Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs are true costs to the University associated with the support of sponsored research, instruction/training or other activities.
To streamline the accurate calculation of applicable F&A costs, faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to use the OSP budget template.
The University’s F&A rate is negotiated with our cognizant federal agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.
To see the current F&A rates along with the signed rate agreement, go to the DUNS No., Face Page and Compliance Information page.
Use of the off-campus rate requires approval of the Vice President for Research.
These rates are applied to modified total direct costs (MTDC), which are total direct costs less the costs of equipment, tuition, subcontracts in excess of $25,000, rent and patient care costs. Some sponsors (e.g., NSF) also exclude participant support costs from MTDC. OSP is responsible for determining if costs proposed as participant support are allowable according to sponsor’s guidelines. In all other cases, participant support costs will be subject to F&A unless explicitly excluded in application instructions.
OSP is responsible for determining the appropriate F&A rate to be applied based on our review of the sponsor’s stated program purpose, application guidelines and other considerations.
Determining Which Rate
Use of off-campus rates
The off-campus F&A rate is applicable if the majority of both Syracuse University grant expenditures (ordinarily salaries, wages and fringe benefits) and the project’s duration (e.g. greater than 50%, 6 months each budget year) are spent off-campus. If the off-campus activities occur only during the summer, the off-campus rate ordinarily is not applicable.
The University’s F&A rate agreement prohibits “blending” or using more than one rate in a single application.
The off-campus F&A rate will not be applied when a principal investigator(s), senior personnel, or other persons conduct research remotely or hybrid on his/her project off campus from a domestic residence. All University research activity should be assigned space in a University owned or leased facility or a facility under agreement with another entity. Costs associated with working from domestic residences may not be charged to sponsored projects.
The off-campus rate is applied when the sponsored project is covering lease costs and other facilities-related costs as direct costs to the project. Lease costs may only be charged to a sponsored project for leases where the University is a party to a signed contract. All lease agreements should be developed and negotiated by the Comptroller’s Office.
Use of the off-campus rate requires approval of the Vice President for Research.
Sponsors that mandate other rates
The University honors a sponsor’s published policy on allowable indirect costs/F&A rates. A published policy is one that is accessible to all via the web or through some other official organizational document. Emails to PIs from sponsor staff do not constitute published policy.
To illustrate, many training grants limit F&A to 8% MTDC. In such cases OSP will apply the allowed F&A rate instead of our federally negotiated rate of 34.0%. Many foundations limit F&A to 10% of total direct costs; OSP will calculate the F&A cost according to the foundation’s policy.
When the sponsor’s guidelines are silent about F&A rate
If a sponsor does not have a published policy on F&A rate or their guidelines are silent, OSP will apply the rate applicable to the activity, e.g. on-campus research, on-campus instruction/training, on-campus other sponsored activities, or off-campus research, instruction/training, or other sponsored activities.
Seeking deviations from negotiated rates
Use of rates other than the applicable federally negotiated rate or those that deviate from sponsor guidelines requires the authorization of the applying unit’s Dean(s) and the concurrence from the Vice President for Research (VPR) to maintain consistent institutional practices. OSP must be informed of this waiver by the Dean(s) and VPR or his/her designee(s) by email at least seven business days before the application deadline to accommodate budget development and review.
Each request for a reduction in F&A is an independent action. Previously approved reductions will not be considered in making future decisions.
Go to the DUNS No., Face Page and Compliance Information page.