let me just reaffirm what others are saying and what our philosophy is.  our
institution does not as a policy negotiate downward our indirect cost rate
to a non-federal agency for research programs.  it creates problems on two
fronts, the federal agencies could use this to create some sort of sliding
scale for their funding and it does create the impression with your jown
faculty that the federal negotiated IDC rate is excess revenue and can be
given away as enticements for research funding as opposed to a
reimbursement of REAL COSTS.

I would stay away from policies that would give a better deal to
non-federal agencies.
Charlie Tardivo
Director of Grant Administration and Accounting Operations
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
Cambridge  MA  02142
phone: (617) 258-5107
fax:  (617) 258-6294
e-mail: xxxxxx@wi.mit.edu