Pre-Award Preparation

Writing Assistance

The goal of a proposal is to persuade a sponsor to spend their research dollars on your proposal above all other applicants. To assist in writing persuasively, there are a variety of resources available online to assist in the proposal writing and development stage.

General Rules for Persuasive Writing

• Peer review is one of the greatest assets for successful proposals. Contact a senior or funded member of your department and ask them to read your proposal.
• Unless the solicitation forbids it (and some do), it is perfectly acceptable for you to contact the program manager and make sure your proposal is a good fit for them. If it is not, they may point you in another direction.
• Legibility is important. Use the largest font size the sponsor will allow. The best font (and one that some agencies require) is Arial/Helvetica. Twelve point is best.
• Be Concise! Don't use ten words to say what you can in five.
• Use active voice in your writing. Keep it interesting and conversational. You want the reviewer to come away excited about your idea, not bored.
• While good persuasive writing will address the potential flaws in an argument or direction, it should also explain why you will be able to avoid those pitfalls. Be assertive in your ideas while still acknowledging room for debate and the value of other opinions.
• Don't use jargon or, if you need to, explain it the first time you use it. While your reviewers will be experts, not all of them will necessarily be experts in your specific field.
• The most important part of your proposal is actually not the project narrative. It is the summary. The majority of reviewers in a crowded panel arrive having only read your summary and rely on your primary reviewers to enlighten them on the project as a whole. Anyone picking up your summary should be able to understand why your project is important. This is also the part of the proposal that will become part of the public record, so do not include any confidential or proprietary information.
• FOLLOW THE SPONSOR GUIDELINES!! This cannot be said enough. Failure to follow the formatting and limitations imposed by the sponsor can result in the return of your proposal without review.
• Last, but definitely not least, always have others, whether they are in your department or not, review and make editing suggestions for your proposal. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation are important. It's easy to fall in love with our own words and lose perspective while writing. Another set of eyes can help spot wordiness where the author may see a cunning turn of phrase.

Budget Preparation

Best Practices for Preparing a Budget

• In this time of extremely competitive research and funding challenges, an accurate proposal budget with enough detail to demonstrate a clear idea of expenses will be very important in the evaluation process.
• Requesting funds for nonspecific budget categories such as "other" should be avoided so the budget looks well thought out.
• The budget should include what is needed to carry out the project - no more and no less.
• Inflated budgets look "padded" and can harm the chances for funding, while underestimating cost can harm the project if the award is made.
• The concept of "lowest bidder" only applies to contracts, not grants, and even funding decisions for contracts are based on the overall quality of the proposed project not just the project with the lowest cost.

Budget Categories

Total Cost

Level means that Facilities & Administrative (F&A) costs and direct costs can be rebudgeted without agency approval. For example, if equipment is budgeted in the proposal and then that piece of equipment is bought after the award is made, the cost could end up slightly higher or lower. If this is the case, to have all the funds available to spend, the equipment and F&A lines would need to be rebudgeted and agency approval would not be needed.

Total Direct

Level means all costs except F&A are direct costs so there are really two levels at the total direct level. Costs can be rebudgeted between these direct lines without approval; however, if it is necessary to rebudget F&A to cover some direct costs or for more F&A from the direct costs then agency approval is needed. If that same piece of equipment is bought and it comes out slightly higher or lower, then to have all the funds available, agency approval would be necessary to rebudget the direct costs (in this case the equipment line) and the F&A lines.

Budget Category

Level is the following; Personnel (includes Fringe Benefits), Operating, Waivers/Scholarships/Fellowships, Equipment and F&A. This would mean if more personnel costs were needed and less of the travel budget then agency approval would be necessary to rebudget.

Budget Line

Level means that the budget is monitored on each line. Each of the budget categories listed above have individual lines within those categories. For example, the Operating Category has many different lines some of which are travel, supplies, office supplies, postage, printing, repairs and many more. This would mean that if more travel budget was necessary and less in the supply line then agency approval would be necessary.

More detail on each budget category by budget line along with a budget disclaimer and some budget tips follows below under the Budget Justification section.

Budget Justification

The budget justification is a very important part of any proposal budget. The justification explains in detail all of the proposal expenses shown in the proposed budget.

Listed below are budget line items by category.

Use the below wording at the end of each proposal budget justification. This disclaimer helps with reporting issues that could arise because of the detail submitted. It is to help alleviate work for the department in accumulating expenses at this great detail such as expenses per person, fringe benefits per person and for supplies listed by item etc.

"The Budget Detail is being submitted for proposal evaluation purposes only. Due to limitations within the University's accounting system, the system does not provide for accumulating and reporting expenses at the level of detail submitted."

DETAILED BUDGET JUSTIFICATION SAMPLE

Personnel Category

Personnel

The majority of a proposal budget will often be personnel costs, which consist of salaries and fringe benefits. For proposal purposes, salaries are broken into either key personnel or other personnel.

Salary costs are the actual expenses for personnel working on the project. These expenses are calculated by taking the employee’s institutional base salary and multiplying it by the percent effort that is proposed for the individual. An employee’s institutional base salary can be found by contacting the department administrator or Grants Management.

Here is a listing of the most common personnel listed in a proposal:

Principal Investigator

The first item under Personnel should be the cost and percent effort the Principal Investigator (PI), or Project Director, devotes to the project. Every project must have an eligible PI, and that PI must devote a specific amount of time to the project during the entire project period. Only a full-time faculty member or a full-time professional staff member may be named as the PI of a research proposal.

Co-Principal Investigator

A sponsored project may have a Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI), although NIH does not recognize a Co-PI. NIH can have a single PI or Multiple PI's and they also recognize a Co-Investigator. Like PIs, only full-time faculty or Ful-time professional staff may be listed as Co-PIs.

Note: When UND faculty members are involved to a significant degree in the sponsored project they should be considered part of the project team, and their time should be shown in the proposal budget. Employees from entities other than UND should not be listed as personnel, as they are not employed by the University. These costs should be budgeted as either a subcontract or a consultant, both explanations below.

Project Coordinator

At times it is necessary to hire an individual to coordinate the various activities supported by the sponsored project. Many funding agencies will fund such a position if it is in support of programmatic activities. Beware of describing this position as administrative as it may be disallowed because of that description.

Graduate Students

Graduate students can provide valuable assistance to a sponsored project. It is recommended that the graduate student's tuition expense be included in the budget, as well as the graduate student's salary for working on the project.

Undergraduate Students

Students can also provide valuable assistance to a sponsored project, while at the same time being able to participate and learn from real life research, training, and service activities.

Fringe Benefits

Please use the following in any proposal to describe Fringe Benefits:

"Amounts shown for fringe benefits are estimates determined by historical data and are provided for proposal evaluation purposes only. Actual fringe benefit costs will be charged to the project according to each employee's actual benefits."

Fringe Benefits include worker’s compensation, TIAA & other annuity, health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, social security taxes, unemployment compensation and the employee assistance program.

For proposal purposes, fringe benefits should be estimated using the following list or by calling Grants Management for an exact figure per person.

Faculty - 25% to 35%

Support Staff - 35% to 50%

Graduate Students - $120 per year

Other - Undergraduate Students are most often 0% due to exempt status and Part-time Temporary Employees are most often 8%.

PLEASE NOTE: The estimates have been provided using the payroll office calculator and are based on an employee with five years of service to UND. If the employee’s spouse works for UND and pays for the household’s health insurance, the figures shown above are not valid. Keep in mind that even though fringe benefits are proposed based on a percentage of the employee’s salary, during the life of the project the actual fringe benefits for that employee will be charged to the project.

PLEASE NOTE: Federal guidelines prohibit grant funds from being used to augment faculty or staff member’s salaries above the level normally paid by the university. Overload is not allowed on sponsored projects at UND.

Listed below is an example of how the positions could be listed in the budget justification.

Name, Degree - Position / Role - 0% FTE
Explain what this employee will do during this project. Focus on responsibilities, coordination duties, and specialties.

Other Direct Costs

Travel - Domestic and Foreign

Travel to professional meetings and project sites as well as to meet with project partners is usually an allowable cost, but specific program guidelines always should be consulted. The funding agency may require project personnel to attend a meeting convened by the sponsor. These costs should be included in the budget and estimated on the basis of Sponsor UND employee travel policies.  

Most often travel costs consist of registration costs, airline costs, vehicle costs, motor pool, lodging, per diem (meals), parking and taxi service. Please note that some agencies are very specific on what detail they want included in proposals and some want travel lined out by trip expenses. For any foreign travel, please be specific and list the possible foreign locations in the proposal because many agencies require specific approval for any foreign travel.

Supplies and Materials along with IT Software

Supplies for your project will generally include lab supplies such as glassware, plastic ware, chemicals, reagents, as well as project specific supplies. Many projects require the use of animals in their research. When animals are used in research, the costs associated with them include the purchasing of the animals as well as their housing per diem. At UND, the housing of animals is done at the UND Center for Biomedical Research; consult their website for current rates. Also included in this area is any software needed for the project and subscriptions. Costs for any subscriptions needs agency approval, so be sure to justify the cost.

Food and Clothing

Food needs specific agency approval and must be listed in BOTH the budget and the budget justification. Explain in detail the estimated expenses which fall in this category, why they are required for this project, as well as the estimated cost for each. Some of these expenses may include banquet and meeting food.

Office Supplies

Office supplies need specific agency approval. Sample wording follows and a justification will need to be added to the sample.

"Office supplies include items specifically related to the proposed project and may be such items as pens, pencils, paper clips, printer paper, toner cartridges, ink cartridges, notebooks, post-it notes, computer jump drives, presentation materials and other miscellaneous items required to complete the project."

Postage

Postage costs need specific agency approval. Sample wording follows and a justification will need to be added to the sample.

"Costs for postage represent regular, air and express mail required for the project."

Printing

Explain in detail the estimated expenses for printing, copying and duplicating costs.

IT Equipment and Minor Equipment < $5,000

Explain in detail the estimated expenses for computer, printer or office equipment less than $5,000 per piece. Be sure to justify the need for these expenses.

Rentals/Leases

Explain in detail the estimated expenses for aircraft rental/lease, equipment rental/lease, office equipment rental/lease, building rental/lease, land rental/lease, booth rental or meeting room rental costs.

Repairs/Equipment Service Contract

Explain in detail the estimated expenses for any repairs or maintenance agreements.

IT Communications

Telephone line charges and cell phone charges need agency approval. Sample wording follows and a justification will need to be added to the sample.

"IT Communication costs include telephone line charges, fax line charges, cell phone charges, other data or document transmission charges and long distance charges."

Dues and Memberships

Dues and memberships need agency approval. Give specific detail and justify the expenses.

Operating Fees

Explain in detail the estimated expenses for advertising, awards, rewards, prizes, freight, IT contractual services, licenses and participant fees. Most of these expenses need agency approval so be sure to give detail and justify the need for these expenses on the project.

Professional Fees

Professional Fees includes costs for services, speaker fees, lab work, and consultant costs listed in the proposal. Consultants will be an outside party to perform a one-time event for review or analysis, as opposed to an ongoing relationship. These consultant costs will need to be included in the proposal budget. The external consultants are distinguished from project personnel by the limited roll they have on the project. Keep in mind that UND employees cannot be paid as consultants. They need to be paid salary and fringe benefits and shown in the personnel section of the budget.

Subcontracts

The ongoing use of an outside party to perform substantive work on your project is called a subcontract. Explain in detail the proposed subcontractors required to complete the project and show these costs in the proposal budget. Talk about why these particular subcontractors are required for this project, as well as the estimated cost for each subcontractor. If the work being provided by this outside party is not substantive or ongoing the work may be able to be paid as consultant costs. If there is some question, consult the guide titled Consultant vs. Subcontract.

Keep in mind that if the subcontract project is testing or processing samples and the outside party bills on a fee per sample basis, and the work is not substantive, this work belongs in the Professional Fees budget line. Keep in mind that the following documents are required from each subcontractor before this proposal can be submitted by UND:

• Authorized signature indicating willingness to participate in the project
• Scope of work for the subcontract portion of work
• Budget
• Budget justification
• Any other agency required forms

The supporting documents may or may not be included in the proposal according to specific agency guidelines. Each subcontract is listed as a separate line in the proposal budget, inclusive of any Facilities & Administrative Costs listed in each subcontract. Remember UND F&A Costs are calculated only on the first $25,000 of each subcontract.

Note: UND employees cannot be paid as a subcontractor. They must be paid through salary and fringe benefits and shown in the personnel section of the budget.

Scholarships and Fellowships Category

The cost of Tuition, Scholarships, and Fellowships is budgeted in this area. Explain in detail the estimated expenses and project relevance. Sample wording for Tuition follows.

"Amounts shown for graduate tuition costs are estimates. The actual tuition costs will be charged to the project according to the student's resident status and number of credits taken per semester."

Equipment Category

Major equipment is defined as an individual piece of property owned by the University of North Dakota with a value of $5,000 or greater, which has a useful life of more than one year. This means that a piece of equipment that costs less than $5,000 will be budgeted as "Supplies" in the proposal. Explain in detail the estimated expenses which fall in this category, why they are required for this project, as well as the estimated cost for each piece of equipment. Funding agencies often are willing to fund equipment; however, the program guidelines will state if equipment is an allowable expense. If it is allowable, the equipment requested needs to be for programmatic purposes, not administrative. Generally equipment is requested in the first year of a project to allow for the use of the equipment throughout the length of the project period. Major items of equipment may also require installation and maintenance costs that need to be identified in the budget. Facilities & Administrative Costs are not figured on equipment purchases.

Facilities & Administrative Costs (Indirect Costs) Category

The total amount requested for Facilities & Administrative Costs is budgeted at a percent of the Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) according to the function of the project.

Please use the following wording:

"The Indirect Cost Rate included in this proposal is the federally approved rate for the University of North Dakota. Indirect costs are calculated based on Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), defined as the Total Direct Costs of the project less individual items of equipment $5,000 or greater, tuition remission, scholarships, fellowships, rental cost of the off-site facilities, patient care costs and subcontracts in excess of the first $25,000 for each subcontract award."

F&A Costs are real costs associated with the facilities and administration of sponsored project activities at UND. These costs are those less visible such as administration (Purchasing, Accounting, Grants & Contracts, Budget Office and more) and facilities (lab space, office space, electricity, heating, air conditioning, water, maintenance and more).

F&A rates are precisely calculated, audited and negotiated between the University and the federal government. F&A rates vary between the function of the project and if the project is on or off campus.

If it is the funding agency’s official policy not to pay F&A Costs, or to pay these costs at reduced rate, UND will accept the agency’s policy on F&A Costs. A copy of their policy needs to be included with the proposal or on file when it is routed for signatures.

Keep in mind that if there are multiple schools within UND involved in the proposal, and F&A Cost is allocated to the department that has the expense.  Separate department budgets or columns should be shown in an internal budget to be included with the proposal.

Other Tips for Budget Justification

• Make sure that the employee's institutional base salary amount is correct. If the project starts next fiscal year, make sure the salary takes that into account.
• If you are proposing a multiple year project, make sure to increase the employee’s budgeted salary by 3-5 percent.
• If you are proposing a project to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the employee’s effort will need to be listed in terms of “Man-Months” instead of “Effort Percentage.” Here is a quick and easy list:
  • 5% FTE = .6 man months
  • 10% FTE = 1.2 man months
  • 15% FTE = 1.8 man months
  • 20% FTE = 2.4 man months
  • 25% FTE = 3.0 man months
  • 30% FTE = 3.6 man months
  • 35% FTE = 4.2 man months
  • 40% FTE = 4.8 man months
  • 45% FTE = 5.4 man months
  • 50% FTE = 6.0 man months
• For Graduate Students, ask the Department Administrator for a current listing of Graduate Research Salaries. If not available, please contact Grants Management.
• The PI may need to show a minimum effort percentage, per sponsor guidelines.
• Make sure the PI shows an effort percentage, even if no salary is requested.
• The cost of the PI’s time should be charged to the funding agency. It is not recommended that an employee show effort with no salary dollars associated.
• Make sure all personnel show the correct fringe benefit rates.
• UND employees are unable to be shown as consultants or subcontractors in the budget. They need to be budgeted as personnel.
• If there are multiple departments involved, it is an option to include a split budget showing the budget for each department (this budget would not have to be submitted to the sponsor.)
• If it is an NIH proposal, some personnel may need to follow the NIH Salary Cap guidelines.
• If it is an NIH proposal, verify that any graduate students follow the NIH Graduate Student Compensation limitation.
• If it is an NIH proposal, use the modular budget as required.
• If there is a potential for program income, discuss this with Grants Management.
• Expenses such as postage, office supplies, equipment, food, line charges, cell phones, memberships/subscriptions, overload, and administrative clerical salaries are normally unallowable. If these expenses are required for the project, make sure they are shown in both the budget and justified in the budget justification.
• Items $5,000 and over per piece need to be budgeted as "equipment", not supplies.
• If equipment is budgeted, include an itemized equipment list.
• If the project requires a subcontract, make sure that it is budgeted as such and that the subcontract forms have been completed and are included with the proposal.
• If your project is to include a graduate student, it is recommended that the graduate student’s tuition be included in the budget, as well as their personnel costs.
• Make sure the correct F&A Cost rate is being used.
• If the project requires cost share, make sure that these costs are shown in the budget and that they are backed up with commitment letters.
• Make sure the proposal budget adds up, and that it is rounded to the nearest dollar.

F & A Rates

F&A Costs are the real costs associated with the administration of sponsored project activities at UND.

Facilities and Administration Costs (F&A Costs), previously known as Indirect Costs, are not based on what it costs to administer or house a specific sponsored project, but rather what it costs the University to administer and house all of its sponsored project activities.

F&A Costs are those less visible costs related to the maintenance and operation of the university's facilities and services, such as administration (purchasing, accounting), buildings (lab and office space), utilities (electricity, heating, air conditioning, and water), and so forth.

Current F&A Rates

F&A Costs are precisely calculated, audited, and negotiated between the University and the US Department of Health & Human Services every few years. Current F&A rates are:

• Research = 41%
• Other Sponsored Programs = 35%
• Instructional = 43%

DHHS INDIRECT COST RATE AGREEMENT

Which F&A Cost Rate Do I Use?

The University of North Dakota has negotiated with DHHS the use of different F&A Rates. These rates are research, instruction, other sponsored projects, EERC, and HNRC. At the SMHS we never use the EERC or HNRC rates.

Research

Research and scholarship activities include the rigorous inquiry, experiment or investigation to increase the scholarly understanding of the involved discipline. Organized research activities are funded by both external sponsors (Sponsored Research) and by UND (University Research). Together, these categories comprise the Organized Research distribution base, used to calculate the Research F&A (Indirect Cost) rate.

Sponsored Research

Research activities are properly classified as Sponsored Research if the activity is sponsored (funded) by an external organization, i.e. a federal, state or private organization or agency. Examples of sponsored research include:

• Awards to faculty to support research activities
• External Faculty "Career Awards" to support the research efforts of the faculty
• External funding to maintain facilities or equipment
• Operation of a center or facility which will be used for research
• External support for the writing of books, when the purpose of the writing is to publish research results

University Research

Research activity is properly classified as University Research if the activity is supported by either of the following:

• Funding that is derived from UND institutional funds (e.g. gifts, endowment income, interest income, technology licensing income, operating budget) through a competitive application and award process, and where the proposed activity is characterized by the same factors which generally distinguish sponsored projects.
• Cost sharing expenditures which are committed to be borne by UND rather than by the sponsor.
• Research supported by an award from the Vice President for Research & Economic Development Office is an example of University Research.

Other Sponsored Projects

Other Sponsored Projects are defined as projects funded by sponsors in which project activities involve the performance of work other than Sponsored Instruction or Sponsored Research. Since most projects in this category do not directly involve students and gain little, if any benefit from libraries, the F&A (Indirect Cost) rate applicable to Other Sponsored Projects is less than the rate for Research or Instruction. Examples of other sponsored projects include:

• Travel grants
• Support for conferences or seminars
• Support for University public events
• Support for student participation in community service projects which do not result in academic credit
• Support for projects pertaining to library collections, acquisitions, bibliographies or cataloging
• Programs to enhance institutional resources, including Data Center expansion, computer enhancements, websites, etc.

Instruction

Sponsored Instruction is defined as teaching and training activities at UND funded by grants and contracts from federal or non-federal sponsors. Sponsored Instruction includes agreements which support curriculum development as well as all types of teaching/training activities, whether offered for credit toward a degree or certificate, on a non-credit basis, or through regular academic departments or by separate divisions, summer school or external division. Examples of sponsored instruction include:

• Any project for which the purpose is to instruct any student at any location; recipients of this instruction may be UND students or staff, teachers or students in elementary or secondary schools, or the general public
• Curriculum development projects at any level, including projects which involve evaluation of curriculum or teaching methods; such evaluation may be considered "research" only when the preponderance of activity is data collection, evaluation and reporting
• Projects which involve UND students in community service activities for which they are receiving academic credit
• Activities funded by awards to departments or schools for the support of students
• Dissertation work funded by grants, including grants for travel in relation to a dissertation
• Upward Bound Program, bringing local students on campus for classes
• General support for the writing of textbooks or reference books, video or software to be used as instructional materials

EERC

This rate is only applicable to sponsored projects at the Energy & Environmental Research Center located on campus.

HNRC

This rate is only applicable to sponsored projects at the Human Nutrition Research Center located on campus.

On Campus or Off Campus Rates

On-campus activity is defined as that activity performed by University employees on the campus (or campuses) of UND. The University's operation and maintenance facilities are used for on-campus activities. Most activity falls in this category.

Off-campus activity is defined as that activity performed by University employees at locations other than the main campus and not using the University's operation and maintenance facilities.

If your project includes short term (less than one month's duration) travel by employees to an off-campus site where office space is maintained on campus in their absence, that project should be considered on-campus activity for the purposes of applying the F&A Rate. Travel in excess of one month's duration will be reviewed and classified on-campus or off-campus on a case by case basis.

Activity performed by other than University employees through contractual arrangements is normally considered on campus with only the first $25,000 subject to the on-campus indirect cost rate.

Calculate F&A Cost

Facilities & Administrative Costs are calculated by multiplying the F&A Cost Rate by the Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) of your project. Modified Total Direct Costs include all direct costs except major equipment $5,000 and over per piece, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, tuition remission, rental costs of off-site facilities, scholarships/fellowships, as well as the portion of each subcontract in excess of $25,000.

Sponsor Limits the F&A Cost Rate

There are instances when the sponsor has a limitation on the amount of F&A Costs that can be recovered. This limitation is usually in the form of a percentage. To the extent that the sponsor has a policy in place which limits the F&A Cost, and this policy is included with the proposal at the time of routing, the University accepts the limitation on F&A Cost recovery.

Waive F&A Costs

It is the policy of the University of North Dakota to recover full Facilities & Administration Costs as defined by the applicable federally negotiated rate agreement with the US Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS). Because of this policy, a waiver of the F&A Costs requires multiple approvals from within the University.

NIH Salary Cap

At the time of a proposal and during award management, the proposing Principal Investigator and/or Department is responsible for ensuring compliance with any salary limitations (caps) on sponsored project awards which may be imposed by sponsors. The most well known of the salary limitations is the NIH Salary Cap. The National Institutes of Health Salary Cap restricts the amount of salary that can be paid to an individual from an NIH grant.

The current capped rate in effect as of January 1, 2025, is $225,700.

NIH Salary Cap Frequently Asked Questions

What is the basis for the cap?

The cap is tied to levels of the Federal Executive Pay scale specified within the Consolidated Appropriations Act. Since FY 2001 the cap has been set at the Executive Level I, until December 23, 2011 when it was lowered to the Executive Level II.

How is the salary cap applied?

The cap establishes a maximum annual rate of pay at which an individual can be compensated for full time effort over a twelve-month period. Salary charges to a grant, cooperative agreement or contract from select agencies cannot be paid at a monthly rate that exceeds 1/12th of the maximum annual rate of pay then in effect.

The capped rate in effect as of January 1, 2025, is $225,700. This means that salary paid on new awards on or after January 1, 2025, cannot be paid for 1.0 FTE at a monthly rate that exceeds $18,808.33 ($225,700 / 12 = $18,808.33)

Links to the notices providing detailed information about the NIH Salary Cap and a list of rates is available on the NIH Salary Cap Summary page.

Should proposals be prepared using the actual or capped rate?

For traditional grant applications that include a detailed budget in the proposal, the actual institutional base salary should be shown for all individuals for whom funding is requested. It is also a good idea to provide an explanation indicating that the actual institutional base salary exceeds the current salary cap, and requested dollars are calculated based on the cap amount. This explanation can be placed in the budget justification.

For streamlined applications, including NIH Modular grant proposal submissions and all non-competing (continuation) submissions, the current capped rate should be used for calculating salary for any individual whose University rate of pay exceeds the capped rate.

Please also be aware at the time of proposal that the amount exceeding the cap will need to be paid from a non-federal source having no restriction that would preclude the payment of costs associated with the NIH-funded project.

How does the salary cap relate to effort?

Ordinarily, the salary chargeable to a sponsored project is the employee's rate of pay multiplied by the employee's level of effort on the project. Salary charges to a grant or contract subject to the cap cannot be paid at a monthly rate that exceeds 1/12th of the maximum capped annual rate of pay in effect, multiplied by the number of months of full-time effort being devoted to the project.

For example, if the University pays Dr. Jones an annual salary of $300,000 for a full-time fiscal year appointment, then her monthly rate of pay for full time effort (1/12th of the annual salary rate) is $25,000. Dr. Jones' salary exceeds the capped rate, which in calendar year 2025 is limited to a maximum of $225,700 for full-time effort. This equates to $18,808.33 per month (1/12th of the maximum allowable annual rate of pay for full-time effort under the NIH cap).

If Dr. Jones devoted 1.2 calendar months to a grant from NIH made with federal FY 2025 monies, she could charge at most $22,570 (=18,808.33*1.2) to the grant.

If Dr. Jones were able to devote 6 calendar months to the project, then a maximum of $112,850 (=18,808.33*6) could be charged to the grant.

Cost Sharing Approval

Participant Support vs Incentive

Participant Support

Per Uniform Guidance- 2 CFR 1108.280

“Participant support costs means direct costs for items such as stipends or subsistence allowances, travel allowances, and registration fees paid to or on behalf of participants or trainees (but not employees) in connection with conferences, or training projects.”

Examples of Participant Support Costs

• Stipends or subsistence allowances
• Travel allowances
• Registration fees paid to or on behalf of participants or trainees (but not employees) in connection with conferences or training projects.

What does not qualify as participant support costs

• Honoraria – guest speaker at a conference, symposium or workshop
• Human Subjects - Incentive payments to encourage individuals to participate in research study and provide private data/information through intervention or interaction. This includes participation in surveys and interviews.
• Fellowships – financial support for a postdoctoral fellow to do things such as attend conferences or workshops.
• UND employees (faculty, staff, and student employee on the award)
• General collaborator including non-UND co-PI’s.
• Project organizer, consultant, facilitator, or coordinator of the workshop, conference, training session
• Speaker (unless the majority of time is spent as a participant and not a speaker)
• Rental fees, catering, and general supplies

Participant Incentives

NIH defines Participant Incentives as payments to individuals to motivate them to take advantage of grant-supported health care or other services are allowable if within the scope of an approved project.
Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A) on Participant Support vs Participant Incentives
Participant support costs are F&A excludable and should be explicitly listed in the proposal budget and budget justification.
Participant Incentives are NOT excludable from F&A and should be entered on the budget under Other Costs

Participant Incentives

NIH defines Participant Incentives as payments to individuals to motivate them to take advantage of grant-supported health care or other services are allowable if within the scope of an approved project.

Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A) on Participant Support vs Participant Incentives

Participant support costs are F&A excludable and should be explicitly listed in the proposal budget and budget justification.
Participant Incentives are NOT excludable from F&A and should be entered on the budget under Other Costs