Office of Sponsored Projects:
Post Award – Award Management 

Program Income

Section 2 CFR 200.307 (“Uniform Guidance”) defines program income as “gross income earned by a recipient that is directly generated by a sponsored activity or earned as a result of the award”.  Program income must be identified, appropriately documented, and the resulting revenue and expenses properly recorded and accounted for during the life of the award.  Non-federal sponsored awards require similar attention to identify, document, and account for program income if stated specifically within the award. If the sponsor is silent on revenue generation, the revenue does not need to be reported to the sponsor and therefore is not treated as Program Income.

Examples of Program Income

  • Fees earned from services performed under the Award, such as laboratory tests. 
  • Funds generated from sales of commodities and research materials, such as tissue cultures, cell lines and research animals developed or acquired under the Award.
  • Conference fees charged when the Award funds the conference.
  • Income from registration fees, consulting, and sales of educational materials developed or acquired under the Award.
  • Sale, rental, or usage fees, such as fees charged for the use of computing or laboratory equipment purchased with Award funds.
  • Funds generated from the sale of software, tapes, or publications. Royalties from patents & copyrights, etc. are generally not reportable as program income.

Program Income Revenue

  • Revenue can be generated both internally at URI or externally.
  • Internal sales of goods or services would be charged to another CFS using a credit statement.
  • External sales would result with the goods or services purchased by customers outside of URI with the use of cash or credit card.

Administration of Program Income

  • All awards that will generate program income will be given a separate award for that activity, in which both the related income and expenses will be tracked. The expenses charged to the Program Income account must meet the Cost Principles of Reasonable, Allowable, Allocable, and Consistently Treated. 
  • All deposits should be submitted to your OSP Post Award Specialist for review and approval. The deposits should have supporting documentation for the revenue that will be deposited.
  • In addition, the budget will be increased by the amount of the deposit within the Program Income award in PeopleSoft, with the budget provided by the PI.