/Office for Research and Innovation
Offices of Sponsored Programs and Grants Management

Sponsored Programs Overview 

The RF Relationship's with SUNY 

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York (RF) was founded in 1951 to serve SUNY and to capitalize on its scope, scale and diversity as an engine of New York's innovation economy.

The largest, most comprehensive university-connected research foundation in the country, the RF exists to serve The State University of New York (SUNY) by providing essential administrative services that enable SUNY faculty to focus their efforts on the education of students and the performance of life-changing research across a wide range of disciplines including medicine, engineering, physical sciences, energy, computer science, and social sciences. The RF is a private non-profit education corporation that is tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c) (3). Continue reading...

Sponsored Project - Definition and Characteristics

A sponsored project is defined as an activity that is sponsored, or funded, by an external organization, such as a federal, state, or private organization or agency to conduct research, training, educational activities, public service or other scholarly activities under a formal written agreement with The Research Foundation for The SUNY (RF), i.e., a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, where the presence of one or more of the following characteristics apply: 

  • The proposal is submitted in response to a Request for Proposal (RFP) or similar solicitation.  All such proposals shall be submitted via myResearch Grants for review and approval.
  • The proposal includes a statement of work to be performed.
  • The proposal includes a set of objectives. 
  • The proposal includes a budget, and funding is awarded based on specific budget categories. Permission must be obtained from the sponsor to change the budget.
  • There is a specified period of performance for conducting the project.
  • The sponsor requires deliverables, which may include programmatic, technical, and detailed financial reports during or at the conclusion of the project.
  • The award provides for the disposition of tangible or intangible property that may result from the project such as equipment, records, rights in data, software etc.
  • Federal, state, or other governmental fiscal compliance policy governs the project.
  • The project includes funds for facilities and administration (also called indirect costs or overhead).
  • The award is revocable, or unexpended funds must be returned to the sponsor at a certain point.
  • There are requirements for audits by or on behalf of the funding source.

Sponsored awards may be made by using a variety of mechanisms, each with varying levels of expectation and involvement on the part of the sponsor. Award types are managed, reported and monitored in different ways. Once a funding opportunity has been identified, PIs should contact OSP.  OSP Specialists can guide you through the proposal development process.

Type of Agreement

  

Contracts

A Contract is defined as a binding agreement between parties for the purpose of securing goods or services. In general, the following characteristics describe a contract:

  • There is extensive input from the sponsor into the tasks to be performed.

  • The award mechanism used by the sponsor is a contract.

  • Principal purpose is for direct benefit or use by the sponsor.

  • The sponsor requires formal reports of any kind, including financial or technical.

  • Invoicing or billing is required.The contracting mechanism also has terms and conditions such as:

  • Ownership of intellectual property.

  • Right of first refusal, or right of first negotiation of intellectual property.

  • Ownership or access to research results.

  • Publication review of faculty, graduate student or post doc research.

  • Deliverables of any kind.

  • There is a start and end date.

Visit Contracts page for more information.

 

Cooperative Agreements

Cooperative Agreements are used when federal sponsors want to retain more active involvement in the conduct of the project. This active oversight may be evidenced by a high level of agency program officials advising on the direction of the project, more frequent reporting, or anticipated deliverables. The following characteristics describe a cooperative agreement:

  • fund projects conceived by an investigator, but often in response to specific research areas identified by the sponsor;

  • assume the project would not be possible without collaboration between the recipient and the sponsor;

  • anticipate sponsor involvement in and contribution to the technical aspects of the project;

  • like grants, allow more flexibility than contracts; and

  • have less detailed award documents than contracts.

Clinical Trial Agreements

 

A Clinical Trial is defined as a controlled, clinical testing in human subjects of investigational new drugs, devices, treatments, or diagnostics, or comparisons of approved drugs, devices, treatments, or diagnostics, to assess their safety, efficacy, benefits, costs, adverse reactions, and/or outcomes.  Such studies may be conducted under an industry-developed protocol or an investigator-developed protocol. Some additional characteristics include:

  • the study must include the prospective enrollment of human subjects and the controlled testing of a drug, device, or diagnostic under an approved protocol;
  • often require extensive negotiations between OSP and corporate representatives on issues such as publication rights and compliance, and;
  • must be formulated in accordance with RF and SUNY policies.

Visit Clinical Trials page for more information.

 Gifts

 A Gift is defined as any item of value given by a donor who expects nothing of significant value in return, other than recognition and disposition of the gift in accordance with the donor's wishes. In general, the following characteristics describe a gift:

  • No contractual requirements are imposed and there are no "deliverables" to the donor. However, the gift may be accompanied by an agreement that restricts the use of the funds to a particular purpose.

  • A gift is irrevocable. While the gift may be intended for use within a certain timeframe, there is no specified period of performance or start and stop dates.
  • There is no formal fiscal accountability to the donor.

IMPORTANT NOTE : Gift awards must be approved and managed by the Stony Brook Foundation (SBF) with the exception of gift awards where the activity involves compliance approvals (such as use of human subjects, laboratory animals, radiological hazards, recombinant DNA). Read SBF's gift policy   and contact our office you have questions.

 Grants

 A Grant is defined as an award mechanism to transfer money, goods, property, services or other items of value to universities in order to accomplish a public purpose. In general, the following characteristics describe a grant:

  • No substantial involvement is anticipated between sponsor and recipient during performance of activity.
  • The award comes with terms, conditions, and/or other contractual requirements that need to be met.
  • There are budgetary restrictions that must be followed.
  • Reports may be required including financial reports and technical or progress reports.
  • Documentation of expenditures.
  • Deliverables of any kind, including the sharing of research results.
  • There is a start and end date.

 

Subawards

A Subaward is an agreement between RF and another institution under the authority of, and consistent with the terms and conditions of the prime award (a grant, contract or cooperative agreement), that transfers a portion of the research or substantive effort of the award to another institution or organization. Typically, in these agreements, PIs are performing a piece of a larger project which was awarded to the other institution. They can be in the form of a subcontract or subgrants.

Visit Subawards page for more information. 

Other Types of Agreements 

Intergovernmental Personnel Act Assignment Agreements (IPA): Provides for the temporary assignment of personnel between the federal, state and local governments; colleges and universities; Indian tribal governments; federally funded research and development centers; and other eligible organizations.

Unfunded Research Collaborations: A contract that establishes the rights and responsibilities of collaborators that are participating in collaborative research where no funds are exchanged.

Fellowships: (Can be Federal or Non-Federal)

  • support advanced or continued education for scholars and researchers;

  • provide a stipend as opposed to a salary; and

  • do not require recipients to perform any functions or pursue any research goals for the sponsor.

Matching Grants/Cost-Sharing: Some sponsors require the applicant to demonstrate commitment to the proposed activity by providing funds in support of the overall project costs. Matching funds may be derived from institutional resources, either in-kind (donated time, space, equipment use, etc.) or cash, or may be generated from other entities (third party). All proposals that include a cost-sharing component must be approved by the Chair/Dean through myResearch.

OVPR is committed to helping advance research excellence at Stony Brook University. The OVPR will partner with the Office of the Provost, the Office of the Senior VP-Health Sciences, Colleges, Schools, Departments and PI’s, and may provide funds requested through the RSR mechanism. RSR materials should be submitted to the attention of Office of Proposal Development, S5421 Melville Library, Stony Brook, NY  11794-3365

Cost-sharing is a major issue in federal awards. The federal government has issued specific guidance on matching funds and the responsibilities of recipients in accounting for these funds. Failure to comply may result in loss of revenue associated with the specifically funded project, or in general sanctions against the institution.

The following are the two types of cost-sharing supported at our institution: 

  • Mandatory–Required by sponsors and specifically referenced in proposals, budgets or other submitted documents. Must be accounted for in Oracle. 
  • Voluntary Committed – Committed by the institution in proposals, budgets or other submitted documents to enhance possibility of funding, but NOT required by the sponsor. Federal sponsors view any voluntary cost sharing offered at the proposal stage as “committed” cost sharing at the award stage. This means that any quantified cost sharing offered in a submitted proposal becomes fiscally and/or programmatically auditable and must be documented and reported to the federal sponsor if the proposal is funded. Must be accounted for in Oracle. 

Sponsored projects are classified into different categories of University functions which affect the calculation of RFSUNY/SBU’s Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Rate (link).

Classification Type
Definition

Organized Research

Per OMB Circular A-21, means all research and development activities of an institution that are separately budgeted and accounted for. It includes:

  • Sponsored research - means all research and development activities that are sponsored by external organizations i.e. federal, state, private entities. Examples of sponsored research include: awards to SBU faculty to support research activities; external Faculty “Career Awards” to support the research efforts of the faculty; external funding to maintain facilities or equipment and/or operation of a center or facility that will be used for research; external support for writing of books, when the purpose of the writing is to publish research results.
  • University research - all research and development activities that are separately budgeted and accounted for by the institution under an internal application of institutional funds, such as gifts, endowment income, technology licensing income, or cost sharing expenditures which are committed to be borne by SBU rather than the sponsor.

 

Sponsored Instruction

Defined as teaching and training activities at SBU established by grant, contract or cooperative agreement from federal or non-federal sponsors. Sponsored Instruction includes agreements which support curriculum development as well as all types of teaching/training activities, whether offered for credit toward a degree or certificate, on a non-credit basis, or through regular academic departments or by separate divisions, summer school or external division. Sponsored Instruction includes:

  • Any project for which the purpose is to instruct any student at any location; recipients of this instruction may be SBU students or staff, teachers or students in elementary or secondary schools, or the general public
  • Curriculum development projects at any level, including projects that involve evaluation of curriculum or teaching methods; such evaluation may be considered “research” only when the preponderance of activity is data collection, evaluation, and reporting
  • Projects that involve SBU students in community service activities for which they are receiving academic credit
  • Activities funded by awards to departments or schools for the support of students
  • Dissertation work funded by grants, including grants for travel in relation to a dissertation
  • General support for the writing of textbooks or reference books, videos, or software to be used as instructional materials

Other Sponsored Activities

Defined as programs and projects financed by sponsors for which the activity is other than Instruction and Organized Research. OSA may include:

  • Travel grants
  • Support for conferences or seminars
  • Support for University public events
  • Support for students, staff, or teachers in elementary or secondary schools, or the general public, through outreach-related activities
  • Projects that involve SBU faculty, staff, or students in community service activities (where the SBU students are not receiving academic credit for their involvement)
  • Support for projects pertaining to library collections, acquisitions, bibliographies, or cataloging
  • Programs to enhance institutional resources, including data center expansion, computer enhancements, etc.
  • Support of certain Evaluative Testing activities
  • federally-sponsored Clinical Trials

Clinical Trials

Defined as a controlled, clinical testing in human subjects of investigational new drugs, devices, treatments, or diagnostics, or comparisons of approved drugs, devices, treatments, or diagnostics, to assess their safety, efficacy, benefits, costs, adverse reactions, and/or outcomes.  Such studies may be conducted under an industry-developed protocol or an investigator-developed protocol. Visit Clinical Trials for more information.

F&A Costs (also known as indirect costs/IDC, overhead, administrative allowance, or occasionally, institutional allowance) are reimbursements by sponsors for things that cannot be directly and uniquely assigned to any particular project, and are incurred by our institution for expenses such as utilities; buildings and grounds; operation and maintenance; library-related expenditures; and university services like telephones, computer infrastructure, postage services, etc. 

F&A funding seeks to reimburse the RF and SUNY for part of the cost of doing business during the course of a sponsored project. Since expenses are incurred through the performance of a sponsored project, a percentage is charged back to the agency or organization funding the sponsored project. Continue reading...

F&A Cost Components under OMB 2 CFR Part 200, F&A costs must be identified, grouped according to cost categories, and allocated to the benefitting functions. The result of this allocation is a determination of a pool of costs that benefit all the research projects at an institution. These costs are separated into two broad categories, “facilities” and “administrative.” For more information, see the Facilities and Administrative Costs Primer published by The Research Foundation for The SUNY.

The latest policy and an up to date listing on the RF/SBU approved F&A rates are listed on this web site or you can contact your OSP Specialist.

Stony Brook University in conjunction with The Research Foundation for The State University of New York applies each year for rate renewal and approval through its cognizant agency, The Department of Health and Human Services.

Common Terms
Definitions and Applicability

F&A Rate Types

The most common are: Total Direct Cost (TDC), Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC), Other Sponsored Programs (includes evaluative testing), Instruction, IPA , Administrative and Clinical Trials rates.  In addition, some sponsors may have their own policy on these types of costs.  If you run across a situation like this make sure to include documentation on the rate allowed in myResearch Grants.

Unless there is a written F&A sponsor policy, full F&A recovery must be included in proposal budgets.

Modified Total Direct Cost 

is calculated by excluding alterations and renovations having a cost of $15,000 or more per alteration or renovation, in/out patient care costs, rental maintenance of off-site activities, student tuition, participant support cost (student aid, stipends, travel, etc.), amounts over the first $25,000 of each subcontract/subgrant ($50,000 after July 1, 2025), and equipment over $5,000 ($10,000 after July 1, 2025). Most federal programs use this rate.

 Total Direct Cost 

includes all direct costs associated with a sponsored project including those items excluded in Modified Total Direct Cost.

Organized Research Rate

Organized research means all research and development activities of an institution that are separately budgeted and accounted for. It includes: (1) Sponsored research means all research and development activities that are sponsored by federal and non-federal agencies and organizations. This term includes activities involving the training of individuals in research techniques (commonly called research training) where such activities utilize the same facilities as other research and development activities and where such activities are not included in the instruction function. (2) University research means all research and development activities that are separately budgeted and accounted for by the institution under an internal application of institutional funds. University research, for purposes of this guidance, shall be combined with sponsored research under the function of organized research.

Administrative Rate

applies to unrestricted gifts and other funds received in support of organized research or training activities where the sponsor provides the funds in advance and without further obligation on the part of the institution: i.e., no constraints on how the funds may be used, no financial or technical reporting requirements, and no deliverables. 

This rate will also be applied to funds from:  External Sources deposited to Service and Facility Accounts;  Materials Transfer Agreements; NYS Industrial Contracts affiliated with Centers for Advanced Technology, Center for Biotechnology,  Center of Excellence Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT) and the SPIR  Program; Phase 1 subcontracts as part of STTR/SBIR awards; non-federal fellowship awards unless a rate is specified by the non-federal sponsor; and awards made specifically and solely for support of a conference, seminar, or workshop to be held at a Stony Brook University location.

Other Sponsored Programs Activity Rate

will be applied on both federal and non-federal projects for which the activity is other than research and instruction such as Evaluative Testing, as defined below, General Administration, Operations and Maintenance, Sponsored Projects Administration and other public service projects and federally-sponsored Clinical Trials. 

An  evaluative testing agreement for which the  Other Sponsored Programs  Rate applies is defined as any agreement with a private sponsor providing a company-developed protocol that specifies all procedures in detail and leaves no room for the University Principal Investigator to experiment on his or her own; where the type of work required is characterized as testing of the private sponsor’s proprietary product (e.g. a new or investigational device, drug, material or compound) and  the deliverable must be raw data which cannot include any interpretation. Such testing or studies  cannot involve contact with human subjects.

Clinical Trials Rate

will be applied to all Clinical Trials funded by private sponsors.  

A  clinical trial agreement for which the  Clinical Trial Rate applies is a controlled, clinical testing in human subjects of investigational new drugs, devices, treatments, or diagnostics, or comparisons of approved drugs, devices, treatments, or diagnostics, to assess their safety, efficacy, benefits, costs, adverse reactions, and/or outcomes.  Such studies may be conducted under an industry-developed protocol or an investigator-developed protocol.

  1. The objective of the study is either:
    1. testing of a drug, device, diagnostic, treatment, intervention, or preventive measures  including testing for an unapproved indication  or
    2. data collection, or review of data generated or acquired in a clinical setting, to increase knowledge that would lead to enhanced safety and efficacy of a drug or device.
  2. The study must involve contact with human subjects or the review of patient care clinical data
  3. The study must be performed primarily in patient care or clinical space
  4. The study must be industry-funded.

Instruction Rate

Instruction means the teaching and training activities of an institution. Except for research training as provided in subsection (1), this term includes all teaching and training activities, whether they are offered for credits toward a degree or certificate or on a non credit basis, and whether they are offered through regular academic departments or separate divisions, such as a summer school division or an extension division. Also considered part of this major function are departmental research, and, where agreed to, University research.

(1) Sponsored instruction and training means specific instructional or training activity established by grant, contract, or cooperative agreement. For purposes of the cost principles, this activity may be considered a major function even though an institution's accounting treatment may include it in the instruction function.

(2) Departmental research means research, development and scholarly activities that are not organized research and, consequently, are not separately budgeted and accounted for. Departmental research, for purposes of this document, is not considered as a major function, but as a part of the instruction function of the institution.

Interpersonnel Agreement (IPA) Rate 

An IPA assignment agreement is used when an employee of an educational institution is temporarily assigned to work at a federal agency (such as a Veterans Administration Medical Center) for a specified period, because of their expertise in a particular area. The federal agency agrees to pay the assignee’s salary, fringe benefits, and sometimes travel expenses. The Agreement includes a description of the duties and responsibilities of the assignee. It also provides for the assignee to return to their position (or similar position) at the educational institution.

Funding opportunities  arise through many formal and informal means. Generally, sponsored applications or proposals are: 

Type of  Funding Opportunity

  

Solicited

  • Program Announcements (PAs) – No specific resources are set aside at the agency for the PA, but an area of research interest in a general discipline or subdiscipline is described

  • Request for Applications/Proposals (RFAs/RFPs) – Specific resources have been allocated at the agency or sponsor for a given objective, and a public request has been issued with directions for proposers

  • Request for Quote (RFQ) – A standard request for price quotations from competing procurement sources

  • Informal Requests - non-federal sponsors and non-competing projects - the sponsor's representative and SBU's investigator together develop the proposal and agree to a budget

Unsolicited

 An open request for applications with general submission guidelines.

Limited Competitions

Visit this link for more information.

Two types of costs are associated with sponsored projects: Direct costs and Facilities and Administrative (F&A or IDC) costs. See Budget Development Guidelines for more information on proper identification and distribution of costs.

  • Direct costs can be identified with a particular sponsored project, an instructional activity, or any other institutional activity, or can be assigned directly to such activities relatively easily with a high degree of accuracy. Examples of direct costs are salaries and wages, fringe benefits, equipment, supplies, travel, and publication expenses.For a cost to be directly charged it must be "reasonable," "allocable," "consistently treated," and "not specifically designated as unallowable." A cost must meet all of these conditions before it may be directly charged to a federally sponsored project. These conditions apply to estimating (developing proposals), accumulating (spending), and reporting costs
  • Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs—also called indirect or overhead costs)—are incurred for common or joint objectives. Therefore, they cannot be identified readily with a particular sponsored project, instructional activity, or any other institutional activity. 

Total Costs of a Sponsored Project – Generally, the cost of a sponsored agreement is the sum of the allowable direct costs plus the allocable portion of the allowable F&A costs.

The nature of the cost is not the determining factor in distinguishing Direct from F&A costs; it is whether or not the cost can be identified with a particular sponsored project.

All costs charged to sponsored projects must meet the following cost principles:

  • Allowable – permissible according to the terms and conditions of the award
  • Allocable – Costs must be allocable and must provide a “benefit”to the project. Costs of goods or services that are charged or assigned to a project must be based on the relative benefits received by the project. This is not an issue if the expense was incurred by a single project. However, if the item is of benefit to more than one project, then a sponsored project may only be charged for the portion of the expense that represents the benefit directly received by that project
  • Reasonable – The cost must be reasonable and necessary for the performance of the project. This means that a prudent individual pursuing the proposed work would spend funds in this manner.  
  • Consistently Treated – When costs are charged to a federally sponsored project, they must be consistently treated. All costs incurred for the same purpose in like circumstances must be either direct costs only or F&A costs only. A cost item may not be charged as a direct cost on some projects and as an F&A on other projects in like circumstances.