Summary of replies to my question earlier this week:

>I have some questions about budgets that include volunteer time of the PI
>(summer salary "earned" but not requested) as part of the required match on
>a federal grant.

>Is this a common practice?

It's not a "common" practice but a number of institutions do it on a
regular basis.  One senior colleague provided A-110 citations to support
the allowability.  Institutions using this type of volunteer time to meet
cost share range from small state universities and liberal arts colleges to
large research universities.  Good advice:  "I would make sure that all of
this is plainly spelled out in your proposal budget; consequently, if it is
accepted, then you should consider that the agency has accepted the cost
share as well."  We checked with our auditing firm who also agreed that
this is an allowable practice.  Some administrators responding do NOT do
this because of concerns that such match would be disallowed by auditors or
hard to document.

>Can the institution claim the indirect costs (to which we would have been
>>entitled had that person been paid) as an "in-kind" match?

Most (but not all) institutions claiming volunteer time (of their faculty
members who would be entitled to "summer salary") also claim the related
indirect costs as an in-kind match (using the negotiated IDC rate applied
to the volunteered salary to determine the value of the match).  Those
doing it consider these to be "unrecovered indirect costs" (allowed by
A-110) because there are indirect costs associated with the volunteer work
being performed.  The auditing firm advised that the IDC claimed for
off-campus research should be calculated using an off-campus rate
(negotiated or determined for that project).

>Is the same time and effort reporting system used for paid summer salary
>sufficient documentation for auditors?
>
The general consensus of all respondents is "YES".

Thanks to everyone who took time to reply to this question.

Frances Vinal Farnsworth
Coordinator of Sponsored Research
Grants Office - Forest Hall
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT  05753

Tel:  802-443-5889
Fax:  802-443-2083
email:  xxxxxx@mail.middlebury.edu