Required Justification Statements Updated 08/17/07

Faculty Salary and Effort Policy

It is BSD policy that all sponsored projects must recover salary in direct proportion to the effort committed on the project unless expressly prohibited in writing by the funding agency. Any deviation in this procedure should be addressed via a memo from the Departmental Chair and noted on Attachment 1 of the Proposal Transmittal Form. In addition to describing the faculty member's role and effort on the project, the Division requires the following statement on applications where faculty salary is recoverable.

1.  Faculty Salary Statement for all agencies except NSF:                                      to be included in all proposals where effort matches recovery

The inclusion of faculty salary in this budget reflects the policy of the Division of the Biological Sciences (BSD) and the Pritzker School of Medicine. It is expected that investigators will recover reasonable and appropriate salary support from grants and contracts proportionate to the fraction of their time and effort devoted to the project. BSD faculty appointments are made on a twelve-month basis and the requested salary is based upon the investigator's total University compensation. If an award is made in a reduced amount, the investigator will be expected to retain an appropriate amount of salary support in the budget. 

2.  Faculty Salary Statement for all agencies except NSF:                                 when non-BSD Faculty are supported on the grant 

The inclusion of faculty salaries for (insert BSD faculty names here) in this budget reflects the policy of the Division of Biological Sciences (BSD) and the Pritzker School of Medicine. It is expected that BSD investigators will recover reasonable and appropriate salary support from grants and contracts proportionate to the fraction of their time and effort devoted to the project. BSD faculty appointments are made on a twelve-month basis and the requested salary is based upon the investigator's total University compensation. If an award is made in a reduced amount, the investigator will be expected to retain an appropriate amount of salary support in the budget. 

3.  Faculty Salary Statement for NSF proposals: 

We are requesting {insert a number not greater than 2} calendar months of salary support. All academic appointments in the Biological Science Division are based on twelve months and effort on projects is spread over the calendar year. This request for NSF salary support is, we believe, consistent with the NSF limit of 2/9 of regular academic-year salary for investigators with academic-year appointments, and also reflects the policy of the Division of the Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine that faculty recover appropriate salary support from grants and contracts proportionate to the effort devoted to the project. 

NIH Salary Cap/Budget Increases

For salaries in excess of the current and/or projected NIH salary cap, we have calculated the salary request against the cap. Upon request, we will be pleased to provide institutional salary information.

URA/ORS implementation (memo regarding format when salaries are above the NIH salary cap)

NIH Salary Cap Memorandum	December 22, 1998
In accordance with NIH Salary Cap:
NOT-OD-00-011	January 6, 2000
NOT-OD-01-013	January 12, 2001
NOT-OD-02-030	January 25, 2002
NOT-OD-03-027	February 10, 2003
NOT-OD-04-034	March 11, 2004
NOT-OD-05-024	January 7, 2005
NOT-OD-06-031 NOT-OD-07-051	January 12, 2006 February 22, 2007

Budget Increases

Personnel 3% (suggested) 
Inst. NRSA (T32) Tuition & Fees: 8% 
Graduate Research Assistant Stipend - $500/yr 
Non-Personnel categories: 3% (suggested) 

GRA Language

The suggested language has been approved by the Provost's office for non modular NIH applications only. 

New & Competing Submissions:

GRA compensation at the Biological Sciences Division of The University of Chicago is made up of $(fill in the blank) salary as a 12-month 100% effort GRA and $9600 tuition for a calendar year GRA appointment. A first year Postdoctoral Scholar of the (fill in the department/program) receives salary of $(fill in first year salary - department specific) and (enter in rate)% fringe benefits, for total compensation of $(fill in total of salary plus fringe benefits amount). We believe the total compensation for the GRA is reasonable in light of this comparison with a first-year postdoctoral's compensation and should be fully funded.

* The salary plus fringe benefits for Postdoc Scholars should be greater than or equal to GRA compensation plus tuition remission. 
Graduate Research Assistants compensation

Clinical Trial Effort Reporting

In addition to the grants listed above, Dr. X is involved in clinical trials AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.  Dr. X has evaluated his/her clinical study obligations and confirms that the aggregared effort on all trials listed below does not exceed 10%.

Please note the provisions NIH has added:
1. aggregate effort should be no greater than 10%*
2. Each individual sponsor must be named.

* if clinical trial aggregated effort amounts to more than 10% they will need to be individually reported

Training in the RCR - Suggested language

View boilerplate language here.
PHS policy regarding these instructions is available here through the Office of Research Integrity (ORI).