Guide to Allowability of Administrative/Clerical Costs on Federally Funded Grant Budgets Presented by: Ted Mordhorst, Assistant Director, Post Award Compliance, RAA Carol Rhodes, Assistant Director, OSP April 8, 2010

Facilities & Administrative Rate F&A Rate charged on grant covers salaries of admin/clerical staff See GIM 23, Attachment A for list of job codes considered admin or clerical Charging admin/clerical costs to a grant as a direct cost is “double- charging” the grant

Unlike and Exceptional Circumstances The nature of the work under a particular project requires an extensive amount of administrative/clerical support that is significantly greater than the routine level of services provided by academic departments Examples of unlike and exceptional circumstances at GIM 23 (from OMB Cir. A-21 Guidance)

OSP’s Role Review proposal budget and budget justification to ensure any direct charging of admin/clerical is fully justified in proposal Ensure dept knows the record-keeping responsibility Communicate to GCA via Funding Action that admin/clerical costs allowable on grant budget, if justified

GCA’s role Indicate within financial system that admin/clerical costs are not allowable (MyFinancial Desktop: Flag02 with value of “0”) Indicate within financial system that admin/clerical costs are allowable when OSP notifies GCA of allowability (MyFinancial Desktop: Flag02 with value of “1”)

Department’s role Review OMB Cir. A-21 Guidance Justify the direct charging of admin/clerical salaries in proposal, per Guidance Track and document the on-going unlike and exceptional effort of admin/clerical personnel within grant file Do not charge admin/clerical costs to budget unless Flag02 in MyFinancial Desktop indicates admin/clerical costs are allowable (value of “1”)

Moving Forward Departments to remove admin/clerical costs from fed/fed flow- through grant budgets, unless Flag02 has value of “1” in My Financial Desktop If admin/clerical costs justified, and Flag02 has value of “0”, contact OSP Grant and Contract Coordinator (GCC) Provide Grant No., PI name, and justification to OSP GCC OSP will notify GCA, unless Sponsor approval required PI/Dept. will receive receipt of funding action or post- award action that indicates GCA has been notified of allowability PI/Dept. to keep documentation of admin/clerical effort in dept. grant file

Questions? See OMB Cir. A-21, Section F.6.b See OMB interpretation of Section F.6.b,in GIM 23 Refer to UW admin/clerical job code list in GIM 23 Check Grant Flags in MyFinancial Desktop Contact OSP or GCA