If you have any design projects you need completed before the end of the fiscal year (September 30th, 2025), reach out to the Creative Services team (CSO) as soon as possible. As the fiscal year draws to a close, the CSO team at Berkeley Lab faces increasing demand for creative services. Due to limited resources, the team can only accommodate a finite number of end-of-year requests. To ensure your project is completed on time, early planning and communication are essential.
All project requests are reviewed individually to determine whether they can be completed before the fiscal year ends. To maximize your chances of being included in the year-end workflow, please submit your project requests at your earliest convenience. As we approach mid-August through September, availability tightens significantly—by that point, the CSO schedule is largely committed, and accommodating new work becomes very difficult.
No new work requiring completion in FY25 will be accepted after the CSO books close in early September. If your project needs to be completed by the end of the fiscal year, it is critical to account for this cutoff and plan accordingly.
Prebilling for FY25 Projects, Explained
Projects that must be completed by the end of the fiscal year (funding will not carry over to FY26) may be prebilled. This means the estimated hours for the entire project are billed to your Project ID (PID) before the work is completed. CSO will track actual time against these estimated hours. Please keep in mind the following with prebilling:
- I labor hours align with prebilled hours: No further action is required.
- If actual labor hours exceed prebilled hours any additional hours will be billed in FY26. CSO will alert you if labor hours will exceed estimated hours.
- Actual labor hours fall short of prebilled hours:
- Amounts paid to CSO exceeding the actual labor costs are not recoverable by the funder. CSO cannot carry prebilled hours into FY26.
While CSO strives for accurate estimates, it’s not always possible. If excess hours remain and CSO has available resources, it may be possible to apply those hours to another project for completion in FY25.
In summary, the key to successful year-end project completion is proactive communication. The earlier you engage with the CSO team, the better positioned they will be to meet your creative needs before the fiscal year closes.
For more information, guidance, or to submit a project request, please contact the team at creative@lbl.gov.
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