New F&A (indirect) Rates

Dr. David Norton, Vice President for Research

The University of Florida has been issued new F&A (indirect) rates effective immediately. New rates are listed at http://research.ufl.edu/faculty-and-staff/proposal-development-submission/budgeting-information/fa-rates-idc.html. The On-campus Research rate increases from 50% to 52.5%.  The following provides details on the impact of these increases on new proposals, existing awards, and pending awards:

New proposals (including supplements and any other request for funding not already committed by a sponsor): Effective immediately all proposals must use the new F&A rates.  Only awards with exceptions specifically identified in accordance with the University’s Facilities & Administrative Cost Policy (F&A Policy and F&A Directives and Procedures) may use rates different than those provided in the negotiated agreement. UFIRST has been update to reflect these rates.  Progress reports, continuations, and other proposals to request release of already committed funding may continue to reflect the existing rate.

Note that under the new agreement, only ONE rate may be applied to each award.  The rate will be determined by how the majority of activity is performed under the project (i.e. off-campus, in an REC, or for a particular activity – Research, Other Sponsored Activity, or Instruction), and that rate will apply to the entire award.

Awards received by UF before July 28, 2016: For awards received by UF before July 28, the F&A rate on the award (and likely entered into UFIRST and myUFL) will apply to that award for the life of the award. “Life” shall mean for the competitive segment approved by the funding agency at the time of the initial award. For those projects that receive scheduled installments within an existing award, (for example, multi-year NIH and NSF awards are often distributed to the university in one-year budgetary installments), the Office of Research will ensure that the rates in place prior to July 28 remain in effect for the life of these awards.

Awards received by UF after July 28, 2016 and with effective dates after July 1, 2016 (including those in response to proposals submitted with budgets based on old rates): For all awards received on or after July 28, 2016, the new rates will be applied. This includes all new, supplements and competitive segments to existing awards.  It does not include funding for incremental obligations on existing awards. In awards in which the proposed budget was submitted based on the old rates, you should not anticipate receiving additional funds from the sponsor or University to cover the increased cost of F&A. These projects may need to be re-budgeted with the direct costs reduced to cover the additional F&A.

Only awards with exceptions specifically identified in accordance with the University’s Facilities & Administrative Cost Policy (F&A Policy and F&A Directives and Procedures) may use rates different than those provided in the negotiated agreement.

Additional questions should be directed to either Stephanie Gray at (352) 392-3516 or Brad Staats at (352) 273-3136.