Fixed Price Contracts Report Barbara Gray 29 Oct 1996 09:29 EST
Several weeks ago, I asked some questions about fixed price contracts. The first was aimed at schools with short-form negotiated IDC rates (salary only or salary plus fringe base). I asked how IDC is recovered by the school when the PI rebudgets dollars out of salary and fringe after the award is made. Of the five institutions that responded to this question via RESADM, three take the indirect costs off the top. One makes the PI return any share of his IDC and then the Dean's share (he gets to tell the Dean why) to make up the IDC "deficit" for the institution. One long-form school responded that it has internally approved a 25% TDC rate for all fixed price contracts. (Their normal rate is 45% MTDC, but they justify the 25% TDC rate by the reduced administrative work for Finance and Accounting in managing a fixed price contract as opposed to a cost reimbursement grant.) Another larger institution reported that a 20% TDC rate on fixed price contracts seemed to the the "usual." My second question was about funds remaining after all the deliverables have been met. I wanted to know if there was a threshold amount at which we should be concerned. Few responses addressed this specific question. One response indicated that, as long as we have good back-up for how we arrived at the price quote and the sponsor accepted, then a "remainder" is not a problem. Another respondent indicated, however, the we should watch for any individuals who have a pattern of over-pricing (consistently more than 10-12% of funds remaining) to build up a "slush" fund. Finally, a third respondent cautioned about governmental fair pricing standards. That particular school will allow the PI to keep a maximum of 10% of the total award as a remainder and then returns the rest of the residual to the sponsor. Regarding how to manage these residual funds, the concensus is to, after a period of time when the institution is sure the sponsor is satisfied and all financial transactions are completed, move residual funds to an unrestricted account(s). Some institutions keep all the funds in one account and use these to cover future overruns on other projects. Other institutions set up individual residual accounts for PIs as an incentive to be efficient. Still others set up Department Chairs' residual accounts, primarily, it seems, to avoid the problem of managing many small individual PI accounts. One institution reported that it takes any "due but unpaid" indirect cost from the residual first before moving any funds to the unrestricted PI account. The same kinds of considerations seem to apply to residual funds as to the issue of sharing indirect cost returns with investigators. Within reasonable limits, residual funds can be an incentive to bringing in sponsored projects and can help the PI who doesn't get all the support he/she needs for everyday expenses from the institution. Thanks to everyone who responded. This information will help me present some good alternatives to our Business Affairs people so that we can come up with our own policy and procedures. Barbara H. Gray Telephone: 803-953-5673 Director of Sponsored Programs FAX: 803-953-6577 University of Charleston, SC e-mail: xxxxxx@cofc.edu Charleston, South Carolina 29424