Transcript Slide 1

Chris Beynon (DRI)
Research Projects – Budget Preparation
Chris Beynon
External Funding Officer
Department of Research and Innovation
Agenda
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Overview
Costing Models
Directly Incurred Costs
Non-FEC Model & Example
fEC Model
Example – FEC Costing
Résumé
Q&A
Research Support Office (RSO)
• The RSO provides support, advice and guidance
to all University staff
• Each School has a designated Pre-Award and
Post-Award Officer
• Pre-Award supports activities up to the point of
award (including contractual negotiation)
• Post-Award provides support in the financial
management of grants
Project cost vs price
• Cost – cost to the University of all the resources
needed to complete the project
• Price – amount actually paid by the funder
Terminology
• Direct Costs – costs attributable to the project, which may be:
Directly incurred – new costs which would not be
incurred if the project did not go ahead e.g. research
assistant salary, equipment, consumables
OR
Directly allocated - costs that can be estimated to
projects e.g. Principal investigator time, general technical
assistance.
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• Indirect Costs – costs which cannot be identified precisely for
each research project, including items such as library, central
services and departmental administration. Without this
infrastructure research could not go ahead
Overview – Costing Models
• A research proposal will usually contain basic financial
costs which may be defined under several major
categories, depending on the cost model employed by
the Funder
• The common models are based on
Full Economic Costs (fEC) i.e. true cost to University
New Costs plus overheads as a % of salaries
(standard pre September 2005)
Overview – Costing Models
• Definition of fEC
“A price which, if recovered across an institution’s full
programme, would recover the total cost (direct, indirect and
total overhead) of the institution, including an adequate
recurring investment in the institution’s infrastructure”
• Introduced September 2005 for UK Research Council
applications
• Now in use for some schemes offered by other funders, e.g.
the Department of Health, British Academy
Overview – Costing Models
• Research Councils – will pay 80% of fEC (rest from Quality
Research (QR) and institution’s own funds)
• Government Departments – per HM Treasury “should expect to
pay 100% of FEC for research commissioned from universities”
• Charities – will continue to only pay directly incurred costs,
therefore ensure any costs that can be classed as direct costs are
included.
• Industry – pricing is market-based not cost-based but introduction
of fEC should exert upward pressure on pricing and cost recovery
as institutions start to understand full costs
• EU framework (FP7) – complex new model introduced with
interim 60% overheads and 75% intervention rate (essential to
consult DRI for budget preparation)
fEC Model - Objectives for fEC
Universities to achieve sustainability by:•
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Establishing and recognising the fEC of activities
Securing better prices
Improving project management and cost recovery
Investing in the institutional infrastructure
Managing activity strategically - increased emphasis on
management and teaching portfolios
Overview
• Always read the Funder’s Terms and Conditions in
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Website
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Scheme Guidance Notes
• Check
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The Funder’s Priorities
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Principal Investigator (PI) Eligibility Rules
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Allowable Costs
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Submission Route
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Deadline
Directly Incurred Costs (DI) – fEC & non-fEC
Directly incurred Costs are new costs specific to the
project and include:
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Salaries of Staff employed on Project
Equipment
Travel & Subsistence
Other Costs (e.g. consumables, recruitment,
PC/laptops, sub-contractors)
Directly Incurred Costs – Staff Salaries
• To prepare estimate of staff costs with Sirius Cost
Calculator
(http://www.siriusweb.leeds.ac.uk/offerSub.asp):
• Start & End Date of Employment
• % Full Time Employment
• Grade/Spine Point
• Classification e.g. Academic, APM , Technical
Directly Incurred Costs – Research Assistant Salary
Costing type
Institution
Staff category
Swansea Pay Scales
Salary scale
Spinal point:
Salary
London allowance
FTE
Additional allowances
Pension
Start Date
End Date
Pay Award Date
01/08/2010 onwards
Financial year
Apr 2011 To Mar 2012
Apr 2012 To Mar 2013
Overall Total:
Standard Costing
Swansea
Increment Date
01/10/2011
Promotion date
N/A
New scale
N/A
Swansea Grade 7 New point
N/A
Point 28
New salary
N/A
£28,139.00 Calculation method
£0.00 Standard (include increments+inflation)
100% Use discretionary points
Yes,
£0.00 Financial year end
March
USS
Cost percentage
100%
01/04/2011
31/03/2013
Percentage
3
Salary Cost
£30,011
£31,838
Threshold
0
Pension Cost
£4,802
£5,094
Pay Award Date Percentage Threshold
NI Cost
£2,308
£2,614
Total
£37,120
£39,547
£76,667
Directly Incurred Costs – Technician Salary
Costing type
Institution
Staff category
Swansea Pay Scales
Salary scale
Spinal point:
Salary
London allowance
FTE
Additional allowances
Pension
Start Date
End Date
Pay Award Date
01/08/2010 onwards
Financial year
Apr 2011 To Mar 2012
Apr 2012 To Mar 2013
Overall Total:
Standard Costing
Swansea
Increment Date
01/08/2012
Promotion date
N/A
New scale
N/A
Swansea Grade 4 New point
N/A
Point 13
New salary
N/A
£18,117.00 Calculation method
£0.00 Standard (include increments+inflation)
100% Use discretionary points
No,
£0.00 Financial year end
March
UWS
Cost percentage
60%
01/04/2011
31/03/2013
Percentage
3
Salary Cost
£11,420
£11,993
Threshold
0
Pension Cost
£2,113
£2,219
Pay Award Date Percentage Threshold
NI Cost
£753
£850
Total
£14,286
£15,062
£29,348
Directly Incurred Costs – Non Salary Costs
• Equipment – purchase, VAT, installation and set-up,
maintenance contract and insurance
• (Quotations may be required - refer to University Finance
Department’s Procurement Website and Funder’s Guidelines)
• Travel and Subsistence – essential research project meetings,
conferences directly relevant to project
• Consumables, including laboratory reagents; software
licences; essential specialist publications; recruitment costs
• Replacement Teaching Costs; essential Staff Training &
Development costs
• Project studentship fees and stipends
Non fEC Model – Indirect costs
• Sometimes known as overheads
• Refers to costs of room space, heat, light, water, University
and School administration, such as library and computing
facilities, departmental secretarial and technical services
• Overhead costs are NOT met by Charities
• Typically overheads may be charged as a % of total staff costs
• Consult Funder’s Terms and Conditions for eligibility and
maximum overhead rate
Non fEC Model – Example
Research Project Application:
non-fEC model
salaries with increments & inflation
Project Title: Development of a ................
Principal Investigator: G Smith
Duration:
01/04/2011 to 31/03/2013
SALARIES
Grade
Researcher, TBA 24 months @100%
FTE
Technician/clerical, TBA 24 months @
60% FTE
7
Spine
Point
28
4
13
TOTAL SALARY COST
CONSUMABLES *
Cost (£)
76,667.00
29,348.00
106,015.00
*to be itemised
28,000.00
TRAVEL & SUBSISTENCE
Project meetings
Conference attendance (PI and RA) - year 2
TOTAL TRAVEL & SUBSISTENCE
350.00
680.00
1,030.00
EQUIPMENT OVER £3,000
4,500.00
* quotations may be required
OTHER COSTS
RA external training course
Laptop (RA)
Recruitment costs
Publication charges
TOTAL OTHER COSTS
450.00
600.00
800.00
300.00
2,150.00
GRAND TOTAL DIRECTLY INCURRED COSTS
141,695.00
Overheads @ 25% staff costs
check funder's guidance for eligibility and ovehead
rate)
26,503.75
TOTAL FUNDING REQUESTED
168,198.75
fEC Model – Cost Headings
Costs are broken down according to four fund
headings:
DIRECTLY INCURRED
DIRECTLY ALLOCATED
INDIRECT COSTS
EXCEPTIONS
Note: Only academic and research staff draw down fEC costs
fEC Model – Directly Allocated Costs
•
NB: Use the fEC Cost Calculator on DRI website for Swansea University costs
•
Collaborative projects - partner HEIs to provide their fEC calculation
•
Investigators’ Costs (PI and Co-I)
 Estimate of time spent on project
 Based on 100% FTE = 1650 hours/annum (44 weeks @37.5
hours/week)
 Principal Investigator (PI) & Co-Investigators (Co-I)
 Use of salary bands (e.g. Professor, Senior Lecturer, Lecturer 9,
Lecturer 8)
fEC Model –Directly Allocated Costs (DA)
• NB: fEC Cost Calculator automatically calculates costs from total
investigator/researcher time on the project
• Estates charges
Standard costs based on predominant departmental usage
(Lab/Classroom)
Charge will be per FTE for academic & research staff only
• Infrastructure technician – Lab-based Schools only
• Other DA costs are already factored into the Swansea rates, e.g.
use of most major research facilities & pool staff
• Charge out rates for two major facilities – CSAR and
nanotechnology centre & one small facility
fEC Model – Indirect Costs
• NB: fEC Cost Calculator automatically calculates this cost
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Library services / learning resources
Clerical/ secretarial
Departmental services
Central & distributed computing
Cost of capital employed
fEC Model – Exceptions
• Equipment - New purchases of equipment remains a
directly incurred cost. The Research Councils will fund
up to £50K of equipment purchased on a project at
80%, and the remainder at 100%.
• Project Students – Student stipends and tuition fees
will be funded at 100%
fEC Model – Preparing the costs
• Two online forms are available to help with costing your
proposal:
• Sirius (DI staff salaries)
• fEC Cost Calculator (Investigator, estates and indirect costs)
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/research_innovation/ResearchandProjectSuppo
rt/Pre-award/ApplicationResources/
• For UK Research Council applications, obtain a registered
account (see Research Councils UK http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/ and
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/je-s/ )
fEC Costing Form for Investigators, Estates and Indirect Costs
(for proposals between 1st February 2010 - 31st January 2011)
Contract Start Date:
01/04/2011
Duration (months):
Contract Lab-based (Y/N):
24 Months
Key
Complete & transfer to application form
Complete
Transfer to application form
Calculated on application form
Do not complete
y
Contract Title :
G Smith; Development of a .....................
Duration
Months
Name
% of time
Total no. of
hours
charged
to the grant
Cost
Estimate
FTE for Estates
costs
FTE for Indirect
costs
FTE for
Technician infra
costs
Salary Band
Salary
Rate
FTE for
project life
330 hrs
Professorial
£83,089
0.20
£16,618
0.20 fte
0.20 fte
0.20 fte
165 hrs
0 hrs
0 hrs
0 hrs
0 hrs
0 hrs
0 hrs
0 hrs
Lecturer 9
£52,570
0.10
-
£5,257
0.10 fte
0.10 fte
0.10 fte
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
2.00 fte
2.00 fte
2.00 fte
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
2.30 fte
£12,139
2.30 fte
£34,081
2.30 fte
£939
(based on 1650
hrs p.a.)
1
Principal Investigator
G Smith
1
Co-Investigator/s
A Jones
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Investigators Sub-Total
£21,875
Researcher/Co-Investigator, Research Officer (do not include Technicians)
RA TBA
24 months
100.0 %
Calculated
0 months
0.0 %
Calculated
3
0 months
0.0 %
Calculated
4
0 months
0.0 %
Calculated
5
0 months
0.0 %
Calculated
6
0 months
0.0 %
Calculated
7
0 months
0.0 %
Calculated
8
0 months
0.0 %
Calculated
9
0 months
0.0 %
Calculated
10
0 months
0.0 %
Calculated
11
0 months
0.0 %
Calculated
12
0 months
0.0 %
Calculated
1
2
Technicians
Pool technicians
0 hrs
using
using
using
using
using
using
using
using
using
using
using
using
Sirius webpage
Sirius webpage
Sirius webpage
Sirius webpage
Sirius webpage
Sirius webpage
Sirius webpage
Sirius webpage
Sirius webpage
Sirius webpage
Sirius webpage
Sirius webpage
2.00
-
£21.64
-
Click here for information concerning Technicians
Note:
Laboratory - estates £ 12,139
Classroom - estates £ 6,181
Indirect
£ 34,081
Lecturer 8
Lecturer 9
Senior Lecturer
Honorary
Professorial
Clinical - Lecturer
Clinical - Consultant
£ 40,426
£ 52,570
£ 64,572
£
£ 83,089
£ 45,100
£ 118,776
Technician
£
939
Total project fte
Rate
Charge
£21,875
£27,920
£78,386
£2,160
Example fEC costing – Research Councils
Research Project Application
fEC model
Research Council (salaries with increments but not inflation)
Project Title: Development of a ...................
Principal Investigator: G Smith
Duration: 01/04/2011 to 31/03/2013
SALARIES
Grade
Spine Point
Researcher, TBA 24 months @100% FTE
7
28
71,795.00
80
57,436.00
Technician, TBA 24 months @ 60% FTE
4
13
27,470.00
80
21,976.00
99,265.00
80
79,412.00
28,000.00
80
22,400.00
TRAVEL & SUBSISTENCE
Project meetings
Conference (annual)
TOTAL TRAVEL & SUBSISTENCE
350.00
680.00
1,030.00
80
80
80
280.00
544.00
824.00
EQUIPMENT £3,000 - £50,000
Balance over £50,000
4,500.00
0.00
80
100
3,600.00
0.00
OTHER COSTS
RA external training course
Laptop (RA)
Recruitment costs
Publication charges
TOTAL OTHER COSTS
450.00
600.00
800.00
300.00
2,150.00
80
80
80
80
80
360.00
480.00
640.00
240.00
1,720.00
TOTAL SALARY COST
CONSUMABLES *
*itemise
GRAND TOTAL DIRECTLY INCURRED COSTS
100% Cost (£) RC %
RC funding
134,945.00
fEC costs (from fEC calculator)
Directly allocated PI & Co-I
Estates
Indirect
Infrsatructure technician
21,875.00
27,920.00
78,386.00
2,160.00
TOTAL FUNDING REQUESTED
265,286.00
107,956.00
80
80
80
80
17,500.00
22,336.00
62,708.80
1,728.00
212,228.80
Scheme:
Standard
Project Title:
Test 4
Organisation:
Swansea
University
Department:
Summary fund Fund heading
heading
Directly Incurred Staff
Full economic
cost
99,265.00
RC contribution
School of the
Environment and
Society
% RC contribution
79,412.00
80
1,030.00
824.00
80
4,500.00
30,150.00
134,945.00
3,600.00
24,120.00
107,956.00
80
80
Investigators
21,874.80
17,499.84
80
Estates Costs
Other Directly
Allocated
Sub-total
27,920.00
2,160.00
22,336.00
1,728.00
80
80
51,954.80
41,563.84
Indirect Costs
Indirect Costs
78,386.00
62,708.80
80
Exceptions
Staff
Other Costs
Sub-total
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
100
100
265,285.80
212,228.64
Travel &
Subsistence
Equipment
Other Costs
Sub-total
Directly
Allocated
Total
Staff type
Months
Investigator
3.75
Researcher
Technician
24
14.5
Other
0
Visiting Researcher
0
Student
Total
0
42.25
Résumé – Points to remember
• Check Funder’s guidelines for eligible costs
• Directly Incurred Costs (DI) to the Project are calculated in
the same way for each model
• For non-fEC applications, estimate overheads if allowable
• For fEC applications, estimate PI and Co-I time on the
project
• For fEC applications, use the fEC Costing Form to calculate
the Directly Allocated, Estates and Indirect Costs
• Transfer fEC costs to Funder’s application form (e.g. Je-S)
Résumé – Notes
• Swansea fEC rates are reviewed annually by the Finance
Department & the fEC Costing Form posted on intranet in
February (follow link from pre-award website)
• Although Research Councils fund 80% of fEC, award holders
receive 100% of the Directly Incurred Costs to manage the
Project
• University policy is to prepare ALL applications for external
funding under the fEC model, unless the Funder specifies
otherwise
• Applications > £100K may require risk assessment BEFORE
submission. Applicants must liaise with Ciaran Whyte,
Planning and Strategic Projects Unit
Résumé – DRI Support
• Consultations via One-to-One meetings or email, including
advice on budget preparation
• Plan ahead – allow time for alterations & obtaining partner
fEC costs
• AT LEAST 5 WORKING DAYS before deadline, calculate costs,
forward costs to DRI for checking
• At least 4 working days before deadline, submit final
document to School approver for submission to DRI
• 2 working days before deadline, DRI authorizer submits
proposal electronically/signs document
• Web link
http://www.swan.ac.uk/research_innovation/ResearchandProjectSuppor
t/
Résumé – DRI Support
• This timetable is the minimum required to get the
application through the submission process - please
allow more time whenever possible.
• For applications received less than 2 working days
before the deadline, DRI verification may not be
possible. Therefore the School must bear the impact
of any inaccuracies or omissions.
Résumé – DRI Contacts
• Ceri Jones: Deputy Head, DRI: ext 5412
• Julie Williams: Senior External Funding Officer, DRI: ext 5824
• Pre-Award Team
– Chris Beynon: ext 5015, [email protected]
 School of Environment & Society; School of Business & Economics; School of Law;
Medical School (Biomedical)
– Debbie Saunders: ext 2094 [email protected]
 School of Human Sciences; School of Arts & Humanities; Medical School (Health
Services Research)
– Adrian Walters: ext 3724, [email protected]
 School of Engineering; School of Physical Sciences; School of Health Science
Preparing Research Application Budgets
• Thank you for your time
• Any Questions?