Updated: December 17, 2019
Facilities & Administrative rates are established and approved by the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
Georgia Tech’s F&A Rates are currently in negotiation for FY2020-FY2021. While negotiations are in progress with ONR, Georgia Tech is operating under provisional rates. A provisional rate is a temporary rate, stated in the F&A Rate Agreement, used when award period of performance extends beyond the expiration date of the last predetermined rate in the F&A Rate Agreement.
Handout: "Understanding F and A Rates"
Facilities & Administrative (F&A) Rates |
FY20 (Provisional) |
| Research Capped Rate applies to all Federal Grants and Contracts. DoD Exception: This rate applies to all DoD grants, but only DoD's contracts awarded before November 30, 1993. |
On-Campus: 57.8% Off-Campus: 26.0% |
| Research Uncapped Rate applies to DoD contracts (and Industry Subcontracts under DoD) awarded on or after November 30, 1993, in accordance with and under the authority of DFARS 231.303(1). See Section II, Part C. |
On-Campus: 62.0% Off-Campus: 30.2% |
| Industrial | 63.8% |
| Other Sponsored Applies to projects that benefit the public with activities other than research & development and instruction. Also used for projects funded by State and Local Government entities in Georgia. |
34.82% |
|
Instruction |
53.92% |
Tuition Remission and Escalation Factor |
FY20 |
|
| Monthly Tuition Rates for Resident Instruction | $1,557 /monthly | |
| Escalation factor applied to FY21 budgets and beyond: 3% | ||
Fringe Benefits |
FY20 |
| Full Benefits | 31.9% |
| Limited Benefits | 23.3% |
| Partial Benefits | 1.5% |
| Graduate Student Health | 6.2% |
FACILITIES AND ADMINISTRATIVE (F&A) RATE DISTRIBUTION BASE:
Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC), consisting of all salaries and wages, fringe benefits, materials and supplies, services, travel, and up to the first $25,000 of each subaward (regardless of the period of performance of the subawards under the award). Equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, rental costs, tuition remission, scholarships and fellowships, participant support costs, and the portion of each subaward in excess of $25,000 shall be excluded from the modified total direct cost base. Equipment is defined as having an acquisition cost which equals or exceeds $5,000 and a useful life of more than two years.
FRINGE BENEFITS DISTRIBUTION BASE:
Full Benefits: Salaries and wages of (i) regular full-time faculty, (ii) principal investigators, (iii) professional and administrative staff, (iv) joint staff, (v) temporary academic or research professionals participating in Institute retirement programs and group health and life insurance, (vi) biweekly permanent employees and (vii) part-time employees who work at least 75 percent but less than 100 percent of full-time work schedule.
Limited Benefits: Salaries and wages of part-time employees who work at least 50 percent but less than 75 percent of a full-time work schedule.
Partial Benefits: Salaries and wages of employees who participate in all or part of the Social Security program but do not participate in retirement or group health and life insurance plans. This rate covers (i) temporary classified persons, (ii) temporary academic or research professionals not eligible for the retirement programs or group health or life insurance coverage, (iii) student employees who are registered for less than a full academic load, and (iv) part-time employees employed for less than 50 percent of a full work schedule.
Grad Student Health: Salaries and wages of Graduate Research and Graduate Teaching Assistants who qualify for the graduate tuition remission award and who provide services to GIT at 33% to 50% time while being registered for at least 12 credit hours.
About Facilities & Administrative (F&A) Rates
F&A is the terminology used to identify costs that are incurred for common or joint objectives and, therefore, cannot be identified readily and specifically with a particular sponsored project, an instructional activity, or any other institutional activity. F&A costs are synonymous with "indirect" costs and "overhead" costs. These are actual costs to the university and directly support research at Georgia Tech.
F&A costs are collected retroactively; that is, this year's F&A cost recovery reimburses Georgia Tech for audited expenses incurred last year for all sponsored research. (See FAQ page for more details.)
Where can I find more information on F&A?
In 1998, Congress directed the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to conduct an analysis of issues related to the ways universities recover the F&A costs (also known as indirect costs) they incur when performing research under federal grants and contracts. At OSTP's request, the RAND Science and Technology Policy Institute prepared this report to present objective information on F&A costs in U.S. higher education. This report addresses the issues raised by Congress, although its scope is limited to presenting factual information and analysis of alternatives; it does not take positions on policy options. The report should be of interest to scientists; higher education administrators; and federal, state, and local governments.
- RAND's Paying for University Research Facilities and Administration by Charles A. Goldman, Traci Williams with David M. Adamson, Kathy Rosenblatt
- The Council on Governmental Relations' (COGR) The Politics of Indirect Costs by Robert M. Rosenzweig (Part I of "University Technology Transfer: Evolution and Revolutions")
