Facilities and Administrative Costs

Sponsored Projects incur two major categories of costs: direct costs and indirect costs (IDCs), which are sometimes referred to as facilities and administrative (F&A) costs.

Direct costs are those that can directly and easily be attributed to a specific sponsored project, e.g., the cost of materials used conducting the project or the cost of salary and fringe benefits of the PI/PD for his/her time spent working on the project. IDCs are the less obvious costs, such as for the utilities in the classroom or laboratory where a project is being conducted or for the wages of purchasing and accounting personnel who provide administrative services supporting a project. IDCs are incurred for common or joint activities that cannot be easily attributed to a particular sponsored project; they are calculated based on a rate that is negotiated with UNC’s cognizant federal agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.

• View UNC’s current negotiated federal agreement

NOTE: It is UNC’s policy to request the full amount of indirect costs permitted in a funding agency’s written proposal guidelines. Requests for reduced or waived indirect costs require strong justification and must be approved by the Assistant Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs before a proposal with less than full allowed indirect costs is submitted to the sponsor.

Current IDC Rates

Applicable to all research, instruction and service projects.