College Research Office

This office develops and implements research policies, coordinates research activities with other Texas A&M University agencies, develops strategies for achieving the College of Education and Human Development's research goals, and promotes a climate conducive to innovative faculty research. The office receives faculty advice from the the CEHD Council of Principal Investigators, Office of the Vice President for Research and, the Faculty Senate Research Committee.

Research Foundation Rate Change Effective March 2007

e-mail sent to CEHD faculty and staff on May 21, 2007

Dear CEHD Faculty and Staff,

 

For the past several years, the College of Education and Human Development has routed the majority of its proposals for extramural funding through the Texas A&M Research Foundation (RF). Recently, as part of a reorganization and cost-saving effort, the Research Foundation announced a major change to the way it charges for its services. This change has a potentially significant impact on the amount of indirect costs (IDC) returned to CEHD.

 

Under the old method of charging for services, the Research Foundation retained 29% of indirect costs generated by a funded project to provide its core services (proposals, contracts, project accounting). Under their new method, the RF will charge a total of 7.74%* of direct costs for these same services. For projects that receive the full TAMU Federal Indirect Cost rate of 45.5%, the costs charged for the RF for core services would be about the same under the old and new methods.

 

However, for projects earning less than 45.5% IDC, the RF charges would be greater under the new method, and, thus, IDC returned to the college and the PI would be less. Projects with IDC rates of 8% or less (of which CEHD has many, since many of our funders, including TEA and IES, cap IDC at rates less than 10%) would generate zero IDC return or would operate at a loss for the college.

 

This change in policy by the RF necessitates a change in proposal routing procedures for CEHD. Effective June 1, 2007, only proposals generating full Federal IDC (26% for off campus or 45.5% for on campus research) will be routed through the Research Foundation. Proposals with IDC rates less than this will be routed through a division of the TAMU Vice President for Research Office-the Office of University Research Services (OURS). OURS combines proposal, contract, and project accounting services for TAMU under the leadership of Charlene Miller, Assistant Vice President for Research. OURS will be able to provide these services for a charge of 3.5% of direct costs.

 

The CEHD pre-proposal notification link on the college website will be updated to reflect this change, and notifications will automatically be routed to the appropriate agency.

 

Department heads and members of the CEHD Council of Principal Investigators (CPI) have been made aware of these changes. If you have questions, please contact your department head, CPI rep, Windy Hollis, or me; any of us would be happy to talk further about how these changes may affect your projects or proposals for funding.
----------------Linda Skrla, Ph.D.
* revised number from original e-mail

Supplemental Documents

April 17, 2007 Memo to System Members from Linda Woodman, Senior VP and CFO of the Research Foundation regarding Rate Change Effective March 2007-Fee for Service

May 7, 2007 memorandum to System Members from Mark S. Smock, President of the Research Foundation regarding Memorandum of Agreement - Service Fees for Sponsored Research Administration

Excel Spreadsheet of New Fee Structure Model

Research Office Contact Information

Linda Skrla
Associate Dean for Research and P-16 Initiatives
lskra@tamu.edu

Windy Hollis
Director - Grants and Contracts
whollis@tamu.edu