March 1st, 2012 - Our F&A rates have changed. Please review these pages to learn more. The new F&A rate agreement can be found in the Downloads list below.
URSA is pleased to announce the successful negotiation of a new 2 year F&A (“indirect cost”) Rate Agreement, dated 2/13/2012 with the Department of Health and Human Services, DHHS. Please note that only the on campus Instruction rate has changed for Fiscal Year 2012, the rate is now 48.6%, all other rates remain the same. The following are the new on campus rates, beginning Fiscal Year 2013 (July 1, 2012): Research 47.5%, Instruction 48.6% and Public Service 41.6%. Beginning Fiscal Year 2014 (July 1, 2013): Research 48%, Instruction 48.6% and Public Service 41.6%. To view the new F&A rate agreement click here. These new rates will improve the reimbursement the University receives for its F&A costs incurred during the performance of work on sponsored research and sponsored agreements. Even with the current rate changes, GSU will not be fully recovering the infrastructure support costs (i.e. F&A costs) associated with sponsored projects.
To remain eligible for federal research funding, the University is required periodically to enter into negotiations with a designated federal agency (in GSU’s case the Department of Health and Human Services, DHHS) to review the indirect costs associated with sponsored projects and determine the appropriate level of contribution by federal funding agencies to those indirect costs.
F&A (indirect) cost rate agreements streamline the process of awarding, monitoring, and closing out Federal grants and contracts. When a grant or contract officer issues an award to an organization, he/she is unaware of the indirect costs that will be associated with conducting the program. Indirect expenses such as executive administration, payroll, accounting, human resources, building and equipment depreciation, utilities, janitorial and maintenance are difficult to identify directly to grants and contracts. The F&A (indirect) cost rate allows the grant or contract officer to calculate the appropriate allocation of indirect costs associated with any one project by applying the negotiated F&A rate to the respective base used to develop the rate.
Yes, per GSU policy, the new rates apply to all externally sponsored projects.
Principal Investigators (PIs) and their staff should begin using the new F&A rates in new, renewal and supplemental (competing continuation) proposals immediately.
The new F&A rates must be used on all new, competitive renewal proposals and supplemental proposals that require budget negotiations from sponsors. Non-competing renewals and non-competing continuation proposals will continue to use the originally approved F&A rates throughout the remainder of their competitive segment. Additionally, proposals for sponsoring agencies that have statutory limitations or policies prohibiting the reimbursement of F&A costs at the Federally-negotiated rates should use the F&A rates set forth by the sponsor.
Competing renewal applications should use the appropriate new F&A rate.
No. Please use the old (originally approved) F&A rate on non-competing renewal applications until the end of the competing segment.
Yes, awards previously approved at the 44.5% rate will be honored for the budget period specified in the award.
Please note if you had an Instruction rate awarded at 50.4% on or after July 1, 2011 that rate will not be honored as per the F&A agreement letter 48.6% is the rate in effect for the period of 7/1/2011 to 6/30/2014, so your project’s F&A rate would be 48.6%.
FOR RESEARCH & PUBLIC SERVICE:
For project budget years that begin prior to July 1, 2012, you should use the appropriate old F&A rate for the competitive segment. For the next competitive segment(s), you should use the appropriate new F&A rate(s). In other words, for project budget years that begin prior to 7/1/2012, you should use 44.5% for Research and 33.8% for Public Service for the entire first budget year. For the next budget year beginning between 7/1/2012 and 6/30/13, you should use 47.5% for Research and 41.6% for Public Service. For any budget years beginning on 7/1/2013 or later, you should use 48% for Research and 41.6% for Public Service.
FOR INSTRUCTION:
For project budget years that begin prior to July 1, 2012, you should use the new Instruction rate of 48.6% as per the F&A agreement letter this is the rate in effect for the period of 7/1/2011 to 6/30/2014.
FOR RESEARCH & PUBLIC SERVICE:
For project budget years that begin on or after July 1, 2012 you should use the appropriate new F&A rate(s). In other words, for project budget years that begin between 7/1/2012 and 6/30/13, you should use 47.5% for Research and 41.6% for Public Service. For project budget years that begin on or after 7/1/2013, you should use 48% for Research and 41.6% for Public Service.
FOR INSTRUCTION:
For project budget years that begin on or after July 1, 2012, you should use 48.6% for Instruction.
FOR RESEARCH AND PUBLIC SERVICE:
No. The new rate agreement period has different rates for the period 7/1/2011 through 6/30/2012, 7/1/2012 through 6/30/13 and 7/1/2013 through 6/30/2014 for Research. For example the new FY 13 Research F&A rate of 47.5% will only be charged for budget periods beginning between 7/1/2012 and 6/30/13 whereas the new FY 14 Research rate of 48% will only be charged for budget periods beginning on or after 7/1/2013. For Public Service the new rate agreement has different rates for the period 7/1/2011 through 6/30/12 and 7/1/2012 through 6/30/2014. For example the new Public Service rates will only be charged for budget periods beginning between 7/1/2012 and 6/30/2014.
FOR INSTRUCTION:
Yes, as per the F&A agreement letter 48.6% is the rate in effect for the period of 7/1/2011 to 6/30/2014.
Rates currently in effect on active awards will be continued until the end of the current competitive segment of the award. A new competitive segment for Research and Public Service beginning on or after July 1, 2012 will be charged the new rate. A new competitive segment for Instruction beginning on or after July 1, 2011 will be charged the new rate.
Federal contracts that are incrementally funded (committed on a yearly basis) will continue with the current rate until the end of the current budget period. A new budget period for Research and Public Service beginning on or after July 1, 2012 will be charged the new rate. A new budget period for Instruction beginning on or after July 1, 2011 will be charged the new rate.
In most cases the project number/speedtype will remain the same, however, there may be special circumstances that need to be evaluated on a case by case basis.
The Federal policy indicates that the award will be made at the currently effective F&A rates.
Yes. Please use the new rates on Federal flow through funds.
FOR RESEARCH AND PUBLIC SERVICE:
F&A rates for subcontracts under federal grants and contracts with start dates prior to July 1, 2012 will remain fixed for the life of the prime agreement (i.e., through the competitive segment of the prime award) at the F&A rate specified in the prime award.
New subcontracts with a start date of July 1, 2012 or later should use the appropriate new F&A rate.
However, if a new subcontract award with a start date of July 1, 2012 or later is received which has been issued at the old F&A rate, the PI or department administrator will need to coordinate with OSP on procedures for requesting the new DHHS rates from the subcontracting agency. Should the subcontracting agency deny the request, exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis by OSP to allow use of the expired rates.
FOR INSTRUCTION:
F&A rates for subcontracts under federal grants and contracts with start dates prior to July 1, 2011 will remain fixed for the life of the prime agreement (i.e., through the competitive segment of the prime award) at the F&A rate specified in the prime award.
New subcontracts with a start date of July 1, 2011 or later should use the appropriate new F&A rate.
However, if a new subcontract award with a start date of July 1, 2011 or later has been or is received which has been issued at the old F&A rate, the PI or department administrator will need to coordinate with OSP on procedures for requesting the new lower DHHS rates from the subcontracting agency.
Carry forward of funds will be impacted differently depending if sponsor approval is required or not. 1) When sponsor approval is required, one must look at the issuance date of the carry forward authorization and the start date of the most recent competitive segment of the original award to determine what F&A rate to use. 2) When sponsor approval is not required, one must review if funds are carried over within the same competitive segment or into a new competitive segment to determine what F&A rate to use. Please see New F&A Rates Subcontracts & Carry Forward Rates Implementation Guidance at http://www.gsu.edu/research/58352.html for further information and the details concerning carry forward of funds.
Sponsoring agencies have established application guidelines that specify the inclusion of F&A costs as well as proposal evaluation guidelines that state that panel reviewers are not allowed to include budget information (such as F&A rates) in their impact/priority score. Therefore F&A rates should have no impact on the competitiveness of a proposal.
Other Spons Activities is what GSU calls its Public Service F&A rate.
On Monday, March 26th, a town hall meeting regarding the university's new F&A rates was held.