Grants & Contracts

The Office of Budget & Fiscal Services (OBFS) provides assistance in proposal preparation and in administration of research grants and contracts.

Proposal Development

All grant and contract proposals must be routed from OBFS to the Department Chair, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and the Vice Chancellor for Administration & Planning for approval. Proposals are then routed to UW Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) for final institutional review. Allow at least 4 weeks prior to sponsor deadline for processing by Finance & Administration, approval routing and fourteen days review time required for OSP.

All internal UW awards (e.g. Royalty research funds) must also be reviewed by OBFS.

Assuming a Principal Investigator (PI) has a prospective grantor in mind, a funding program to apply for, and technical narrative written, the next step is development of the grant budget.

Salaries:

For each person on the project show title and percent time (FTE) for each year.

Graduate Student Salaries/Research Assistants

Schedule 1 salaries are for appointments of 50% or greater for persons paid 5 out of 6 pay periods per quarter.

Student salaries

Hourly salaries

Faculty Course Release

• Check with your department chair prior to making any commitments. You must include the PI's salary + benefits in your grant budget. The adjunct's salary will be charged against the instruction budget.

A projected 4% annual pay increase for all positions is recommended. See GIM 25

Benefits:

Employee Benefit Rates - (GIM 3)

Equipment:

Equipment Thresholds (effective July 1, 1996)

(For items costing less than the per unit cost described above be sure to budget as supplies.)

Reminder: Equipment is exempt from indirect costs

Other Costs:

Graduate Operating Fees/Graduate Student Tuition Waivers

Note: These fees are excluded from indirect costs.

(When including the operating portion of tuition for graduate student research assistants in your proposal budget, the correct terminology to use is "graduate operating fee.")

Indirect Costs:

Also known as Facilities and Administrative Costs. The indirect cost rate is applied to the budget subtotal less equipment, grad operating fees and portions of subcontract expenses.

Indirect Cost Rates (GIM 13)

For more detail, please see the Grant and Contract Guide.

Proposal Application Process

The following steps are a general guideline for the grant application process at UWB:

1. A request for proposals or opportunity to submit an application for funding is identified.
2. Write the grant proposal, which includes both:
   • a budget (see the Grant Budget Template)
   • a budget justification narrative.
     Assistance with budget development is available from the Grants Coordinator in Finance and Administration.
3. Complete the sponsor application.
4. Submit the entire application (sponsor application/proposal, budget and justification) to the Grants Coordinator for internal UWB review. The Grants Coordinator will complete the eGC1 if the Principal Investigator has not already done so.
5. Electronic approval process: The finalized eGC1 application will go through an electronic approval process to obtain all the necessary approvals from the appropriate Program Director and both Vice Chancellors.
6. The eGC1 is submitted to the Office of Sponsored Programs for full review and approval prior to submitting the application to the funding agency is required.

For more detailed information regarding the grant proposal process at UWB plese see Policy 5.1, Grant and Contract Administration.

Administration of Grants and Contracts

When the award has been received at the UW, a budget number will be established specifically for that award. You will be notified of the new budget number via a NEA (Notice to Establish Account). That budget number will need to be used on all expenditure documents (petty cash, stores orders, purchase orders, etc) UWATS, Copy code, payroll, purchase orders, eProcurement, etc.

The budget reports will be sent to you monthly. The BAR (Budget Activity Report) shows all expenditures for a given month. The BSR (Budget Status report) will show initial budget, cumulative expenditures and remaining balance. You must review your BAR each month to verify that all charges are correct. If you require any back up documentation or you have any questions on the budget reports contact the Grants Coordinator at Finance and Administration.

Contact the Grants Coordinator if you require any budget revisions, retroactive salary transfers, extensions or supplements to your award.

Indirect Cost Recovery at UWB

All awards received from outside agencies are charged Indirect Costs or Facilities & Administrative overhead charges. These charges pay for staff support, building costs, utilities, etc. Approximately 80% of the indirect costs collected are returned to the department and 20% remains with the Chancellor's office for grant support. Note that the current policy regarding return of indirect costs is under review, and subject to change. Further allocation of the 80% departmental portion is up to the discretion of the Program Director. Contact your department regarding the use of these funds.

Grant and Contract Web Sites

Funding opportunities

Office of Sponsored Programs (formerly GCS)

Grant and Contract Guide

Human Subject Review