Services and Consultants

Services

When preparing the budget, include all expenses to be incurred for services during the project period, such as: media services, computer services, lab analyses, consulting, animal care, boat and air charters, and UAF Recharge Center fees. Services also include both oral and written communication costs related to the project such as toll charges, fax, postage, and publication costs. When describing consultant costs in the budget justification, mention any consulting fees and address why the individual is required for the task.

Service or Subaward?

A service can be distinguished from a subaward by the nature of the work the service provider will perform. An organization is considered a vendor service when it:

• Provides similar goods and services to different clients within normal business operations;
• Operates in a competitive environment; and
• Provides goods and services ancillary to the operation of the program at a set price per unit

UAF Recharge Center Fees

Recharge center rates are treated as a direct cost and cannot be included as an MTDC exclusion. The rates are not "fully loaded' and do not include building depreciation, administration costs, etc., which are then recovered through F&A. The recharge rates are "actual ulitilization" rates, which only cover the actual costs for the recharge services such as labor, materials and supplies, depreciation on equipment, etc. If you have other questions about how the recharge rates are developed, please contact SW Cost Analysis).

UA Employees

Current UA employees CANNOT be paid as consultants on UAF proposals. However, emeritus faculty can be paid as consultants on UAF proposals only if:

1. They have not been paid as a UA employee in the past 12 months;
2. They are not doing a service that would fall under the normal scope of work of any UA employee;
3. They are not using university resources such as office space, equipment, labs, etc. to perform the service(s);
4. They are not being supervised on a day-to-day basis; and
5. They are given a set task to complete with an expected deliverable.

All items deemed services will have full F&A charged against them, unless it can be demonstrated that the vendor can be treated as a subaward under the following policy:

Treating Vendor Services as Subawards

"If a department believes that it has a contract for allowable goods and services that should not recover F&A costs on the excess over $25,000, that department must be able to clearly demonstrate that the contract does not require the same level of F&A support as other contracts for goods and services. To qualify for the exclusion, the vendor contract must meet the following criteria:

• The contract must be in excess of $50,000.
• Normally, the primary administrative costs associated with the contract are only the initial costs incurred in the bidding process.
• Limited additional administrative costs will be incurred as a result of the short-term of the contract, few types of goods and/or services purchased, quantity of goods purchased is small, or the vendor will receive a small number of payments.

The unit should follow the same process used by their respective MAU for F&A waivers by providing a written request explaining the need and justification for exceptional treatment to their respective campus’s Chief Financial Officer or authorized designee for review and approval. MAUs that currently charge a penalty to departments for waivers have the option of treating these situations as exceptions to those penalties."

OSP Procedures

If a PI or department wants to treat a vendor as a subaward, fill out the Request for Waiver to Treat Vendor Service Contract as Subaward form. Notice of intent to seek a waiver should be given to OSP as far in advance as possible. There are no guarantees that a waiver will be granted and it could require the budget to be changed, so lead time is key with these request. This form will be required for such requests and should be included with the proposal package to OSP. The memo is an internal UAF document only for review and approval of a waiver.