Grant & Contract Guidelines
Direct questions and comments to Sheila Latham, Accounting & Grant Analyst
701-858-4145 or sheila.latham@minotstateu.edu
A grant, contract, subcontract, renewal or amendment will not be approved by the Vice President for Academic Affairs until it has been reviewed by the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) and the Accounting & Grant Analyst. The Office of Sponsored Programs at 701-858-3578 can assist with this process.
A budget and budget narrative and project abstract must be directed to OSP at least 1 week prior to submission. See the detailed list of deadlines.
The Grants & Contracts Office is responsible for all billings, receipting and financial reports for all funded grants and contracts.
To be allowable, grant expenses must be incurred within the grant period. For example, expenses incurred prior to the start date of a particular grant are generally unallowable.
Many grants are authorized for multiple years with one year budget periods; a different fund is set up for each year.
If a project runs over budget, expenses must transferred out of the grant fund, but monies cannot be transferred into the grant fund.
MSU's approved federal indirect cost rate is 32% of modified direct cost base. If the granting agency's full allowable indirect rate is not asked for in a budget proposal, the project director must submit a waiver request to the Vice President for Administration and Finance.
All federal equipment must be tagged with an additional university tag indicating the equipment was purchased partially or fully from federal funds.
All proposals involving a subcontract must specifically state this in the grant proposal. A subcontract is not issued until the grant is funded.
The current fringe benefit rate is 46.37% for faculty and 55.09% for support staff and 8.72% for student workers or temporary staff. This rate is reviewed annually.
Please be reminded, if secretarial staff, other support staff, office supplies, postage, telephone, etc. are going to be purchased with grant funds, these items must be separately identified in the budget proposal.
