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On September 1, 1998, Stanford revised its 1994 Policy on "Charging for Administrative Expenses" to incorporate the recent OMB Circular A-21 (A-21) clarification of the requirements for direct charging of administrative and technical expenses. A-21 Section F.6.b. establishes the principle that administrative expenses should normally be treated as Facilities and Administrative (F&A), or indirect costs, but that charging these costs directly to sponsored agreements may be appropriate where a major project or activity explicitly budgets for administrative and clerical services and the costs involved can be specifically identified with the project or activity. The revised policy also incorporates the A-21 definition and examples of major project/activity.
In addition, during the FY99 F&A rate negotiations, Stanford made the commitment to the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop policy pertaining toThe policy "Charging for Administrative and Technical Expenses", Research Policy Handbook (RPH) 3.6, was revised on December 1, 1999 to incorporate these topics. See also "Preparation, Review and Submission of Sponsored Project Proposals" (RPH 10.1) for requirements on budget justifications, and the "Cost Sharing Policy" (RPH 3.5).
- budget justifications for costs to be charged direct that are normally considered F&A, and
- the treatment of sponsor disapproved administrative costs as cost sharing.
This policy is applicable to awards proposed on or after December 1, 1999.
Stanford's policy does not apply to non-federal sponsored projects. Administrative expenses that directly benefit such awards can and should be charged to those awards. However, the policy does apply if the non-federal sponsor receives federal funding for the project, specifically adopts A-21 guidelines, or has its own policies restricting administrative charges.
The Administrative Charging Task Force developed these guidelines that include the following sections in addition to this introduction: