Budget considerations

Salaries

Budgeted salaries must be a reasonable estimate of the amount of time/effort each individual will devote to the project. The amount of salary charged to sponsored projects should roughly match the amount of time attested to on effort reports.

Time charged to a grant does not automatically mean course release or buyout. Release from instruction time is negotiated between the faculty member and their Chair/Director.

Benefits

The University of Maryland has a negotiated a fringe benefit rate. This means that all employees within given categories are charged the same fringe benefit rate regardless of their actual benefit costs. The benefits rates are broken into four groups:

• Faculty
• Staff
• Limited benefits (contractual faculty/staff, graduate assistants)
• Legislated benefits (hourly students, faculty/staff additional pay)

Rates will be charged based on the expenditure object code. For sponsored project budgeting, it is important to know the category of employee who needs to fill a role in order to budget for them properly. Keep in mind that 9-month faculty may have different salary object codes in the academic year versus the summer, which means they may be subject to different benefit rates. Fringe benefit rates may not be inflated across years on sponsored budgets. Salaries may include an escalation factor, but the benefit rates must not. The rate applied will change annually based on a review of the costs and rates at the central level and changes will be applied to sponsored projects across the board as they are to non-sponsored accounts.

For more information, visit the Fringe Benefit Rates section on the Provost's website, which is updated every year as the rates are re-negotiated, and the visit the Benefits & Stipends page on ORA's website.

Travel

All travel must be directly relevant to the project and reflect activities in the project narrative. 

All federally-funded travel must comply with federal travel regulations. Federally-funded foreign travel must also comply with Fly America Act. For more information on BSOS practices for foreign travel, visit the SMART Center's website. Reimbursable rates for per diem and mileage can be found on the Travel Services website.

Materials and Supplies

This section of the budget should include all items which are necessary for the conduct and completion of the sponsored project. Computers (under $5,000) are considered a supply under the Uniform Guidance, which means they must be justified as specifically necessary to a particular project or activity. Otherwise, computers would normally be considered an office supply and, as such, covered by departmental funds. In general, the BSOS Dean's Office requests that departments include quotes in their proposals for materials and supplies costs greater than $20,000 for one item.

Consultant Costs

Consultants are experts outside of the University of Maryland. The rates for consultants must be reasonable and justifiable. Keep this in mind at the proposal stage, as at the award stage when the consultant must be paid they will be asked to provide an invoice covering similar work which has been paid by another entity. Additionally, some sponsors limit consultant rates by the day.

Indirect Costs

Indirect costs (aka overhead) should be included on all externally-funded projects. Rates differ based on the type of activity conducted under the sponsored award, and the location of the project. Unless there is a publicly available or statute-mandated sponsor limitation, the full F&A rate should be calculated and charged. New in 2018 there is a rate specific to Department of Defense contracts. The current F&A memo along with the implementation plan can be found on ORA's website.

In limited circumstances on non-federal awards, the BSOS Dean's Office will consider requests to waive part or all of the indirect costs. Before requesting such a waiver, contact the Director of Research Administration, Rebecca Hunsaker, at hunsaker@umd.edu.

Indirect expenditures come back to the college, department, and faculty in the form of DRIF return. It is therefore in the best interest of the department to include full indirect costs in sponsored project budgets.

Developing the Budget

The budget is the financial expression of the scope of work. A project budget should reflect the activities outlined in the scope of work as well as the time/effort of involved personnel. The budget should not include items or categories which are not adequately or expressly addressed in the statement of work.

Below, templates for a budget and a budget narrative/justification are included for informational purposes. Any unit is welcome to use these for their proposal development activities.

The budget template is built to enable a research administrator to enter year 1 costs and have them automatically included and calculated in subsequent years. It includes the most common budget categories for federal research proposals and the ability to hide those major categories if they are unnecessary for a particular proposal.

Budget template

Similarly, the budget justification template is built to include most common budget categories, but also includes narratives for each of these categories and line items to demonstrate what the Dean's Office and the University look for when reviewing a budget narrative. Individual sponsors may require more detail, which would be outlined in the solicitation or the request for proposals. All proposals must include a budget justification, whether or not the sponsor requires it. The budget justification is used in the internal proposal review process to evaluate the allowability and reasonableness of costs. The routing memo should indicate those cases where the budget justification does not go to the sponsor.

Budget justification sample

More detail on budgeting specific items of cost.

Fringe Benefits

The University of Maryland negotiates a fringe benefit rate with the Federal Government every year. This is the rate that gets charged (depending on employment category) to departmental and sponsored accounts to cover the actual cost of fringe benefits. The FY25 rates are below:

Cost Sharing

Cost sharing (or matching) is the portion of a project's cost that is not paid for by a sponsor. Mandatory cost sharing is that which is required by the funding agency. For federal awards, this will be outlined in the solicitation/RFP. Voluntary cost sharing is that which is not required by the sponsor but which the PI wishes to include anyway.

Federal awarding agencies may not use voluntary cost sharing as a factor in the merit review of a proposal. Some federal awarding agencies (e.g., NSF) explicitly disallow voluntary cost sharing and may reject a proposal without review if voluntary cost sharing is included. For non-federal proposals, cost sharing is still highly discouraged, in part because it imposes a substantial burden on the PI and the department in terms of dollars, resources, and reporting.

In all cases, it is the responsibility of the PI and their Department Chair or Center Director to identify the source of funds that will pay the University cost share. If money is expected from the College, the Dean should be contacted at least two weeks prior to submission with a draft of the research design and a budget. 

For more information on cost sharing, including links to the University's Cost Sharing policy, please visit ORA's cost share webpage.

Salary Limitations

Some federal and non-federal sponsors place limitations on the amount or rate of salary an investigator can be paid from a sponsored project. In these cases, the department and PI must determine the source of funds to cover the amount over the salary cap. The department should work with their Sponsored Projects Accounting and Compliance (SPAC) accountant to have a cap account created and linked to the sponsored account.

For more in-depth information on dealing with salary caps please visit the BSOS Salary Cap webpage.

Subawards

A subaward is an award (be it grant, contract, procurement) that is issued under a sponsored award. It is important to decide at the proposal stage whether another organization or institution will be a subrecipient, contractor, or consultant, as there are budgetary implications for this decision. Per the University of Maryland's indirect cost rate agreement, award budgets calculated on a modified total direct cost (MTDC) basis exclude the portion of subawards greater than $25,000 when determining the indirect costs. Consulting agreements, procurements, and other contracts are charged the applicable indirect cost rate on the entire contract amount.

For more information on determining whether an entity with whom you are working is a subrecipient, contractor, or vendor, refer to this short document with the distinguishing characteristics of each, or to a longer, more detailed version on ORA's website.

Proposal Compliance Requirements

To support a clear understanding of institutional, sponsor, and federal compliance obligations, BSOS requires the following items to be addressed before BSOS review and approval of any BSOS-led proposal:

1. Acknowledgement of UMD Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment, and Consulting Policies (BSOS requirement)
2. inTERP Disclosure (University and sponsor requirement)
3. Research Security Training (Federal sponsor requirement, recommended for all sponsors and projects with international travel or research components, and export control considerations)
4. Safety & Inclusion Plan for Off-campus and Off-Site Research Activities (NSF requirement)
5. Data Management Plan (Federal sponsor requirement)

For additional information on Conflict of Interest, inTERP disclosure requirements, Research Security, and Export Control, please visit the Vice President for Research (VPR) website for Research Compliance.

Acknowledgement of UMD Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment, and Consulting Policies 

Click to submit the BSOS COI/COC & Consulting Policies Acknowledgment Form.

In accordance with Maryland State Ethics Laws, University of Maryland policies, and applicable federal requirements, all investigators and individuals designated as Senior and Key Personnel on BSOS-led proposals are required to review and acknowledge the University of Maryland policies on Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment, and Consulting. This requirement applies regardless of home unit or college affiliation.  Deans, Chairs, Directors, and Directors of Administrative Services are also required to complete this acknowledgment. 

The BSOS Dean’s Office will not approve or route proposals to the Office of Research Administration (ORA) until all Senior and Key Personnel have completed the required Acknowledgement Form. 

Required Policy Review and Acknowledgment

Senior and Key Personnel must review the following University of Maryland policies, which outline expectations related to outside professional activities, the identification and management of actual or perceived conflicts, and ensuring that external activities do not interfere with University responsibilities.

• UMD Policy on Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment
• UMD Policy on Consulting

After reviewing both policies, each individual must complete the BSOS COI/COC & Consulting Policies Acknowledgment Form. The form must be completed individually and submitted prior to BSOS review during the proposal routing process. This Acknowledgment Form is a one-time requirement. Individuals will only be asked to complete the form again if the University updates the Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment, or Consulting policies.

Questions and Additional Information

If you have questions about this requirement or the acknowledgment process, please contact bsosresearch@umd.edu. 

inTERP Disclosure Compliance

Click to disclose via inTERP

As of October 1, 2025, under the Disclose to Propose mandate, all faculty, exempt staff, and graduate research assistants are required to submit and maintain an up-to-date inTERP disclosure of all outside professional activities and significant financial interests, including those of their immediate family members. 

Disclosures must be:

• Submitted even if there is nothing to disclose

• Reviewed and updated at least annually, and/or before proposal submission

• Updated within 30 days of any significant change in outside activities or financial interests

For researchers, an inTERP disclosure must be submitted before proposal submission. At the proposal stage, disclosures are not required to be dispositioned. ORA will not review or submit proposals for individuals who are not in compliance. However, disclosures must be fully reviewed and dispositioned (e.g., No Conflict or Conflict with a Management Plan) before an award can be accepted and established in Kuali Research or Workday. Failure to maintain a current disclosure may delay award acceptance or account setup.

Research Security Training

Enroll in the Research Security Training

In accordance with the Chips and Science Act of 2022, all investigators and individuals designated as Senior and Key Personnel must complete UMD’s annual Research Security Training (RST) before proposal submission. Completion is certified through the KR Investigator Questionnaire. This training is a federal sponsor requirement and is strongly recommended for all sponsors and for projects involving international travel or research, or export control considerations. 

The Research Security Training (RST) provides recipients of federal research funding with detailed guidance on research security expectations, conflict of interest considerations, and activities that must be disclosed in Biographical Sketches and Current and Pending (Other) Support documents. There are also UMD-specific modules about international travel and export control. Additional information about the Research Security Training requirement is available on the UMD Research Security Office (RSO) website. 

Research Security Training is administered through ELMS and must be completed by UMD personnel only.