Effort Reporting at
Vanderbilt
Presentation to
College of Arts & Science Faculty
March 25, 2008
Dennis Hall, Associate Provost, Research &
Graduate Education
Tim McNamara, Associate Provost, Faculty
Chronology: A Few Key Dates
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Feb. 2003
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“U.S. Rules on Accounting for Grants Amount to More
than a Hill of Beans”
June 30, 2006 DGH Memo: NSF Labor Audit at VU
July 24, 2007 Provost’s memo to Deans
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$5.5M Dept. of Justice settlement (effort reporting)
Jan. 13, 2006 Science article
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Northwestern audit
“Effort Declaration and Certification”
Oct. 19, 2007 Major Effort Meeting
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Deans of A&S, Engineering, Peabody; Associate Provosts;
representatives from GC, OCGA, Provost’s Office of F&A
Effort: Basic Principles
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Effort is more fundamental than compensation
All institutional effort must be declared and
certified
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Institutional effort cannot be based on hours per week
Each activity specified as a percentage of the total institutional
effort (T.I.E.); elements must sum to 100%
Charge federal sources for the appropriate shares of the T.I.E.
Consulting, grant-review panels, etc. are not included in T.I.E.
Institutional effort is not bound to a particular time or place
Effort: Basic Principles
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Corollary: When compensation for a particular
period of time is charged to a federal source, the
feds’ expectation is that the corresponding effort
(i.e., via the base salary) has been expended
entirely on the work funded by that source.
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Incidental activities: 2.5% (1 hour per 40-hour week;
1.5 hours per 60-hour week)
Effort spent writing proposals cannot be charged to
grants (rare exceptions)
Reasonableness standard (very important)
Resources
Field Manual: “Policies and Practices: Compensation, Effort
Commitments and Certification” (COGR, March 1, 2007)
VU Websites:
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/ocga/vupolicies/effortreporting/efforttableofcontent.htm
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/ocga/vupolicies/vupolicies.htm
Limit Summer Grant
Support
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Carnegie Mellon
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Cornell
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Dartmouth
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Duke
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Harvard
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Michigan State
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MIT
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Penn State
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U. Michigan
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U. Rochester
Aware, and ~
Working on it
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Emory
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Northwestern
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Stanford
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Washington U.
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USC
Not Yet Aware
 NYU
 Rutgers
 U. Kansas
 U. Nebraska
 U. Pittsburgh
Remaining Challenges,
Works in Progress
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Aligning administrative and academic calendars
The lack of an institutional policy on “vacations”
for faculty
Personnel paid 100% from federal
grants/contracts
Others
Questions?
Issues Relating to
Faculty Effort
in Arts and Science
Richard McCarty, Dean
Issues in Arts and Science
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Significant grant-related effort occurs during the
academic year when many faculty are paid
disproportionately from A&S funds.
A significant fraction of faculty with NIH grant
support could pay for an additional portion of
grant-related effort during the academic year.
The institutional salary support that is freed up
during the academic year could be employed to
compensate a given faculty member for summer
effort that cannot be charged to his or her
grants (e.g., proposal writing).
Example 1
Proposed Changes
Current Situation
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Academic salary = $90,000
Full summer salary = $30,000
from grant*
Actual academic year effort =
35%
Academic year salary from grant
= $0
Total annual salary = $120,000
*100% of summer effort must be
directly related to purposes of
grant (in particular, no unused
effort for proposal writing)
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Academic year salary = $90,000
 $80,000 from A&S
 $10,000 from grant
Actual academic year effort = 35%
Full summer salary =
 $20,000 from grant
 $10,000 from A&S*
Total annual salary = $120,000
*Provides the equivalent of one month
of effort for activities that cannot be
funded by grant (e.g., proposal
writing)
Example 2
Current Situation
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Academic year salary = $90,000
 $74,700 from A&S
 $15,300 from grant+
Actual academic year effort =
35%
Full summer salary = $30,000*
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Total annual salary = $120,000
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+17%
for course release
*100% of summer effort must be
directly related to purposes of
grant (in particular, no unused
effort for proposal writing)
Proposed Change
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Academic year salary = $90,000
 $69,700 from A&S
 $20,300 from grant+
Actual academic year effort = 35%
Full summer salary = $30,000
 $25,000 from grant
 $5,000 from A&S*
Total annual salary = $120,000
+17%
for course release + 5.5% for
uncompensated effort
* Provides the equivalent of two weeks
of effort for activities that cannot be
funded by grant (e.g., proposal
writing)
Caveats!
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This proposed change is only valid if the grantcompensated effort during the academic year is < the
actual effort devoted to the grant.
Please remember that “vacation” is a very complicated
issue and our colleagues, Tim and Dennis, are working to
address these complications.
This proposal is being road-tested for 2008 until there is
sufficient time to consider all variables relating to faculty
effort. Consider this a first pass at the problems we are
facing.
Other matters will be considered on a case-by-case basis
(e.g. NSF and DoE grantees).