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Handbook of Operating Procedures
  • Policy Process

    • Handbook of Operating Procedures
    Chapter 10 - Research
    Previous Publication Date: April 17, 2012
    Publication Date: April 28, 2022
    Policy Reviewed Date: November 18, 2021
    Policy Owner: VP for Research


    10.06 Institutional Base Salary on Sponsored Programs

    I. POLICY STATEMENT

    The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is committed to ensuring compliance with federal rules and regulations, as required by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Guidance for Grants and Agreements set forth at 2 C.F.R. Part 200 (Uniform Guidance), and The University of Texas System (UT System) policies and guidelines regarding payroll charges. This policy defines Institutional Base Salary (IBS) and sets forth the Payroll Confirmation process and requirements for using IBS in properly calculating budgets for Sponsored Program proposal submissions, in assigning a proper value to Cost Sharing, and in properly charging salaries to extramurally-funded Sponsored Programs.

    II. RATIONALE

    The cost of salary or wages charged to a grant, contract, or other Sponsored Program agreement must be based on an Individual’s IBS. Whether requesting salary support directly from a Sponsored Program or in the form of Cost Sharing, the total cost charged to a Sponsored Program must be based on an Individual’s IBS as outlined in this policy.

    III. SCOPE

    This policy applies to all UTSA employees that have payroll charges to a Sponsored Program.

    IV. WEBSITE ADDRESS FOR THIS POLICY

    http://www.utsa.edu/hop/chapter10/10.06.html

    V. RELATED STATUTES, POLICIES, REQUIREMENTS OR STANDARDS

    Law and Statutes

    1. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Guidance for Grants and Agreements, 2 C.F.R. Part 200, Subpart E Cost Principles, Section 200.430

    UTSA or UT System Policies or the Board of Regents’ Rules & Regulations

    1. UT System Handbook of Operating Procedures (HOP) policy 2.1.5 Cost Sharing Policy
    2. UT System HOP 2.1.6 Institutional Base Salary Policy
    3. UTSA HOP 2.05 Faculty Appointments, Salaries, Payment Plans, Distribution of Checks
    4. UTSA HOP 2.23 Faculty Compensation for Additional Duties and Salary Adjustments
    5. UTSA HOP 10.07 Cost Sharing on Sponsored Programs
    6. UTSA HOP 10.08 Cost Transfers on Sponsored Programs

    VI. CONTACTS

    If you have any questions about HOP policy 10.06, Institutional Base Salary on Sponsored Programs, please contact the following offices:

    A. Office of Sponsored Project Administration (OSPA):
    1-210-458-8250
    1-210-458-8575

    B. Office of Research Finance and Operations (ORFO):
    postaward@utsa.edu
    1-210-458-5956
    1-210-458-8144

    VII. DEFINITIONS

    1. Award: Depending on its context, either: (a) the terms and conditions associated with a Sponsor’s decision to select a UTSA Sponsored Program proposal or application for funding, or (b) the Notice of Award or other documentation reflecting such a decision by the Sponsor.
    2. Designated Responsible Party (DRP) for Payroll Confirmation: The Designated Responsible Party is the Vice President for Research, Economic Development, and Knowledge Enterprise (VPREDKE). The DRP is responsible for (1) overall management of UTSA’s Payroll Confirmation process and (2) the risks of non-compliance.
    3. Individual: An Individual is any UTSA employee who has payroll charges (whether paid by the Sponsor or Cost Shared) on a Sponsored Program.
    4. Payroll Confirmation: Payroll Confirmation is a process mandated by the federal government in accordance with Uniform Guidance (2 C.F.R. Part 200, Subpart E Cost Principles, Section 200.430) to verify that direct labor charges to, or cost shared on, sponsored projects are accurate, timely, and are reasonable for the work performed. Payroll Confirmation is a methodology that is better aligned to the compensation regulations that were changed in the Uniform Guidance and issued by OMB. Under Payroll confirmation, the PI, by project, can confirm salary charged to a project does not exceed the value of the work/time performed for the project.
    5. Institutional Base Salary (IBS): IBS is the base compensation1set by UTSA for an individual’s appointment (either 9- or 12-months), whether that individual’s professional time for UTSA is spent on instruction/teaching, research, service, administration, or other activities, and whether that employee is appointed full-time or part-time. For faculty with a nine-month appointment, the IBS is annualized to equal a twelve-month total compensation for budget purposes.  
      1. IBS does not include fringe benefit payments, reimbursed expenses, and supplemental payments (one time or recurring) from UTSA for administrative positions (such as additional pay for dean, department chair, and center director appointments) nor payments from third-parties for work performed outside of their institutional responsibilities (such as consulting which must be approved by the supervisor and declared in that Individual’s their conflict of interest disclosure).
      2. Faculty members with 9-month appointments may seek external funding through Sponsored Programs for up to 3 months of compensation in the summer. The following examples illustrate the IBS-related compensation for 9-month and 12-month appointments.

        Example 1: A tenure-track faculty member is paid $90,000 for a 9-month appointment. Regardless of this individual’s payout option (whether $90,000 is paid over 9 months or 12 months), the monthly compensation for the 9-month appointment is calculated as follows: $90,000 a year / 9 months = $10,000 for the 9-month appointment. The IBS is annualized for a 12-month period, to include the summer appointment, calculated as follows: $10,000 per month x12 months a year = $120,000 for the 9-month appointment and summer research at 100% effort. In the summer, a sponsor can be charged for research services up to 3 months x $10,000 per month = $30,000 for summer research, assuming 100% effort. If the Individual is offered additional or new Sponsored Program funding, then they can seek course or time release, if available, through their supervisor at the College level.

        Example 2: A UTSA employee is paid $60,000 for a 12-month appointment. Due to the individual’s expertise, the employee is added to a Sponsored Program proposal for 2 months. The employee’s IBS is $60,000 and the monthly compensation based on the IBS is calculated as follows: $60,000 for the 12-month appointment / 12 months = $5,000 per month. If approved to contribute to the project, the employee will be paid $50,000 for 10-months from UTSA and $10,000 for 2-months from the Sponsored Program.
    6. Sponsors: Entities including federal, state, local, industry, private, or UTSA in the case of Cost Share, that provide awards to fund Sponsored Programs at UTSA.

    7. Sponsored Programs: Activities conducted in research, instruction, training, or public service as a result of a formal written agreement (such as a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement), which agreement is typically obtained as a result of a formal application and approval process. These activities can be funded either externally by government, industry, or private sponsors; or, internally by UTSA. Sponsored Programs are separately budgeted and accounted for, meaning there is a defined scope of work, a budget that identifies the costs to be incurred in the performance of the work, and the accumulation of costs actually incurred in support of the project. Sponsored Programs involve a specific commitment of time for each Individual involved in achieving the aims of the project.
    8. Total Institutional Activities: All activities for which an Individual is compensated by UTSA as a result of their employment, including but not limited to teaching, research, or service (as defined in Faculty Workload policy).

    1 The IBS and Payroll Confirmation policies are not intended to and will not in any way change the employment relationship between UTSA and any of its employees. Therefore, no language in this policy can support or serve as the basis of any employment-related claim.

    VIII. RESPONSIBILITIES

    1. Chairs, Deans, and/or Provost or the Supervisor of a non-academic program and/or the Vice President responsible for such non-academic program
      1. Establishes and maintains official, written, auditable records of the Total Institutional Activities for each individual who is faculty or staff;
      2. Ensures that the information reflected in such records is consistent with information found in the payroll system for each such individual;
      3. Keeps the records relating to Total Institutional Activities for each Individual and the corresponding payroll system information updated; and
      4. Retains the records relating to Total Institutional Activities for audit purposes. 
    2. The Principal Investigator (PI) or Project Director (PD)
      1. Ensures that all requests for salary support in Sponsored Programs proposals are approved by the Individual’s Supervisor.
    3. Office of Sponsored Projects Administration (OSPA)
      1. Reviews and approves proposals (including budgets) requesting funding from external Sponsors; and
      2. Reviews and approves proposals to ensure that the IBS is correctly used in calculating payroll for Individuals.
    4. Office of Research Finance and Operations
      1. Reviews and monitors payroll charges to awarded grants, contracts, and other Sponsored Program agreements.

    IX. PROCEDURES

    1. Determining an Individual's Institutional Base Salary
      1. An Individual’s IBS includes the base compensation paid by UTSA to that Individual to perform his/her Total Institutional Activities during the appointment period.
      2. An Individual's IBS must exclude the following:  
        1. fringe benefit payments (as these are separately charged to the sponsor);
        2. reimbursed expenses;
        3. temporary, supplemental compensation or stipends for assignments paid by UTSA for incidental activities such as for administrative duties (department chair, associate dean, dean, center director, etc.);
        4. approved and declared income earned outside of official duties to UTSA; and
        5. any portion of compensation paid by UTSA that is deemed to be at-risk (i.e., for temporary services provided under a supplement).
      3. For an Individual with a nine-month salary, his/her IBS is calculated as follows

        Salary for 9-month Appointment     X      12
        9

      4. An Individual’s IBS may not be increased as a result of reimbursing UTSA salary funds with Sponsored Program funds.

    2. Properly Using an Individual's Institutional Base Salary
      1. Unless Sponsor’s policies otherwise limit salary charges, the appropriate amount of money to be submitted as an Individual’s salary charges in the budget proposal for such Sponsored Program or to be itemized as Cost Shared Effort in such proposal is calculated as follows:
        1.1 (Annualized IBS / 12) x (Months/Year Committed) x (Period of Program in Months)
    3. Payroll Confirmation on Sponsored Programs 
      1. Under Payroll Confirmation, the PI or PD, by project, can confirm salary charged to a project does not exceed the value of the work/time performed for the project.
      2. Twice a year, UTSA uses an electronic Payroll Confirmation system to verify that direct labor charges to, or cost shared on, sponsored projects are accurate, timely, and are reasonable for the work performed and payroll charges for the work performed on a project does not exceed the proportionate share of the individuals’ IBS. The process is managed by VPREDKE Information Technology (IT) unit.

    X. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

    None

    XI. FORMS AND TOOLS/ONLINE PROCESSES

    None

    XII. APPENDIX

    None

    XIII. DATES APPROVED/AMENDED

    04-27-2022
    04-17-2012