Purdue
University Guidelines for Proposal Preparation
Proposal
Process
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Sponsored Program Services appreciates any advance notice of all
proposals that will be submitted.
Email proposal office (proposal@purdue.edu)
and state the sponsor, principle investigator, and deadline date.
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Obtain a copy of the proposal guidelines issued by the
sponsor. Review for format and special program requirements. Proposal guidelines and requirements may be included in agency
general guidelines or in specific announcements such as a Request
for Proposal (RFP) or a Request for Quotation (RFQ).
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Determine classification of proposal work.
( Research - Instruction - Other Sponsored Program -
Fellowship)
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If this is a center proposal or a multidisciplinary project,
please review the guidelines on the SPS website for large proposals.
The web site it located
HERE.
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Prepare proposal budget and justification (Internal
Workpapers must be included with proposal when sent to
SPS)
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Prepare Proposal
Transmittal Checksheet and obtain all required signatures.
Instructions may be found HERE.
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Obtain necessary cost-sharing
approvals. Fully signed Form 32’s must be included with the
proposal. Written verification of any cost sharing provided by
outside sources must be provided.
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Subcontract data must include a
work statement, a budget and an approval of the individual at the
subcontractors who is authorized to commit the institution.
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Assure that correct F&A rate is
used. Sponsor documentation or approved F&A waiver must be
provided if a rate other than Purdue’s standard negotiated rate is
used.
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If the proposal involves a
conference activity, involve Conferences in preparation.
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Ascertain that space is available for project. Any additional
space commitments must be
documented and approvals contained in the proposal.
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It is a preference that named individuals sign the
Transmittal Checksheet if on campus or provide letters of
commitment.
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Review current and pending
support data to assure accuracy.
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Assure that proposal budget
matches the internal worksheets and the budget justification.
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Notify SPS if there are any unusual issues with the proposal.
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Cover sheet information:
Purdue
University DUNS # is 07-205-1394
Purdue
University Employer ID is 356002041
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Complete all forms required by
sponsor.
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Per the
Proposal Deadline Policy
implemented by the Vice Provost for Research, proposals must be
received by SPS by no later than 10am two days
prior to the date that the proposal must be sent from SPS to the
sponsor. For more information regarding this policy and
criteria for specific proposal types, please see the
Proposal Deadline Policy. This will enable appropriate
reviews within SPS and avoid any last
minute issues with submission. Proposals involving contracting
may take longer time to review and additional time would be
appreciated.
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Primary department distributes
final budget information to co-investigator department business
offices.
PI Status
Who can be
considered a Principal Investigator?
All tenure
track faculty members are eligible to be Principal Investigators.
Others requesting to submit proposals as the principal investigator for
the first time must obtain special approval. The request must be
communicated to Sponsored Program Services early in the proposal stage.
This will allow time to review the situation for the appropriate
approval.
Authorization for
Non-Faculty PI Status:
To obtain authorization for
any non-faculty staff member a request letter must be written and signed
by both the Dean and Department Head. The letter must also contain
the following information:
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Name of Staff that
authorization is being requested for.
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Reason that Staff member
should be authorized to submit
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Is request for a
"blanket" authorization, for specific types of proposals, or only
for a single proposal
The request should be sent to
either
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Mike Ludwig, Associate
Director, Sponsored Program Services
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Bill Baitinger, Special
Asst. to the Vice Provost for Research, VPR Office
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Pete Dunn, Associate Vice
Provost for Research, VPR Office
Document Checklist
Completed:
- Proposal Transmittal Checksheet
- Budget Work Papers
- Resource Commitment Memo(s)
- Internal Budget Breakouts
- Outline of Center's Administrative Structure (when needed)
- Proposal (sponsor copies + 1 -- if USDA or international,
sponsor copies + 2)
- Other Sponsor Requirements
Subcontracts / Consortium Agreement:
A collaborative
arrangement in support of a research project in which some portion
of the programmatic activity is carried out through a formalized
agreement between the grantee and one or more other organizations
that are separate legal entities administratively independent of the
grantee.
Suitable
justification for outside resources should be detailed within the
proposal statement of work. Subcontractors need to submit to Purdue
University a statement of work and proposed budget. The
subcontractor’s proposal needs to be signed by their institution’s
authorized representative (the equivalent of sponsored program
staff). Contact information for each subcontract also needs to be
included.
When using the
University MTDC base only the first $25,000 of each subcontract will
be assessed F&A.
*All letters
of commitment for subcontracts need to be signed by the
subcontractor’s authorized representative (Sponsored Program
Equivalent).
Letters of
Support
The project may involve the participation of other
institutions or personnel. Letters of Commitment from these groups
should be included even if there is no monetary compensation included in
the proposal.
Budget
Information
Personnel/Compensation Costs
Types of Personnel/Compensation
Costs typically include:
1.
Principal Investigator/Co-Principal Investigator(s) working
directly on the project or project administration
2.
Post docs, lab technicians, undergraduate student labor,
graduate students, and clerical support directly benefiting the
project
*When clerical
support is budgeted on a sponsored program project, “Unlike
Circumstances” should be documented in the budget
justification.
*More information on unlike
circumstances is documented on page 5.
Salary should be
listed in increments of 5% to be consistent with effort reporting
guidelines. If other percentages are used adequate justification
needs to be available if questions arise.
Salary increase
factors should be implemented for projects crossing fiscal years
based on approved default factors.
Fringe Benefits,
except for graduate student health insurance, are budgeted as a
percent of salary based on anticipated benefit selections. Fringe
benefits should be budgeted at the default rates. Health insurance
should be budgeted for graduate students employed halftime or more.
Tuition fee
remission charges for graduate students should be included unless
sponsor guidelines indicate that they are unallowable. These are
allowable charges for all graduate students that have a salaried
appointment at the University. For students supported from more
than one source or holding several appointments, these costs should
be pro-rated in accordance with Executive Memorandum A-199.
If stipends
are budgeted, tuition and fees need to be included.
Supply
and Expense Costs
The following
are categories that are frequently listed within a proposal. Refer
to sponsor guidelines for any program specific costs that should
either be included or omitted from the budget:
Supplies and
Materials
Reasonable
estimates of the required project supplies and materials should be
included within the budget.
Example of
supplies: Test tubes, chemicals, and specialized software.
*Supplies
benefiting multiple projects should normally be funded through
non-sponsored program accounts or pro-rated among the projects that
benefit.*
Communications
Long distance
telephone tolls made for the direct benefit of sponsored projects
are allowable direct costs. Regularly provided local telephone
service is part of the facilities and administrative rate.
A-21 defines
postage costs as facilities and administrative cost. Postage
charges, including Federal Express or UPS charges, directly incurred
for the benefit of sponsored projects may be charged as direct
charges where a clear cost-benefit relationship can be demonstrated
or when circumstances have been documented.
Travel
Travel related to
the proposed projects is allowable and should be included within the
proposed budget. When required by the sponsor, the budget
justification included within the proposal should identify the
destination, purpose and itemized costs of any foreign travel when
it’s a sponsor requirement. Travel estimates should include
registration fees, lodging, mileage, per diem rate applicable,
airfare, other transportation costs, and any other incidental cost
associated with the proposed trip when applicable.
*Review sponsor guidelines for the
appropriate definitions of foreign travel and for the level of
detail to be included within the budget justification.
Printing and Duplication
The proposed
budget should include the duplicating costs necessary for
publication or project results attained by the sponsored work. This
category includes any page charges for published results
disseminated through scientific journals.
Capital
Equipment
Any scientific or
general-purpose equipment should be separately identified and
justified within the proposal budget when applicable. Purdue
University’s as of July 1, 2000 definition of capital equipment is a
tangible personal property item with a unit cost of $2,500 or
greater, having an expected useful life of more than two years and
which are not altered materially through use. Capital Equipment is
normally excluded from the University’s F&A rate.
Fabricated
Equipment
Any equipment to
be built or fabricated internally should be budgeted based on the
components needed. If individual components qualify as capital
items in and of themselves, they may be budgeted without F&A. Items
such as supplies, even though they will be used to build a larger
entity, will be subject to F&A.
Maintenance & Repairs
Maintenance and
repair for equipment purchased by or utilized on the project should
be detailed within the proposal budget. Investigators need to
analyze maintenance and repair needs and the direct benefit
associated with these costs. If the principal investigator can
justify and allocate maintenance and repair costs to the sponsored
project, a reasonable estimate should be included in the proposal.
Participant Costs
Federal
guidelines define participant costs as “direct costs for items such
as stipends or subsistence allowances, travel allowances and
registration fees paid to, or on behalf of participants or trainees,
but not employees, in connection with meetings, conferences,
symposia, or training projects.” The participant cost budget
cannot be expended in any other manner on the project, unless
approval is granted by the agency.
Consultants
An individual
hired to carry out a portion of the sponsored program activity.
An individual
hired to carry out a portion of the sponsored program activity.
Facilities
and Administrative Costs
Costs that are
incurred by a grantee for common or joint objectives and that,
therefore, cannot be identified specifically with a particular
project or program. These costs were previously known as “indirect
costs.”
*Purdue
University negotiates facilities and administrative rates with the
Federal Government. These rates are then used in preparing budgets
for sponsored program activities. The current facilities and
administrative rates may be found in Sponsored Program Services (SPS)
Instruction NO.1.
http:www.purdue.edu/sps/pdf/inst1-62703.pdf
The West
Lafayette campus facilities and administrative rates are expressed
as a percentage of modified total direct costs (MTDC). Taking the
total direct costs budgeted and subtracting out the costs that are
excluded from being charged indirect costs determine the MTDC base.
The most
common costs excluded from the direct cost base are as follows:
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Stipends (Fellowships)
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Tuition
and Fees
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Overseas Allowances
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Capital
Equipment
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Subcontract costs over $25,000 per subcontract
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Rental
of capitalized equipment
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Space
Rental
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Capitalized Alternation and Renovations
Separate rates
are negotiated for Research (RE), Instruction (IN), and Other
Sponsored Programs (OSP) activities. Each of the three activites
has an on-campus and an off-campus rate. Occasionally a proposal may
include components from more that one activity. In such instances
more than one rate may be used in the proposal.
If some or all of
the project is to be conducted at an off-campus site in facilities
not owned or leased by Purdue or an affiliate, use the off-campus
rate for those individuals working at the off-campus site for a full
semester or summer session (8 weeks). The off-campus rate should
also be applied to those costs associated with the individual’s
off-campus activity. Use the regular on-campus rate for those
personnel conducting sponsored program activities on-campus but who
may be off-campus for less than a semester or a summer session.
The regional
campuses at Fort Wayne, Calumet and North Central each negotiate
separate facilities and administrative rates and bases with the
Federal Government.
*Only one rate is negotiated for each
regional campus and it applies to all Research (RE), Instruction
(IN) and Other Sponsored Programs (OSP) activities. There is
no off-campus rate.
It is the
practice of Purdue University to recover the full costs of
conducting sponsored program activities. Full costs include costs
directly allocable to the project and costs recovered through the
applicable Facilities and Administrative (F&A) cost rate. To assist
our faculty in obtaining funds for establishing a new research
program and/or exploring new research directions, three exceptions
have been made.
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Industrial support totaling $10,000 or less per year will not
be assessed F&A costs (unless the original source of funding is
Federal).
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Non-profit organizations with published guidelines
restricting the charging of F&A will be honored
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The State of Indiana normally does not cover F&A costs unless
referenced otherwise in the proposal guidelines.
When is it
appropriate to ask for an F&A waiver? What is the process and
timeline associated with this request?
Occasionally,
there are unique situations where a reduction or waiver of F&A cost
is justifiable on an individual project. The most common of these
situations is when a faculty member is transferring an existing
grant from another institution with a lower approved F&A rate than
Purdue’s. In these unique instances, a memo should be addressed to
the Associate Director of Sponsored Program Administration
describing the unique situation and the request to reduce or waive
F&A charges to the project. This memo is to be signed by the
Principal Investigator, Department Head and Dean (or designee).
Sponsor set total cost caps or maximums are not unique situations
and do not serve as justification for a reduction in F&A charges.
Unlike
Circumstances
When the
following situations exist, costs that are normally considered part
of facilities and administrative costs may be charged as direct
costs to federal projects:
Example:
General Clinical Research Centers, Program Projects, Environmental
Research Centers
Example: Clinical trials,
retrospective clinical record studies
The following
costs are normally considered a facilities and administrative cost
and these may be justified as a direct cost to a project if noted in
the proposal as an unlike circumstance:
Criteria for Unlike
Circumstances
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“Unlike
Circumstances” exist
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The cost is
budgeted and justified in the proposal
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Cost is
approved by sponsoring agency, or
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Budget is
awarded in full
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Cost is not
specified as unallowable
Cost
Sharing
Definition: Cost
sharing occurs when Purdue University contributes resources towards
a sponsored program. The cost shared funds can come from many
sources. Conceptually, there are two types of cost sharing:
Mandatory Cost Sharing: This occurs when a sponsor
requires Purdue to contribute toward a program in order to receive
funds.
***Any university contribution, including faculty effort, shown in a
proposal becomes mandatory cost sharing.***
Non Mandatory Cost Sharing:
This occurs when Purdue contributes towards a sponsored program, but
the sponsor does not require the cost-shared funds to be reported.
Example: PI does not
budget any effort, either due to sponsor guidelines or with the
approval of the Department Head
Generally cost
sharing requests from central administration areas such as
Presidents, Vice Presidents and Chancellors must be initiated at
least 2 weeks prior to the proposal due date.
Methods
of Cost Sharing
Single
Account Cost Sharing
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Cost Share Reserve:
Used for applicable fringe benefits when cost sharing salaries from
a University account that is not chargeable for fringe benefits.
Also, the reserve funds are used for the 1% university contribution
on NIH and NSF research grants.
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Other Cost Sharing (Single Account):
Money transferred from a departmental fund. A corresponding 011
fund is established.
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Contributed Facilities and
Administrative Cost: Used for Facilities and Administrative
costs that Purdue University contributes.
Voluntary Cost Sharing
VCS Object Codes for S&E,
Capital, and effort for Bi-weekly and 40A-70A staff should be used to
properly reflect cost sharing.
If Principal
Investigator effort is zero, then SPS staff will mark VCS in the
Sponsored Program Tracking System.
Memo Match
Used when a department states
that they will contribute towards the cost of the program, but nothing
is recorded in any system to capture this commitment.
