Here is another late response that I hope still has some interest.

Charlie Tardivo
-------------------------------------------------------------
To: listserv-research admin

Sometimes the best action is no action.  In my previous institution, a
private university, the question came up, was analyzed and a decision was
made to leave it alone.  now this works for some people, but in the event
the question came up in a federal audit, and it did, an answer could be
that the airlines give the frequent flier milage benefits to the
individuals flying, not to organizations.  perhaps a weak justification but
in any event it worked at the time.

I just thought I would share this experience with all of you..

Charlie Tardivo
Director of Grant Administration
and Accounting Operations
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical
Research
_______________________________________________________________________________
From: Research Administration Discussion Group on Wed, Jul 19, 1995 8:30 AM
To: Margo Lucareli; Charlie Tardivo

I haven't been a list member for awhile--switched jobs, moved to another
state and now,
after three months, I'm just getting back to some semblance of "organized".

Everywhere I go, however, I have the same problem--frequent flier miles.
And everywhere I go the argument I get from the travelers themselves
changes.  However, this time
the argument is from a non-traveler and it is this:  A-21 (or A-122) is the
last word in
restrictions on individual cost items, and federal agencies cannot impose
additional
restrictions on grantees.

I say that limiting frequent flier mile usage is not a restriction on an
"individual cost item", so that the FTR (which some of you may be familiar
with as Chapter 10 of AID Handbook 22) which restricts use of frequent
flier
credits earned as a result of travel financed with federal funds is not in
conflict with content or intent of the OMB Circulars mentioned above.

Can anyone help?

Lesley K. Cephas, Subgrants Manager
Institute for Sustainable Communities
Montpelier, VT
e-mail: xxxxxx@TOGETHER.NET