Valuation of the costs of structured personnel and co-financing
Question:
Is it possible to co-finance the project activities with the work of the structured personnel paid by our institute?
To give a concrete example, the payment of the salaries of the structured personnel in service at our University is covered by the Ordinary Operating Fund (FFO) that the University receives from the Ministry of University and Research. The FFO finances the salaries of all the University personnel, how can we certify the specific coverage relating to the researcher involved in the project?
Answer:
Actually, the costs of the structured personnel paid by the institute are precisely described in the Regulation doc, on pages 16 and 17 (sections Personnel Costs, and Overheads and Indirect Costs), and it states:
page 16: The PI Applicant, the technicians, the researchers and all the personnel comprising the PI’s research team and involved in the Project Proposal (Table ‘DESCRIPTION OF THE PI APPLICANT’s RESEARCH TEAM’ in Section ‘PI Applicant’ of the Proposal Application)are already affiliated to and employed by the Hosting Institute where the AIC Project is carried on, they work in the same lab/unit of the PI, and they are NOT allowed to load their salary (including taxes) on the AIC Grant.
Page 17: indirect and overheads costs absorbed by the Project itself and by the (administration staff, office supplies, personnel costs, electricity, water, other consumptions, etc.)
In other words, the costs of the structured personnel directly involved in the research project will be absorbed in the overheads and indirect costs of the project exclusively for the part that they will dedicate to the project itself.
Precisely in light of what has already been recalled above by the Regulation, it is confirmed that it is not permitted to include in the co-financing the valorization of the cost of the structured personnel. The costs of the structured personnel are included in the “Overheads and Indirect Costs” for the part of the working hours absorbed in the Research Project described in the Proposal, as per the Regulation.
Overheads and indirect costs, what options
Question:
Overheads and indirect costs generally represent a fixed % of the direct costs. What is the % envisaged by the AIC IG 2024 Call? How is the correct % established?
Answer:
With regard to overheads and indirect costs, the Institute can opt for only one of the two following solutions, based on its internal regulations. Without prejudice to any changes to the Institute’s regulations, which must be promptly documented, once the type of reporting for Overheads and Indirect Costs has been selected for the first year, the type of reporting must be maintained for the entire duration of the Grant:
- The Institute will report the Overheads and Indirect Costs using an Excel form (which is provided at the time of the annual reporting) in which the total amount and the list of expense items and related amounts are reported.
- the Institute will report the Overheads and Indirect Costs through a declaration to be made according to a word form (which is provided at the time of the annual reporting), containing the total amount, the flat rate % applied by the Institute and the basis for calculating the flat rate %, as well as the reference to the Institute’s Budget document in which such flat rate % can be documented. In this case, it will be necessary to attach the Budget referred to in the document, indicating the line in which the flat rate % applied by the Institute for the calculation of the General and Indirect Costs is reported.
Consent of the Ethics Committee before funding the project
Question:
Among the documents to be submitted in the online Application, in case of human or animal experimentation the Clearance of the competent Ethics Committee is required, which must report the exact title of the project submitted to AIC. The Ethics Committee we are referring to, however, does not authorize experiments without dedicated financial coverage. On the other hand, we do not think it is correct to submit the request indicating the financial coverage of another project, as it would mean that in reality the project we are presenting to you is already financed in another way, resulting in double financing of the same activities, which is not lawful.
How can we manage this situation?
Will it be possible to submit a request for authorization to our Ethics Committee if and as soon as the project is actually financed?
Answer:
For the part of participation to the Call (Application submission) please refer to the Call of Proposal (Bando) document on page 21, where it is expected that the Candidate during the participation phase of the Call can also present only the Clearance SUBMISSION to the Ethical Committee, thus before having yet obtained its consent. Some aspects relating to the date of request/obtainment of consent and/or amendment to an opinion already obtained are also regulated.
For the part of documents and contract finalization in case of a project selected for funding, please refer to the Regulation doc, on pages 11-12. If during the Application phase of the Call only the Clearance SUBMISSION was presented, there are still 60 days to obtain the formal consent (final Clearance) of the Ethical Committee in order to give rise to the Grant contractualization.
Regarding the exact title of the Project to be included in the Clearance SUBMISSION and/or in the final Clearance, this does not represent a mandatory requirement of the Clearance SUBMISSION/of the Clearance, but an additional requirement (pages 23-24 of the Call for Proposal doc) which will be completed during the Administrative Conformity Check.