Outreach & Engagement

Budget and Justification

Purpose
The purpose of the budget and justification is to present and justify all expenses required to achieve project aims and objectives.

For multi-institutional applications, there must be a separate budget for each subcontractor or consortium member.

Recommended Length
Special forms are provided for the budget and justification. Read the instructions carefully. If there is a coinvestigator at another institution, for whom funds are requested, be sure to include their budget.

Content
The budget and justification should cover the following:

• personnel
  
  
• consultants
  
  
• equipment
  
  
• supplies
  
  
• travel
  
  
• other expenses, e.g., animal maintenance

Suggestions

• Be realistic. Both "padding" and deliberately underbudgeting reflect naivety, which will be recognized by reviewers.
  
  
• Provide brief descriptions of duties for all positions listed in the budget, with the percentage of effort requested each year and any anticipated flucuations. Special skills or accomplishments of a designated person may be included if not discussed elsewhere.
  
  
• If possible, try to identify specific individuals for each position requested. "To be named" personnel are very often deleted by reviewers.
  
  
• Justify all equipment purchases. The proposed acquisition of major pieces of equipment is likely to be scrutinized very carefully. Details are important, especially for non-project specific equipment e.g., FAX machine and computers.
  
  
• Break out supply costs into major categories (reagents, disposables, etc.). Provide special justification for any unusual expenses requested.
  
  
• Detail and justify travel costs. Make sure they reflect current fares and lodging costs and that proposed travel is project related.
  
  
• Explain any year-to-year fluctuations in the budget, including the level of effort of personnel, especially if they can not be attributed to routine salary increases. Changes should parallel the research plan and project aims.
  
  
• Check indirect costs. Some institutions have on-campus and off-campus rates.
  
  
• Be complete but concise. There are no page limits in this section.
  
  
• Provide adequate justification for the need to use outside consultants, if applicable.
  
  
• The budget must be approved by the grantee institution business office before they can sign the application.
  
  
• If applicable, provide documentation of institutional rates for animal maintenance and acquisition. Exceptionally large numbers of animals will need detailed justification.
  
  
• Prorate service contracts to percentage of time equipment is used for this project.