Proposal Budgeting Guidance

Budget

A budget provides details of projected expenses necessary to complete the proposed scope of work or research plan. It includes direct and indirect costs and is usually calculated on a 12-month basis. Ensure that you follow the sponsor guidelines when completing a budget. If a sponsor does not require a formal budget, OSP will still require an internal budget in infoED for account management.

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Direct Costs

Source: 2 CFR 200.413

Direct costs are those costs that can be identified specifically with a particular final cost objective, such as a Federal award, or other internally or externally funded activity, or that can be directly assigned to such activities relatively easily with a high degree of accuracy. Costs incurred for the same purpose in like circumstances must be treated consistently as direct or indirect costs.

Direct costs include categories such as salaries, fringe benefits, tuition, consultant costs, equipment, supplies, travel, subagreements, other costs.

Personnel

Required information to complete a budget:

  • Name
  • Project role
  • Number of calendar months or percent effort per year
  • Base salary
  • Total salary requested
  • Cost of living increases

Notes:

   1.) URI employee base salaries are automatically populated into infoED from the HR database.

    2.) Be mindful of the NIH salary cap and the NSF two month salary limitation (section 2.C.2.g).

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Fringe

Fringe benefits are allowances and services employers provide to their employees as compensation in addition to regular salaries and wages. Fringe benefits include, but are not limited to, FICA and Medicare taxes, health, dental and vision insurance, disability insurance, retirement benefits, group life insurance, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, tuition assistance (employees only), employee assistance programs, and accrued leave payouts.

The University’s fringe benefits are specifically identified to each employee and are charged individually as direct costs.

Notes:

1.) URI employee fringe benefits are automatically calculated in infoED.

2.) Fringe benefits are not charged on summer recontacting salaries for faculty with nine-month appointments.

3.) Student employees that are paid hourly during the academic year and summer months do not qualify for fringe benefits and are only charged FICA.

4.) Vacant positions should be budgeted at the family plan rate.

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Students

Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs), hourly graduate students, and hourly undergraduate students may be employed to work on a sponsored research project.

Student employees may work up to 20 hours per week during the academic year (9 months) and up to 40 hours per week during the summer (14 weeks). Domestic students may work an additional 5 hours per week or 10 hours per week (Level III only) during the academic year. Part-time for a GRA during the academic year is 4.5 months.

GRAs are entitled to a stipend, fringe benefits, fees, and tuition during the academic year. These costs must be budgeted at the same percentage, per the Graduate Assistants United (GAU) contract.

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Equipment

The University defines equipment as an article of nonexpendable, tangible personal property having a useful life of more than one year, and an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more per unit.

  • List each piece of equipment individually.
  • Describe the equipment and the application to the project.
  • Provide prices and vendor quotes for each piece of equipment.
  • If equipment is to be fabricated, itemize the individual component parts and labor costs, explain the basis for calculations, and file supporting documentation.

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Travel

Separate foreign and domestic travel costs. Provide the following details for each trip:

  • The number of individuals who will be traveling
  • Names of travelers
  • Purpose of the trip
  • Destination
  • Per diem rates for meals and number of days needed
  • Per diem rates for lodging and number of days needed
  • Ground transportation

Note: Per the Fly American Act, all air travel and cargo transportation services funded by the federal government are required to use a “U.S. flag” air carrier service.

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Participant/Trainee Support Costs

Participant support costs are for trainees or conference/workshop participants from outside the University. These costs cannot be budgeted if they are for URI employees.

Participant support costs may be for items such as:

  • Stipends
  • Subsistence allowances
  • Travel allowances
  • Registration fees
  • Other authorized expenses

Note: Participant support costs do not include:

  1. Incentives/prizes, memorabilia, or gifts, unless the cost is specific to the project, sufficiently justified in the proposal, and approved by the sponsor.
  2. Incentives payments to encourage individuals to participate as human subjects in a research study.
  3. Honoraria or fees paid to a guest speaker or lecturer
  4. Conference/workshop support costs such as facility rental, building services, video recording, audio transcription, program printing, catering, supplies, or media equipment rental.

Materials and Supplies

Supplies are those items with a purchase price of less than $5000/unit.

  • List each item.
  • Provide an estimated cost for each item.

Note: General office supplies (e.g., pencils, copier paper, memo pads) are not allowable budget items (these items are included in the F&A rate)

Publication Costs

Publication costs may include:

  • Documenting, preparing, publishing.
  • Making publications available to others.
  • Findings and products of work conducted under the award.

Consultants

Consultants cannot be employed or affiliated with URI.

Provide the following information for each consultant:

  • Name
  • Daily rate of pay
  • Number of days each consultant is intended to be paid

Note: A signed letter should be obtained from each consultant that confirms their daily rate and number of days to be paid.

Subawards

Each subrecipient should appear in URI’s proposal budget as a separate line item that includes both the subrecipient’s direct and indirect costs.

  • Separate subawards should be issued for each scope of work, even if they are at the same institution. 
  • If an award has more than one subaward, URI’s indirect costs are applied to each separate subaward once during the subaward’s period of performance, even if there is more than one subaward at the same institution.  
  • The following documents must be provided by each subrecipient at the time of the proposal submission:
    1. Scope of Work
    2. Budget
    3. Budget Justification
    4. Domestic or Foreign Subrecipient Monitoring Form
    5. Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA)

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Equipment or Facility Rental/User Fees

List the total funds requested for equipment or facility rental/user fee

  • Describe user fee
  • Justify the use of the facility and/or equipment

Alterations and Renovations

  • Itemize by category
  • Justify the costs of alterations and renovations, including repairs, painting, and removal or installation of partitions, shielding, or air conditioning
  • Where applicable, provide the square footage and costs

Other Direct Costs

  • Human subject payments
  • Communication fees
  • Equipment maintenance
  • Rental costs 
  • Tuition remission

Indirect Costs

Indirect costs are also referred to as Overhead, Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A), IDC, or Indirects. Indirect costs are a partial reimbursement by the funding agency for the expenses borne by the University to conduct the sponsored project. These costs include utilities, maintenance, accounting support, research administration services, and other institutional costs.

The University’s indirect cost rates are negotiated with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and based on expenses to support sponsored programs on campus. The negotiated rate is typically applied to programs on a modified total direct cost (MTDC) base. 

Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC):

MTDC is the sum of all direct costs excluding the following line items:

  • Subaward budgets (inclusive of direct and indirect costs) in excess of the first $25,000
  • Hospitalization and other fees associated with patient care whether the services are obtained from an owned, related or third party hospital or other medical facility
  • Student tuition remission and student support costs (e.g. student aid, stipends, dependency allowances, scholarships, fellowships.)  
  • Capital expenditures (buildings, individual items of equipment; alterations and renovations)

Note: Any alteration or waiver from the University’s negotiated indirect cost rates require approval from the Vice President for Research and Economic Development (VPR). For more information about waivers and exceptions to the negotiated indirect cost rate see: Facilities & Administrative (F&A) or Indirect Costs (IDC) 

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