Budgeting for your Proposal

In order for your proposal to qualify for the Adjacent to Campus or Off Campus rate, more than 50% of the project work must take place off campus. Using either of these rates requires permission from the Associate Dean for Research. Please contact the Associate Dean for Research directly and include cos_preaward@ncsu.edu.

Cost-sharing should only be included in a proposal budget if it is required by the sponsor. If the proposal you are applying to does require cost-sharing, please contact your Department Head to discuss potential sources for this money.

Please note that all cost-sharing will be recorded in the Cost Sharing tab (“CS / Locations”) of the PINS prior to routing for approval. Back-up documentation should also be uploaded into the Supporting Documents of the PINS record. Examples of appropriate cost-sharing back-up documentation include signed letters or emails from the administrator in charge of the funding source and can be loaded in PINS by the College of Sciences Research Office

If the FOA limits or prohibits a certain budget category, but this expense is necessary for the project, you will need to use cost-sharing (i.e. non-federal funds) to cover the expense.

• For example, if the FOA limits or prohibits graduate tuition or fees, you will need to identify an alternative source of funds to pay for any tuition or fees. The alternative source of funds would be documented in the PINS record.

For additional information on NC State’s policies on cost-sharing please visit the SPARCS budgeting guidelines on cost-sharing.

If a sponsor funds the project at a lower rate, the process by which this is handles varies depending on the sponsor. If your Program Officer contacts you directly about providing a revised budget, Please contact the College of Sciences Research Office as soon as possible. If the Research Office is not involved in these negotiations, it can slow down the award process and delay the establishment of your account.

Some sponsors, such as NSF, request that a new budget be submitted ahead of awarding the funds. Once you receive an email from your program officer, we usually have 5 business days to submit the revised budget.

Other sponsors, such as NIH, simply award the grant at a new rate. However, before the university can set up your new account, you will need to provide a detailed budget of how the new awarded amount will be spent.

In both cases, if there is more than a 10% change in the budget, you will be required to submit a new PINS record and include a Budget Impact Statement that describes how the original scope of work will change with the reduction of funds. Please note that it is not acceptable to simply state that there will be no change in the scope of work with the budget reduction. This would indicate that you originally over-budgeted for the project.

Some sponsors allow “pre-award spending” up to 90 days ahead of the start date of the project. In the event that the PI needs access to the award funds before the sponsored agreement is finalized with the university, a pre-award account can be requested. Examples of appropriate justification for requesting a pre-award spending account include hiring project personnel and purchasing initial supplies or equipment by the project start date. There is some inherent risk in pre-award accounts because the funds are not yet on campus. Therefore, any requests for pre-award accounts must be approved by the appropriate department head, ensuring that if the grant is not ultimately awarded, the department will be responsible for any costs incurred from pre-award spending.

Office of Research Innovation – Pre-Award Spending

If you wish to request a pre-award account, please contact the College of Sciences Research Office. You will have to provide the following:

• Documentation of the sponsor’s intent to fund your proposal
• Detailed description of the amount requested for pre-award spending

Please note that a pre-award account can only be established before the award arrives at NC State. If SPARCS has already received the award, they most likely are not able to create a pre-award account, and you will need to wait until the regular account has been established.