Hi Alison,

This came up for me a few years ago and I posted the question to the listserv and received some great feedback.

If you scroll down to the bottom of my email you’ll see I pasted some of the responses at the bottom,  you can also go to the listserv website and search for the topic “subaward and consultant” and you’ll see more of the responses.     Seems like I was just asking about this yesterday,  I still refer to this info as it comes up quite often.  J

Good Luck!

Andrea

*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Andrea Schmitt

ADCC Administrative Director

and Grants Manager, Banner Research

Banner Sun Health Research Institute

10515 West Santa Fe Dr.

Sun City, AZ  85351

623-832-5628***  (phone)

623-832-5461*** (fax)

xxxxxx@bannerhealth.com

***Please note my new phone #, the phone prefix has changed from 876 to 832

Alison,
That does not pass the smell test.  I saw the same type of thing happen at another institution and it did not end well for the PI or the university.  My advice: don't let them do that. 
Pamela

--------
Pamela Napier
Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
Agnes Scott College
141 East College Avenue
Decatur, GA 30030-3770

email:  xxxxxx@agnesscott.edu
office phone:   404-471-6951

Agnes Scott College educates women to think deeply, live honorably, and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times.

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-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On Behalf Of Cappellucci, James E.
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 4:32 PM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] subaward and consultant

You better be careful. You said that the consultant works at the same

institution but will be getting a fee. This is not above board and could be

looked at by the IRS as the institution trying to avoid paying the payroll

taxes. I do not know of any entities that allow employees to be consultants. I

have also never seen a subcontractor on a grant from the same institution. Just

because they did it that way in the past does not make it right.

________________________________

From: Research Administration List on behalf of Dean Drake

Sent: Tue 9/23/2008 7:04 PM

To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org

Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] subaward and consultant

The other thing to note, is that a consultant normally does not use any of your

institutional resources.  They are an independent entity.  Therefore,

technically, they would need to submit their portion of the proposal themselves.

I would make them justify why they believe this is a consultancy.  I agree this

is suspicious and would be very careful about such an arrangement.  If accepted,

review the consultancy for IP and scope, and make sure the employee understands

their role as a consultant. You should also check to see if your institution has

any policies regarding consultancies and conflict of interest.  I would not

recommend allowing someone to be a consultant for an entity when you have a

sponsored research agreement with the same entity, and the work is being

completed by the group the proposed consultant supervises.

Dean A. Drake

Associate VP RIC

UMBI

Phone 410.385.6330

Fax 410.385.6331

http://www.umbi.umd.edu/home.php

________________________________

From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On Behalf Of

Dolce, Peter J

Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 6:30 PM

To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org

Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] subaward and consultant

A consultant is an individual who provides services for a fee; generally a

consultant doesn't contribute substantially to the design of the project, but

rather performs some limited role.  (There's a formal definition of "Consultant"

in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.)  It's quite possible that the lab head

functions as a full collaborator, for which a consortium arrangement is

appropriate, and the clinic director functions as a consultant. 

That said-I also would be suspicious of this arrangement.   There's a strong

financial incentive for prime awardees to pay persons at other schools as

consultants because the prime thus avoids paying the other institution's F & A

costs that a subaward would incur; and strong financial incentives for persons

at the sub to function as consultants because they receive the money over and

above their regular salary.  Not sure there's much you can do about it if both

the prime and the clinic director claim the relationship is a consulting one. .

. .

PJD

****************************************************************

Peter J. Dolce, Ph.D.

Associate Vice President for Research

Grants Management and Compliance

1005 D. B. Todd Boulevard

Meharry Medical College

Nashville, TN  37208

Phone 615 327 6237

Fax 615 327 6716

________________________________

From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On Behalf Of

Schmitt, Andrea L

Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 4:45 PM

To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org

Subject: [RESADM-L] subaward and consultant

Hi everyone,

we are participating in an R01 re-submission as a subaward.  Last submission

(prior to me working here) one of our Lab Heads was in the budget as a

subcontract,  and our Clinic Director was named as a consultant and listed in

the prime institutions  budget as a consultant.    I was asked to do the same

for the resubmission,  provide them  a budget for the lab head and  they will

include consultant fees for the clinic director.  My gut says both should be

paid under the subaward costs since they are at the same institution.    Am I

right?  why?  or why not? 

Thanks!

Andrea

***PLEASE MAKE NOTE OF NEW EMAIL ADDRESS***

Andrea Schmitt

Grants Administrator

Sun Health Research Institute

10515 West Santa Fe Dr.

Sun City, AZ  85351

623-876-5628

623-876-5461 (fax)

xxxxxx@bannerhealth.com