Once your grant project comes to an end, there are guidelines to be followed to close out your grant project.
Before your grant project can be closed out, the following items must be received:
- Final invoice – This document comes from the financial department of your institution, agency or organization. It is to your advantage to let your institution know when you have submitted all of your expenditures to them so they can prepare a final invoice for SARE, or if you plan to request a no-cost extension. The period covered by the invoice cannot go past the end date of your project. Any invoice period dated beyond the end date of the project will be rejected. The final invoice should be clearly marked as FINAL to notify the SARE accountant to close the project. Southern SARE will not accept JPEGs, cell phone photos, or other photo formats for invoices and receipts. Accepted formats include: Word, PDF, and Excel.
- Final report – The final report is prepared by the project investigator and submitted in the SARE Grants Management System. The final report is due 45 days from the end date of the project.
- Completed and signed SF425 Form (This is required of all grants except for Producer Grants) — This form is prepared by the financial department of your institution, agency or organization and submitted to the SSARE accountant. It is to your advantage to make sure your institution knows about this requirement for all federal grants.
- Equipment listing that describes any equipment purchases and the cost for each item (This is required of all grants except for Producer Grants) – If no equipment was purchased, indicate “No Equipment Purchased” on line 12 of the SF425 Form. Any equipment purchased is listed prepared by the project investigator and passed along to the financial department of the institution, which then submits it along with the SF425 Form.
- The items are due within 45 days of the project end date.
Once Southern SARE receives an invoice for a grant that is dated with the Invoice Period with the end date of the grant, that invoice is considered the final invoice.
See this example below:
If the grant ends on 3/31/2026, and we receive an invoice that states the Invoice Period is 01/01/26-03/31/26, that invoice is considered the final invoice. If an invoice is received, we'll call it Invoice #19704-G, for invoice period 12/01/25-03/31/26, this is considered the final invoice for the sub-award number the invoice is associated with on the grant project.
In this instance, there are 3 options available:
- We can hold off on processing Invoice #19704-G until you are sure all charges have been submitted, and then resubmit this invoice as the final with all charges and the Invoice Period ending with 3/31/26. Submit this adjusted invoice with the SF-425 Form. (The SF-425 Form is not required for Producer Grants.) Reminder that the final report must be submitted and approved before a final invoice can be processed.
- If there are no further charges, mark "FINAL" on the invoice, provide the SF-425 From, and the final report.
- Request a no-cost extension if the grant project is eligible.
The final invoice will be held without payment until all close out documents are received. All required closeout documentation must be received within 45 days of the subaward ending date to be compliant with the terms and conditions of the subaward agreement. Subawards with non-compliance status are subject to closure and forfeiture of any remaining funds.
The request will be processed once it is approved by the SSARE Program Director. The processing of all requests begins at the SSARE office and then forwarded to the UGA Sponsored Projects unit in Athens. A formal modification to the award will be issued by Sponsored Projects at UGA. This modification will be emailed to the PI’s institution/organization/agency financial or administrative contact on file. Once received by the institution/organization/agency it should be signed and returned to UGA for finalization.