If the mobile phone is a tool for research interactions in the
field and is the best and most cost efficient way, then it is
defensible.  There is a lot of resistance to paying regular
office/lab types of telephone costs, but in this case the name
"phone" is what's throwing you.  Yeah, you need to be careful of
personal use, but that's not new.
On my campus I have to struggle to get mobile phones OK'd simply
because they are generally not suppllied to ANY employee of lesser
rank than out Top Dogs (Pres, VP's, etc).  I have some people who
travel extensively in really remote and depressing places who
wanted phones for safety- road hazards, etc.   But if your grant
funded people are all tooling around with car phones and such and
the regular faculty gets snitty about it, then that's an equity/PR
problem.  Like many peopl REALLY need one of these things anyway.
You end up chained to them like yuppies and  their camcorders on
vacation.
Spanky
--------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------
One possible complication is that utility expense (including telephones)
are increasingly being viewed as an indirect cost rather than a direct.
I'm not certain if mobile phone charges themselves are strictly
prohibited (perhaps someone else from the group will have a comment on
this), but if they're not, you will have to thoroughly justify why mobile
phones are required for the grant work and not for personal use or to be
just more available.

-------------------------------------------------
Evelyn J. Ford, Research Administrative Manager
ASRI Neurosciences Research Center
Allegheny Campus, Medical College of Pennsylvania
 and Hahnemann University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  U.S.A.
412.359.4475 voice
412.359.4499 fax
xxxxxx@singer.asri.edu
-------------------------------------------------

On Fri, 28 Apr 1995, Becky H. Patterson wrote:

> I would appreciate your help concerning the purchase and use of mobile
> telephones from federal funds.  I have several biologists that want mobile
> phones to use while doing field work.  I have a cryptic note that says that
> it is prohibited to use grant funds.
>
> Is this true?
>
> Thank you in advance for any info.
>
> Becky
>
> Becky Hayes Patterson
> Administrative Research Assistant
> The University of Southwestern Louisiana
> P.O. Box 43610
> Lafayette, LA  70504-3610
> phone: (318) 482-5811
> Fax:   (318) 482-6195
> e-mail: xxxxxx@usl.edu
>

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Mike McCallister, Ph.D.
Director, Sponsored Programs
Southeast MIssouri State University
One University Plaza
Cape Girardeau, MO  63701
314-651-2196
fax 314-651-2001
xxxxxx@SEMOVM.SEMO.EDU
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Delbert says, "Someday, Baby. Someday, Maybe. Maybe Someday, Baby."