Project Costs

Direct Costs

Direct costs on sponsored projects are those that can be directly associated with the project with a high degree of accuracy. Direct costs are essential to the project's fulfillment. Some examples of direct costs:

• Salaries: For University professional and research staff, graduate and undergraduate students, and casual or part-time workers, salary figures should be based on the percentage of effort by each individual on the project applied to his/her annual salary. Grants.gov and some sponsors require effort to be shown in man-months. Examples of the calculation, and templates are available on the web.
  
• Fringe Benefits: The fringe rate is expressed as a percentage of salary. The rate may vary depending on personnel classification.
  
• Tuition: Graduate students, also called research assistants, receive in addition to salary, tuition as part of their compensation. Each school has different tuition rates. Please use the prorated school based tuition schedule.
  
• Equipment (can be indirect too): Any item of equipment having a unit cost of $5,000 or more and a useful life of one year or more. Includes cost of shipping, installation, and fabrication. General purpose equipment, such as office furniture, PCs, fax machines etc., are generally not deemed allowable by most sponsors, unless it is used primarily or exclusively for the research project.
  
• Materials and Supplies: Expendable items with a useful life of less than one years or a cost under $5,000. Include description of category (e.g. glassware) and best estimate of cost.
  
• Travel: Domestic and foreign travel should be shown separately. List the name, destination, and purpose of trip. Include transportation costs (coach airfare), registration fees, accommodation fees, and other related expenses
  
• Publication Costs: Estimate the number of pages, page charges, and names of journals if possible.
  
• Consultants: List each consultant, their specialty or service to the project, and their daily, weekly or monthly rate of reimbursement, and show the consultant’s total projected cost on the project. Include in the proposal a letter of collaboration and the consultant’s curriculum vitae.
  
• Subawards: A subaward is a contracts to other organization(s) of some scientific or programmatic aspect of the grant or contract made originally to Stanford. See Subaward Training on the menu for guidance.
  
• Other: Other costs typically include items such as, research publications, fees, animal costs, or other project related costs, usually less significant dollars than proposed in the other previously mentioned categories.

OMB A-21 provides guidance on direct costs deemed allocable and allowable on projects sponsored by the federal government.

For more information review the Direct Costs section of the Cardinal Curriculum, or Budget and Proposal Preparation “Developing the Budget".

Indirect Costs (Facilities and Administrative [F&A] Costs)

Costs related to expenses incurred in conducting or supporting research or other externally funded activities but not directly attributable to a specific project. Some examples of indirect costs:

• Utilities
• Buildings & grounds
• Equipment (can be direct too)
• Library Expenses
• General Administration
• Sponsored Projects Administration
• Department Administration

F&A rates are negotiated with Stanford’s cognizant federal agency, the Office of Naval Research. Use current negotiated rates in proposals for the type of project being proposed (organized research, other sponsored activity, sponsored instruction).