Chris Beynon (DRI)

Research Projects – Budget Preparation

Chris Beynon

External Funding Officer Department of Research and Innovation

Agenda

Overview Costing Models Directly Incurred Costs Non-FEC Model & Example fEC Model Example – FEC Costing Résumé Q & A

Research Support Office (RSO)

• The RSO provides support, advice and guidance to all University staff

• Each School has a designated Pre-Award and Post-Award Officer

• Pre-Award supports activities up to the point of award (including contractual negotiation)

• Post-Award provides support in the financial management of grants

Project cost vs price

• Cost – cost to the University of all the resources needed to complete the project

• Price – amount actually paid by the funder

Terminology • Direct Costs – costs attributable to the project, which may be:

Directly incurred – new costs which would not be incurred if the project did not go ahead e.g. research assistant salary, equipment, consumables

ORDirectly allocated - costs that can be estimated to

projects e.g. Principal investigator time, general technical assistance.

• Indirect Costs – costs which cannot be identified precisely for each research project, including items such as library, central services and departmental administration. Without this infrastructure research could not go ahead

Overview – Costing Models

• A research proposal will usually contain basic financial costs which may be defined under several major categories, depending on the cost model employed by the Funder

• The common models are based onFull Economic Costs (fEC) i.e. true cost to UniversityNew Costs plus overheads as a % of salaries

(standard pre September 2005)

Overview – Costing Models

• Definition of fEC“A price which, if recovered across an institution’s full

programme, would recover the total cost (direct, indirect and total overhead) of the institution, including an adequate recurring investment in the institution’s infrastructure”

• Introduced September 2005 for UK Research Council applications

• Now in use for some schemes offered by other funders, e.g. the Department of Health, British Academy

Overview – Costing Models• Research Councils – will pay 80% of fEC (rest from Quality

Research (QR) and institution’s own funds)• Government Departments – per HM Treasury “should expect to

pay 100% of FEC for research commissioned from universities”• Charities – will continue to only pay directly incurred costs,

therefore ensure any costs that can be classed as direct costs are included.

• Industry – pricing is market-based not cost-based but introduction of fEC should exert upward pressure on pricing and cost recovery as institutions start to understand full costs

• EU framework (FP7) – complex new model introduced with interim 60% overheads and 75% intervention rate (essential to consult DRI for budget preparation)

fEC Model - Objectives for fEC

Universities to achieve sustainability by:-

• Establishing and recognising the fEC of activities• Securing better prices• Improving project management and cost recovery• Investing in the institutional infrastructure• Managing activity strategically - increased emphasis on

management and teaching portfolios

Overview• Always read the Funder’s Terms and Conditions in

Website Scheme Guidance Notes

• Check The Funder’s Priorities Principal Investigator (PI) Eligibility Rules Allowable Costs Submission Route Deadline

Directly Incurred Costs (DI) – fEC & non-fEC

Directly incurred Costs are new costs specific to the project and include:

• Salaries of Staff employed on Project• Equipment • Travel & Subsistence• Other Costs (e.g. consumables, recruitment,

PC/laptops, sub-contractors)

Directly Incurred Costs – Staff Salaries

• To prepare estimate of staff costs with Sirius Cost Calculator (http://www.siriusweb.leeds.ac.uk/offerSub.asp):

• Start & End Date of Employment • % Full Time Employment• Grade/Spine Point• Classification e.g. Academic, APM , Technical

Directly Incurred Costs – Research Assistant Salary

Costing type Standard CostingInstitution Swansea Increment Date 01/10/2011

Promotion date N/A New scale N/A

Salary scale Swansea Grade 7 New point N/A Spinal point: Point 28 New salary N/A Salary £28,139.00London allowance £0.00FTE 100% Use discretionary points Yes, Additional allowances £0.00 Financial year end MarchPension USS Cost percentage 100%Start Date 01/04/2011End Date 31/03/2013

Pay Award Date Percentage Threshold Pay Award Date Percentage Threshold01/08/2010 onwards 3 0

Financial year Salary Cost Pension Cost NI Cost TotalApr 2011 To Mar 2012 £30,011 £4,802 £2,308 £37,120Apr 2012 To Mar 2013 £31,838 £5,094 £2,614 £39,547Overall Total: £76,667

Staff categorySwansea Pay Scales

Calculation methodStandard (include increments+inflation)

Directly Incurred Costs – Technician Salary

Costing type Standard CostingInstitution Swansea Increment Date 01/08/2012

Promotion date N/A New scale N/A

Salary scale Swansea Grade 4 New point N/A Spinal point: Point 13 New salary N/A Salary £18,117.00London allowance £0.00FTE 100% Use discretionary points No, Additional allowances £0.00 Financial year end MarchPension UWS Cost percentage 60%Start Date 01/04/2011End Date 31/03/2013

Pay Award Date Percentage Threshold Pay Award Date Percentage Threshold01/08/2010 onwards 3 0

Financial year Salary Cost Pension Cost NI Cost TotalApr 2011 To Mar 2012 £11,420 £2,113 £753 £14,286Apr 2012 To Mar 2013 £11,993 £2,219 £850 £15,062Overall Total: £29,348

Staff categorySwansea Pay Scales

Calculation methodStandard (include increments+inflation)

Directly Incurred Costs – Non Salary Costs• Equipment – purchase, VAT, installation and set-up,

maintenance contract and insurance• (Quotations may be required - refer to University Finance

Department’s Procurement Website and Funder’s Guidelines) • Travel and Subsistence – essential research project meetings,

conferences directly relevant to project• Consumables, including laboratory reagents; software

licences; essential specialist publications; recruitment costs• Replacement Teaching Costs; essential Staff Training &

Development costs• Project studentship fees and stipends

Non fEC Model – Indirect costs

• Sometimes known as overheads • Refers to costs of room space, heat, light, water, University

and School administration, such as library and computing facilities, departmental secretarial and technical services

• Overhead costs are NOT met by Charities• Typically overheads may be charged as a % of total staff costs • Consult Funder’s Terms and Conditions for eligibility and

maximum overhead rate

Non fEC Model – Example Research Project Application: non-fEC model salaries with increments & inflation Project Title: Development of a ................

Principal Investigator: G Smith

Duration: 01/04/2011 to 31/03/2013

SALARIES Grade Spine Point

Cost (£)

Researcher, TBA 24 months @100% FTE

7 28 76,667.00

Technician/clerical, TBA 24 months @ 60% FTE

4 13 29,348.00

TOTAL SALARY COST 106,015.00 CONSUMABLES * *to be itemised 28,000.00 TRAVEL & SUBSISTENCE Project meetings 350.00 Conference attendance (PI and RA) - year 2 680.00 TOTAL TRAVEL & SUBSISTENCE 1,030.00 EQUIPMENT OVER £3,000 * quotations may be required 4,500.00 OTHER COSTS RA external training course 450.00 Laptop (RA) 600.00 Recruitment costs 800.00 Publication charges 300.00 TOTAL OTHER COSTS 2,150.00 GRAND TOTAL DIRECTLY INCURRED COSTS 141,695.00 Overheads @ 25% staff costs 26,503.75 check funder's guidance for eligibility and ovehead rate)

TOTAL FUNDING REQUESTED 168,198.75

fEC Model – Cost Headings

Costs are broken down according to four fund headings:

DIRECTLY INCURREDDIRECTLY ALLOCATED

INDIRECT COSTSEXCEPTIONS

Note: Only academic and research staff draw down fEC costs

fEC Model – Directly Allocated Costs

• NB: Use the fEC Cost Calculator on DRI website for Swansea University costs

• Collaborative projects - partner HEIs to provide their fEC calculation

• Investigators’ Costs (PI and Co-I)

Estimate of time spent on projectBased on 100% FTE = 1650 hours/annum (44 weeks @37.5

hours/week)Principal Investigator (PI) & Co-Investigators (Co-I)Use of salary bands (e.g. Professor, Senior Lecturer, Lecturer 9,

Lecturer 8)

fEC Model –Directly Allocated Costs (DA)• NB: fEC Cost Calculator automatically calculates costs from total

investigator/researcher time on the project

• Estates chargesStandard costs based on predominant departmental usage

(Lab/Classroom)Charge will be per FTE for academic & research staff only

• Infrastructure technician – Lab-based Schools only

• Other DA costs are already factored into the Swansea rates, e.g. use of most major research facilities & pool staff

• Charge out rates for two major facilities – CSAR and nanotechnology centre & one small facility

fEC Model – Indirect Costs

• NB: fEC Cost Calculator automatically calculates this cost

• Library services / learning resources• Clerical/ secretarial• Departmental services• Central & distributed computing• Cost of capital employed

fEC Model – Exceptions

• Equipment - New purchases of equipment remains a directly incurred cost. The Research Councils will fund up to £50K of equipment purchased on a project at 80%, and the remainder at 100%.

• Project Students – Student stipends and tuition fees will be funded at 100%

fEC Model – Preparing the costs

• Two online forms are available to help with costing your proposal:• Sirius (DI staff salaries)• fEC Cost Calculator (Investigator, estates and indirect costs)

http://www.swansea.ac.uk/research_innovation/ResearchandProjectSupport/Pre-award/ApplicationResources/

• For UK Research Council applications, obtain a registered account (see Research Councils UK http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/ and http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/je-s/ )

fEC Costing Form for Investigators, Estates and Indirect Costs(for proposals between 1st February 2010 - 31st January 2011)

Complete & transfer to application form

Contract Start Date: 01/04/2011 Complete

Duration (months): 24 Months Transfer to application form

Contract Lab-based (Y/N): y Calculated on application formDo not complete

Contract Title : G Smith; Development of a .....................

NameDuration Months % of time

Total no. of hours

charged to the grant Salary Band

Salary Rate

FTE for project life

Cost Estimate

FTE for Estates costs

FTE for Indirect costs

FTE for Technician infra

costs(based on 1650

hrs p.a.)

Principal Investigator1 G Smith 330 hrs Professorial £83,089 0.20 £16,618 0.20 fte 0.20 fte 0.20 fte

Co-Investigator/s1 A Jones 165 hrs Lecturer 9 £52,570 0.10 £5,257 0.10 fte 0.10 fte 0.10 fte2 0 hrs - n/a3 0 hrs - n/a4 0 hrs - n/a5 0 hrs - n/a6 0 hrs - n/a7 0 hrs - n/a8 0 hrs - n/a

Investigators Sub-Total £21,875

Researcher/Co-Investigator, Research Officer (do not include Technicians) 1 RA TBA 24 months 100.0 % Calculated using Sirius webpage 2.00 2.00 fte 2.00 fte 2.00 fte2 0 months 0.0 % Calculated using Sirius webpage - n/a3 0 months 0.0 % Calculated using Sirius webpage - n/a4 0 months 0.0 % Calculated using Sirius webpage - n/a5 0 months 0.0 % Calculated using Sirius webpage - n/a6 0 months 0.0 % Calculated using Sirius webpage - n/a7 0 months 0.0 % Calculated using Sirius webpage - n/a8 0 months 0.0 % Calculated using Sirius webpage - n/a9 0 months 0.0 % Calculated using Sirius webpage - n/a10 0 months 0.0 % Calculated using Sirius webpage - n/a11 0 months 0.0 % Calculated using Sirius webpage - n/a12 0 months 0.0 % Calculated using Sirius webpage - n/a

TechniciansPool technicians 0 hrs £21.64 - n/a n/a n/a

Click here for information concerning Technicians

Total project fte 2.30 fte 2.30 fte 2.30 fteRate £12,139 £34,081 £939

Charge £21,875 £27,920 £78,386 £2,160

Key

Note: Laboratory - estates £ 12,139 Classroom - estates £ 6,181 Indirect £ 34,081  Lecturer 8 £ 40,426 Lecturer 9 £ 52,570 Senior Lecturer £ 64,572 Honorary £ - Professorial £ 83,089 Clinical - Lecturer £ 45,100 Clinical - Consultant £ 118,776 Technician £ 939

Research Project Application fEC model Research Council (salaries with increments but not inflation)Project Title: Development of a ...................Principal Investigator: G Smith Duration: 01/04/2011 to 31/03/2013

SALARIES Grade Spine Point 100% Cost (£) RC % RC funding

Researcher, TBA 24 months @100% FTE 7 28 71,795.00 80 57,436.00

Technician, TBA 24 months @ 60% FTE 4 13 27,470.00 80 21,976.00

TOTAL SALARY COST 99,265.00 80 79,412.00

CONSUMABLES * *itemise 28,000.00 80 22,400.00

TRAVEL & SUBSISTENCEProject meetings 350.00 80 280.00Conference (annual) 680.00 80 544.00TOTAL TRAVEL & SUBSISTENCE 1,030.00 80 824.00

EQUIPMENT £3,000 - £50,000 4,500.00 80 3,600.00Balance over £50,000 0.00 100 0.00

OTHER COSTSRA external training course 450.00 80 360.00Laptop (RA) 600.00 80 480.00Recruitment costs 800.00 80 640.00Publication charges 300.00 80 240.00TOTAL OTHER COSTS 2,150.00 80 1,720.00

GRAND TOTAL DIRECTLY INCURRED COSTS 134,945.00 107,956.00

fEC costs (from fEC calculator)Directly allocated PI & Co-I 21,875.00 80 17,500.00Estates 27,920.00 80 22,336.00Indirect 78,386.00 80 62,708.80Infrsatructure technician 2,160.00 80 1,728.00

TOTAL FUNDING REQUESTED 265,286.00 212,228.80

Example fEC costing – Research Councils

Scheme:         

Project Title:         

Organisation: Swansea University Department:

School of the Environment and Society

Summary fund heading

Fund heading Full economic cost

RC contribution % RC contribution

Directly Incurred Staff 99,265.00    79,412.00    80   

Travel & Subsistence

1,030.00    824.00    80   

Equipment 4,500.00    3,600.00    80   Other Costs 30,150.00    24,120.00    80   Sub-total 134,945.00    107,956.00   

Directly Allocated

Investigators 21,874.80    17,499.84    80   

Estates Costs 27,920.00    22,336.00    80   Other Directly Allocated

2,160.00    1,728.00    80   

Sub-total 51,954.80    41,563.84   

I ndirect Costs Indirect Costs 78,386.00    62,708.80    80   

Exceptions Staff 0.00    0.00    100   Other Costs 0.00    0.00    100   Sub-total 0.00    0.00   

Total 265,285.80    212,228.64   

Staff type Months

I nvestigator 3.75   

Researcher 24   

Technician 14.5   

Other 0   

Visiting Researcher 0   

Student 0   

Total 42.25   

Standard

Test 4

Résumé – Points to remember

• Check Funder’s guidelines for eligible costs• Directly Incurred Costs (DI) to the Project are calculated in

the same way for each model• For non-fEC applications, estimate overheads if allowable• For fEC applications, estimate PI and Co-I time on the

project• For fEC applications, use the fEC Costing Form to calculate

the Directly Allocated, Estates and Indirect Costs• Transfer fEC costs to Funder’s application form (e.g. Je-S)

Résumé – Notes• Swansea fEC rates are reviewed annually by the Finance

Department & the fEC Costing Form posted on intranet in February (follow link from pre-award website)

• Although Research Councils fund 80% of fEC, award holders receive 100% of the Directly Incurred Costs to manage the Project

• University policy is to prepare ALL applications for external funding under the fEC model, unless the Funder specifies otherwise

• Applications > £100K may require risk assessment BEFORE submission. Applicants must liaise with Ciaran Whyte, Planning and Strategic Projects Unit

Résumé – DRI Support• Consultations via One-to-One meetings or email, including advice

on budget preparation• Plan ahead – allow time for alterations & obtaining partner fEC

costs• AT LEAST 5 WORKING DAYS before deadline, calculate costs,

forward costs to DRI for checking• At least 4 working days before deadline, submit final document to

School approver for submission to DRI• 2 working days before deadline, DRI authorizer submits proposal

electronically/signs document• Web link

http://www.swan.ac.uk/research_innovation/ResearchandProjectSupport/

Résumé – DRI Support

• This timetable is the minimum required to get the application through the submission process - please allow more time whenever possible.

• For applications received less than 2 working days before the deadline, DRI verification may not be possible. Therefore the School must bear the impact of any inaccuracies or omissions.

Résumé – DRI Contacts• Ceri Jones: Deputy Head, DRI: ext 5412• Julie Williams: Senior External Funding Officer, DRI: ext 5824

• Pre-Award Team– Chris Beynon: ext 5015, c.beynon@swansea.ac.uk

School of Environment & Society; School of Business & Economics; School of Law; Medical School (Biomedical)

– Debbie Saunders: ext 2094 d.e.f.saunders@swansea.ac.uk School of Human Sciences; School of Arts & Humanities; Medical School (Health

Services Research)

– Adrian Walters: ext 3724, a.s.walters@swansea.ac.uk School of Engineering; School of Physical Sciences; School of Health Science

Preparing Research Application Budgets

• Thank you for your time

• Any Questions?