The “administrative” portion of “facilities and administrative costs” has been capped by OMB at 26% since 1991. Which is of course ridiculous, as the administrative burden of keeping in compliance with burgeoning federal regulations has absolutely exploded in the 30-odd years since then.

Michael Spires, M.A., M.S., CRA

Principal Proposal Analyst

Office of Contracts and Grants
Woodbury 401, 572 UCB

University of Colorado Boulder

Boulder, Colorado 80309-0572

O (303) 492-6646

F (303) 492-6421

E xxxxxx@colorado.edu

W www.colorado.edu/ocg

I will be out of the office at a conference Monday through Wednesday, May 8-10, and on vacation Thursday through Wednesday, May 11-17. During this time, I will not be checking work email.

cid:image001.png@01D00961.10A4D520

From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of dougm (Doug Mounce)
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2017 3:27 PM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Indirect rate cuts

Thought I’d play devil’s advocate when I saw that phrase, “administrative burden”. I think the admin portion at my old institution was ~26% and pretty stable over the years, but how much of your rate would you be willing to trade for less administrative burden and what would you cut?

Could we get rid of effort tracking, limits on rebudgeting, and prior approvals? How much would it be worth to dial-back regulatory and IRB oversight, PI training, etc. What would it be like returning to the world where you could charge pencils or admin salary as a direct cost—Pepperidge Farm remembers!

From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of Ratcliffe, Victoria
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2017 8:29 AM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Indirect rate cuts

Here comes Debbie Downer….

We will have less money for research in general then adding reduction in overhead will be overwhelming. I chuckled a bit at the one comment that universities are turning a profit. Ha! We will be expected to do more with even less and less. I would be surprised if they loosen the administrative burden on universities in correspondence with reducing research funding given as much bashing universities take, they seem to want more and more oversight, not less. I would expect to see layoffs (researchers and admins). Universities can look for other sources of funding, but I wonder if that source can make up the major cuts proposed. If your university does a lot of DoD research you may gain some if they increase research defense spending. I guess it we will wait and see. I hope I am wrong.

Sincerely,

Vicky Ratcliffe
540-231-7964 Office
xxxxxx@vt.edu

From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of Megan Roth
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2017 11:12 AM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Indirect rate cuts

I am all for reducing administrative burden. Woohoo!

But this article reflects a gross lack of understanding of what these costs are. The large administrative burden passed onto us by the funding agencies requires substantial administrative efforts to comply. What do they propose we do to cover the costs of complying with their many regulations?

On the other hand, if they reduce burden, what does that do to the value of our jobs? Not sure whether to laugh or cry. . .

Ok, I will stop preaching to the choir now. Ha!

On Mon, Apr 3, 2017 at 8:56 AM, David Hagen <xxxxxx@umn.edu> wrote:

Here is another article on the topic:

https://www.statnews.com/2017/03/31/nih-indirect-costs-universities/

On 4/1/2017 8:51 AM, Chris Thompson wrote:

This is scary.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/trump-wants-2018-nih-cut-come-overhead-payments

Sent from my iPhone

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--

David Hagen

Director

Office of Cost Analysis

University of Minnesota

612-626-9895

====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.healthresearch.org (click on the "LISTSERV" link in the upper right corner) A link directly to helpful tips: http://tinyurl.com/resadm-l-help ======================================================================

Megan Roth, Ph.D.

Director, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

Abilene Christian University

320 Hardin Administration Bldg

ACU Box 29103

Abilene, TX 79699

O: 325-674-2885

F: 325-674-6785

xxxxxx@acu.edu