NSF Proposal Budget Information

When creating your NSF budget for your proposal, please keep the following items in mind:

·         As a general policy, the NSF limits the effort  As a general policy, NSF limits salary compensation for senior project personnel to no more than two months of their regular salary in any one year. This limit includes salary compensation received from all NSF-funded grants.  There ARE exceptions to this general policy.  If you are uncertain about whether or not you (or a senior personnel on your proposal) falls in that category, please contact me to discuss and decide.

·         In most circumstances, salaries of administrative or clerical staff are included as part of indirect costs/F&A and should NOT be included as part of your budget as a direct cost.  Salaries of administrative or clerical staff may be requested as direct costs for a project requiring an extensive amount of administrative or clerical support and where these costs can be readily and specifically identified with the project with a high degree of accuracy.

·         Our fringe benefit rates for senior personnel, postdoctoral scholars, other professionals, and other is 28.5% of their salary requested.  The fringe benefit rate for graduate students is 1.9% of their stipend; we do not charge/provide fringe to undergraduate students.

·         Equipment is defined as an item of property that costs $5,000 or more and has an expected service life of more than one year.  General-purpose equipment, such as a personal computer and office furnishings, are not eligible for support unless primarily or exclusively used in the actual conduct of the proposed research.  Equipment is excluded from indirect cost/F&A base calculation.

·         Participant Support Costs refers to costs of transportation, per diem, stipends and other related costs for participants or trainees (but not employees) in connection with NSF-sponsored conferences, meetings, symposia, training activities and workshops.  It is important to remember that the policy has changed and the NSF no longer allows 25% allowance/overhead on participant support costs.  This entire amount is excluded from indirect cost/F&A base calculation.

·         When considering your Materials and Supplies (M&S) it is important to remember that general office supplies are ordinarily considered part of indirect costs and should not be included in the direct cost budget unless the nature of the project requires more than minimal expenditures and is easily justifiable.  These direct M&S costs should be consumable supplies specific to the project and are less than $5,000.

·         Often, there is confusion about whether outside project personnel should be considered a vendor/consultant or subaward.  Below is a decision matrix that you can use as reference to make that determination.

·         Subaward budgets should be entered separately in Fastlane.  They will be listed as a lump sum on line G5 of OUR budget and this amount should match the yearly total for THEIR budget.  However (and not to be confused with) collaborative proposals ALSO have their own separate budget, but this amount does not enter our budget (nor our budget on theirs).  Consultants are entered on our budget and do not have their own individual budget in Fastlane.

·         Indirect charges are charged on ONLY the FIRST $25,000 of a subaward.  That amount is cumulative and once reached, the entire amount of the subaward in excess of $25,000 (regardless of what year that amount is reached) does not carry overhead.

·         The GRA tuition remission rate is generally lumped together in the OTHER category (G6).  The current rate (for FY 2014) and going forward to FY 2015 is $1,253 per month (or $15,036 per year).  Please note that the amount of months of tuition should be proportional to the amount of months’ effort the student is charged to the project.  Additionally, an 8% escalation ($16,239, $17,538, $18,941, $20,456…) should be built into your budget for years beyond the first.  The total amount in this category is excluded from indirect cost/F&A base calculation.  If you have OTHER “Other Direct Costs” beyond GRA tuition remission, it is perfectly acceptable to add them here, in G6.  However, it’s important that you remember to separate these amounts when calculating your indirect cost/F&A base and that you adequately justify them in your justification.

·         Indirect Costs/F&A are charged on the Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC).  The MTDC is for NSF equal to the total direct costs, less equipment, participant support costs, subaward amounts in excess of $25,000, and GRA tuition remission.  The current F&A rate is 52.7% and effective July 1, 2014 will be 55.9%. Please visit www.osp.edu/rates for more information.

·         The NSF strictly prohibits cost-share.  Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited and Line M on the proposal budget will not be available for use by the proposer.  Mandatory cost sharing will only be required for NSF programs when explicitly authorized by the NSF Director, the National Science Board, or legislation. A complete listing of NSF programs that require cost sharing is available on the NSF website at www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy In those rare instances, cost sharing requirements will be clearly identified in the solicitation and must be included on Line M of the proposed budget.

·         Many budget justifications have outdate information.  Our Federal Cognizant Agency is:  David Godfrey, Office of Naval Research, 875 North Randolph Street, Arlington, VA, 22203-1995, 703-696-2586, david.f.godfrey@navy.mil.  Please make sure you are using the correct information.

·         The budget justification (which should be less than 3 pages)should match the budget.  Please be sure to double check this whenever changes are made to your budget in the proposal preparation process.  Additionally, the total amount of the Georgia Tech budget should match what is on the Current and Pending Support forms.  Please be sure to double check this whenever changes are made to your budget. In Fastlane, the amount that is on your budget total appears on the Cover Sheet.  However, when changes are made, this does not always automatically update.  It is important when you make changes to “Calculate and Save” if you want the  new total to transfer to the Cover Sheet.  Basically, the Cover Sheet, budget, justification, current and pending forms, and GT routing sheet should ALL match.

How can I tell if I should budget someone as a consultant/vendor or as a subaward?

Here is a decision matrix to help clarify the distinction between a subcontract or a vendor agreement. If the answer is ‘yes’ to any of the following questions a subaward may be appropriate, we will incur overhead on the first $25k, and they will have to be registered in Fastlane and entered as a sub with a separate detailed budget, justification, and letter of commitment:

• Does the entity’s statement of work represent an intellectually significant portion of the programmatic decision making?
• Could the entity’s work result in intellectual property?
• Does the entity have responsibly for programmatic decision making?
• Will the entity need animal and/or human subjects approvals for its portion of the work?

If the answer is ‘yes’ to any of the following questions  the entity fits the profile of a vendor and a subaward will not be the best solution (see below):

• Does the entity commonly provide these goods and/or services as part of their normal business operations?
• Does the entity provide similar goods and/or services to other purchasers?
• Does the entity compete with comparable entities to provide the same goods and/or services?
• Are the goods and services being provided by the entity secondary to the central purpose of the project?
• Is the entity’s work carried out according to the Prime’s specifications using standard operating procedures?

If a vendor relationship is required remember that indirect costs  (F&A) will need to be charged on the entire amount of the transaction.

Consultant: The services of each consultant must be justified within the context of the proposal. In this section of the proposal, information must be provided on each consultant's expertise, organizational affiliation, and contribution to the project. In addition, each consultant, whether paid or unpaid, must provide a signed statement that confirms availability, time commitment, role in the project, and the agreed consulting rate (not to exceed $600 per day). The maximum consulting rate under this solicitation is $600 per day (NSF defines a day as 8 hours). This rate is exclusive of any indirect costs, travel, per diem, clerical services, fringe benefits, and supplies.

The signed consultant statements (with the required stated number of days at $600 per day) must be uploaded as part of the proposal budget justification.