SeRA Award and Study Account Setup
All study accounts for sponsored projects are setup in the SeRA (Stanford electronic Research Administration) system. After all regulatory approvals are met, the parties fully execute the contract and the institutional official approves the Proposal Development Routing Form (PDRF) in SeRA. The Clinical Trial Contract Officer (CT CO) prepares and issues an Award Approval Notification (AAN) which initiates the Project Task Award (PTA) process and subsequent Notice of Award (NOA). Issuance of the NOA allows study activities to begin and costs to be charged to the PTA.
How to Set Up a SeRA Clinical Trial Account
When the SeRA system generates the AAN (Award Approval Notification), it also creates a parallel transaction for setting up the study account and automatically sends the account information to the department administrator. This account is also known as a PTA (Project Task Award).
The department administrator completes the PTA Setup transaction in SeRA. The Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) accountant receives the transaction and reviews the agreement and budget. The OSR accountant submits and baselines the budget in Oracle to complete the process.
Once the PTA manager completes the PTA Setup Transaction, the SeRA system distributes the NOA to the individuals listed in SeRA. The NOA content is similar to the AAN, however it will now include PTA details.
Clinical Trials and Pre-Award Period
Pilot Effective Date: 6/13/2025
While early PTAs are NOT allowed for Clinical Trials due to regulatory approval requirements, when a PTA is set-up in Oracle, OSR post-award will establish a 180 day pre-award period from the start date of the clinical trial (awards that begin with “V” only). This “pre-award” period is specifically to allow for startup effort/labor costs for the PI or other staff associated with the project. If an LDA is submitted for start-up costs, this should be done within the first month of the PTA set-up. Keep in mind that the timeliness clause of RPH 15.8 still applies to these cost transfers. Departments are reminded to not incur patient care related costs (hospital charges, etc.) during the pre-award period. Startup effort/labor costs should also NOT be charged to another sponsored project while waiting for PTA setup. For more information on Cost Transfers see: https://ora.stanford.edu/resources/cost-transfers
Note: this does not apply to “U” awards (clinical research).