Budgeting, Grants and Contracts, UCDHSC

Proposals — The Budget Process

Budgets for all grant applications and contract proposals are required to be evaluated by the Grants and Contracts office PRIOR to their submission to sponsoring agencies. This review comes in two parts:

There are no set guidelines that would be applicable to all budgets or in all situations. Generally, budget structures differ among Federal, State, local government and non-profit sponsoring agencies, and between research and training activities. The major budget categories will be the same regardless of the type of grant or contract, or the sponsoring agency. The most variance will probably be found in the amount of information required for each category. The best source for information will be the guidelines supplied by the sponsoring agency.

The following guidelines are general rules that should be applicable to any good proposal budget preparation:

Budget Sections:

   Personnel
   Consultant Costs
   Equipment
   Supplies
   Travel
   Patient Care Costs
   Alterations
   Consortium/Contractual
   Other Expenses
   Trainee Costs
   F&A Costs
   Submit Application
   Proposal Writing


Personnel	Top
This is one of the most important areas of the budget. Please review your finished work thoroughly to ensure that each position is listed and calculated correctly. Only faculty can be Principal Investigators for research activities administered through Grants and Contracts at UCD. If you are unsure of your eligibility, please call 303-724-0090, or check with your Dean's Office. Each person listed as personnel in your grant must be an UCD employee paid through UCD's payroll system. Salary Grants and Contracts will confirm appropriate institutional base salary is used in budgets and will question variences. To calculate the requested salary: (person - months) x (Institutional Base Salary) = Requested Salary NIH Usage of Person Months FAQs Uncompensated Effort It is acceptable to ask for LESS than the total requested salary needed to conduct the work proposed in the grant, but you should not request more. You may also request no salary at all (please see Fiscal Policy 4-8, Cost Sharing); however, it is preferable not to enter 0% effort for any person. Pay Increases/Documentation Requirements Individuals who will not contribute a measurable percentage of effort and thus will not be receiving salary support should be identified either as unpaid consultants or collaborators, depending on their employment status with UCD. Salary figures listed on the budget must be consistent with payroll records or be verified with individual department records. For budgets proposed to begin in the future, it is appropriate to calculate a 3%-4% increase to the current salary to compensate for cost-of-living increases. Additional increases of 3%-4% per employment year are also appropriate for the same reason. Fringe Benefit Rates From time to time, the University updates its fringe benefit rates. Please check for the most current fringe benefit rates when you begin to budget for your project's personnel costs. For Faculty Positions, please list: proper titles institutional base salary, or salary adjusted for future cost-of-living increases fringe benefits (please see current fringe benefit rates) Personnel costs for those individuals who have UCD appointments but are paid through other organizations (e.g., Denver Health and Hospital Authority, the VA, CU Boulder) must be included as subrecipient costs. Faculty with joint UCD and VA appointments must submit a Memorandum of Understanding when applying for federal funding. For Non-Faculty Positions, please list: proper titles institutional base salary, or salary adjusted for future cost-of-living increases fringe benefit rates as applicable For non-faculty positions, and for persons to be hired at some point in the future, salaries should be comparable to pay scales for similar job classifications. Salaries for future years of support should be in line with University policy. Increases may vary throughout the year and should be checked periodically with for the most current-cost-of-living increase rates. Any increases should be detailed in the budget summary. The increase for NIH proposals should be 3%-4%.


Consultant Costs	Top
These costs should be for services of a professional nature to be rendered by persons other than University of Colorado faculty or staff. If possible, requirements for the category should be detailed in the following manner: name institution nature and extent of services to be provided expected rate of compensation and total fees travel (if needed, detail each trip and provide a total of all trips) per diem - up to maximum per day on federally-sponsored projects: Federal Domestic Per Diem rates Federal International Per Diem rates Colorado State Travel Management Program State of Colorado domestic and foreign Per Diem rates State of Colorado mileage reimbursement rate


Equipment	Top
List all items of equipment and the anticipated costs per item. Federal Sponsors: On federal budgets, equipment means an article of nonexpendable, tangible personal property having a useful life of one year or more and an acquisition cost which equals or exceeds the lesser of the capitalization level established by the organization for financial statement purposes, or $5,000. UCD uses $5,000 and useful life of one year or more for the capitalization level. Any item with a useful life of less than one year or a cost of less than $5,000 is not considered to be capital equipment and should be included elsewhere in the budget (e.g., Supplies, Other Expenses). Non-Federal Sponsors: Other sponsors may have different policies regarding the definition of equipment. Please check the sponsor's policies and instructions. To the extent there is flexibility to use university policy, or if no sponsor policy is identified, use the UCD policy which means handling the same way as described above for federal sponsors.

Supplies	Top
List supplies by major types (e.g., glassware, chemicals, animals). Provide costs for each of the categories listed. Some agencies may require more details. Supplies related to the general operation of the department (e.g., paper, pens, printer cartridges) are considered to be a part of Facility and Administrative Cost Recoveries. In a few circumstances, direct charging general supplies may be acceptable. For detailed information, please review Fiscal Policy 4-7, Charges to Federally-Sponsored Programs. The suggested increase for the second and subsequent years of support is 3% to 4%. The increase(s) should be detailed in the budget justification with a statement such as: Each category has been increased by ___% per year to account for anticipated inflationary cost increases.


Travel	Top
Please provide a brief itinerary. List the purpose for the proposed travel and for whom the travel funds are requested. Excessive amounts should be adequately justified. The suggested increase for the second and subsequent years of support is 3% to 4%. The increase(s) should be detailed in the budget justification with a statement such as: Each category has been increased by ___% per year to account for anticipated inflationary cost increases. Colorado Statewide Travel Management Program


Patient Care Costs	Top
Amounts may be requested in this category for both outpatient and inpatient care costs. Subject reimbursement and travel are not considered patient care costs and should be included under Other Expenses. NOTE: Patient care costs for University of Colorado Hospital facilities are subject to approval by the Hospital Research Review Committee (HRRC) at UCH. Failure to obtain UCH approval of your budgeted costs may result in UCH's inability to support your research. Please contact Mary Schumer in Research Administration at UCH 303-372-4067 to obtain UCH approval of the patient care costs you have budgeted. For definitions of patient care costs, please review Exhibit C of UCD Fiscal Policy 4-1.


Alterations and Renovations	Top
Most agencies specifically define allowable costs in this area. In some cases, it may be necessary to determine whether or not space will be available at UCD to accommodate the requested change.


Consortium/Contractual	Top
Costs in this category usually are for formal contracts with third parties who will perform a substantive portion of the programmatic effort. This section does not include the routine procurement of supplies, products or services. NOTE: When programmatic effort is being completed at other CU campuses and UCD's affiliates, costs are considered "consortium/contractual" costs. The budget for this category should be developed by the subrecipient. When routing your application, please be sure to include documentation that the business office for the subrecipient(s) has reviewed and approved the budget. Please see the checklists for subrecipients (NIH and other sponsors) for details.


Other Expenses	Top
Items not included in any of the above categories should be listed here. Listing by major categories is allowable. Common expenses in this section include, but are not limited to: animal board equipment maintenance equipment rental UCD usage and maintenance fees (e.g., UCD Cancer Center's DNA sequencing and analysis core costs) subject reimbursement When using lab animals in your research, please include in the budget justification: number of animals to be used location of animal housing daily maintenance cost per animal other costs number of expected maintenance days Please check the sponsoring agency's guidelines for any specific items to include here. The suggested increase for the second and subsequent years of support is 3% to 4%. The increase(s) should be detailed in the budget justification with a statement such as: Each category has been increased by ___% per year to account for anticipated inflationary cost increases.


Trainee Costs	Top
Trainee expenses are appropriate on training grants only and fall under several categories: stipends tuition and fees dependency allowances travel allowances Other direct costs may also be requested as part of a training application. NIH policy allows trainee costs on pre-doctoral and postdoctoral training grants only.


Facilities and Administrative Costs (also known as “F&A,” Indirect Costs, Overhead)	Top
Most sponsoring agencies allow reimbursement of these costs as a percentage of the total direct costs associated with a project. The type of program and the location of the project can impact the rate used, as well as the base to which the rate is applied. Some agencies specify this percentage; otherwise, please follow UCD policy. All federally-funded projects are subject to the UCD's Negotiated Rate Agreement unless otherwise specified by the federal sponsor.

There are no set rules that apply to all of the numerous sponsoring agencies, but these general guidelines apply to any good budget preparation. Again, it should be stressed that the best method to ensure a properly-prepared budget is to consult the sponsoring agency's guidelines prior to beginning your budget preparation!

Submission and Evaluation of the Completed Application

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Once the application is finished, you must complete an Approval of Application for Grant or Contract form (Routing Form). Begin the approval process by obtaining the department/division head signature and dean's signature. Only then should you “route” the proposal to Grants and Contracts for institutional endorsement.

To ensure that the application presents a consistent and meaningful whole, review of the completed application involves verification of:

administrative data
budget data
budget justification
facilities description
work statement
space needs
personnel assignments
animal usage and/or human subjects
involvement of supporting personnel and organizations

For more information about the University of Colorado's fiscal policies, please visit the UCD Financial and Business Services fiscal policies web page or call Grants and Contracts at 303-724-0090.

The following web sites are just a few which may assist you in the preparation of both the budget and narrative portions of your proposal:
New Investigators Program-Resources for New Investigators (NIH)
Tips for New Grant Applicants (NIH)
Quick Guide to the Preparation of Applications (NCI)
A Guide for Proposal Writing (NSF)
Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal (Michigan State University)
A Proposal Writing Short Course (The Foundation Center)
Other Links (University of Wisconsin)