The "more than 50% performed off-campus" clause is common.  But how do you
measure it?  The institution should have a written standard for the
measure.  In my experience, it appears most equitable to use Personnel
Costs as the measure -- how much is spent for personnel off- or
on-campus.  This measure eliminates variances caused by equipment, supply
and contractual costs, which vary greatly depending on the nature of the
research activity.  It also removes sub-awards from consideration, which is
proper because the F&A related to subawards is completely unrelated to the
institution's own research efforts.

You should also consider how to define "field research", such as a
biologist's time in the field gathering samples, or a social scientist's
time away from the institution making surveys or observations.  This is a
wee bit muddy, and somewhat dependent on the nature of research the
institution conducts, but thinking it through and documenting it is
important.  It is obvious that a year spent in Wayoffistan on an
archeological dig is off-campus, while three days on the river collecting
fish for laboratory examination is mere field work and not deserving
off-campus consideration.  The grey area is in the middle.  Sometimes you
are lucky and you have separate awards for the field activity and for the
analysis in the home labs.  Other times it is pretty much a judgement
call.  So having some written guidelines  aids in making these judgements
consistently and equitably for projects across varying disciplines.

In setting your guidelines, remember that on-campus F&A includes use of the
institution's facilities, while off-campus does not.

And, separately, look at your F&A agreement.  For some there is an added
caveat that "off-campus" definition includes that the project have
rent/access directly allocated to the project.  Note that
"directly allocated to the project" means the entire project, not just the
federally funded part, so rent/access can be provided by a third party.

Chuck

At 09:32 AM 8/12/2004, you wrote:
>Check your rate agreement for the definition of Off-campus.  Mine states
>"Grants or contracts will not be subject to more than one F&A cost rate",
>and "If more than 50% of a project is performed off-campus, the off-campus
>rate will apply to the entire project".
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Susan Anderson Rivaleau [mailto:xxxxxx@COFC.EDU]
>Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 6:03 PM
>To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
>Subject: [RESADM-L] indirect costs
>
>Hello, all,
>
>We are preparing a three-year NSF proposal that involves archeological work
>overseas.  The PI will spend the bulk of his time on the grant off-campus at
>the "dig,"  (particularly in Years 2 and 3).  The PI calculated the budget
>using our on-campus indirect rate applied to the portion related to the work
>that will be conducted on campus, and our off-campus rate applied to the
>rest.  We do not split indirect rates within a budget year or over a
>multi-year project, but are curious how other institutions might handle
>something like this.
>
>Thank you in advance for any thoughts or observations, Susan Anderson
>
>--
>Susan Anderson
>
>Assistant Director
>Office of Research & Grants Administration
>66 George Street
>Charleston, South Carolina 29424
>843-953-4973 (voice)
>843-953-6577 (fax)
>xxxxxx@CofC.edu
>http://www.orga.cofc.edu/
>
>
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Herbert B. Chermside, CRA
Special Asst. to VP-Research
Virginia Commonwealth University
PO BOX 980568
Richmond, VA  23298-0568
Voice:  804-827-6036
Fax     804-828-2051
e-mail xxxxxx@vcu.edu

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