Cost Sharing Sitelet Updates, New KE Cash Request Form

The guiding principles for cost share are the same when considering F&A Waivers.

• Sponsor Requirement. Is the cost share commitment required by the Sponsor as identified in the funding announcement? Is it required by statute?
• ASU and/or KE Strategic Initiative Alignment. Is the cost share commitment tied to an ASU or KE Strategic Initiative? Does this request align with our investment strategy, ASU goals and objectives?
• Sponsor Type. Who are we doing business with? Is this a federal, state, local government, charitable organization or industry Sponsor?
• Sponsor, ASU Relationship. Do we have an existing partnership with this Sponsor? Is this a strategic partnership? Would winning this award be prestigious at the institutional level?
• Public & Social Impact. Will any investment contribute to the social good? Are we addressing a public policy question or social problem? Does this project support an under-represented population? Does the project make a local impact?
• Risk-Return Trade-Off. What is the level of return to be gained from this investment? Every investment has risk as we may lose out on another opportunity these funds could be invested in. We must consider the risk-return trade-off at the time of investment to meet our goals.

If a unit is approaching KE to contribute cash cost share then the unit must confirm that they are not able to reach the full cost share requirement using contributed effort, unrecovered F&A, third party cost share, and/or anticipated unit and investigator RID & IIA.

Department/unit cost-sharing contributions must be determined prior to requesting KE cash cost share.

KE Cash Cost Share Contribution Request Form

The KE Cash Cost Share Contribution Request Form must be submitted no later than three weeks before the submission deadline when requesting that KE contribute more than the standard division (split, formula) of cost sharing on a project.

Instructions for this process have been added to the Secure Commitments tab of the Cost Sharing sitelet, under the Requesting Cash Contributions from KE section.

Standard vs. Non-Standard Requests

The updated standard formula is outlined in the table below, and the flowchart further below maps out the process for requesting approvals for KE cost sharing (both standard and non-standard requests).

• Requests for the standard split will route to KE for approvals in ERA (via the Department Review process).
• Requests for a non-standard split must be submitted using the new KE Cash Cost Share Contribution Request form (3 weeks in advance of deadline). If approved, the RA will also route for approvals in ERA (via the Department Review process).

 

• Cost sharing commitments are committed institutional investments that either Arizona State University (ASU) is quantifying (e.g. placing a value on) within a proposal or that the Sponsor is requiring to be included, as identified in the funding announcement, or both.  These cost sharing commitments are costs not paid for by the sponsor but rather are covered by ASU and/or third parties.

 

• ASU’s objective is to maximize sponsor cost reimbursement to support continued growth of the research enterprise. By minimizing cost sharing when not required, ASU:
  • Is able to make more money available to fund cost sharing where it is required to be a viable proposal;
  • Reduces the time faculty and administrators must spend on tracking and documenting cost sharing;
  • Lessens the university's exposure to audit findings caused by insufficient or improperly documented cost sharing; and
  • Curtails impacts on ASU's facilities and administrative rates.

 

• The university’s decision to authorize the use of internal resources to supplement funding of a sponsored project is based on the availability of funds and ASU’s guiding principles when considering cost sharing.