Overhead Allocation Policy Proposal

It is the intention of the School of Dentistry (SOD) to allocate to investigators a portion of the indirect costs generated by projects on which they are PI and which are submitted as SOD projects, in order to give additional support to their SOD-funded research projects. Below are the policies that govern eligibility, allocation policy, and rules governing the usage of these funds.

1. In order for your project to be eligible for allocation of a portion of indirect costs for investigator usage, you must be the Principal Investigator of the project, the project must be awarded with the SOD as the primary unit and it must, at the time of awarding, be designated a project directly relevant to the goals and mission of the SOD.

2. Projects that are eligible for partial allocation of indirect costs include individual investigator-driven research grants and contracts, program project grants, and small investigator driven projects. NIH-eligible projects include Individual Research Project Grants (R01), Program Project Grants (P01), Small Grants (R03), Small Business Innovative Research Grants (Phase I - R43; Phase II - R44), and Small Business Technology Transfer Grants (Phase I- R41; Phase II - R42). Training Grants/National Research Service Awards (T and F series awards), Career Development Grants (K series awards), and Special program fellowships are not eligible. Projects not funded by NIH must be substantially research in nature; training fellowships, symposium awards, and other projects are not eligible. The SOD Associate Dean for Research will determine project eligibility.

4. The SOD and the Grants Management Office will jointly administer projects funded through the SOD.

5. The amount of indirect cost return to the investigator will be 6.25% of the indirect costs of the award. These funds will be available in the SOD overhead account, will be designated for investigator usage, and fall under the same expenditure rules as overhead accounts defined by the NIH and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The SOD will not provide a subsidy for SOD core facility usage. In the event that the principal investigator is not from the School of Dentistry, the SOD and the relevant unit of the PI will divide the overhead, with a formula to be negotiated by the PI and their relevant unit. In the event an investigator is on a non-SOD grant, the SOD is under no obligation to return overhead unless it receives a portion of that overhead through negotiations with the home department of the PI.

6. The availability of the resources to the investigator follows the same rules as indirect cost availability to the SOD. This means that indirect costs will not become available until the fiscal year after the grant was awarded, and will be based on the direct cost expenditure from the grant/contract in the previous fiscal year. Overhead funds must be expended within the fiscal year of the allocation; funds may not be carried forward to the next fiscal year.

7. The allocation of a portion of project indirect costs to the principal investigator applies to any award submitted and funded after 7/01/2000. Continuation of this program depends on the continued solvency of the SOD reseearch administration and is at the discretion of the Dean and the Associate Dean for Research.

8. In order to receive the allocation, the PI must provide the SOD manager with a copy of the award letter, the start date and the final monetary award amount.