financial Report (FFR) is a statement of expenditures associated with a grant. Recipients of federal funds are required to report the status of funds for grants or assistance agreements to the sponsor of the grant using the Federal Financial Report expenditure data.

The FFR module lets grantees search for and initiate the FFR from within eRA Commons, which redirects them to the federal Payment Management System to complete the submission. Grantees can also check on the status of submitted FFRs, view the PDF of submitted FFRs, and view the history of activity for an FFR.

Beginning January 1, 2021, HHS grant recipients are required to submit the SF-425 long form in the Payment Management System (PMS) instead of the eRA Commons FFR Module.

Guide notices:

NOT-OD-20-127 - Announcement of transition https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-20-127.html

NOT-OD-21-046 - Additional Implementation details https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-046.html

Register with PMS (https://pmsapp.psc.gov/pms/app/userrequest) and obtain PMS log in credentials prior to submitting an FFR. Familiarize yourself with PMS using the documentation provided by PMS (see https://pms.psc.gov/pms-user-guide/federal-financial-report.html). The PMS Help Desk can help with system problems; see https://pms.psc.gov/support/help-desk.html.

Department of Commerce (DOC) Training Materials

Agency-Specific Instructions: Department of Commerce Internal Staff ONLY. Online help for Department of Commerce (DOC) users is coming. In the meantime, eRA training materials can be found on the following DOC webpage: https://connection.commerce.gov/collection/grants-enterprise-management-solution. NOTE: This page is accessible only by DOC internal users.

 

The FFR is prepared and submitted by Grant and Contract Accounting (GCA) on behalf of the Principal Investigator (PI). The schedule for submitting required financial reports is generally specified in the award documents of a grant or contract. See NIH FFR Supplemental instructions. Different due dates exist for FFRs depending on whether the report is an annual report or the final report.

Annual Federal Financial Report

Except for awards under SNAP and awards that require more frequent reporting, the FFR is required on an annual basis. When required on an annual basis, the report must be submitted for each budget period no later than 90 days after the end of the calendar quarter in which the budget period ended. The reporting period for an annual FFR will be that of the budget period for the particular grant; however, the actual submission date is based on the calendar quarter.

This translates to the dates in the following table:

Reporting Period/Budget Period Ends in: FFR Due Date

January, February, March

June 30

April, May, June

September 30

July, August, September

December 21

October, November, December

March 31

 

Final Federal Financial Report

For awards requiring a final FFR, the due date and status for a final FFR are based on the Project Period End Date (PPED) as follows:

  • Pending: If the FFR is not submitted and it is within 120 days of the PPED
  • Due: If the FFR is not submitted and it is between the PPED and 120 days past the PPED
  • Late: If the FFR is not submitted and it is over 120 days past the PPED

A user who needs the authority to view, enter, and submit an FFR on behalf of a research institution must possess the FSR role in eRA Commons to access the FFR module. An institution's Signing Official (SO) or Account Administrator can add this role to a user's account.

A Signing Official (SO) or Business Official/Administrative Official (BO/AO) can have the FSR role.

NOTE: A user who possesses only the FSR role can perform only those tasks associated with FFRs; however, an account can include multiple roles, including that of FSR.

If you have the FSR role in Commons, you can use the FFR module to perform multiple tasks. Available options vary depending on the status of the FFR associated with the award.

  • Search for grant awards within your organization having associated FFRs
  • Initiate a FFR by clicking Manage FFR button, which redirects you to PMS to fill out and submit the FFR
  • View an FFR as a PDF
  • View the submission history of an FFR

With the FSR role, you can also access the FFR module from the Closeout Status screen. For more information on Closeout, please refer to the Commons online help topic titled Refer to Closeout Status.

NOTE: NIH requires all financial expenditure data to be submitted via PMS. This includes all initial FFRs being prepared for submission and any revised FFRs being submitted or re-submitted to an HHS agency.

The Commons Online Help contains detailed information on the FFR module. You can access the FFR topics by clicking any of the help icons ('?') on the FFR screens. If you prefer a PDF format user guide, refer to the Federal Financial Report (FFR) Expenditure Data User Guide at https://www.era.nih.gov/files/ffr_user_guide.pdf.

The FFR module is part of eRA Commons. If you hold the FSR Commons role, you have access to FFR.

  1. Navigate to eRA Commons on the internet at https://public.era.nih.gov/commonsplus/.
  2. Log into Commons.
  3. Select the FFR module from Commons navigation.
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