Acceptable Items
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Salaries/Stipends: fellowships primarily support the stipend/salary and fringes of the fellow. Other funding mechanisms may include the salaries and fringes of the investigators, as well as other professional and technical staff.CDI awards are not subject to a salary cap.
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Minimal but essential permanent equipment.Equipment is defined as an article of tangible nonexpendable personal property that has a useful life of more than 1 year and an acquisition cost per unit that equals or exceeds $5,000.Minimal equipment is defined by the CDI as equipment with an acquisition cost of less than $25,000. If more than one piece of equipment is being purchased with CDI funds, then the sum of all equipment items must be less than $25,000 to be considered minimal.Investigators proposing the purchase of equipment in excess of the $25,000 limit must discuss the rationale for the purchase with the CDI Scientific Director and obtain his/her written approval in order to include the item(s) in the proposed budget. Any permanent equipment must be directly relevant to the CDI research grant. ANY purchase of permanent equipment not authorized in the original budget must have prior approval.
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Expendable supplies.
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Other expenses relevant to the conduct of the research.
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Publication costs
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Travel should be utilized to attend scientific meetings directly relevant to the CDI research grant.An individual’s travel expenses must not exceed $1,500 per trip.
Unacceptable Items
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Construction, alteration, maintenance or rental of buildings or building space.
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Office equipment and furniture.
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Office supplies including mail/postage costs; copying costs; telephone, fax, & modem lines.
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Dues for membership in scientific societies.
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Tuition.
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Service Contracts
Indirect Costs
The CDI recognizes that an academic institution to which a grant is made will incur additional operating costs while the program is in effect. In such cases, the CDI will allow the institution a budget item for INDIRECT COSTS.For the primary institution, the indirect cost rates are 20% for laboratory-based research (this includes laboratory-related infrastructure and core initiatives) and 10% for all other proposals (fellowships, educational initiatives, and clinical research).
For projects which propose consortium agreements, the indirect cost rate for the subcontracting institution will match the indirect cost rate of the primary award/institution. This policy applies to both domestic and foreign institutions. The consortium’s direct and indirect costs are considered a direct cost of the primary awardee.CDI does not impose a cap on the amount of F&A the institution receives on the subcontract.
These rates apply to the TOTAL DIRECT COSTS. To figure the indirect costs, divide the total award (ex: $100,000) by 1.20 (for a proposal with an indirect cost rate of 20%). This calculation provides the total direct costs ($83,333). Subtract the direct costs ($83,333) from the total award ($100,000) to obtain the indirect costs ($16,667).
No-Cost Extensions
The NCE on a Non-Federal Grant form should be completed and forwarded to
cdi@kids.wustl.edu on orbefore the final budget period's end date.
Pre-Award Costs
A grantee may, at its own risk, incur obligations and expenditures to cover costs up to 90 days before the beginning date of the initial budget period of a new or competing award if such costs are necessary to conduct the project and would be allowable under the terms of the grant, if awarded.
If specific expenditures would otherwise require prior approval, the grantee must obtain CDI approval before incurring the cost. CDI prior approval is required for any costs to be incurred more than 90 days before the beginning date of the initial budget period of a new or competing award.
The incurrence of pre-award costs in anticipation of a competing or non-competing award imposes no obligation on the CDI either to make the award or to increase the amount of the approved budget if an award is made for less than the amount anticipated and is inadequate to cover the pre-award costs incurred.
CDI expects the grantee to be fully aware that pre-award costs result in borrowing against future support and that such borrowing must not impair the grantee’s ability to accomplish the project objectives in the approved time frame or in any way adversely affect the conduct of the project.
Rebudgeting Requests
Funds may be allocated at the discretion of the PI with the following exceptions:personnel and travel may not be increased or rebudgeted without prior approval from the CDI. ANY purchase of permanent equipment not authorized in the original budget must have prior approval. To obtain CDI approval, grantees should complete the Rebudgeting Request form and forward itto
cdi@kids.wustl.edu.
The CDI reserves the right to a refund, on demand, of all grant funds that have been expended in unauthorized ways. Unauthorized expenditures include the unacceptable items listed in section F of
CDI's Grants Policy as well as anything rebudgeted outside of the guidelines without prior approval. The grantee institution is responsible for any unauthorized or excessive expenditures made.
Revised Budgets
Occasionally, the award amounts decided upon by the Scientific Advisory Board and the Board of Managers do not coincide with the proposal's budget. In this case, a revised
Detailed Budget and
Budget Justification must be submitted to
cdi@kids.wustl.edu. Once the revised budget has been approved by the CDI, the administrator must forward the approval letter to the appropriate G&C Grant Analyst to set up the award.