Part V - TRAC fEC

Section D: Estimating other costs

Other DI costs

28. Directly incurred costs could include those from other institutions working collaboratively on the project. They could also include, for example, the costs of research nurses or ethics committees on clinical trials when these are recharged to the HEI by the Trust. (Or when they are calculated by the Trust but not charged to the HEI as the costs are already deemed to be covered through Other (Clinical Services) provided under knock-for-knock by HEI clinical academics.)
29. Where a project is carried out in collaboration with industry, the total fEC should include the costs incurred by industry, which are recorded through the HEI’s books.
30. As well as equipment purchase costs, directly incurred non-staff costs might include consumables, travel and subsistence, survey fees, equipment maintenance, purchase of animals.
31. It would be unusual for maternity and paternity pay, or sick pay of Research Assistants to be identified and included in a project fEC pre-award. However, when incurred post-award, they would be included in the actual project costs. See Section F Post-award.
32. Maternity and paternity and sick leave of academics should not be included as a separate directly incurred or allocated cost. They are considered to be covered in the standard assumption of 1650 hours per year, and in the indirect costs.
33. Redundancy costs (actual or potential) should not be included as a separate direct cost, or as a specific additional element in the indirect cost. They are now considered to be covered by the gross cost of capital employed, which provides funds for development and restructuring and is part of the indirect cost total.
34. (Some non-government sponsors will consider funding a specific redundancy cost for a particular researcher, rather than indirect costs. This does not mean that redundancy costs are to be included as direct costs in the calculation of the fEC but instead they are to be included in the calculation of the price.)
35. Staff that are providing cover for an academic carrying out research should not be included in the fEC of that research project. It is the time of the investigator carrying out the work that should be included in the fEC. The replacement cost of teaching is not a research project cost.
36. The costs of disseminating a project's findings are generally not to be included as a DI cost, as most dissemination of research will take place months or years after completion of the project. The costs of this dissemination would therefore be allocated to indirect costs and included in the indirect cost rate.
37. But note that:
    • the time spent writing the final report for the sponsor should be included in the PI time estimates – even if it takes place after the research grant has been ‘completed’ (as defined by the sponsor);
    • in some cases there is some specific reporting activity within a project, and here the cost is likely to be a directly incurred project cost.
38. A contingency cost should not be included in the fEC. It can, however, form part of the price, paid by some sponsors.