Our school does not require budgets, but this can be a bit of a problem
in the long run.  When putting awards in the system, how will you know
what is excluded and what is not?  We have tuition that is excluded on
some research projects.  This causes a problem when figuring out the F&A
costs.

Audrey

Senior Contract Administrator, II
Office of Research Services
3451 Walnut Street
Room P221 Franklin
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6289
p) 215 573-6709
f) 215 898-9708, 9707

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On
Behalf Of Keith Williams
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 2:14 PM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Modular Grants

Roberta,

We have just changed the policy at my institution: for a trial period,
we will not require faculty to submit detailed budgets with modular
proposals.  This is the way they wanted to go, so we struck a deal.  The
responsibility for using the correct fringe rates and requesting an
adequate number of modules will rest with the PI/Department.  We are a
small school with a minimal sponsored programs staff, so we divert some
administrative burden to the faculty anyway (or at least we try to) out
of necessity.  Of course, we still offer any assistance they might need
with budget calculations.  At the time of award, we will require a
correct, detailed budget before releasing funds.

In my personal opinion, it is hard to justify requiring something (a
budget) that the agency does not, and, in either scenario, the PI is
ultimately the person who should best know what funds are required for
the proposed science.  As with other "just in time" elements such as
updated Other Support and IRB approval, the PI can supply the budget
once (s)he knows that funding is likely.

>"Roberta C. Nary" wrote:
>
>> We are looking at our current procedure that requires PI's to submit
a line
>> item budget for internal purposes, when submitting a modular grant
>> application. We are contemplating streamlining this process to
eliminate
>> the line item budget request at the time of application, but rather
provide
>> it at the time of the award.  At the time of submission they would be
>> required to provide the modular amount for year 1 and the out years,
>> identify costs that affect the amount of the module, that is if there
is an
>> increase/decrease in the modular request from one year to the next,
and
>> identify costs that affect the F&A calculation.
>>
>> We be interested to hear from both sides, that is, those who do
require an
>> internal budget at the time of application and those who do not
require an
>> internal budget at the time of application.  For those of you who do
not
>> require an internal budget at the time of application,  I would be
>> interested in knowing how it works at your institution.
>>
>> Thank you
>>
>> Roberta C. Nary, CRA
>> Director
>> Office of Sponsored Programs MS 116
>> Brandeis University
>> 781 736/2119
>> 781 736/2123
>>
>>

Keith Williams
Associate Director, Office of
Sponsored Programs
Georgia State University
404-651-4352
xxxxxx@langate.gsu.edu

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