Transcript Non-NIH Budgets

How to Create a Proposal
Budget/ Fiscal Rules for
Administrators
Overview
• Part 1: Challenges, Strategies, and
Resources
• Part 2: Preparing Budgets for NIH
Grant Proposals
• Part 3: Non-NIH Budgets: Tips and
Tools
Budget Preparation: The
Challenges
• “This needs to go out this afternoon…”
• “I did a budget, just have Dr. Smith sign off…”
• “I’ve just added a few things to the research
design…”
• “Just pad the numbers, they’ll cut it anyway…”
• “I know we can’t include this in the budget, see if
you can hide the cost…”
• “I know this is $1M of work, but the budget limit
is $500K. Make it work…”
Budget Preparation: The Issues
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Allowable Costs
Salary and Effort
Fringe Benefits
Subcontracts and Consultants
Other Direct Costs
Justification
Calculating F&A
Allowable Costs
• Vary from funder to funder, and even from RFA to RFA
• Always, always, ALWAYS read the RFA and other
funding guidelines
• Generally, costs must be specific to the project, but not
all project-specific costs may be allowed
– Salary
– Equipment
– Supplies
• When in doubt, contact the funder’s project officer
Salary and Effort
• MUCH more complex than it first appears
• 10% of what?
– University?
– Practice Plan?
– Summer?
– Outside activities?
• How many hours per week?
• What is included in Institutional Base Salary?
• Administrative support may not be allowable
Fringe Benefits
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May or may not be limited by funder
Check RFA
May vary by type of position
Likely to vary over time
Check with your Office for Sponsored
Programs on your institution’s policies
Subcontracts and Consultants
• May or may not be allowable; check RFA
• Generally, subcontracts are with institutions,
consulting agreements are with individuals
• If someone is using institutional resources to
work on the project, it should probably be a
subcontract
• Always get detailed letter of agreement from
individual consultants and signed, approved
budgets from institutions when there are
subcontracts
• Some PI’s like to game the system, so be careful
Other Direct Costs
• Repeat after me: check the RFA for
allowable costs!
• Be specific and detailed
• Equipment purchased for the project
should be project-specific and usually
purchased early in the project period
• General office supplies often excluded
The Budget Justification
• Your chance to explain project costs
• Often do not have page limits
• Fully explain role of all Personnel and how
salary charges were calculated
• Identify and explain any cost-sharing
• Your opportunity to answer questions funder
may have about your costs and calculations
• NOT a pro forma exercise; use this to your
advantage
Calculating F&A
• Often varies by funder type
• Not all project costs may be included in
the calculation (e.g. equipment often
excluded)
• Some funders, especially private
foundations, won’t pay any F&A
• Institutions often require written policy
from funder regarding what F&A can be
charged
• Work with your office for research
Budget Preparation: Strategies
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READ THE INSTRUCTIONS
Talk with project officers
Ask faculty ahead of major deadlines
Start early
Communicate deadlines
Train new faculty from the start
Figure out what they really want, and find
a legal way to do it
Resources
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Your Office of Sponsored Programs
Sponsor Project Officers
Colleagues (find a mentor)
Funded proposals from same sponsor
Professional Associations (NCURA, SRA,
AIM)
Preparing Budgets for NIH
Grant Proposals
• Determine appropriate budget component – refer
to the guidelines in the program announcement
– Modular if requesting up $250,000 in annual direct
costs (excluding consortium F&A). Use the SF424
Modular Budget Component for electronic applications
– Detail budget required if direct costs are over
$250,000. Use the SF424Research & Related Budget
for electronic and PHS 398 Form Pages 4 & 5 for
paper.
– Annual direct cost over $500k per year needs advance
approval from IC program staff six weeks prior to
submitting application
• Building the Budget
– Do a detail budget on spreadsheet regardless of the
budget component required in the program
announcement, modular vs. detailed. This is your
planning devise. If submitting a modular you will get
you an idea how many $25k modules to request each
year.
– Create a template to use in building each of your
proposal budgets for consistency. This can be used by
the Principle Investigators or grant administrator.
– Subcontracts – If there are going to be any
subcontracts in the proposal have the cooperating
institution send you a detailed budget and justification.
This should be approved by the PI and will be needed
first before you can start to work on the main budget.
Salaries and Fringe Benefits – These will
generally be the largest component of you
budget costs.
• Verify annual salaries of personnel
• Identify key personnel
• For staff with salaries over the current NIH cap,
enter the NIH cap amount only
• Be sure fringe rates are correct and current
• All effort should be in calendar months not
percentages.
• Annual inflationary increase of 3% is no
longer allowable with the NIH (NOT-OD-12-036).
Non Personnel Costs to consider
• Consultants – need letter of support from person
who will be doing the consulting & how much they
will charge for their services
• Equipment – description of equipment to be
purchased and how it will benefit the project.
Generally requested in the first year.
• Supplies – PI should be able to give you an
estimate of costs and what supplies will be used
• Travel – how many conferences will be attended
and by how many people with estimated airfare,
hotel and meal costs
• Patient Care Costs
• Animal Costs
• Other Expenses
• Consortium/Contractual – will be obtained from
any of the cooperating institutions
• Overhead Base Direct Costs – this will include the
total of all direct costs less any items that are
excluded from overhead (generally things like
equipment and patient care)
• Indirect Costs – based on the rate determined by
the appropriate governmental agency. Multiply the
overhead base direct costs by this rate to
determine you indirect cost.
• Budget Justifications – On modular
budgets justify all personnel and include
their roles on the project and effort in
calendar months. List any consortiums
with personnel and estimated annual cost,
direct and indirect. On detail budgets
justify all other costs.
Non-NIH Budgets
Tips & Tools
There are Other
Sponsors Out There
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National Science Foundation (NSF)
Department of Energy (DOE)
Department of Defense (DoD)
American Cancer Society (ACS)
Industry
Private Foundations
etc…
National Science Foundation
• The funding source for approximately 20 percent
of all federally supported basic research
conducted by America's colleges and
universities.
• Issue about 10,000 new awards per year, with
an average duration of three years
• In many fields such as mathematics, computer
science and the social sciences, NSF is the
major source of federal backing.
Other sponsors vs. the NIH
• The proposal deadlines and project start dates can be
variable throughout the year.
• The period of the award may be more variable (ie. 1
year, 18 months, 3 years, 5 years).
• There is not always a set upper limit on funding, but
instead can be a range (ie. $150K - $300K per year).
• The PI may have some flexibility in determining the # of
years and the amount of funding to request.
• There is typically a detailed budget required (not
modular).
Step 1 in preparing a budget
• Read the solicitation/announcement!!
– What is the deadline for submission (including the
time)?
– How many years of funding may be requested?
– Is there an upper limit for funding, or a range?
– Are there specific budget restrictions? (ie. no faculty
salary allowed, no F & A or reduced F & A rate)
– Is cost sharing required?
– Is re-budgeting among categories allowed after the
award is made (for non-FDP awards)?
Example of the Importance of
Reading the Solicitation
• PI sends research administrator (RA) an e-mail
asking for a budget for an NSF proposal. He
wants 0.5 month of PI summer salary, a portion
of a post doc and supplies, for a total of $45K.
• RA reads the solicitation and realizes that the
only allowable expense is travel.
• Fortunately the RA read the solicitation before
spending valuable time preparing a budget, and
the PI was able to modify his proposal and still
submit by the deadline.
Step 2: Gather necessary Information Basic Components of a Budget
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Salary
Fringe Benefits
Equipment
Travel
Materials & Supplies (consumable)
Subcontracts
Consultants
Other (ie. tuition, services, facility
usage fees)
• Indirect Costs (F & A)
Step 3: Prepare Basic Budget
Using a Template
• Create an Excel template that can be used
to create basic budgets.
• Don’t worry about accounting for every
possible circumstance; you can always
modify the template later as needed on a
case by case basis.
• See example of templates at TUC Grants
Libguide
Budget Tips
• If you are supporting a graduate student’s
salary/stipend, remember to include any
corresponding tuition in the budget
• For salaries, include a cost of living increase for
subsequent years
• Remember to exclude some budget items from
the modified total direct cost base when
calculating F & A (ie. capital equipment, tuition,
subcontracts after the first $25K, NSF participant
support costs)
Keep Post-award Issues in Mind
When Preparing a Budget
• Effort Reporting – is there anything unusual in
the proposal that will affect the way effort is
reported? Make sure effort commitments are
very clear at the proposal stage.
• Is re-budgeting allowed? Make sure that the
budget is realistic and appropriate.
• For NSF awards, remember that participant
support costs (PSC) cannot be re-budgeted
without prior approval from the sponsor (even for
FDP awards). Make sure that the PSC budget is
reasonable.