I have an issue with one of our federal grants on a proposed expense.  The PI has a training at which County School Teachers attended.  The PI cannot pay the teachers a stipend to attend since they attended on a regular workday and this would be double-dipping.  However, the schools had to hire substitutes for the regular teachers who went to the training.  And the PI wants to pay the County Schools the cost of the substitutes and said that it is done on federal awards all the time and has been done by other state higher ed institutions of which she is aware.

I said that this is an unallowable cost because we cannot pay the salary of the substitutes since they did not directly serve the purpose of the grant.  The PI believes that it is allowable because it was written into the proposal and approved by the granting agency (NASA).  I maintain that it is still unallowable per A-21, J.10. which states "Charges to sponsored agreements may include reasonable amounts for activities contributing and intimately related to work under the agreements..." And we have to meet the requirements of the OMB and A-21 to ensure compliance for audit purposes.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?  Just want to clarify if I am on the right track or not.

Thank you,
Sandy Shriver
Office Administrator Sr.
Fairmont State University
1201 Locust Avenue
Fairmont, WV  26554
304-367-4684 (phone)
304-367-4850 (fax)
xxxxxx@fairmontstate.edu

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