Just my opinion, but I think a case could be developed for paying for
the phones from the grant IF  the phones are for use in the field and
are exclusively used for project related communications.

We have several grants in which the PIs have purchased 2-way radios
for field communications, I think the purchase or lease price of the
phones would be comparable.

We also have grants in which long distance costs (again mostly
communicating back and forth from field sites, especially data
transmission from these sites).  Our state travel policy recognizes
business related phone expenses (including a limited number of
calls home, if you are away overnight) as legitimate travel expenses
and so we reimburse these to faculty traveling on grants.

Again, I'd say the key is to justify the expenses as direct costs
associated with the project.

 Richard H. Moore
 Assistant Vice President for Grants and Sponsored Research
 and Professor of Biology

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