In three decades of university sponsored programs activity I have never
found a need to be on a GSA list.  Those are for companies that offer
services.  We cannot even meet the usual requirements for this -- our
activities are prices, by federal mandate, in % effort, not in hourly rates.

Chuck

At 12:05 PM 7/19/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Good morning,
>
>I was out of the office when Val Kettner's inquiry and Martha Taylor's
>response hit the listserv and it has been buried in my "to do" pile. This
>has been a rather hot topic here lately and I would appreciate some advice.
>
>This office has always maintained that GSA rates (or set labor rates of any
>sort) are inappropriate for a university research setting because our
>mission is teaching and research and we are not a dealer in goods and
>services. Is this naive, unrealistic, behind the times?
>
>My concern is how does use of GSA rates affect our Disclosure Statement, our
>Cost Policy and all our other support documentation verbiage which
>references "actual costs" as well as our status as a public institution?
>There may be no problem at all with this but I just don't know. I realize
>that the Disclosure Statement can be amended if situations change (and has
>never been reviewed and approved to-date anyway).
>
>A Federal contracting officer recently told us that we "better get on the
>GSA list or we will lose out on a lot of money."  My question "is it always
>appropriate for us to go after this money?" was met with surprise, chuckles
>or mild irritation. We seem to be moving more and more into the support
>contractor realm and out of the "research" realm.
>
>OK -- enough philosophy. Is a fixed rate for similar labor types or a GSA
>rate structure appropriate for university research? What are the pitfalls?
>Is there anyone at a university using GSA rates willing to share their
>experience in developing the rates and how they reconciled them (proposing,
>charging, invoicing) within their existing university accounting structure?
>
>As always, thank you.
>
>Val Sequins
>Office of Research Administration
>The University of Alabama in Huntsville
>
>
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Herbert B. Chermside, CRA
Director, Sponsored Programs Administration
Virginia Commonwealth University
PO BOX 980568
Richmond, VA  23298-0568
Express Delivery Only:
 Sanger Hall, Rm. 1-032A
 11th & Marshall Streets
 Richmond, VA  23219
Voice:  804-828-6772
Fax     804-828-2521
OFFICE e-mail   xxxxxx@VCU.EDU
Personal e-mail xxxxxx@vcu.edu
http://views.vcu.edu/ospa/

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 Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including
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 via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists")
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