University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Indirect Costs (IDC)/Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A)
Distribution Mechanism for Multi-Unit Grants
Departments, centers and institutes involved in a research proposal submission must come to an agreement regarding the
distribution of indirect costs (IDC)/facilities and administrative costs (F&A) at the time of proposal submission to the Office of
Research Administration, or a default IDC/F&A distribution formula will apply when the grant is awarded.
The guiding principles are that IDC/F&A follows direct costs (DC) to an extent and the IDC/F&A is divided among the units that
support the faculty and the units that support the space. However, distributions will not be made for less than $5,000 of IDC
annually and the primary home department of the PI will receive all undistributed IDC. If the responsibility for the PI’s salary
resides fully or partially outside of the home department, the PI’s home department share should be distributed to the units
bearing financial responsibility for the PI. Guidelines to determine IDC distribution are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The department of each faculty member playing a significant role in the research (effort ≥ 5%) should be considered for
an IDC/F&A distribution.
If multiple investigators from the same department total ≥ 5% effort, the department should be considered for an
IDC/F&A distribution.
The PI’s department (and/or units bearing financial responsibility for the PI) should be considered for a distribution.
The unit where the research will be conducted should be considered for an IDC/F&A distribution. If rent is paid for this
space, a consideration should be made for that portion of the facility costs.
A unit, other than a shared service, with significant administrative responsibilities, e.g., DRI or Miami Project, should be
considered for an IDC/F&A distribution. As a default, any distribution in “Other” decreases the “Unit(s) Housing
Research” distribution.
Direct distributions will not be made to Core Facilities and Shared Resources as these are supported by internal MSOM
resources pooled from the AMC (tax).
All undistributed IDC/F&A reverts to the PI’s primary home department (and/or units with financial responsibility for the
PI).
The IDC distributed will be net of the 5.5% AMC assessed to direct costs.
If no pre-submission agreement is documented in writing, the following IDC distribution will be made upon award:
# Significant
Departments:
Faculty Total
Effort ≥ 5%
1
2
3
4
5
6
Revised 23 January 2014
Percent
Distributed to
Each Significant
Department
20.0%
20.0%
16.7%
12.5%
10.0%
8.3%
Percent
Distributed to
Unit(s) Housing
Research
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
Undistributed
IDC to PI’s
Department
30%
10%
0
0
0
0
Total Distribution
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%