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Developing a Proposal Budget

Budget Templates

What is a Budget?

A budget is a detailed statement outlining estimated project costs that support a sponsored project. It should include all Direct Costs, as well as the calculated Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs required to carry out the project objectives. The proposal budget should be derived directly from the project description and serves as the financial expression of the project.

Follow sponsor guidelines on requirements, allowability, and format.

Budgeting Salaries

Personnel Salaries and Benefits are typically the largest categories of expenses. Review Rice Human Resources compensation information.

Lead PI and PI/Co-PIs should be named in the budget. 

The nature of their planned contributed effort should be detailed in the budget. This is typically represented as the number of 

Summer salary months (ADD CALCULATION METHOD & EXAMPLE)

Academic months (ADD CALCULATION METHOD & EXAMPLE)

Calendar year months (ADD CALCULATION METHOD & EXAMPLE)

If other personnel are named in the budget make sure you use their actual salary in your calculation

Salary costs must be 

• Appropriate for the effort expended

• Consistent with the existing appointment (assignment) of a named individual

• Included in the proposal and approved by the sponsor at the outset (or via a rebudgeting activity that is approved by the sponsor post-award)

Salary Limits

Some sponsors impose limits. These are known as salary caps. e.g.: National Institutes of Health (NIH) salary caps. 

Summer Salaries

Faculty with 9 month appointments may allocate up to a cumulative maximum of three months per year of summer salary. Summer salary is calculated using the following method (ADD CALCULATION METHOD).
NSF allow a cumulative maximum of 2 months of NSF summer salary via any NSF source within a 12 month period per individual. 

Academic Year Time

In certain circumstances Faculty can take academic year time as a salary type. There are limitations on the maximum amount of AYT that an individual can charge as above a certain level this may be considered to be in conflict with the core obligations of the faculty appointment and corresponding obligations. Dean's office approval may need to be sought (DETAILS TO BE ADDED)

Adding Anticipated Salary Increases to Multi-year budgets

As a general rule, a 3% annual increase is applied to salaries in proposal budgets and templates at Rice. (do variations to this need to get justified somehow?)

Administrative or Clerical Salaries

Administrative and clerical costs may be proposed as direct costs if all four of these criteria exist:

• Integral to the project or activity,

• Identified specifically with the project or activity,

• Explicitly included in the budget or have prior written approval of Federal awarding agency and,

• Not also recovered as indirect costs.

If these costs are budgeted as direct costs, you must provide justification in the proposal.

Examples of potentially allowable direct charged administrative and clerical staff costs:

• Organizing a conference as a component of a larger project

• Managing travel for a large number of participants

• Organizing and/or analyzing large datasets or databases

• Managing complex projects with multiple sites, especially if there are multiple subawards.

If questioned, PI must justify expenses to the sponsor and auditors and will be responsible for paying back any unallowable expenses, if required.

Graduate Students and Graduate Fellows

Graduate students and fellows... etc. etc.

Fringe Benefits

Fringe benefits are a direct cost charged as a percentage of salary. The rates are reviewed and approved by the federal government and apply to all sponsored projects.

Use the active rates for the applicable time period, and use the preliminary/proposed rates (if available) for all future years.

(add link to university resources)

Equipment

The Rice equipment capitalization threshold is $5000. Equipment is excluded from F&A 

Purchasing Equipment

• List each item by type, model number, and manufacturer.

  • If equipment needs are not definite, probable choices may be listed on a separate sheet and an estimated total shown on the budget page.

  • Quotes should be sought and added as an appendix to the budget justification in the proposal.

• Include related costs like shipping and insurance in the equipment costs if allowed by your sponsor.

Equipment Fabrication

Describe the equipment that will be fabricated along with a list of items that go into fabrication (e.g. materials, cost center services, salary, etc.). F&A is not applied on costs involved in fabricating equipment unless the equipment will be transferred to the sponsor or external entity for use at the end of the project.

Travel

Include estimated travel costs according to Rice travel policies (LINK TO RICE POLICY) for:

• itemized transportation costs (e.g. airfare, ground transportation, etc.),

• number of days per diem,

• number and estimated cost of trips

• number of individuals on each trip

on federal awards, justify how each person’s travel is necessary to the award.

destination of each trip

If the exact location is not known, include the general location.

Most sponsors require that you justify and retain documentation for travel expenses including how they benefit the project.

International Travel

ADD SOME STUFF HERE ABOUT THE CONSIDERATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AT PRE-AWARD (fly america act?)

Supplies and Materials

List supplies by major type, (e.g., publication costs, glassware, chemicals). Include the estimated cost of each type and how estimates were calculated.

Describe the allocation rationale for supplies and materials between different proposals/awards in your budget justification.

Prior year accounting records, quotes, or other documentation may be used to support estimates. 

Supplies and Materials (Other Direct Costs)- Considerations

• Office Supplies: generally unallowable as a direct cost under federal awards.

• Avoid “Miscellaneous” and “Contingency” categories.

• Equipment Rental. Using the SEEach piece of rented equipment should be listed by type, model number, and manufacturer along with the current rental rate of each item. Equipment rental is considered a “service” charge and F&A should be calculated.

Subaward Budget Development and F&A Calculations

List each anticipated outgoing subaward separately

Each subaward budget should include its direct and F&A costs

Indicate each subawards in the Rice budget using the appropriate subaward object class / spend category (Above 25K / Under 25k)

Calculate Rice F&A on the first $25,000 of each subawards total costs

Tuition Remission

Tuition costs are exempt from F&A

Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A)

F&A costs are expenses that cannot be specifically identified with a particular project or activity. Also known as “indirect costs” or “overhead,” these costs are for buildings, utilities, services of administrative offices such as purchasing, accounting, payroll, and personnel offices, and other expenses necessary for operations of the institution. (ADD LINKS TO UNIVERSITY RATE DOCUMENTS)

Participant Support Costs

Participant support costs means direct costs for items such as stipends or subsistence allowances, travel allowances, and registration fees paid to or on behalf of participants or trainees (but not employees) in connection with conferences, or training projects.

Additional Resources

Templates, Tools, & Job Guides

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Policies & Regulations

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Training Materials

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University Announcements

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FAQs, RADAR forum threads

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