When I dealt with this issue on a NSF award, I only allowed food expenses that were an integral part of the activity.  Even then, I required the PI to provide justification for the need to provide food at the activity, regardless of who was attending and consuming the refreshments/food.

However, it has now been over a year since I've managed a NSF award, and they may have tightened up a bit on this policy since then.  If it was included in the proposed and approved budget and you receive a justification from the PI regarding the need for refreshments, you may be okay.  Not saying that you should  allow it, even under these conditions, because auditors can still disallow this cost regardless of an approval from the funding agency.

With that said, I don't think I really offered a solution, but, rather, something to think about.  I think each institution makes its own call on situations such as these, depending on what level of risk it is willing to take.

Kristy:)

Kristy Ford
Grant Management Manager
Financial Reporting Administration
Memorial University Medical Center
Savannah, GA  31404
(912)350-6379

>>> "Schier-Happell, Suzanne E" <xxxxxx@OTTERBEIN.EDU> 8/12/2008 1:46 PM >>>
Good afternoon, everyone!

Does anyone have any experience in dealing with NSF's policy on food as
an unallowable expense? The exact wording from NSF's Grant Proposal
Guide is:

"No NSF funds may be spent on meals or coffee breaks for intramural
meetings of an organization or any of its components, including, but not
limited to, laboratories, departments, and centers."

Do you take this to mean that food is never to be paid for with grant
funds if the meal is on campus and for campus consumption? One of our
PI's has written an orientation into her budget for student recipients
of grant-funded scholarships, and some of the orientation cost is for
food to feed the students attending the orientation. Since it's
on-campus for members of the college community, does that make this an
unallowable cost? Or would/could this fit into a category outside of
what NSF's policy describes?

I would appreciate your opinions, interpretations, or anecdotal
experiences with this particular policy.

Thank you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suzanne Happell

Assistant Director of Sponsored Programs

Otterbein College

xxxxxx@otterbein.edu

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