Cost Sharing
Cost share is defined as the portion of costs of a federally assisted project or program not borne by the Federal Government. It may include cash, services provided, third party in-kind contributions, or real or personal property. Cost sharing must be verifiable in the recipients' records, are not included as contributions for any other Federal award, and the basis for determining the value of non-cash items must be documented. In addition, cost sharing must be necessary, reasonable to the program and approved at proposal submission. Each cost documented as cost sharing must be an allowable expense as if it had been incurred by the sponsored funds.
There are two types of cost sharing, mandatory and voluntary.
Mandatory cost sharing is required by the sponsor in the proposal solicitation or during award negotiation as a condition of eligibility for receipt of the award.
Voluntary cost share is when an applicant describes a quantifiable amount of resources it will contribute to the project in the proposal even though the sponsor does not explicitly state in the proposal guidelines cost sharing is required.
Under Federal research proposals, voluntarily committed cost sharing is not expected. It cannot be used as a factor during the merit review of applications or proposals, but may be considered if it is both in accordance with Federal awarding agency regulations and specified in a notice of funding opportunity.
Conflict of Interest
All applicable academic staff members, which includes the principal investigator, co-principal investigator, and any other persons at the University, regardless of title or position, who are responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of proposed or funded research activities, must complete the Conflict of Interest form prior to the application submission and annually upon award.