Funding Categories

California State Agencies 

California State Assembly Bill 20 (AB20) required the State of California to come to agreement with both the CSU’s and UC’s on a single model contract agreement that addresses the standard terms and conditions; and agreement was reached in 2016, with annual reviews and updates published at the beginning of each calendar year. This arrangement allows all of us to spend less time negotiating with our sister State agencies on agreements. The Sponsored Programs Foundation is required by the Chancellor’s Office to use this agreement with any State agency, and any requested exceptions must be submitted for approval to the Chancellor’s Office. The full agreement can be found on the State website at: https://www.dgs.ca.gov/OLS/Resources/Page-Content/Office-of-Legal-Services-Resources-List-Folder/Model-Contract-Language

In Brief:

-      Campuses provide complete proposals to the State prior to award in a standard template

-      Proposals are be reviewed in advance by university sponsored projects offices

-      A minimum of 30% indirect rate is used effective 7/1/19

-      Proposals contain more detail upfront, allowing for less detail to be required later, for example, with each invoice copies of each receipt won’t need to be submitted

 

Indirect Cost Rates for State Proposals

For the recovery of IDC from State of California funding, AB20 established a minimum indirect rate of 25% of the Modified Total Direct Costs (as defined in our federally-negotiated rate agreement).

If SPF is a subrecipient of federal funds and the State agency is a pass-through entity, as defined in the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200.93 and 2 CFR 200.74) then SPF should budget and receive our federally negotiated rate for the project as specified by 2 CFR 200.331(a)(4).

 

Required Proposal Elements for State Proposals

The University Model Agreement stipulates that UC/CSU's will provide the State with a proposal in advance of any award made. Proposals to the State will included at a minimum the following elements: a completed and signed State/University Proposal Cover sheet, a complete Scope of Work (Exhibit A – Exhibit A6), and a complete Budget (Exhibit B, B1 and B2 if there are subrecipients). Other elements, such as letters of support, can be included at the funding State agency’s request or as deemed necessary by the University’s Principal Investigator. Please see the State and University Proposal & Administration Manual for more information.

 

Federal Agencies 

Contracting with the federal government is a highly regulated process. Federal grant proposals typically need to be submitted through grants.gov, or agency specific websites such as research.gov or Fastlane for NSF, or NSPIRES for NASA. Federal contracts contain standard terms and conditions, also called clauses. Many of the clauses are non-negotiable. For grant contracts, the applicable clauses are collected in the Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200.

Different federal agencies may apply more restrictive requirements on all or a certain class of grant awards they administer. All federal agencies must accept the grantee’s Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate (IDC), unless a different IDC rate is based on a publicly documented justification.

SPF’s federally negotiated rate is 47.5% on-campus, and 26% off-campus. The full indirect cost policy can be found here.