SPO Incentives
Part 1:
1. Aimed at encouraging the submission of robust external grant proposals, the Sponsored Programs Office
manages two Incentive Programs that provide various amounts of financial assistance.
2. The first incentive is the SUBMIT Program which rewards faculty for proposal development and grant submission
totaling $15,000 or more.
3. For merely submitting a grant proposal, funds are received from the SUBMIT Program even if the proposal is not
funded by the sponsor.
4. Eligible participants include Principal Investigators also referred to as (PIs) and any Co-Investigators who submit
proposals in accordance with the Proposal Submission Policy.
5. As displayed in the table, the total amount of funds distributed by the SUBMIT Program is determined by the
sum of sponsor dollars requested in the proposal.
6. The distribution of SUBMIT funds are a direct result of submitted external proposals that occur in the previous
month.
Part 2:
7. The second incentive program managed by the Sponsored Programs Office is the Distribution of Indirect Cost
Recovery.
8. Indirect costs, also known as facilities and administration costs are included on proposals as a percentage of a
direct cost base.
9. These costs represent shared University resources such as office space, maintenance, technology support, and
business affairs.
10. While these items can be quite difficult to allocate across funded projects, they ARE a significant portion of grant
administration costs.
11. Ball State University requires that all proposal budgets include indirect costs at the appropriate federally
negotiated rate as determined by the type of project or at a rate published by the sponsor.
12. Adhering to the federal government’s requirement that indirect cost rates be renegotiated every three years,
current rates as well as a copy of the university’s agreement can be found on the Sponsored Programs Office
Website.
13. Distribution of recovered indirect costs will occur after the close of each fiscal year with 5% distributed to PIs
and Co-PIs, 10% to the Department or unit and the remaining balance distributed to the University’s General
Fund.
14. Indirect Cost Recovery from proposals with multiple PIs and departments will be evenly divided unless other
arrangements have been made at the time of proposal submission.
15. If a principal investigator fails to adhere to the Proposal Submission Policy, both PIs and their department will
forfeit indirect cost recovery distributions during the first two years of the project; however, the standard
distribution policy will resume if the project period continues beyond this time frame.
16. For additional information regarding the separate distribution schedule of recovered indirect costs for Colleges
and Service Centers, please refer to the S.P.O website.
Part 3:
17. Funds acquired from these incentive programs are placed into individual Research Incentive Accounts (RIA)
accounts established by S.P.O. Each PI and Co-PI is assigned their own individual account and is responsible for
deciding how to spend their Incentive Funds.
18. While these funds may not be used for faculty stipends or supplemental compensation, they can be used for
course releases that are approved in advance by the department chair in order to provide additional time for
sponsored program activities.
19. Incentive funds may also be used for the cost of supplies, equipment, professional development, publication
expenses, student support and travel.
20. It is the sole responsibility of the named account holder to work with their home department or unit to track
expenditures and monitor balances of their Research Incentive Account.
21. Unless other arrangements have been requested in writing beforehand, funds will remain in the individual’s
account regardless of departmental appointment within the university.
22. For PIs that retire or leave the university, the account will remain open and available for use if the PI plans to
continue performing research/projects as an emeriti faculty member. Otherwise, the account will be closed and
residual funds reclaimed.
23. These funds will not expire as long as the account is utilized at least once every fiscal year. Without justification
for a larger goal, the remaining funds will be reclaimed due to inactivity.
24. Frequently asked questions and additional information regarding these programs can be found on our website
at www.bsu.edu slash S.P.O or by contacting the respective program manager.
25. Also be sure to check out the S.P.O Newsletter Blog and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter to stay
updated about office news and events.