Facilities and
Administration Costs UPPS
No. 03.04.05
(F&A or Indirect) Issue
No. 3
Effective
Date: 07/15/2009
Review:
September 1 EY
01. POLICY STATEMENTS
01.01 The
purpose of this UPPS is to establish guidelines covering the allocation,
management, budgeting, expenditures and related restrictions associated with
facilities and administration (F&A) costs from sponsored programs. The
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is responsible for establishing policies
for F&A costs under federal grants and contracts. Please refer to OMB
Circular A-21 at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/index.html.
Generally, the university follows the OMB
guidelines for all sponsored projects, regardless of the funding source.
01.02 Facilities
and administrative rates are established by the university’s cognizant agency,
the Department of Health and Human Services. A listing of the most recent rates
can be found at http://www.txstate.edu/research.
02. BACKGROUND
02.01 Most
funding sources allow Texas State to charge to sponsored programs its federally
approved facilities and administrative rate. Many of the
allowed F&A expenses are paid directly from the university’s educational
and general (E&G) funds; thus, it is appropriate for the funding source to
reimburse Texas State for the portion of those costs associated with sponsored
programs. It is the responsibility
of the Principle Investigator (PI), the department chair or school director,
the dean, and the associate vice president for Research to make every effort to
recover as much of the F&A costs as possible for each sponsored program.
03. DEFINITIONS
03.01 Facilities and Administration Costs – The term “Facilities and
Administration” refers to those costs that the university cannot charge to a
grant or contract as a direct cost. These are the “overhead” or “indirect” costs for operating the university
that include, but are not limited to:
a. Electricity,
water, natural gas, and other utilities;
b. Payroll
processing, accounts payable, human resources and other support services;
c. Depreciation and
use allowances;
d. General
administration and general expenses;
e. Sponsored projects
administration expenses;
f. Operation and
maintenance expenses;
g. Library expenses,
departmental administration expenses and student administration expenses; and
h. Use of office
space, research labs, and other rooms.
03.02 Recovered
F&A Costs – F&A costs that have been collected by the university from
funding sources, excluding amounts billed, but uncollected.
03.03 F&A Revenues
– For purposes of this policy, F&A revenues are local university revenues
equal to the total F&A costs billed during a fiscal year including amounts
uncollected.
03.04 Institutes and
Centers – The university may establish institutes or centers at the department
or school, college, or university level in accordance with Academic Affairs PPS
1.14, Establishment and Review of Centers, Institutes, and Academies. For purposes of this UPPS, only those institutes or centers
that are formally established and approved by current Texas State policy as
“university-level” are qualified to directly receive F&A revenue. The
current list of university-level centers and institutes are listed on the
Research homepage at http://www.txstate.edu/research.
04. PROCEDURES
FOR DISTRIBUTION OF F&A REVENUE
04.01 Each year, as part of the budget development process, the director of
Budgeting, with the assistance of the associate vice president for Research and
the director of Sponsored Programs, will estimate F&A costs recoverable in
the coming fiscal year. The estimate will take into account F&A revenue in
the current fiscal year as well as trends in grants and contracts activity. The
annual operating budget will include this estimate as revenue.
04.02 The Designated Fund group in the annual operating budget will include
F&A revenue expenditures in a total amount equal to the estimate of F&A
revenue included in the annual operating budget.
04.03 25% of total F&A revenue is distributed to the college, department
or school, and principle investigators as follows:
a. When a single
investigator, department or school, and college are involved:
1) 30% to the college
(7.5% of total revenue)
2) 30% to the
department or school (7.5% of total revenue)
3) 40% to the PI (10% of total revenue)
b. When multiple
investigators, departments or schools, and colleges are involved:
1) 30% to the
colleges on a pro rata basis determined at time of proposal submittal (7.5% of
total revenue)
2) 30% to the
departments or schools on a pro rata basis determined at time of proposal
submittal (7.5% of total revenue)
3) 40% to the
principal investigators on a pro rata basis determined at time of proposal
submittal (10% of total revenue)
c. When a
university-level center or institute is the generating unit:
1) 25% to the center
or institute (6.25% of total revenue)
2) 25% to the PI
(6.25% of total revenue)
3) 25% to the college (6.25% of total revenue), if applicable; if not,
distributed equally to PI and center or institute; the PI must indicate to Office
of Sponsored Programs (OSP) that the appropriate dean was included in the
F&A revenues decision-making process.
4) 25% to the department or school (6.25% of total revenue), if applicable;
if not, distributed equally to PI and center or institute; the PI must indicate
to OSP that the appropriate chair or director was included in the F&A revenues
decision-making process.
NOTE: Distribution of 25% of the F&A
revenue for non-academic grants is handled on a case-by-case basis.
d. When a Mitte Chair is the
single investigator, or when multiple investigators including a Mitte Chair,
departments or schools, and colleges are involved:
1) 10% to the college (2.5%
of total revenue)
2) 10% to the department or
school (2.5% of total revenue)
3) 80% to the PI (20% of
total revenue)
NOTE: Those receiving returned F&A Revenue should use a portion of the
funds for clerical support.
04.04 75% of total F&A revenue is distributed to the provost and vice president
for Academic Affairs to facilitate the growth and development of Texas State’s
research enterprise. Examples of how the provost might use such funds could
then be provided; start up funds, proposal development, cost sharing, faculty
incentive grants, etc.
05. ACCEPTABLE USE OF DISTRIBUTED F&A
REVENUE
05.01 It is Texas State’s intent to extend 100% of F&A revenue funds to
further the university’s research and sponsored program efforts, which may
include the following valid business purposes:
a. Conducting
pre-grant feasibility studies
b. Preparing
competitive proposals for sponsored programs
c. Providing
carry-over funding for research efforts to provide continuity between
externally-funded projects
d. Supporting new
researchers pending external funding
e. Purchasing capital
equipment directly related to expanding the research capability of the
institution
f. Research
administrative costs
05.02 A sponsored program account may not accept expenditures previously made
under Section 05.01 d. above. [Contact OSP
for establishment of a “provisional” account for unusual situations which
require expenditures prior to formal approval of an award.]
06. REPORTING
PROCEDURES
06.01 Each unit (PI, chair or director, and dean) that received F&A revenue
will annually submit a written report to the associate vice president for
Research, due October 30, one year after the funds’ receipt. The report will briefly describe how funds were
used and how this funding has benefited research at Texas State. The AVPR will
make this information available for campus-wide review.
06.02 Failure
to provide required reports may result in non-allocation of future F&A revenue.
07. RESPONSIBILITIES
07.01 Responsibilities
associated with F&A revenue and F&A costs are as follows:
a. Principal
investigators:
1)
Developing proposals
which include budgets for the recovery of F&A costs at the rate approved by
the university’s cognizant federal agency.
2)
Obtaining prior written
approval from the associate vice president for Research for F&A rates that
are lower than the federally approved rate. [Refer to UPPS No. 02.02.01, Section 03.05 d. 1).
3) Assuring
that F&A revenue allocated to them under this policy are expended in
accordance with state, TSUS, and university requirements.
b. Deans,
department chairs or school directors, and other administrators:
1)
Assuring that F&A revenue
allocated to them under this policy are expended in accordance with state,
TSUS, and university requirements.
2)
Providing oversight to
ensure that all sponsored projects include the maximum allowable amount of
F&A costs.
c. Office
of Sponsored Programs (OSP)
1)
Assuring that F&A revenue
is maximized. Interest earnings will accrue to the University for cash balances
of sponsored programs that do not earn the full federal F&A costs.
2)
Approving F&A rates
that differ from the federally approved rates.
3)
Distributing F&A revenue
in accordance with this policy.
4)
Review of reports [per
Section 06.] to assure F&A revenue is expended in accordance with
applicable policies and regulations and determination of appropriate actions if
reports are not provided.
5)
Assuring that sponsored
program expenditures are recorded correctly, so as to achieve full and accurate
recovery of F&A costs. This includes some primary review of expenditures,
as well as coordination with other departments or schools to assure proper
coding.
6)
Assuring that F&A
costs are billed accurately to the funding source and are collected, deposited,
and recorded on a timely basis.
7)
Working to distribute F&A
revenue.
8)
Coordinating with the
Budget Office to prepare budgeted F&A cost revenues for the annual
university budget.
9)
Preparation (with input
from appropriate offices) of the F&A rate proposal for submission to
cognizant agency.
d. Budget
Office
1) Budgeting
F&A revenue and associated expenditures in the annual university budget.
08. REVIEWERS
OF THIS UPPS
08.01 Reviewers of
this UPPS include the following:
Position Date
Associate Vice President for Research September 1 EY
& Director of Federal Relations
Associate Vice President for September
1 EY
Financial Services
Director, Budget Office September
1 EY
Director, Office of Sponsored September 1 EY
Programs
09. CERTIFICATION
STATEMENT
This UPPS has been approved by the following individuals in
their official capacities and represents Texas State policy and procedure from
the date of this document until superseded.
Associate Vice
President for Research & Director of Federal Relations; senior reviewer of
this UPPS
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
President