F&A Guidance

Facilities & Administrative costs (“F&A”) are actual expenses incurred by the University in support of its institutional functions (e.g., sponsored research or education/training). Because these expenses are incurred in support of most/all sponsored functions and do not align neatly with a specific project, they have been called indirect costs or “overhead”. However, “facilities & administrative” costs more accurately describe the nature of these expenses (e.g., facilities: library, space/utilities, etc.; administrative: sponsored programs, the Office of Sponsored Accounting, and other administrative or clerical staff).

Syracuse University negotiates its F&A agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services (our “cognizant agency”) and currently has three predetermined rates:

Other sponsored activities that do not fall within the above categories (e.g., evaluation, demonstration or service projects) are to use the off-campus research rate.

To calculate the F&A associated with a project, the relevant rate is applied to project’s “modified total direct costs” [1] (MTDC).

OSP determines the appropriate F&A rate based on our review of the sponsor’s stated program purpose, guidelines and other factors. If a project includes multiple functions (e.g., research and education/training), the rate associated with the majority function (based on cost) will be applied. Similarly, OSP will determine if the off-campus rate is applicable if the majority of both grant expenditures, (i.e., project effort) and the project’s duration are spent off-campus. The off-campus activities must be of a continuous nature to qualify for the off-campus rate. Principal investigators/project directors should provide OSP with sufficient information about the proposed project well in advance of the submission deadline to allow us to make the appropriate rate determination.

The University honors a sponsor’s written policy on allowable F&A rates. To illustrate, many training grants limit F&A to 8% MTDC; in such cases OSP will apply the allowed F&A rate instead of our federally negotiated rate of 27.7%. Many foundations limit F&A to 10% of total direct costs; OSP will calculate the F&A according to their requirement.

For application guidelines that are silent on F&A, OSP will apply the appropriate federally negotiated rate.

For non-Federal applications: Use of rates other than the applicable federally negotiated rate or that deviate from sponsor guidelines requires the authorization of the applying unit’s Dean(s). OSP must be informed of this waiver by the Dean or his/her designee by email at least one week before the application deadline to allow sufficient time for budget review.

For Federal applications: In addition to Dean’s approval, reduced F&A on a federal grant or contract requires concurrence from the Associate or Vice President for Research to maintain consistent institutional practices subject to federal audit.

[1] MTDC equals a project’s total annual direct costs less the costs of tuition, equipment, and the portion of subcontracts exceeding $25,000. Equipment has a unit cost of more than $5,000 and a useful life of more than 1 year. Equipment may also include integrated fabricated systems that perform a specific function, whose individual components do not exceed the $5,000 threshold; contact OSP for additional information.