Mechanisms of Collaboration:
Proposals that include more than one
department or school, or a collaboration
with Tufts affiliates
JANUARY 21, 2014
SERIES 4, SESSION 1 OF AAPLS
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APPLICANTS & ADMINISTRATORS
PREAWARD LUNCHEON SERIES
Speakers
 Zoya Davis-Hamilton, CRA, EdD
Senior Associate Director, Research Administration
Office of the Vice Provost
Tufts University
zoya.hamilton@tufts.edu
 Frederick Frankhauser, JD, MBA, RPh
Director, Grants & Contracts
Research Administration
Tufts Medical Center
ffrankhauser@tuftsmedicalcenter.org
Session Overview
 Steps necessary at the proposal stage for:
1.
Proposals that include more than one department or school
at Tufts
2.
Collaborative submissions with Tufts affiliates
 Scenarios of budgeting for a person’s effort via a
scope budget, subcontract or a joint appointment
 Challenges of F&A cost calculations
Multi-Department/School Proposals
 Require One Internal Sponsor Coordination Form
(ISCF)
 Answer “Yes” to the question “Is this a multi-account
proposal?” on p. 1 of ISCF and specify number of
accounts
 Work with department administrator(s) in
collaborating department(s) to confirm budget
amounts
 Attach supporting budgets in Excel for each
department/school (i.e. “scope” account)
ISCF Approval Signatures (Boston/Grafton)
 For Multi-PI proposals, all PIs from Tufts University must sign
 For Fellowship proposals, both the student and the faculty mentor must
sign the form
 Co-Investigators are only required to sign the form if they are from
departments or schools that are different from the PI’s department
 Only the Department Chair from the PI’s or lead PI’s department must
sign the form
 Dean, Director or Designate must sign the form for:
Proposals with cost sharing and/or F&A rate that is reduced from the federally
negotiated indirect cost rate
1.

The signature indicates approval of cost sharing or a reduced F&A rate
Proposals that will have a “scope” account
2.

The Dean, Director or Designate for all schools involved in the proposal must sign the form
Multi-department/school Proposals (cont.)
 Use appropriate F&A rate for each component of
the budget (Medford and the HNRCA have
different rates:
http://viceprovost.tufts.edu/researchadmin/writeand-submit-proposal/budget-figures-and-rates/)
 Show one combined budget on ISCF and in the
proposal to the agency
 List base, rate and amount for each portion of the
budget in grants.gov, PHS and other agency budget
forms
Challenges of F&A Calculation
 F&A rates differ between campuses
 For subcontracts, F&A rate of subcontract
organization is used on subcontract direct costs
 In addition, Tufts University charges F&A on the first
$25,000 of each subcontract
 Subcontract F&A amount is direct cost for Tufts
University but is not factored into the direct cost
limit on NIH proposals
(http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/noticefiles/NOT-OD-05-004.html)
Tufts University Affiliates
 Tufts University School of Medicine has a number of
affiliated clinical sites
 20 teaching hospitals across Massachusetts and one
in Maine (Maine Medical Center)
 Tufts Medical Center is the principal teaching
hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine
 http://medicine.tufts.edu/Clinical-Affiliates
Proposals with Tufts Affiliates
 Collaborator(s) from Tufts affiliates may assume the
following roles in the proposal:
No measurable effort – Other Significant Contributor
Subcontract when work will take place on affiliate’s premises
Joint Appointment (JA) if a person is employed by Tufts
Medical Center and work will take place at Tufts University
1.
2.
3.

These can be executed vice-versa
Proposal Paperwork
 Resources, Equipment & Biosketch(es) are necessary for
the collaborators
 No additional paperwork for OSC or JA at the proposal
stage
 For subcontracts:
1.
2.
3.
Subcontract organization’s business office must approve and issue/sign
a Consortium Letter of Intent/Statement of Intent
Subcontract budget and budget justification are required for nonmodular proposals
Subcontract total direct/indirect amounts per year and personnel
justification is required for modular proposals
Tufts Medical Center
 Tufts Medical Center (TMC) is the principal teaching
hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine
 TMC provides care for all patients from the tiniest
newborns at the full-service pediatric hospital,
Floating Hospital for Children, to centenarians in the
specialized Geriatrics clinic
 TMC conducts groundbreaking medical and health
policy research and is in the top 15 % of independent
institutions receiving federal research funding
Business Process for Collaborative Proposals at
Tufts Medical Center
 Need notice of what is being done in order for an
agreement to be drafted
 Agreement, Scope of Work & Budget
drafted/negotiated/ reviewed
 IRB/IACUC review
Most Common Problems
 Finding the correct people to contact
 Often find out after the protocol has been submitted
to the IRB
Questions?