Marie - I believe you want to look at A-21, section G.8 (excerpted below)

7. Fixed rates for the life of the sponsored agreement.
a. Federal agencies shall use the negotiated rates for F&A costs in effect at the
time of the
initial award throughout the life of the sponsored agreement. "Life" for the purpose
of this
subsection means each competitive segment of a project. A competitive segment is a
period of years approved by the Federal funding agency at the time of the award. If
negotiated rate agreements do not extend through the life of the sponsored agreement
at the time of the initial award, then the negotiated rate for the last year of the
sponsored agreement shall be extended through the end of the life of the sponsored
agreement. Award levels for sponsored agreements may not be adjusted in future years
as a result of changes in negotiated rates.
b. When an educational institution does not have a negotiated rate with the Federal
Government at the time of the award (because the educational institution is a new
grantee or the parties cannot reach agreement on a rate), the provisional rate used
at the time of the award shall be adjusted once a rate is negotiated and approved by
the cognizant agency.

Marie Smith wrote:

> I have a question that I hope someone can help me with.  We have a
> predetermined indirect cost rate decided by NSF, our cognizant agency.  We
> have an onsite rate and an offsite rate which gets blended into an effective
> rate for each award.
>
> My question - Although our approval letter states that the rate(s) should be
> applied to all new awards, our institution (me) recalculates the effective
> rate on all open awards to give each project the benefit of the lower of the
> approved rate or rate in the proposal.  Where can I find the rules stating
> that this is necessary/not necessary?
>
> Thanks for your help.
> Marie
>
> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
> Marie F. Smith, CRA
> Manager of Grants Administration
> Institute of Ecosystem Studies
> PO Box AB, 65 Sharon Turnpike
> Millbrook, NY 12545
> Tel: 845-677-5343
> Direct Line: 845-677-7600 x 202
> FAX: 845-677-5976
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> http://www.ecostudies.org
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--
Jennifer Donais, CRA
Associate Director
Office of Grant & Contract Administration
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003
(413) 545-5888 FAX (413) 577-1595
http://www.umass.edu/research/ogca

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