Part V - TRAC fEC

Section C: Estimating researcher costs

Chapter C.4 Avoiding over-charging

1. Institutions should not charge more than the salary costs they incur to research projects funded on a fEC basis by public bodies (i.e. Research Councils, and many OGD projects). A number of methods have been included in TRAC to prevent this:
   1. Each institution should have in place a process that confirms that it is likely that the staff whose names are included on the project costing form will have the time available to carry out the work, given current workloads, outstanding bids and likely success rates. This confirmation need not be in writing. The process could be based around negative confirmation only (i.e. the PI is alerted by the academic or other member of staff or management where it is considered that the academic will not be able to make the time available);
   2. The salary costs estimated and charged by a group of academics on Research Council and OGD-funded research projects(and including for this purpose an appropriate part of the time spent on Support) should not exceed the total salary cost that it is estimated that they will be paid, within the tolerances of the pay bandings used;
   3. The estimates of time made by a group of academics working on cost-based price research projects (i.e. for the Research Councils and many OGDs) should not exceed 100% of a standard working year (i.e. 220 days, or 1650 hours) in a year. (Direct project time and an appropriate part of Support time should both be considered in this.) It is not a requirement for the time for these academics to be added up for all projects being carried out and bid for, to check whether their total committed time on these activities exceeds the standard working year. However, it is good management practice to ensure that staff workloads are reasonable;
   4. (Research Councils are also likely to introduce (joint) systems that will allow them to identify any individuals who are working more than a standard working year on Research Councils’ projects. However, Research Councils also realise that, to some extent, institutions will need to over-commit academics at the proposal submission stage as success rates for proposals are not 100%.)
   5. Salary costs are to assume a standard working year of 1650 hours a year, whilst actual hours are to be charged to research projects. As actual working hours in a week are often more than a standard working week (37.5 hours) this might be seen as a potential area where over-charging might occur. But, as explained at the start of Section C, actual working days in a year are generally less than those in the standard working year (220 days). It is therefore likely that, overall, both actual and standard working hours in a year will total 1650. Cost rates based on 1650 hours, applied to actual hours worked, are therefore fair and reasonable, and double-charging is unlikely to occur;
   6. Academic overtime is excluded from the costs that are charged to research projects, unless the sponsor agrees to bear it in addition to normal salary costs;
   7. From December 2009 institutions will be able to, and should, compare:

      the total academic staff costs attributed to the Research Council sponsor type in the annual TRAC time allocation exercise

      with

      the total academic staff costs charged to Research Council projects in the accounting records under TRAC fEC.

      see reconciliation.