NCSU’s negotiated federal Facilities & Administration (F&A) rate accounts for normal and routine telephone usage. In special circumstances, telephone charges may be accounted for in a project’s direct costs. These costs must be in direct support of the project and verifiable through project records. For example, a project to review the effectiveness of a national health campaign could use telephone surveyors to collect data. These survey calls would be considered as directly attributable to the project and supported by call logs and verifiable phone records.
Cellular phone and Internet charges generally are not allowed. These charges are allowed only when necessitated by the project’s location and/or objectives. Contact Contracts & Grants’ Compliance Specialist for more information.
NCSU’s negotiated federal Facilities & Administration (F&A) rate accounts for normal and routine photocopy usage. As with telephone charges, in special circumstances photocopy charges may be accounted for in a project’s direct costs. These costs must be in direct support of the project and verifiable through project records. For example, a project, which needs to copy participant survey responses in triplicate and provide them to three project members for coding, would be considered as costs directly attributable to the project. A photocopy log and Wolf Copy records would serve as verifiable records of these charges.
Computer Services: Please contact the Office of Information Technology (OIT) for rates on special computer services. An inflationary rate of 5% is recommended for these types of services; however, this increase is not a requirement. OIT may be reached via telephone at: 919-515-4357.
Equipment warranties on a sponsored project are allowable if the pieces of equipment were also purchased on the project. Please note that warranties are rarely charged to a 5-ledger account. Therefore, you should look at warranties on a case-by-case basis. Please identify and document how a warranty would benefit the project. You should also pro-rate the cost of the warranty based on the equipment's usage. For example, if the piece of equipment is only being used 70% of the time for the project, then you should only charge 70% of the warranty to the project. Additionally, you may need to pro-rate the cost of the warranty based on length of time. For example, you may have a five year warranty on a three year project. In this case, you can only charge 3 years worth of the warranty to that project.
Equipment maintenance is an allowable charge on a sponsored project if it is required in order to complete the objectives of the project. Maintenance should be documented and charge proportionately to project. For example, if the equipment being maintained is used 50% of the time on the project, then only 50% of the maintenance charge should be charged to the sponsored project’s account.
If the project requires the use or services of a University Service Center, then those charges should be budgeted under the “other direct costs” category. Please obtain the rate and basis of the rate for the budget justification. For example: The project requires time on a service center’s piece of equipment, in order to complete one of the objectives of the project. The total amount budgeted is $1,500, which includes 20 hours at a cost of $75 per hour. For further information, please contact Contracts and Grants Service Center Coordinator at 515.8808.
Institutional memberships in professional organizations and subscriptions to technical periodicals are normally treated as an F&A cost. They may be charged directly only when related to a specific project and necessary for the successful completion of the goals and objectives of the project. Allocation, when applicable, should be able to be accomplished with relative ease and a high degree of accuracy. Generally, individual memberships are unallowable. Individual memberships in civic or social organizations are expressly unallowable. In fact, an individual membership or subscription to a professional group or periodical may be allowed as a direct charge to a contract or grant only if the following can be demonstrated:
Rental fees are an allowable cost on a sponsored project (i.e. renting: a building, an auditorium, a room, etc.). These charges will be budgeted in the category “fixed charges” and do not carry F&A. Please visit the Expense Accounts page from the NCSU Controller's site for for more information regarding the different type of rental properties.
Insurance on a piece of equipment is an allowable charge if the piece of equipment was also purchased on the project, and if the University does not already have insurance coverage for the item purchased. Please contact the office of Insurance and Risk Management, in order to identify if the University does or does not automatically cover the item in question. If insurance is needed, we must pro-rate the cost of the insurance based on the equipment's usage for the project. For example, if the piece of equipment is only being used 70% of the time for the project, then we should only charge 70% of the insurance premium to the project.
Postage expense incurred in support of routine administrative communication activities associated with instruction, public service, research, and other institutional activities should not be charged directly to sponsored accounts. The only exceptions are those cases where extensive postage expense is required in support of the goals and objectives of the sponsored award being charged. Mailing technical reports and other project deliverables are considered part of normal, routine business expenses and are therefore considered F&A costs. Postage expenses include US Mail, Federal Express, UPS, etc. All shipping costs for purchases are charged to the same account code as the items being purchased. The difference between postage (included in our indirect cost rate) and freight (direct cost item) is driven by the item(s) being sent not the means by which it is sent.
This budget category would be used for services to transport or move resources owned or used by the institution. An example of this would be moving a piece of equipment to another location. It could also be used for departmental moving expenses. This would be considered an allowable direct charge. It would NOT include project deliverables, technical reports and other such items sent by the US Mail, UPS, Federal Express, etc.
For specific guidance on this matter call SPARCS at 515.2444 or email sps@ncsu.edu.