UCSF has recently achieved agreement with the Cost Allocation Services unit of the Department of Health and Human Services to establish our federal Facilities and Administration (F&A) recovery rates for 2017-18 through 2020-21. The negotiated federal rates for organized research, instruction, clinical research centers, and other sponsored activities is the key driver in our recovery of more than $250 million of facilities and administration costs annually, defining rates not only for federal activity but also informing rates for industry and foundation sponsors.
The key item in the agreement is the on-campus organized research rate, which will rise from 58.5% to 59.5% this year and then gradually to 61.5% in 2020-21. The change in the 2017-18 rate will be effective for grants and contracts awarded on or after November 27, 2017.
UCSF On-campus Organized Research F&A Recovery Rates
| 2016-17 | 58.5% | |
| 2017-18 | 59.5% | +1.0 |
| 2018-19 | 60.0% | +0.5 |
| 2019-20 | 60.5% | +0.5 |
| 2020-21 | 61.5% | +1.0 |
This agreement is the outcome of a multi-year effort led by staff in Budget and Resource Management; however the team required the support of a broad range of faculty and staff from across the campus, including the Controller’s office, the office of Sponsored Research, Capital Projects, Campus Planning, IT security, LARC, and academic departments across UCSF.
The full set of negotiated F&A rates are being distributed, along with budget implementation guidelines, to principal investigators and their staffs by the Office of Sponsored Research.
These rates are slightly higher than the rates we used in the latest Ten-Year Plan and Core Financial Plan updates. Our planning included rate increases as well as growth in grant and contract activity, indicating that our F&A recovery could rise from $250 million per year to more than $380 million in 2026-27. These new slightly higher rates will add a modest amount to those figures, just ~$2 million per year in additional recovery. Even so, achieving this agreement helps to secure a healthy financial outlook for UCSF over the next ten years.
Check out the Office of Sponsored Research F&A page for more information.