VARIATION TO FUNDING AGREEMENT
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1.

All Participants should read the relevant Funding Rules, Funding Agreement and the
Instructions to Applicants for the year of funding received.

Please always use the most up to date form available on the ARC website. The Variation to
Funding Agreement form can be found at: http://www.arc.gov.au/applicants/variation.htm.

Participants should direct all queries regarding ARC Variations to their Administering
Organisation’s Research Office or equivalent in the first instance. If further information is
required, the Research Office or equivalent should contact ARC-Postaward@arc.gov.au.
Table of Contents
Submitting a Variation to Funding Agreement (VFA) ..................................................................... 3
1.1. What do I need to do before submitting a Variation to Funding Agreement (VFA) Request
to the ARC? ......................................................................................................................................... 3
2.
3.
1.2.
How do I submit a VFA Request to the ARC? .......................................................................... 3
1.3.
How is a VFA Request processed by the ARC?........................................................................ 3
Issues to look out for in VFA Requests............................................................................................ 3
2.1
Change of Personnel / Organisation ....................................................................................... 3
2.2
Budget Change ........................................................................................................................ 4
2.3
Project Transfer....................................................................................................................... 4
2.4
Project & Personnel Suspensions............................................................................................ 4
Notifying the ARC of changes.......................................................................................................... 4
3.1
How do I request an extension for my Project? ..................................................................... 4
3.2
How do I notify the ARC that a Chief Investigator has moved institution? ............................ 5
3.3
How do I notify the ARC that a Partner Investigator has moved institution? ........................ 5
3.4
What do I need to do if a Partner Organisation has a name change? .................................... 5
3.5
How do I notify the ARC that Partner Organisation contributions have changed? ................ 5
3.6
How do I request maternity leave?......................................................................................... 5
3.7
Can I request parental leave if it is not in the Funding Agreement or Rules? ........................ 6
3.8
How do I request a change to part-time work for Discovery Early Career Award (DECRA)? . 6
Variation to Funding Agreement Frequently Asked Questions
4.
5.
6.
Budget ............................................................................................................................................. 6
4.1
When can I start spending on my Project ............................................................................... 6
4.2
When should I do a VFA to make a change to my budget? .................................................... 6
4.3
Can I buy a laptop or tablet with my funding? ....................................................................... 6
4.4
Can I book a business class flight? .......................................................................................... 6
4.5
What is a CAF amount? ........................................................................................................... 7
4.6
How do I report transfer and relinquishment figures to the ARC?......................................... 7
Agreements required for the VFA to be assessed .......................................................................... 7
5.1
Who do I need to agree to the changes in the VFA request? ................................................. 7
5.2
What should the agreement from the Administering Organisation include? ........................ 7
5.3
Who can approve on behalf of a Collaborating or Other Eligible Organisation? ................... 8
5.4
Who can approve on behalf of a Partner or Other Organisation? ......................................... 8
5.5
Who can approve on behalf of a Host Organisation? ............................................................. 8
Other ............................................................................................................................................... 8
6.1. If the commencement date for a Post Graduate Researcher (PGR) has been deferred
further than the Project start date, can the term of the PGR be extended beyond the Project
completion date? ................................................................................................................................ 8
7.
Reporting......................................................................................................................................... 8
7.1.
What should I do if I identify an error in figures previously reported to the ARC? ................ 8
7.2.
When is a Project considered complete, and when is the Final Report due? ........................ 9
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Variation to Funding Agreement Frequently Asked Questions
1.
Submitting a Variation to Funding Agreement (VFA)
1.1.
What do I need to do before submitting a Variation to Funding Agreement (VFA) Request
to the ARC?
 Find the Clause relevant to your request in the Funding Agreement and/or Funding Rules
(available here: http://www.arc.gov.au/ncgp) to ensure the request is valid and not
stated as a prohibited change;
 Collate supporting documentation as specified on the ‘Variation of Funding Agreement
Appendix - Further Information Required’ document available here:
http://www.arc.gov.au/applicants/variation.htm;
 Fill in a VFA form (available here: http://www.arc.gov.au/applicants/variation.htm);
 Collate VFA form together with all supporting documentation for the Research Office of
your Administering Organisation to email to the ARC.
1.2.
How do I submit a VFA Request to the ARC?
 The Research Office needs to email the VFA form and supporting documentation to the
ARC Post-award mail box, ARC-Postaward@arc.gov.au;
 A VFA that is submitted by a researcher, a department/school, or an organisation other
than the Administering Organisation will not be accepted;
 If a VFA request is missing one or all supporting documents, it will not be accepted by
the ARC and will be returned to the sender for re-submission.
1.3.
How is a VFA Request processed by the ARC?
 Processing time usually ranges between two and four weeks;
 If additional supporting documentation is requested by an ARC Officer, the processing
time could take longer;
 Once the request is assessed, a letter will be emailed to the Research Office of the
Administering Organisation as a PDF file informing them of the outcome;
 Unless otherwise stated in the letter, processing is concluded when the ARC’s outcome
letter has been sent;
 Depending on when the request is processed in the 'current' pay cycle, financial changes
may not be reflected in the ARC remittance advices for 1 - 2 pay cycles.
2.
Issues to look out for in VFA Requests
2.1
Change of Personnel / Organisation
 Any new Chief Investigator or Partner Investigator must meet eligibility criteria specified
in the Funding Rules of the relevant scheme/round;
 From 2013, all Partner Organisations on Linkage Projects must have a Partner
Investigator on the Project at all times;
 The ARC tends not to approve the addition of Chief Investigators to Discovery Projects;
 New Investigators cannot be added to a Project until the ARC is notified of their RMS 2.0
login details;
 RMS 2.0 profiles should be updated by Investigators to ensure all their details are
correct;
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Variation to Funding Agreement Frequently Asked Questions

Partner Organisations should also be asked to update their records in RMS 2.0 (if
applicable). The RMS Support Team (contact (02) 6287 6789 or rms@arc.gov.au) can
assist with this process.
2.2
Budget Change
 A VFA request must include specific information for any reallocation of funds
(i.e. year/s, name of line item/s and $ amount);
 Where the funds are being taken from also needs to detailed
(i.e. where the savings will be coming from in order to pay for the requested change).
2.3
Project Transfer
 If an Administering Organisation wishes to transfer a Project to a new organisation, they
should ensure that the new organisation is an eligible organisation in accordance with
the relevant scheme/round Funding Rules;
 If the current organisation wishes to stay on the Project in a new role, this must be
stated in the VFA request. The relinquishing Administering Organisation will be removed
from the Project unless otherwise requested;
 Named personnel attached to the relinquished Administering Organisation will also not
automatically be removed from a Project unless requested;
 Expenditure figures must be provided in the VFA form for any transfer;
 If a transfer is requested for a future date and the transfer figure is not yet finalised,
once approved, the figure must be provided to the ARC by the date specified in the
outcome letter. The transfer will not be processed until all figures have been received.
2.4
Project & Personnel Suspensions
 Funding cannot be spent on a Project while the Project is suspended;
 If funding is planned to be spent while a Project is suspended (for example, a student
hired on the Project intends to continue to work while the DECRA recipient is on
maternity leave), this must be stated as part of the VFA and the request must detail the
appropriate supervision the student will receive, while the DECRA is on leave.
3. Notifying the ARC of changes
3.1
How do I request an extension for my Project?
 Extensions are approved as part of the End of Year Reports process;
 A Project can only be extended while there are unspent funds remaining.
When all funds have been spent, the Project is considered to be finished and a Final
Report will need to be submitted within six or twelve months of the final payment or
carryover of funds by the ARC for the Project. Please refer to the relevant Funding
Agreement for details on Final Report due dates;
 If an extension results from an approved suspension, the revised end date will be noted
in the system. The updated end date will still need to be confirmed in the End of Year
Report;
 A VFA is not required for a change of end date on its own;
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Variation to Funding Agreement Frequently Asked Questions

You should always refer to the relevant scheme/round Funding Agreement to ensure
that the extension does not go beyond the allowable time period for that scheme.
3.2
How do I notify the ARC that a Chief Investigator has moved institution?
 If a person holding a Fellowship or Award (such as a Laureate, Future Fellowship or
DECRA) has moved organisations, a Project transfer VFA request must be submitted;
 If a Chief Investigator has moved to another eligible organisation a VFA is not necessarily
required. Email notification to the ARC and updating RMS is sufficient.
However, if the move requires an organisation to be added or removed from the Project
or if the move means the Chief Investigator is no longer eligible to be a Chief
Investigator on the Project, a VFA must be submitted.
3.3
How do I notify the ARC that a Partner Investigator has moved institution?
 If a Partner Investigator has moved to another organisation a VFA is not necessarily
required. Email notification to the ARC and updating RMS is sufficient.
 However, if the move requires an organisation to be added to or removed from the
Project or if the move means the person is no longer eligible to be a Partner Investigator
on the Project a VFA must be submitted.
3.4
What do I need to do if a Partner Organisation has a name change?
 If a Partner Organisation has changed names and the ABN has not changed, the ARC
requires email notification only;
 However, if a Partner Organisation has changed name and ABN, this is considered to be
a new organisation. The 'old' organisation will have to be removed and the new
organisation added to the Project, requiring a VFA to be submitted;
 NOTE: The Partner Organisation should also be asked to update their records in RMS 2.0
(if applicable). The RMS Support Team (contact (02) 6287 6789 or rms@arc.gov.au) can
assist with this process.
3.5
How do I notify the ARC that Partner Organisation contributions have changed?
 A Partner Organisation Agreed Contribution Report (POACR) (template here:
http://www.arc.gov.au/applicants/reported_requirements.htm) should be submitted to
the ARC. A VFA is not required unless the ARC budget or scope is also changing;
 The Administering Organisation should also check that the change means that the
minimum Partner Organisation contributions are still being met, as per the relevant
scheme/round Funding Rules;
 If the contribution change results in a scope change to the Project, then a VFA will need
to be submitted.
3.6
How do I request maternity leave?
 Certain personnel, as specified in the Funding Rules and/or Funding Agreement for the
relevant scheme/round, are eligible to take up to 14 weeks maternity leave paid by the
ARC;
 If the leave period is longer than 14 weeks, a suspension can be requested for the any
additional time. Please see 2.4 Project & Personnel Suspensions for further information.
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Variation to Funding Agreement Frequently Asked Questions
3.7
Can I request parental leave if it is not in the Funding Agreement or Rules?
 If there is no provision for parental leave in your Project’s scheme/round, you are not
eligible for paid parental leave from the ARC;
 The Administering Organisation should refer to both Funding Agreement and Funding
Rules to check whether personnel are eligible for paid parental leave before applying to
the ARC.
3.8
How do I request a change to part-time work for Discovery Early Career Award (DECRA)?
 From the 2014 DECRA funding round, if the DECRA recipient was employed on a fulltime basis prior to the Award, it is only possible to convert to part-time to fulfil family or
carer responsibilities (see Clause 9.4 of the Funding Agreement);
 However, if the DECRA recipient was employed on a part-time basis prior to the award,
there is no need to change the DECRA Recipient’s working hours, as long as the DECRA
still works the full-time equivalent (FTE) on their DECRA. The ARC should also be notified
via an email so the end date of the Project can be adjusted accordingly.
4.
Budget
4.1
When can I start spending on my Project
 Consult the relevant Funding Rules and Agreement, however funding can only be
charged to a Project once all Agreements are in place;
 Note: Unless specified in the Funding Agreement, employment costs prior to all
agreements being in place cannot be charged to the Project.
4.2
When should I do a VFA to make a change to my budget?
 If funding is being moved across line items, for example:
o Moving funding from Personnel to Travel; or
o Changing a domestic trip to international; or
o Any changes to funds linked to a Special Condition.
 If funding is being spent differently from what was outlined in the Proposal but the
intention of the expenditure is the same, a Variation is not required. For example:
o A Research Associate was planned to be hired but now a Research Assistant will
undertake those tasks; or
o A conference in Melbourne has been replaced by a conference in Sydney; or
o A certain type of software was initially intended to be purchased but now a
better version is available so that version will be purchased instead.
4.3
Can I buy a laptop or tablet with my funding?
 Consult the relevant Funding Rules, however generally a laptop or tablet would be
considered a basic facility, which should be provided by the Administering Organisation
and not funded by the Project.
4.4
Can I book a business class flight?
 Consult the relevant Funding Rules, however generally only economy travel costs are
covered by ARC funding.
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Variation to Funding Agreement Frequently Asked Questions
4.5
What is a CAF amount?
 CAF stands for Cost Adjustment Factor.
 This is an index used to adjust the Commonwealth’s contribution for increases in the
operating costs of higher education institutions. The salary cost component of the CAF is
based on the Safety Net Adjustment (SNA) as determined by the Australian Industrial
Relations Commission while the non-salary cost component is indexed using the
Consumer Price Index (CPI);
 Figures are adjusted by the ARC prior to Pay 1 each year to account for the changes;
 Note: As the index figures are not dictated by the ARC, staff members are unable to
provide these figures until Pay 1 has been processed each year.
4.6
How do I report transfer and relinquishment figures to the ARC?
 When requesting a transfer or relinquishment, the expenditure figures must be included
in the VFA form;
 The total amount that the Project was allocated for the current year must be included,
not the amount the organisation has received so far;
 The full expenditure to date must be included (this cannot be a negative figure);
 Do not include salary commitments after the Project has been relinquished or
transferred as expenditure;
 If the request is made prior to the relinquishment or transfer, the expenditure figures
must be provided by the date specified in the ARC outcome letter.
A transfer or relinquishment will not be processed until all figures have been received;
 All figures reported to the ARC must include ALL spent and unspent funds, regardless of
their location. This includes funds that are not located at the Administering
Organisation, and/or funds that are currently credited to another account code such as
salaries, instead of the Project itself;
 If the Administering Organisation is unable to meet the deadline specified in the
outcome letter, you must contact the ARC prior to the deadline to request an extension.
5.
Agreements required for the VFA to be assessed
5.1
Who do I need to agree to the changes in the VFA request?
 Depending on the type of change requested in the VFA, there are various personnel
and/or organisations that will have to agree to the request. For a full listing of the
requirements, please see the 'Variation of Funding Agreement Appendix - Further
Information Required’ document: http://www.arc.gov.au/applicants/variation.htm;
 In many cases, the agreement from the Administering Organisation on behalf of the
relevant parties will be satisfactory, as long as the Administering Organisation has met
the requirements stated in the Appendix, and the relevant paperwork is held on file.
5.2
What should the agreement from the Administering Organisation include?
 Agreement from all relevant parties must be held by the Administering Organisation to
be produced on request by the ARC. Agreement may consist of a noted phone
conversation or written assurance from the Project Leader that all relevant parties have
been notified of the change to the Project.
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Variation to Funding Agreement Frequently Asked Questions

Agreement from the Administering Organisation should make mention of the
notification held on file. For example: Having noted all appropriate agreements, I
approve this request on behalf of the Administering Organisation as well as all named
Personnel and Organisations listed on the Project.
5.3
Who can approve on behalf of a Collaborating or Other Eligible Organisation?
 Collaborating or Other Eligible Organisation agreements must be from the Research
Office or DVCR, not Head of School or other staff member.
5.4
Who can approve on behalf of a Partner or Other Organisation?
 A Partner or Other Organisation agreement may be submitted by the Partner
Investigator on behalf of their organisation, if they have the appropriate internal
approval to agree to the change. It is the responsibility of the Administering
Organisation to ensure the appropriate approvals are sought.
5.5
Who can approve on behalf of a Host Organisation?
 A Host Organisation agreement may be submitted by the principle contact on behalf of
their organisation, if they have the appropriate internal approval to agree to the change.
It is the responsibility of the Administering Organisation to ensure the appropriate
approvals are sought.
6.
Other
6.1.
If the commencement date for a Post Graduate Researcher (PGR) has been deferred
further than the Project start date, can the term of the PGR be extended beyond the
Project completion date?
 From the 2011 Australian Laureate Fellowships funding round onwards, the term of the
PGR may be extended beyond the Project completion date for the purposes of meeting
PhD requirements. However, a PGR can only receive funding for a maximum period of
four years;
 The ARC will not provide additional funding to cover any extension to the study period of
the award. A VFA should be submitted to the ARC and details of the extension included
when requesting the deferment of commencement.
7.
Reporting
7.1.
What should I do if I identify an error in figures previously reported to the ARC?
 If an error is identified (especially in relation to previous End of Year Reports), the
Administering Organisation must notify the ARC as soon as possible so that it can be
amended in the next available pay;
 Issues with incorrectly reported carryovers or transfer figures can be fixed at any time
regardless of what year they relate to, however the ARC may question the changes if
they are not justified.
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Variation to Funding Agreement Frequently Asked Questions
7.2.
When is a Project considered complete, and when is the Final Report due?
 A Project is finished when all ARC funds have been expended;
 Depending on the funding scheme/round, the Final Report is due within six or twelve
months of the final payment or carryover of funds by the ARC for the Project. Please
refer to the relevant Funding Agreement for details on Final Report due dates;
 If a Final Report is submitted to the ARC, it is considered to be certified by the Research
Office that all checks have been conducted and the Project is completed;
 The Final Report should not be submitted before all funds have been expended and the
Project has been completed. Any remaining funds on a Project that has a submitted Final
Report will be recovered. The ARC will not be required to inform the Administering
Organisation of this recovery, as the Research Office has already certified that the
Project is completed.
9