Allocation of Space Costs

Charge

The allocation of facilities (space) costs is one of the most complicated and contentious issues in the calculation and negotiation of in direct cost rates. Most institutions utilize a costly and time consuming room-by-room survey, sometimes encompassing thousands of rooms, to determine the use of rooms for cost allocation purposes. Often consultants are used to survey rooms and interview room occupants to determine room use. The space survey process is used by institutions because the A-21 prescribed methodology results in an inequitable distribution of facilities costs to research. This task team will develop a simplified methodology to assign facilities costs which will greatly reduce the burden of the space survey and provide an equitable allocation to research. A simplified methodology to allocate facilities costs would be a very significant simplification of the indirect cost rate calculation.
 

Initiatives

Find allocation method(s) that are:
 

Simpler to administer
More equitable
More efficient
Budget neutral
 

Method(s) must meet needs of grantee community and the federal government
 

Documents

Meeting Minutes

January 2004
September 2003
 

Members

Committee Mailing List – FDP-SPACECOM-L@LSW.NAS.EDU

Member		Organization
Michael Anthony (Co-chair)		University of California-San Francisco
Tracey Fraser (Co-Chair)		California Institute of Technology