Budget Preparation Guidance

OSP's practice when drafting budgets is to read the sponsor’s guidelines and to let the project drive the budget. We work closely with our PIs to ensure that the budgets include only allowable costs according to the sponsor’s guidelines and that the requested amount will be sufficient to carry out the goals of the project if funded.

We also discuss with the PIs the institution’s responsibility to comply with the sponsor’s rules regarding allowable budget expenditures.

Sponsors’ guidelines may limit facilities and administrative (F&A) costs or indirect cost recovery or may require cost share (see below). If so, we build UNO's institutional budget to reflect the sponsor’s rules.

Direct Expenses

Personnel

Salaries

• The salary category should include the names of all individuals who will be involved in the project if known. Otherwise, use To Be Determined (TBD) and job classification.
  • If you need assistance determining the salary for TBD personnel, contact UNO Human Resources.
• Dependent upon specific sponsored guidelines either the percent effort or person months that will be applied to the project should also be shown.
• Depending upon agency limitations, an appropriate inflation rate (e.g., 3%) should be used to determine salary requirements beyond the first fiscal year. Guidelines should be consulted for agency-specific salary caps.
• All UNO employee salaries will be based on the individual's IBS.
• Master Graduate Student Assistantships (GAs) salaries are based on their term and determined by Graduate Studies.
  • Spring, Fall, Academic (9 months), Calendar (12 months).
• Ph.D. GAs' salaries are based on their term and area of discipline/college/unit.
  • Academic (9 months) and Calendar (12 months).
• The salaries of administrative and clerical staff should normally be treated as indirect (F&A) costs. Direct charging of these costs may be appropriate only if all of the following conditions are met:
  
  • Individuals involved can be specifically identified with the project or activity
  • Such costs are explicitly included in the budget or have the prior written approval of the federal awarding agency
  • The costs are not also recovered as indirect costs

Fringe Benefits

• Fringe benefits are charged as direct costs to the project
• The most current fringe benefit rates should be used

Non-Personnel

Equipment

• Major items of equipment ($5,000 or more) proposed for acquisition should be itemized by descriptive name and estimated cost, and an adequate justification should be provided in the budget narrative.
• Items with a useful life of more than one year and cost less than $5,000 normally should be included and justified under "Materials and Supplies."
• Equipment purchases should not be allocated between sponsor-provided and university-provided funds because of potential future points of contention associated with ownership of the equipment.
• If equipment is wholly pledged as cost-sharing it must be purchased during the project’s period of performance.
• Exempt from F&A when using MTDC.

Travel

• Costs for travel should be budgeted on actuals for transportation (mileage basis for personnel vehicle) and lodging.
• Meals are budgeted as per diem
• Charges incurred by employees for travel, lodging, and other subsistence should be reasonable and allowable only to the extent of university policy.
• The narrative should provide information regarding destination and names of conferences if known, number of travelers, duration of travel, and estimated total cost.
• Foreign and domestic travel should be itemized and justified separately.
• Sponsor guidelines should be consulted to verify the allowability of travel costs.

Participant Support Costs

• Stipends, travel, or subsistence allowances paid to or on behalf of participants at a conference or training activity.
• Participants cannot be university employees.
• Supplies generally cannot be included.
• Human (study) subject payments are not participant support costs. They should instead be categorized as Other Direct Costs.
• Exempt from F&A when using MTDC.

Materials & Supplies

• Consumable supplies (with a life expectancy of one year or less) are items used exclusively in support of project objectives.
• It is generally acceptable for sponsors to provide a breakdown of materials and supplies by broad categories as opposed to a detailed listing of individual items.
• When supply items are purchased to support the multiple activities of project personnel, they are considered to be indirect costs and cannot be charged directly to sponsored project funds. Such items would include office supplies like university stationery, toner, pens, tablets, file folders, staples, paper clips, etc.

Publications Costs

• Includes costs incurred to publish in scientific journals.
• Does not include costs for printing project materials.

Services

Computing Services

• Network costs, including the hardware, software, personnel services, public access sites, and other related costs required to enable university personnel to share software or data or to communicate electronically with other individuals, are considered to be part of the physical infrastructure of the university and are classified as indirect costs.
• Charges for computing services may be budgeted only when these costs are justified as providing a direct benefit to the project.

Professional Services

• Includes costs for services provided by external consultants.
• Current and certain former university employees may not be paid as consultants and must be compensated through the university payroll system. For more information about whether a particular former employee must be paid through payroll, please contact the Payroll Office.

Subawards

• Should be clearly identified in the text of the proposal.
• Should be included as a line item in the budget.
• A formal proposal from the subawardee, including a statement of work, budget, budget justification, and letter of administrative approval from the subawardee’s institution should be uploaded prior to MavGrants routing.
• Only the first $25,000 of each subaward is subject to F&A when using MTDC.

Other Direct Costs

• Other direct costs should be itemized and described in the narrative.
  • Service Centers (obtain a quote)
  • Honorariums (outside of the NU System)
  • Study Subject Payments
• Telephone service, including monthly service charges, ISDN, calling cards, and cellular phone charges typically should not be included as these are classified as indirect costs.

Tuition

• Graduate Assistant (GA) tuition rates are based on current (Resident) UNO Tuition Rates by College.
• GAs (Master's and Ph.D.) are eligible for up to 12 credit hours per semester.
  • If a PI does not budget enough tuition for the project, the remaining balance will be the responsibility of the PI's department/college/unit.
  • PIs cannot limit GA credit hours below their eligibility.
• Exempt from F&A when using MTDC or TDC (with some sponsor exceptions).

Facilities & Administrative Costs (F&A)

Facilities and administration rates, also known as indirect costs must be included in all budgets unless the sponsor has written policy in the guidelines or their website that states indirect costs are not allowable.

• UNO current F&A Rates
• UNO F&A Policy

Cost Share

Cost sharing or matching means that a portion of project or program costs not borne by the external sponsor (defined by Uniform Guidance § 200.306 )

UNO Requirements of Cost Share

• It is the university’s practice not to include committed (voluntary) cost share when it is not required by the sponsor
• It is the department’s responsibility to provide documentation that supports cost-sharing commitments.
• All cost share must be approved in NuRamp at the time of submission

Possible Sources of Cost Share

• Start-up funds
• Internal funding (state, tobacco, F&A return)
• Other University/department/college/unit support

Federal dollars cannot be used to meet federal cost share requirements and use of other external funds cannot be used without sponsor permission.