Category: General

RCUH to Reduce Duplication of Training on Harassment & Discrimination

To eliminate the duplication of training for RCUH Employees working on UH Projects, RCUH will accept the University of Hawai‘i’s Title IX Training in lieu of RCUH’s EEO/Sexual Harassment Prevention course, effective August 1, 2023. In order to be compliant, individuals must upload their UH Title IX Certificate of Completion into the RCUH Training Portal and view three custom PDFs. Either course is due once every two years.

The RCUH Training on EEO/Sexual Harassment Prevention will continue to be offered in the RCUH Training Portal. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this update or the RCUH Training Portal, please feel free to call (808) 956-0504/956-0503 or email [email protected].

INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO UPLOAD YOUR CERTIFICATE:

  • Log into the RCUH Training Portal
  • Click “Content Library”
  • In the search bar, type in “UH Title IX”
  • Click on the course
  • Upload your certificate
  • Click to view each PDF
  • RCUH will review your uploaded file before marking you as “Complete”

RCUH Vendor Payments for July 25, 2023 – UPDATE

The RCUH Financial Portal is back in operation and Fiscal Administrators may resume approving transactions.

On Tuesday, July 25, 2023, we encountered a system error which affected our end-of-day business processing. Vendor payments for transactions approved on July 25 will be processed in accordance with our normal processing schedule.

RCUH transactions approved on July 25 for UH Extramural and SRRC accounts will be transmitted and posted to the UH Kuali Financial System on July 26.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

RCUH Vendor Payments for July 25, 2023

On Tuesday, July 25, 2023, we encountered a system error which affected our end of day business processing.  Vendor payments for transactions approved on July 25 will be processed when the issue is resolved.

At this time, online purchasing, payment, and travel transactions cannot be approved in the Financial Portal until the issue is resolved.  We are working to resolve the issue and we will post an updated announcement when the Financial Portal is back in operation.

RCUH transactions approved on July 25 for UH Extramural accounts will NOT be transmitted or posted to the UH Kuali Financial System, and UH Project Fiscal Reports may reflect incorrect amounts and balances until the issue is resolved.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

IMPORTANT: TIAA Third-Party Data Security Incident

RCUH’s retirement plan provider TIAA has reported that a third-party vendor, Pension Benefit Information, LLC (“PBI”), was affected by the worldwide MOVEit security breach that occurred on or around May 31, 2023. PBI utilizes MOVEit to securely transfer files. Unfortunately, TIAA has confirmed that there are RCUH participants whose personal information was involved. Impacted individuals will receive a letter from PBI over the next few days that will have additional information. Although PBI is unaware of any identity theft or fraud as a result of this event at this time, PBI is offering free credit monitoring for 24 months.

Law enforcement has been notified by PBI, and TIAA Information Security experts are in close contact with the third-party vendor. TIAA stated that it is working diligently to address and remediate this incident as quickly as possible, and shared the update below:

What TIAA knows:

  • This incident involves the MOVEit Transfer software owned by Progress Software and used by our vendor, Pension Benefit Information, LLC (“PBI”).
  • PBI receives personal data of individual participants and clients and matches it against death notices and obituaries to assist TIAA in death claim and beneficiary processes.
  • Personal information from people at your institution is part of this incident: first and last name, address, date of birth, gender and Social Security Number.
  • No information was obtained from TIAA’s systems and TIAA systems are not threatened.
  • We have not observed any related unusual activity from this event involving TIAA accounts.
  • We have reviewed our systems and we are not susceptible to the security vulnerability associated with this security incident.

In the meantime, people should always remain attentive to the possibility of fraud and identity theft. Some of the steps that help protect online interactions include:

  • Enabling multifactor authentication everywhere it is available and not automatically provided. At TIAA, we provide it automatically.
  • Creating a unique password with 12 or more characters for each of their online accounts. Weak and compromised credentials are the most-used attack vector.
  • When you receive an email, stop and look for red flags. The best way to defend against phishing is to assume that every email is part of a phishing attack.
  • Be cautious of urgent requests. Cyberattacks are designed to catch you off guard and trigger you to click links impulsively.
  • Being wary of oversharing personal information online.
  • Being vigilant in spotting email and text phishing attacks, which urgently request personal information for claimed emergencies.
  • Keeping personal contact information current with financial institutions and reporting unusual balance activity immediately.
  • Regularly monitoring credit score and online accounts.
  • Using antivirus software for all devices and updating software, hardware and applications.
  • Securing home networks with unique passwords and setting up a unique PIN for mobile phone SIM cards.
  • Knowing how to report identity theft and cybersecurity incidents.
  • If you’d like to look into the risks and benefits of freezing your credit, visit: https://www.usa.gov/credit-freeze.

If you have additional questions, you may call TIAA at 1-800-842-2252, weekdays from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time).

New Nepotism Law Effective July 11, 2023

A new law prohibiting nepotism becomes effective July 11, 2023 and applies to all state employees (except those working for the legislative and judicial branches), which includes RCUH employees. Among other things, the law prohibits:

  • taking any employment action (e.g., interview, hire, supervise, evaluate, promote, demote, retain, terminate) affecting a relative or household member
  • awarding of or administering/supervising contracts to businesses owned by relatives or household members

More information can be found in the Hawaiʻi State Ethics Commission, “The State Ethics Code – A Quick Guide to the Nepotism Law.”

If  you or your project is affected by this new law, please contact the Hawaiʻi State Ethics Commission at (808) 587-0460 or [email protected] for further information on how to resolve the situation or seek a good cause exemption. Please keep the respective RCUH department (i.e., Human Resources or Finance – Procurement) apprised of any action to be taken.

Legal Professional Services Awards – Fiscal Year 2024

Project TitleTo provide legal services related to immigration, to the RCUH Corporate Office.
Selected ConsultantNewton J. Chu, Esq. (Torkildson Katz, A Law Corporation)
Contract Amount$15,000.00
Date of AwardJuly 7, 2023
Consultants Considered (ranked candidates only)Vaughn G.T. Cook (Torkildson Katz, A Law Corporation)
Appointing OfficerLeonard R. Gouveia, Jr.
 
Project TitleTo provide legal services related to maritime/admiralty, to the RCUH Corporate Office.
Selected ConsultantMichael J. Nakano, Esq. (Cox Wootton Lerner Griffin & Hansen)
Contract Amount$20,000.00
Date of AwardJuly 7, 2023
Consultants Considered (ranked candidates only)No other submissions.
Appointing OfficerLeonard R. Gouveia, Jr.
 
Project TitleTo provide legal services related to taxes and payroll, to the RCUH Corporate Office.
Selected ConsultantVaughn G.T. Cook (Torkildson Katz, A Law Corporation)
Contract Amount$15,000.00
Date of AwardJuly 7, 2023
Consultants Considered (ranked candidates only)No other submissions.
Appointing OfficerLeonard R. Gouveia, Jr.
 
Project TitleTo provide legal services related to employment, to the RCUH Corporate Office.
Selected ConsultantBarry W. Marr, Esq. (Marr Jones & Wang)
Contract Amount$50,000.00
Date of AwardJuly 7, 2023
Consultants Considered (ranked candidates only)Richard M. Rand (Marr Jones & Wang); Kristi O’Heron (Marr Jones & Wang); Sarah O. Wang (Marr Jones & Wang); Christopher J. Cole (Marr Jones & Wang); Patrick H. Jones (Marr Jones & Wang); Newton J. Chu (Torkildson Katz, A Law Corporation); Christopher S.Y. Yeh (Marr Jones & Wang); Ashley Chinen (Marr Jones & Wang); Cecily D.M. Kaya (Marr Jones & Wang); Andrea L. Miyashita (Marr Jones & Wang); Ronald Tang (Marr Jones & Wang).
Appointing OfficerLeonard R. Gouveia, Jr.

FINANCIAL SYSTEM PROCESSING NOW AVAILABLE

RCUH fiscal year-end processing has been completed and the RCUH financial system is now open for fiscal year 2024. Fiscal Administrators may now approve online purchasing, payment, and travel transactions in the Financial Portal. The first check run for fiscal year 2024 will be on Thursday, July 6, 2023 at 4:00 PM.

UH Project Fiscal Reports may reflect incorrect amounts and balances until KFS is opened for FY 2024. Until KFS is opened for FY 2024, please use the Mass Printing Reports to access the UH Project Fiscal Reports as of June 2023 and earlier.

Reminder: Service dates are required for all payment transactions approved through August 31, 2023. For payments approved after July 31, 2023, $100,000 or greater, and with service dates of June 30 or earlier, please complete the attached RCUH AP Worksheet. Please include estimates or projections for invoices that have not been received as of July 31, 2023. Please email your worksheet to Staci Saito at [email protected] by Tuesday, August 1, 2023.

Please refer to the Monday, June 26, 2023 General Announcement on Service Dates for more information.

Transfer of Revolving Accounts from RCUH to UH – July 1, 2023

As a reminder, effective July 1, 2023, all Revolving accounts will be transferred from RCUH to UH. For additional information about the transfer of Revolving accounts from RCUH to UH, please refer to the ORS website: https://research.hawaii.edu/ors/resources/service-centers/.

For those with RCUH-related questions, please email [email protected] or call (808) 956-0507.

NEW PROJECT ACCOUNT NUMBERS

Revolving accounts will be assigned a new KFS Special Fund Research Recharge Center (SRRC) project account number with a range that will start with “2XXXXXX”. We expect the new KFS SRRC project accounts to be activated in the RCUH system on July 7, 2023. Projects should use the new KFS SRRC project account number to process and approve online purchasing, payment, and travel transactions in the RCUH Financial Portal. The new KFS SRRC project account should be used even if the goods/services received date is June 30, 2023 or earlier.

DEPOSIT PROCEDURES

Effective July 1, 2023, deposits for Revolving accounts will no longer be processed by RCUH. Deposits made on July 1, 2023 or after should be received and recorded by the University of Hawaii. However, we expect that there will be a transition period during which RCUH will continue to receive deposits for Revolving accounts and therefore:

  • Any ACH or EFT deposits received by RCUH on 07/01/23 and after will also be posted to the RCUH Revolving account. The RCUH system does not allow the use of KFS income object codes, so we are not able to post income transactions to the new KFS SRRC account. The RCUH Revolving account will serve as a holding account until the project close-out is completed.
  • Checks made payable to RCUH and received on 07/01/23 and after will be endorsed by RCUH and made payable to UH and returned to the project.

Please refer to AP 8.701, Receipting and Depositing of Funds Received by the University for procedures on receipting, depositing, recording, reconciling, and safeguarding of funds received. In addition, please refer to our earlier announcement posted on May 30, 2023 regarding change of payee to UH.

JOURNAL ENTRIES FOR INTERNAL BILLINGS

Effective July 1, 2023, RCUH Accounting will no longer process journal entries to record internal billings for Revolving account invoices. Revolving account invoices to bill for goods or services provided by one university department to another university department should be processed with a KFS Internal Billing document. Please refer to the UH Internal Billing User Guide on how to process an Internal Billing in KFS.

Service Dates for Online Payments Processed During July 1 to August 31, 2023

The fiscal year-end cutoff for RCUH online payment transactions is 12:00 noon on Friday, June 30, 2023. All online payment transactions processed after Friday, June 30, 2023 through Thursday, August 31, 2023, will require service dates. The service date format is MM/DD/YY.

For payments that will be processed or approved after Monday, July 31, 2023, are $100,000 or greater, and have service dates of June 30, 2023 or earlier, please complete the RCUH AP Worksheet. Please include estimates or projections for invoices that have not been received as of July 31. Please email your worksheet to Staci Saito at [email protected] by Tuesday, August 1, 2023.  If there are no payments to report, please email Staci to report that there are no items by Tuesday, August 1, 2023.

A service date field is provided on all payment forms and is identified with the heading “S/D”. The service date is the date goods are received or services are performed. For certain types of payments including travel completions, petty cash reimbursements, extended services, etc., the service date entered should be the last day of the period covered by the payment. However, if the service period covers multiple fiscal years, please allocate costs in each fiscal year incurred. For example, if the service period is from June 1, 2023 to July 31, 2023, record costs incurred from June 1 to June 30 with a 06/30/23 service date and costs incurred from July 1 to July 31 with a 07/31/23 service date.  

This information is needed to ensure that RCUH liabilities are properly reported as of June 30, 2023. Our auditors, N&K CPAs Inc., will be reviewing selected documents processed during this period as part of their audit procedures. Accordingly, please be advised that we may be requesting copies of payment documents for review.

Please contact Maile Brooks at (808) 956-0508 or [email protected] if you have any questions. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.