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Office of the University Controller

Office of the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer

F&A Rate

The Facilities and Administrative (F&A) rates (also known as indirect costs or overhead) are to support claims for indirect costs on grants and contracts with the Federal Government. The agreement also includes negotiated fringe benefit rates to be applied to sponsored projects.

All federal and non-federal sponsored programs should reimburse the University for the F&A costs in addition to the direct costs. The F&A Rate is intended to compensate the University for the sponsored research infrastructure support expenses such as building costs, equipment depreciation, utilities, maintenance, administration support, and sponsored program administration that are not included in the direct costs.

The determination between the use of on-campus or off-campus F&A rates is based on where the majority of the effort for the project is performed. Accordingly, if more than 50% of a project’s effort is performed off-campus, the off-campus rate will apply to the entire project and vice versa.

There have been questions about the appropriate F&A rate when sponsored projects include staff designated as either hybrid or full-time remote.

Employees who are permitted to work remotely but would otherwise be assigned to report to an on-campus location, must use the on-campus rate. This includes staff that are classified as hybrid or full-time remote. GW research facilities remain active, and all facilities, even those not at maximum utilization, incur expenses (e.g., utilities, depreciation, and maintenance).

The final determination of which F&A rate to use is made by the Office of Sponsored Projects using project facts and circumstances presented within the proposal, consistent with the university’s F&A rate agreement.