UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH POLICY 11-01-06
CATEGORY: RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION
SECTION: Research
SUBJECT: Research Allocations
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 25, 1993 (Revised February 13, 1995)
PAGE(S): 4
I. Summary
This policy has the following features:
- The University will make annual, identifiable, and predictable
"research allocations" to all units engaged in sponsored
research. The allocations are keyed to the indirect costs
(IDCs) recovered in the preceding fiscal year. This policy
affects Schools and Centers outside of the University of
Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) but is comparable in concept
to that used in our Medical Center.
- The first 50% of the full, applicable University IDC rate will
be credited to the general fund to help support utility costs,
general administration, and facilities. Academic offices and
Principal Investigators (PIs) will receive the remainder of
the IDC collected according to a formula provided, and
administer and use it directly for research development and
infrastructure support.
- Losses to the general fund will be minimized by the resulting
stimulation of external funding, the recent increase in IDC
rates, improved IDC collection, and the use of the Deans'
research allocations for rapidly growing budget items, such as
expenditures for start-up costs, proposal cost sharing, and
research equipment purchases by Schools and Departments.
- Simultaneously, appropriate direct budgeting of some
significant infrastructure support will be expected for grants
and contracts that yield no or less than the full IDC recovery
to gain parallel support for departmental needs.
- The predictable and annually growing research support for
Schools, Centers, and Departments will encourage better
planning by units, be more visible to faculty, and provide a
strong incentive for Schools and researchers to support full
IDC recovery. It will reward wiser and permit longer range
budget decisions at the School and Department level and thus
enhance the University research mission.
II. Definitions
Research Allocations: A hard money allocation to University of
Pittsburgh Schools and major Centers not
part of the University of Pittsburgh
Medical Center (UPMC). Allocations
restricted to research support.
Indirect Cost (IDC) Charges for research support costs not
Rates: directly billed to grants and contracts.
Rates approved by the Department of
Health and Human Services and applied to
sponsored research projects for IDCs
incurred by the University.
Fully Recovered IDC: IDC collected at audited University
rates. Does not include IDC recovered
at below audited rates.
Hard Money: Funds controlled by the University, not
subject to restrictions imposed by
external agencies.
Soft Money: Funds provided by external agencies for
defined tasks and subject to contractual
restrictions.
Research Development A hard money fund administered by the
Fund (RDF): Vice Provost for Research and computed
on the basis of IDCs recovered at
audited IDC rates.
III. Policy Objectives
- Enhanced predictability and effectiveness of University
research support.
- Greater visibility of University support.
- Annually negotiated and variable funds for support of research
by Schools and major Centers are replaced by a computed and
predictable "research allocation." The research allocation
will be a budget line item and will rationalize and stabilize
unit resources for infrastructure and other support of
research. It is related to IDC recovery, i.e., to the level
of sponsored research activity and, therefore, is self-
adjusting for inflation and increased sponsored research
activity. It will make University hard money support for
research readily visible to faculty and encourage and reward
diligent IDC recovery. The explicit and predictable annual
research allocation helps relieve academic units and senior
administrators of difficult recurring research budget
negotiations. It encourages and permits longer range and more
ambitious research planning by the Schools and thereby
enhances progress of the University.
IV. Policy
The research allocation for Schools and major Centers is modeled
after, and will supplement, the existing Research Development
Fund (RDF). IDC recovery at the audited rates will serve as the
reference basis for the research allocation for the subsequent
year.
The allocation for research support will be made annually to
Schools and researchers, based on the actual IDC recovery of the
preceding fiscal year. The research allocation amount is equal
to the IDCs recovered in excess of 50% of the full IDC rate and
is distributed to academic units and Principal Investigators
(PIs) according to the following formula:
Academic Unit: Deans and Departments/Centers 30%
Principal Investigators (PIs) 10%
Provost's Research Development Fund (RDF) 9%
Office of Research 1%
Academic Departments will receive 1/6 of their academic
unit's share (5%) or a negotiated larger share if asked to
assume some obligations previously met by the Dean, such as
cost sharing for start-up, etc.
Research allocation funds are to be used for cost sharing for
proposals, start-up costs for both current and new faculty,
repair and minor renovation of research facilities, purchase of
major research equipment, and closely related research
expenditures. They are also intended as seed money and to
improve our competitive position in attracting sponsored research
projects. Some instructional support like research experience
for undergraduates shall be permitted. These funds may be used
for the support of graduate students, shops, technicians, etc.,
to the extent that such use demonstrably improves the present
research environment and furthers the research mission of the
School. They may not be used for salaries of tenured and tenure-
stream faculty, administrative support, or to substitute for
support traditionally granted from the base budget.
Starting with fiscal 1994, all grants and contracts normally will
be processed through the School where the sponsored faculty
member has his or her primary appointment. However, since the
University encourages the pursuit of interdisciplinary topics and
collaboration in research and has established the University
Centers for this purpose, faculty members may submit their grants
or contract proposals through the appropriate Center with the
written concurrence of both Dean and Center Director.
If an interdisciplinary project is affiliated with a Center that
provides significant research support, the Deans must share the
earned research allocation with the Center. The sharing
arrangements for a given project should be stable and must be
agreed upon in negotiations between the Center Director and the
responsible Deans at the time of the proposal submission.
Disagreements shall be mediated through appeal to the Vice
Provost for Research. (For sponsored faculty associated with a
major Center, the unit's research allocation typically might be
shared between the School of their primary appointment and Center
in approximately equal parts. However, there may be situations
in which most of the funds should go to the Center.) The PI's
research allocation should remain at the 10% level.
Future research allocations will be estimated based on current
sponsored research activity. The exact annual research
allocation amount will not be available until September or
October; however, units may begin charging their research
allocation account on July 1. Unlike unrestricted annual budget
items, the restricted research allocations will have a two-year
budget cycle from July 1.
State, foundation, and industry grants often severely limit IDC
recovery. Therefore, units depending strongly on such sponsors
may derive only small earned research allocations and
insufficient institutional support. With the enactment of this
policy it becomes necessary that Deans, Directors, and Department
Chairs insist that PIs with grants where the IDC rates are less
than audited rates put specific and appropriate research or
institutional support items into their direct grant budgets
(e.g., partial coverage of faculty salaries) so that equivalent
departmental funds are released for infrastructure support.
Items to be counted as "infrastructure support" include Graduate
Student Researcher support, secretarial and technical help that
replaces services previously offered by the Department, soft
money payments for central computing charges, broadly shared
equipment, and replacement salary for the investigators (but not
summer salary or overload payments). Deans, Directors, and
Department Chairs may demand that such direct infrastructure
support items plus any actual IDC payments be comparable to the
applicable IDC charge for the grant. (In other words, directly
charged institutional support items may be required to substitute
for uncollectible IDC.)
V. Illustration for Distribution of Research Allocations to Units
Percent of total IDC
Research allocation from projects Old New New formula
billed at the audited Indirect formula formula example
Cost (IDC) rates: % % (in $)
Total University IDC collected,
(example): 100 100 $200,000
Less Central Pool 90 50 100,000
____________________________
Amount available for
distribution 10 50 $100,000
Deans (max)* 3 25 $50,000
Department or Center (min)* 0 5 10,000
Principal Investigator (PI) 3 10 20,000
Provost's Research Development
Fund (RDF) 3 9 18,000
Office of Research 1 1 2,000
____________________________
Portion distributed 10 50 $100,000
Research allocation from projects
billed below the audited IDC rates:
Policy: Only the amount over 50% of full IDC rate will be
distributed to units.
Old New New formula
formula formula example
% % (in $)
Example $132,000 collected of
$200,000 IDC due: 66 66 $132,000
Less Central Pool 66 50 100,000
____________________________
Amount available for
distribution 0 16 $32,000
Reduced scale Reduced scale
factor % times
Deans (max)* 0.32 0 25 $16,000
Department or Center (min)* 0.32 0 5 3,200
Principal Investigator (PI) 0.32 0 10 6,400
Provost's Research
Development Fund (RDF) 0.32 0 9 5,760
Office of Research 0.32 0 1 640
____________________________
Portion distributed 0 16 $32,000
*Deans are encouraged to pass on more than the formula amount to
Departments or Centers. (Deans and Directors of major Centers
negotiate Dean/Center split with appeals to the Vice Provost
for Research.)