GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND COMMON ABBREVIATIONS

AY - Academic Year

BAA - Broad Agency Announcement

CONSULTANT
The term consultant refers to an individual or organization hired to provide services of an advisory nature. A consultant may be hired when the necessary expertise is not available within the University community. University employees cannot be paid as consultants on sponsored projects.

COST ACCOUNTING STANDARDS
Federal mandated accounting standards written to ensure uniformity in budgeting and spending funds.

COST-SHARING
Cost-sharing refers to that portion of the costs of a sponsored project that is borne by the university. To qualify as cost sharing, a cost must be (1) verifiable from the university’s records, (2) necessary and reasonable for proper and efficient accomplishment of the project objective, and (3) allowable under Federal cost principles and administrative regulations (OMB A-21 and A-110). All mandatory and non-mandatory cost sharing must be adequately documented in the university’s records. The university will make a cost sharing commitment only when required by the sponsor or by the competitive nature of the award and then only to the extent necessary to meet the specific requirements of the sponsored project. Cost sharing identified in the text of the proposal, i.e., a percentage of Principal Investigators effort devoted to a project, must be listed in the budget as cost sharing.

COST TRANSFERS
Strict regulations govern the transfer of direct costs from one account to another after the costs have been charged. Cost transfers must be made within 90 days of the initial charge or prior to submission of the final expenditure report.

CY - Calendar Year

DELIVERABLE
A deliverable is a tangible product or service that is a direct result of the research effort. Deliverables must be included as an integral part of the proposal and award document.

DIRECT COSTS
Clearly identifiable costs related to a specific project. General categories of direct costs include, but are not limited to, salaries and wages, fringe benefits, supplies, travel, equipment, communication costs and contractual services.

GIFT
Any money from private sources, whether solicited directly or not, for which the donor does not expect to receive any material deliverable from the act of donating funds. Gifts are generally deposited to the Virginia Tech Foundation for accounting purposes.

GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT (GRA)
Most commonly used stipend category for graduate students involved in sponsored research. Faculty are expected to involve graduate students in their research to the greatest extent possible by providing financial support through research assistantships.

INDIRECT COSTS OR OVERHEAD (FACILITIES AND ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS)
Indirect costs are the real costs incurred by the University in support of the administration of research projects. Utilities, general administrative expenses, and depreciation of equipment and facilities are some examples of indirect costs. Indirect costs are applied to direct cost activities on a percentage basis. The State requires that indirect costs be recovered on all projects. However, on occasion indirect costs are not recovered. This can occur when (a) not all direct costs generate indirect cost recoveries, (b) full indirect costs rates are prohibited by the grantor, and (c) the University may elect to cost-share a portion of the indirect costs in order to bring a project budget within funding constraints.

INDUSTRIAL AFFILIATE
Under an industrial affiliates program, participants join in the support of an identified area of research for a stated period of time, with each participant receiving the same benefits from membership in the program.

IRB - Institutional Review Board (for Research Involving Human Subjects)

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
The results of scholarly activities, including research papers, books, inventions, computer software, musical scores, articles for magazines and journals, and new technologies

LOG - Letter of Guarantee

MONTHLY FUND (ACCOUNT) STATEMENT
A monthly project fund (account) statement is available to a Principal Investigator. This statement details monthly and cumulative expenditures charged to the project. Statements should be reviewed promptly by the Principal Investigator to resolve possible errors.

NO COST TIME EXTENSION
If the PI believes it will be necessary to work on a project after the contract or grant termination date, but under the existing budget, a request should be made to the sponsor for a no-cost time extension through the Office of Sponsored Programs at least 60 days prior to the termination of the grant or contract.

P-3A FORM
Personnel form for appointments to faculty or professional positions, or for changing funding status in these positions. An effective date and an ending date must be shown on any change of funding

P-5A FORM
Personnel form, to be submitted to establish a new clerical or technical position, or to reallocate an existing position to sponsored funding. All positions established with sponsored funds are considered restricted and an ending date must be provided on the P-5A to correspond to the approved project ending date.P-3A involving sponsored funds, corresponding with the dates in the project .

PAN
Project Authorization Notice, issued by the Office Of Sponsored Programs upon acceptance of an award by the university. See page 25 for a sample PAN.

PAR
Personnel Activity Report, to be filled out and certified regularly for all personnel on sponsored program funds. See pages ?? for a detailed description and sample PARs.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
The active director for his/her project, exercising all of the programmatic and technical decisions that affect the project. Only individuals holding permanent faculty rank above instructor, or holding a senior research scientist position, may normally accept the role of Principal Investigator on research projects. (Definition developed by the commission on Research and adopted by the University council.) Extension Agents may serve as Principal Investigators on Extension projects.

PIAF
Proposal Internal Approval Form, to be filled in by PI for each research proposal, and approved by appropriate university officials. See pages ?? for a sample PIAF .

RFP/RFQ - Request for Proposal/Request for Quotation

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
Special faculty appointment for a professional working solely on research projects under the supervision of a principal investigator. Persons appointed to this rank are expected to hold an advanced degree or have equivalent professional qualifications as appropriate to the position. Non-tenure track appointment.

RESEARCH SCIENTIST
Special faculty appointment for persons with a doctoral degree or the equivalent in training or experience. Non-tenure track appointment is on an annual basis and is indefinitely renewable.

S-3 FORM For summer appointments of AY (academic year) faculty under sponsored funds.

SENIOR RESEARCH SCIENTIST
Special faculty appointment (non-tenure track) for individuals with a doctoral degree or the equivalent and at least ten years of experience as a research scientist or in an equivalent rank. The research qualifications for a senior research scientist should be consistent with those for a professor.

SINGLE (SOLE) SOURCE PROCUREMENT
The State Division of Purchases and Supply Office authorized a single source procurement procedure in recognition that the usual competitive bid procedure has become more difficult to apply to research and scientific equipment. Request a form from the OSP if single source procurement is necessary for your project.

SOW - Statement of Work.
This is a clear definition of the work you expect to do on your project, or that you expect a subcontractor or consultant hired by you to do, along with specific performance milestones along the way and a clear definition of how it will be determined that the work has been successfully completed.

SUBCONTRACTOR
The term subcontractor refers to an individual or organization hired by the University to complete a portion of a sponsored program because the necessary equipment or expertise is not available within the University community. Funding for the subcontract is provided by and must be approved by the sponsor.

TECHNICAL SERVICES CONTRACT
An agreement for the university to provide unique technical services not available from other sources. Can be arranged under specific provisions outlined in the OSP Manual of Procedures. It is contrary to university policy for a technical service contract to be made with a sponsor in the same research area in which a faculty member has a consulting agreement.

TDC - Total Direct Costs
Total of all the direct costs (salaries, equipment, supplies, travel, etc.) that will be incurred in the course of a sponsored contract. This amount is used to calculate the amount of indirect cost to be charged to the sponsor.

VARIOUS ACCOUNT
An account established to minimize administrative effort, for research funds from several sponsors that support a common area of research. Funds assigned to a various account should be associated with an identifiable area of research, but should not be otherwise restricted. Sponsors should not expect to receive a specific product, other than a progress report or similar information on the research findings.