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Re: F&A rates for field work Matthew E. Clark 19 May 1999 11:59 EST

Michael,

Syracuse University raised a similar issue a couple of months ago and
the limited listserv response was decidedly in favor of the 50% rule.
The most common practice of the respondents is that when the negotiated
rate agreement does not establish a definition of "off-campus", then 50%
of the effort must be off-campus in order to use such rates.

At one university, the Research Administrator is supposed to analyze the
proposal budget to determine whether 50% of salaries and/or other direct
costs are for off-campus expenses.  (The problem with that, as other
institutions noted, is that it is very often impossible to determine
actual location of expenses until the end of the project.)

One university actually has a grant from the National Institute on Aging
that has more than one F&A rate.  The two rates were part of the
proposal budget.

Two responding institutions rely on the DHHS recommendations that tell
us to look for 50% effort off-campus, evidenced by rental costs for
facilities not owned by the university, which costs are directly
allocated to the project.

One other university has a calculation that is so convoluted that the
administrators are hesitant to put the policy in writing.

One test that I use when the issue is still fuzzy is "where does the
researcher do his/her THINKING?  on or off campus?  in the field
collecting data or in the lab analyzing it?

Hope this helps.

-Matt

Warnock, Michael J. wrote:
>
> Friends,
>
> I need to make a decision on appropriate F&A rates for a proposal given the
> following scenario, and I would appreciate your feedback:
> A researcher (plant systematics) is proposing a project (2 years) in which
> he will spend a considerable amount of time (aggregate 5 months in periods
> as long as 2 months and as short as 2 days) in the field collecting
> specimens and data.  These specimens and data are brought back to campus and
> worked with in the laboratory.
> What is the appropriate F&A rate to charge for the field expenses?  Should
> it be the on-campus rate (since the work is based on campus and the trip
> planning and analyses are done on campus), or should it be the off-campus
> rate?
>
> If the off-campus rate is deemed appropriate, how does this differ from the
> situation where a researcher travels to a meeting for a week, and presents a
> paper on their research?  Would this activity also fall under the off-campus
> rate?
>
> I understand that under the federal guidance, we must properly apportion
> rates between on and off campus activities, even within a single project,
> but I am not certain where to draw the line.  I am interested in any
> references to a regulation pertaining to this issue, institutional policies
> that you may have developed, or opinions that you may wish to convey.
>
> Thank you for any and all responses.
>
> Michael J. Warnock, Director
> Sponsored Program Administration
> University of Missouri - Columbia
> 310 Jesse Hall
> Columbia, MO  65211
> ph. 573-882-4329       fax 573-884-4078
>
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