Grants & Contracts Related Travel

Travel charged to sponsored awards is subject to the policies described in UND’s Travel Policy. In certain circumstances, a sponsored award may have additional restrictions, such as required sponsor approval before the travel, use of U.S. carriers for air travel, and strict budgetary limits. All travelers using sponsored funding should be aware of and comply with the specific requirements of their grant or contract.

Travel expenses may be paid directly by the University through P-Card purchases or paid by an employee and reimbursed through the expense reimbursement process.  Both P-Card purchases and reimbursement requests for travel expenses must be approved in accordance with UND’s travel policies, which include:

1. Employees are responsible for using the PeopleSoft Finance Travel & Expense (T&E) module to request reimbursement for travel charged to sponsored awards;
2. All travel expenses, including P-Card transactions and reimbursement requests, are reviewed by Payment & Procurement Services for completeness and compliance with the University’s travel policy, and for proper authorization;
3. Travel expenses charged to sponsored awards are reviewed by Grants & Contracts Accounting during the quarterly Transaction Monitoring process using a risk-based approach.

When traveling under a federally sponsored project, airfare costs are subject to guidelines established by the Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200, §200.474 Travel Costs. Federal regulations and UND policy prohibit the charging of Business Class (or First Class) accommodations to federally sponsored projects. If a traveler does fly Business Class, the traveler is responsible for paying the difference between the Business Class and the lowest available fare Coach ticket. 

Travelers must comply with the Fly America Act which requires travelers to use:

• A U.S. flag air carrier (an airline owned by an American company); or
• A foreign carrier that operates under a U.S. Flag air carrier code-sharing agreement and identifies the U.S. flag air carrier’s designator code and flight number. *

*Code sharing occurs when two or more airlines “code” the same flight as if it was their own, so a US airline might sell a seat on the plane of a foreign air carrier but the ticket shows the US airline’s code and flight number. For example, when Delta sells seats on an Air France flight,  the ticket shows DL## for Delta (rather than AF##).

These carriers must be used unless the traveler can prove that such carriers were unavailable or that one or more criteria were met that waives the restriction on carrier (see the Fly America Waiver Checklist).

Please note: There are over 100 Open Skies Agreements but only 4 meet Fly America conditions:

• European Union (28 countries) (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, including Iceland and Norway)
• Australia
• Switzerland
• Japan

What are the exceptions?

Traveler’s should check the GSA sites for the most up to date information.

Allowable exceptions under the Fly America Act include:

1. When a U.S. air carrier is not available.
2. When the use of a U.S. carrier service would extend the travel time by 24 hours or more.
3. When a U.S. carrier does not offer nonstop or direct service between origin and destination; and,
• Increases the number of aircraft changes outside the United States by two or more.
• Extends travel time by at least six hours or more.
• Requires a connecting time of four hours or more at an overseas interchange point.
4. Short Distance Travel – When the flight time from origin to destination is less than 3 hours and the use of a U.S. flag carrier doubles the time en-route.
5. When there is an applicable Open Skies agreement in effect which the Department of Transportation says meets the requirements of the FAA.