Budget Information

• Budget Template
• Budgeting Basics
  • Contracted Services
  • Equipment
  • Facilities & Administation (F&A) Costs
  • Fringe Benefits
  • Travel
  • Other Cost Items
  • Other Direct Costs
  • Salaries / Wages
  • Subawards
  • Supplies / Materials

Budget Template

To facilitate budget development, an internal template is provided below.  If you have questions regarding budget development or with the template itself, please contact your departmentally-assigned pre-award specialist.

Budget Template

In order for this template to be current and user-friendly, it will be tweaked as necessary; as a result, always download the most current version from this page rather than saving to your desktop.

Budgeting Basics

A cardinal principle to keep in mind when preparing a proposal budget is that the elements of cost must be necessary to accomplish, and directly benefit, the supported activity.

Direct costs are those which can be specifically identified with a sponsored project, or that can be directly assigned to such activity relatively easily with a high degree of accuracy.

Unlike direct costs, indirect costs (also referred to as F&A - Facilities & Administration) are those that are incurred for common or joint objectives and therefore cannot be identified readily and specifically with a particular sponsored project.  Such costs include:

• services by Purchasing, Human Resource Services, and the Controller's Office;
• use of office and/or laboratory space and equipment;
• heat, light, power and janitorial services; and, time spent by academic departments, deans' offices, the ORSP Office, and Library Services, etc., as all contribute indirectly to the sponsored-project.

Some projects require extensive use of the institution's services and facilities, other involve minimal use. The intent and purpose of indirect costs (F&A) is to reimburse the institution for the services/facilities used by all sponsored projects during a fiscal year period therefore do not interpret that the indirect cost assessed to a project are the actual costs for a specific project.

Budget Narrative:  A budget narrative should be appended to the budget to fully identify and/or explain unusual items or activities. Examples of unusual items or activities include the use of 1) consultant services, 2) items of equipment having a unit cost of $5,000 or more, or 3) foreign travel (see more below under "Travel").

Major budget categories for sponsored projects include: 

Salaries/Wages

Units are expressed as hours, days, months or as an academic or fiscal year, depending upon the type of employee. Employee salary compensation rates change annually as of October 1 or, for faculty, with the beginning of the academic year. It may be necessary to consider inflationary adjustments that may be effective either July 1 or October 1.

Fringe Benefits

Fringe benefits apply to all employees and represent that employer share of fringe benefits including, when applicable: F.I.C.A. (Social Security), retirement, unemployment insurance, health insurance, workers' compensation insurance, and

sick and annual leave costs. Contact the ORSP Office for rates applicable to your proposed employees.

The components of the fringe benefit cost category most frequently change either January 1, or July 1, however, some items may change without notice.

Employees registered for six (6) credits or more will be classified as students and as such carry an extremely low fringe benefit rate.

Fringe Benefit Rates

Travel

Domestic:  Identify all travel associated with the project activity. Vehicle mileage rates vary with the type of vehicle used. Per-diem (meals/lodging) rates are dependent upon whether travel is "in-state" or "out-of-state." Contact ORSP for current rates.  Budget foreign travel separately.   

Foreign: If anticipated, identify and budget foreign travel separately in the proposal. As stated above under Budgeting Basics/Budget Narrative, foreign travel is typically considered an unusual item or activity and, as a result, must be specifically addressed in the budget narrative. If not identified and approved as part of the proposal process, review the terms and conditions of the award as many sponsors require prior approval for foreign travel. Additionally, sponsors may differ as to whether travel to Canada or Mexico is considered foreign or domestic.

Equipment

Equipment is identified as any item having a unit cost of $5,000 or more and a useful life of one year or more. Identify all items of equipment you plan to purchase for the project which the University does not currently have or which otherwise are not available for your use, but which are necessary for the completion of the project. When establishing your equipment budget, allow for inflation price adjustments, cost of freight from the supplier to your facility, and any other costs associated with procurement and installation.

Should building alterations or renovation be necessary to accommodate new equipment (including electrical or mechanical considerations) please contact ORSP

Supplies/Materials

This category includes standard items to be used or consumed during the course of the project, such as chemicals, glassware, paper products, disks, and xeroxing costs.

Contracted Services

Include here the estimated costs of services to be provided by others on a per-sample or other unit-price basis; special testing, professional or consultant services, including travel; or subcontracts to be issued for a part of the sponsored project activity.

If you are collaborating with an individual from another organization, firm, institution, or agency, it will be necessary to secure documents reflecting that firm's approval, proposed budget, and assurances of compliance for inclusion with your project proposal. Contact the ORSP Office early regarding minimum requirements.

Other Direct Costs

Include under this heading those cost items that may be unique to your proposed activity, such as: communication costs, computer mainframe use, repair and maintenance costs for equipment, etc.

Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A) - also referred to as Indirect  Costs

The University of Montana has negotiated rates for organized research, instruction, other sponsored activities, and off-campus.  

Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs Rate Agreement

Per MUS Board of Regent Policy 404, The University seeks to recover all Facilities & Administrative (F&A) costs allowed by the sponsor. Per OMB-A21 G.7, UM will apply the appropriate F&A rate at the time of the initial award throughout the life of the sponsored agreement.  As a result, when budgeting a multi-year project, UM’s F&A Rate in effect for the first year of the project will be applied for each competitive segment. 

UM's negotiated rate is based on modified total direct cost (MDTC) as detailed on the F&A Rate Agreement above.  If any rate other than the negotiated rate is used, F&A is based on total direct costs (TDC). 

The off-campus rate is only used when the majority of all administrative and facility services to support the project are processed at an off campus site, even when part or all of the activity may occur off campus. To clarify: 

• A project, or part of a project, is considered to be performed off-campus if the activity is conducted at a location other than the University's academic lands and the majority of the Facilities portion of F&A (e.g., operation and maintenance, depreciation or lease of buildings, equipment and improvements, and library) associated with UM facilities, both owned and leased, is not applicable. 
• If a project is located in rented or leased space and the rent/lease is a direct charge to the project, then the project is considered off-campus.  
• If the project is not charged directly for the rent/lease cost and the rent/lease is a part of UM's F&A rate, then the project is considered on-campus. In other words, the classification of on- or off-campus is made solely for the purpose of applying the correct F&A rate.

Other Cost Items

Items which may be necessary for the successful completion of your project not identified elsewhere but which may warrant consideration for your specific project may include the following:

Advertising Aircraft Flight Time Animal Care/Maintenance Art Work/Graphics Audit Costs Bonding Costs Building Alteration/Renovation Conference Room Rental Computer Disks, Tapes, Paper Computer Hardware Computer Software Drama Lighting, sets, etc. Dues/Subscriptions Equipment Rental Equipment Repair/Maint.

Equipment Service Contracts Facility/Space Rent or Lease Freight/Shipping Hazardous Waste Removal Instructional Aids Insurance Legal Fees License/Permits Memberships Participant Support a) Stipend b) Transportation c) Per Diem Allowance d) Books e) Tuition/Fees Printing/Binding Professional Fees Proposal Costs

Publications Recording Devices Recruiting Costs Reference Materials Release Time Relocation/Moving Report Production Reprints Royalties Scientific Apparatus Service Contracts & Agmnts. Utilities Vehicle License Vehicle Rent or Lease Veterinary Services Work-Study Help*

*Discuss these items with ORSP personnel when reviewing your draft budget. They may be necessary for your project.