NSF
Grants
Including Subawards
Page at a Glance:
Overview:
Under a contract or a grant between a funding agency and an entity/institution, a further sub-portion of the project can be given by that awarded entity/institution to another outside organization. The resulting subaward can be either in the form of a subgrant or a subcontract, depending on whether the prime award is a grant or a contract.
Examples of a Subaward:
UCSD issuing a subaward to an entity/outside organization:
During the proposal preparation process for a proposal to be submitted by UCSD to the National Science Foundation (NSF), a UCSD Principal Investigator may have determined that they needed a portion of the research project to be completed by a Principal Investigator at the University of Washington (i.e., a subaward site).
When UCSD receives the resulting contract or grant from the funding agency (NSF), the Principal Investigator/Department/ORU contacts the Purchasing office to begin the process of the formal issuance of a subaward from UCSD to the University of Washington, which is the subaward site.
Proposal Preparation:
During the proposal preparation process, a UCSD Principal Investigator may determine that they need a portion of the research project to be performed by an outside entity (i.e., a subaward site).
As such, the total costs for this sub-portion will be included in the overall costs of the proposal that UCSD submits to the funding agency.
The UCSD Principal Investigator will prepare their proposal in accordance with the funding agency’s written guidelines, including any specific directions regarding subawards. Whether responding to specific guidelines or in the absence of any, the subaward site’s information should generally be addressed by the UCSD PI as follows:
Include the subaward site’s total costs on the NSF budget pages (Line G.5 Subawards), shown as one lump sum for each year.
Address why the subaward site is necessary and what part of the work they will be performing on the UCSD budget justification page.
Attach the subaward site’s complete proposal at the end of the UCSD proposal (or wherever directed to by the funding agency’s written guidelines, if applicable).
Well in advance of the proposal deadline, the Principal Investigator/Department will need to request a proposal from the subaward site that generally includes the following.
Minimum requirements:
A proposal face page signed by the subaward site Principal Investigator and their Authorized Institutional Official (i.e., Contract and Grant Office).
A brief abstract or text that outlines the technical duties the subaward site will be performing.
A detailed budget
A budget justification (if required by the agency)
Optional elements to be included or that may be required by the agency:
A biosketch or curriculum vitae (CV) for the subaward site Principal Investigator.
Details on use of animal and/or human subjects if included in the project.
Current and pending support information for the subaward site Principal Investigator.
Budget Information:
Both the direct and indirect costs for the Subgrant/Subcontract site appear on UCSD's budget page and are considered to be direct costs to UCSD.
Work that is contracted out on a fee for service basis (such as assays, lab tests, etc.) is not considered to be research and should be budgeted in the Other Expenses category. This is an important distinction because of different indirect costs implications
Budget Pages:
Prepare and enter budgets into FastLane
Prepare one budget page for each year
FastLane will automatically prepare the cumulative budget
For further information regarding UCSD Budget Preparation Procedures, click here.
