What is cost sharing?
• UW Definition: “Cost sharing is the portion of total costs of a
sponsored project that is borne by the UW, rather than the
sponsor.”
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 1
Three Types of Cost Sharing
Mandatory
Mandatory; required by the Sponsor
Unavoidable
Examples: NIH Salary Cap cost sharing, PI’s minimum 1%
Voluntary
Critical to support the research enterprise
Example: Small awards where PI’s salary would be too great a
portion of the awarded amount
Offered “just because”
Institutional
Institutional
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 2
Problem Statement
• As an institution, we often do not meet our objectives
• Breakdowns occur at every point of the process and lead to:
– Excessive voluntary committed cost sharing
– Failure to fulfill our commitments or prove that we’ve done so
– Incomplete, incorrect, and inconsistent information in tracking
systems
– A risk of negative audit outcomes
– A reduced F&A rate
– Thousands of person-hours spent on reactive problem-solving every
year
• Faculty and staff are confused and frustrated
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 3
Observations
• The amount, nature and impact of the UW’s cost sharing data
is incomplete and indeterminate.
• The current situation offers no definitions, roles,
responsibilities, policies, or procedures which causes the
inconsistencies, frustrations and breakdowns we witnessed
• The large amount of variation within the process showed us
the objective of this project is not to increase throughput or
reduce processing time, but to reduce the variation
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 4
Cost Sharing Policy
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 5
Cost Sharing Policy
• Generally, UW’s policy is to minimize institutional and 3rd
party cost sharing on sponsored projects
• Approval of voluntary committed cost sharing rests with the
Dean’s or Director’s office
• Allowed when mandated or necessary to reflect accurately
the resources that must be expended to accomplish the
project objectives.
• Each Division may have their own requirements in addition to
this policy.
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 6
Cost Sharing Policy
• Researchers who engage in sponsored projects will:
• Comply with University and sponsoring agency regulations
regarding proposing, charging, and reporting of cost
sharing.
• Policy applies to both federal and non-federal sponsored
projects.
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 7
Cost Sharing Policy
• Who approves cost sharing?
• Dean’s/Director’s Office
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 8
Cost Sharing Policy
• What are the cost sharing impacts?
• Institution redirects resources to support specific scientific project
beyond the funding level provided by the sponsor.
• Potential limitations to programmatic, administrative and financial
capabilities to the researcher and University
• Reduces flexibility of researchers to conduct other research by
obligating effort
• Increasing requirements for capturing, monitoring and documenting
commitments and expenditures
• Decreases the University’s recovery of indirect costs
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 9
Cost Sharing Guidance
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 10
Cost Sharing Guidance
• When is it appropriate to offer voluntary cost share?
• To meet OMB requirements for minimum commitment of PI effort on
sponsored projects (1% minimum at UW)
• To support investigator on an award for which the total direct costs
are a small dollar amount
• To respond to clear indication from the sponsor that cost sharing will
increase competitiveness of a specific proposal
• To establish an institutional commitment for certain federal agencies
(NEH, NEA) that use cost sharing to demonstrate the leveraging effect
of federal funding
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 11
Cost Sharing Guidance
• When is it appropriate to offer voluntary cost share?
• To provide institutional support for a project that is significant in
scope and vital to the campus mission
• To support an institutional investment in a pioneering project with
potential significant future sponsored funding
• To secure sponsored funding for an individual or department in a
research discipline in which access to extramural funding is inherently
limited
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 12
Cost Sharing Guidance
• What are alternatives to voluntary cost sharing?
• Offer resources without making a specific and quantifiable
commitment.
• Limit number of explicit commitments
• Ex: “PI X will oversee all aspects of the project. University
resources are available as needed for the performance of the
sponsored project at no direct cost to the project”
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 13
Cost Sharing Guidance
• What should be offered to meet a cost sharing requirement?
• Consider two criteria:
• Is there a new cost to the university?
• Is there a significant burden for documentation or audit?
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 14
Cost Sharing Guidance
• Preferred mechanisms for cost sharing
•
•
•
•
UW salaries and fringe benefits
F&A costs associated with any cost shared direct expense
Unrecovered F&A costs due to a lowered or waived F&A rate
Third party cash contributions
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 15
Cost Sharing Guidance
• Acceptable, but not preferred mechanisms for cost sharing
•
•
•
•
•
Purchase price of equipment being acquired by the UW
Travel expenses
Tuition or tuition remission
Supplies
Volunteer effort, whether coordinated by the university or a third
party
• In-kind contributions from non-UW third parties
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 16
Cost Sharing Key Ideas for Dean’s
Offices
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 17
Cost Sharing: Key Ideas for Dean’s Offices
• Cost sharing may be required, but there are drawbacks for the
university and PI.
• University seeks to minimize cost sharing when possible
• Voluntary committed cost sharing is discouraged. Although,
there may be instances where it’s appropriate.
• There are alternatives to voluntary committed cost sharing.
• Cost sharing should be reviewed at the time of proposal
submission or when a change is made. Final approval of cost
sharing resides with the Dean or Director.
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 18
Cost Sharing: Key Ideas for Dean’s Offices
• If cost sharing must be approved, preferred mechanisms are
based on: a) is there a new cost to the university? and b) is
there a significant burden for documentation or audit?
• All cost sharing contributions should be explicitly identified in
the proposal budget
• The PI is expected to identify cost sharing items, identifying a
funding source for each, and seek approval for cost sharing via
the Dean’s or Director’s office
• Colleges/Schools may wish to create forms and formal
processes for submitting and reviewing requests to cost share.
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 19
Cost Sharing Key Ideas for PIs
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 20
Cost Sharing: Key Ideas for PIs
• Minimize cost sharing when possible.
• Cost sharing regulations derived from OMB Circulars.
Standards apply to federal and non-federal sponsored
projects.
• Non-compliance brings risk of penalties, up to suspension or
termination of awards.
• Voluntary committed cost sharing is discouraged, unless
appropriate.
• Alternatives to voluntary committed cost sharing exist.
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 21
Cost Sharing: Key Ideas for PIs
• Cost sharing should be reviewed at proposal or when change
occurs.
• Dean or director makes final approval of cost sharing.
• Cost sharing contributions should be explicitly identified in
the proposal budget.
• PI should identify cost sharing items and identify a source for
each prior to seeking approval from the Dean’s or Director’s
office.
• Cost sharing commitments cannot be changed without prior
sponsor approval.
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 22
Award Setup
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 23
Award Setup
• At award setup, OES will enter information into the Projects tab in
PeopleSoft Grants
• After setup, this information is visible in WISDM.
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 24
Cost Sharing Documentation
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 25
Cost Sharing & Commitment Updates
Form & Instructions
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 26
Managing, tracking, documenting cost sharing
• For payroll cost sharing, campus will submit form if:
– Missing rows (i.e., was never scheduled)
– Corrections to percentage, dates, source funding, etc.
– Personnel changes
• For non-payroll, campus will submit form after transaction has
occurred
• For third party, campus will submit form for goods and
services used to meet obligation
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 27
How update forms will be handled
• All forms will be sent to the Office of Extramural
Support (after all appropriate signatures have been
obtained)
• Forms will be reviewed and if there are questions,
Dean’s/Director’s office will be contacted for further
clarification
• Data will be entered into the cost share bolt-on
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 28
Monitoring and reporting of cost share
• Accountants will draw information from WISDM for
invoices and financial reports
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 29
Cost Share Example 1
State agency award @ 10%
In-kind personal
3rd party
Unfunded
Salary
Fringe Benefits
Supplies and Expenses
Direct Costs Subtotal
Indirects 10%
Match indirects
Unreimbursed indirects
(32% - 10%)
Total
Grant UWEX Match Third Party Match
22,390
16,342
2,503
8,902
6,537
1,469
9,618
40,910
22,879
3,972
4,090
7,321
1,828
9,000
Total
41,235
16,908
9,618
67,761
4,090
9,149
9,000
45,000
90,000
39,200
5,800
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 30
Cost Share Example 2
State agency award @ 15%
Unfunded F&A
Salary
Fringe Benefits (38.5%)
Travel
Supplies & Expense
Other (copies, telephone, other
communication costs)
Direct Costs Subtotal
Nonfederal unreimbursed Indirect Charges
(11% of WCMP request is $4,617 of which
$2,612 will be used as match)
Indirect Charges (15% of WCMP request)
Total
Grant UWEX Match Total
28,500
28,500
10,973
10,973
1,000
1,000
1,000
1,000
500
500
41,973
0
41,973
0
2,612
2,612
2,612
6,296
50,881
6,296
48,269
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 31
Key Comments
• Type of cost share is crucial for set up.
• If not mandatory, considered voluntary, committed.
• At time of award, verification from sponsor will be needed.
• If cost share is quantified, will be considered
“voluntary, committed”.
• Must be tracked in the cost share system.
• May have to report if requested by sponsor.
• Deans’/Directors’ effort cannot be included as cost
share
• UW-Extension does not use the cost share toolkit
mentioned in the guidelines
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 32
• Questions?
Office of Extramural Support
Slide 33