UNC Nutrition Research Institute转发了
Vice Chancellor for Research & W. R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor, Nutrition, UNC-Chapel Hill
A more nuanced look at the “A” in F&A. These costs are often misunderstood – this reimbursement covers essential administrative tasks for research, like fulfilling federally-mandated requirements, including transparency and accountability measures that the federal government requires of us. This reimbursement is about *research* administration – not general university or program administration. There is room for reform by addressing inefficiencies and duplication in mandatory regulations and harmonizing them across agencies. And we should continue to uphold transparency and accountability, while advancing lifesaving and life-improving research for the benefit of the nation.
Facilities and Administrative costs — also known as indirect costs — from federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health help fund the research administration that keeps our engine of discovery running smoothly. Read the latest blog post by Penny Gordon-Larsen, vice chancellor for research, about the critical need for federal funding of research administrative costs: https://go.unc.edu/q4JHk Federal agencies like the NIH break up funding for research into two categories — direct and indirect. Direct costs are the visible components of a research project. Indirect costs are the foundation, the electrical wiring, the plumbing, and the support staff that makes the research enterprise functional and sustainable. We call this Facilities & Administrative costs, or F&A. The research administrative side of F&A includes all the teams and services that ensure universities comply with the many regulations required of federal funding recipients. To comply with these regulations, universities need experts in areas like:? ·????????compliance and safety ·????????finance and accounting? ·????????data and privacy protection? ·????????clinical trial management? These experts make up research administration and are funded by administrative costs. The federal government decides how much of its funding can be allocated to research administrative costs. The government’s model dictates that these costs can only come from the F&A cost category. In 1991, the government capped administrative costs at 26% of overall F&A costs reimbursed for funded research activity. Over the years, the regulations required to conduct safe and impactful research have increased, but the percentage of federal funding allocated to comply with them has stayed the same. Universities pay the difference. Other funding agencies, like private foundations, have different funding models. Some allow administrative costs to be categorized as the direct costs of conducting research. Comparing federal government and private foundation F&A cost rates is like comparing apples to oranges. They are not the same. If the federal government places arbitrary caps on research F&A costs it would disproportionately harm not-for-profit, public institutions like UNC-Chapel Hill that don’t have large enough endowments to help fill the gap. A new cost model is needed to ensure that all universities uphold the same level of transparency and accountability to U.S. taxpayers, while continuing to advance life-changing research for the benefit of our nation. #UNCResearchIsNC #UNCResearch #funding #research #administrative #support . University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill