Subaward at the Time of the Proposal

Proposal Submission

For all proposed subawards that will be included in a grant or contract application, UF Principal Investigators are asked to obtain the following documentation from the subrecipient.  The documents MUST be administratively approved by the subrecipient’s authorized official. This authorized subaward proposal shall be submitted in UFIRST to DSP along with the rest of the UF proposal package. All subaward documents are required for the proposal to be considered “submit ready”.

At a minimum, a subrecipient’s proposal should include the following:

• Endorsement from the Subrecipient’s Authorized Official. This endorsement is provided in many different formats such as signed budget pages, a letter of intent which covers the subcontract proposal, or a signed sponsor cover sheet or face page.
• A clear description of work to be performed by the subrecipient, separate from the overall scope of work of the entire application.
• A budget and budget justification for the subrecipient’s portion of the project. The budget and budget justification should provide sufficient detail regarding the proposed expenses for the subaward. Some sponsors require the subaward budget and justification on the Sponsor’s forms.

When required by the Sponsor, Subrecipients may need to provide additional information, such as:

• Biographical Sketches of Key Personnel
• Current and Pending Support of Key Personnel
• Representations and Certifications
• Negotiated Facilities and Administrative Cost Agreement

Note: When you are creating a multi-site program where all sites have not been determined prior to submission of the proposal, the UF budget justification should clearly identify this situation, and all required Sponsor approvals for issuing subawards will be sought when the parties are identified.

Helpful resource for determining Subrecipient vs. Contractor/Vendor

Budgeting Subaward Costs

When preparing the overall project budget, include the total costs of each subaward (Directs + F&A =  Total costs), as one line item in the UF direct cost budget. If using the F&A MTDC base, only the first $25,000 of each subaward’s total cost is included in the calculation of UF F&A.  If using the TDC base, UF F&A will be assessed on the entire amount of the subaward.

Budgeting for Fixed Price Outgoing Subawards (UG Sections 200.201, 200.332)

Prior approval from the federal sponsor is required if UF wants to issue a fixed price subaward rather than a cost-reimbursement subaward.   By federal regulation, the total cost of each fixed price subaward may not exceed $250,000.

Principal Investigators, who are contemplating a fixed price subaward, should contact DSP during development of the proposal, prior to submission.  DSP can assist with determining if a fixed price subaward is appropriate.  Should it be deemed appropriate, the PI should include the following or similar statement in the budget narrative:

“The budgeted subaward for (Insert Subrecipient name) will be issued as a fixed price subaward. The University of Florida will consider this fixed price subaward approved if the award is made and no contrary guidance has been provided by the Sponsor to the University in the award notice.”

Subaward Indirect (F&A) Costs 

Under Uniform Guidance sections 200.331 and 200.414, Facilities & Administrative (F&A) costs should be budgeted for subrecipients as follows: If the subrecipient has a federally negotiated F&A rate and the sponsor/program does not limit F&A recovery, the negotiated rate must be included in all proposed subawards. If the subrecipient does not have a federally negotiated F&A rate, under the Uniform Guidance “may elect to charge a de minimis rate of 10% of modified total direct costs (MTDC) which may be used indefinitely.”  Foreign subawards under NIH are limited to 8% recovery.