Pre-Award

OSP supports faculty and staff in the pursuit and administration of externally funded grants and contracts, in compliance with the requirements established by Federal and State laws, sponsor rules and regulations and University policies and procedures.

Additionally, OSP will ensure proper internal approvals are received prior to application submission. This will be accomplished through Cayuse424, which is located in MyJaxState, and project directors will be guided through this process on an individual basis. OSP requires applications in our office three days prior to funder deadline to allow time for all internal approvals. 

We are here to help you in the preparation and submission of proposals by assisting in the pre-award, award, and post-award activities. We provide advice and assistance with identifying potential sources of funding, development of projects, budget preparation, completing applications, proposal editing and review, as well as other aspects of the proposal development process. 

For More Information, contact:

Grants Data

Helpful Terms

Cost Sharing: Cost sharing, or matching, refers to the portion of project costs borne by the University, rather than the sponsor. Some sponsors require organizations to reflect their commitment to a project by sharing in its costs. Types of cost sharing include mandatory cost sharing, committed cost sharing, voluntary cost sharing, matching, and in-kind contributions, as well as equipment and non-equipment cost sharing. See also Voluntary/Committed Cost Sharing

Equipment: Permanent equipment is defined as any item of a non-expendable nature costing $5,000.00 or more. For Sponsored projects, equipment is further categorized as scientific or general-purpose equipment. Generally, before equipment can be purchased on a research project, funding agency approval is required. All equipment purchases must be bid in accordance with State of Alabama law and university regulations. If the equipment must be purchased from a specific source, a justification for sole source purchasing must be attached to the requisition.

Indirect Costs: JSU faculty and professional staff conduct excellent sponsored research, scholarly and creative activities, and programmatic projects and seek funding for such endeavors from external sponsors. The performance of research, and other major activities, incurs expenditures which often can be readily identifiable to a specific project or activity and are assigned to the project as direct costs. Further, costs incurred to support JSU’s mission activities that cannot be readily identifiable or directly assigned to a major project or activity accurately are called indirect costs. Ideally, the funding from external grant award sponsors such as the federal government, state government, private foundations, corporations etc., will reimburse JSU for the total cost of a project, including direct and indirect costs.

Currently, JSU’s federally negotiated indirect cost rate determined by the Federal Government is 46% of Modified Total Direct Costs which include salaries, wages, fringe benefits, travel, materials, supplies, consultants, and the first $25,000 of a subcontract or subaward that JSU issues to another organization because of a funded research project or creative activity. For state awards, awards from private foundations, or awards that prohibit the use of JSU’s full federal indirect cost rate the University uses an alternative indirect cost rate of 8% of Total Direct Costs. Sponsored Program will gladly assist in the preparation of grant proposal budgets and will calculate the appropriate indirect costs to be charged to an award.

JSU has implemented an Indirect Cost Redistribution Policy that shares the indirect costs generated by applicable awards. Currently, the redistribution breakdown is:

• General Fund – 28%;
• Office of the Controller – 10%
• Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs – 12%;
• College – 12%
• Department – 16%;
• Faculty – 12%;
• Office of Sponsored Programs – 10%

Generated indirect costs are placed in separate accounts per recipient unit or personnel by the Office of the Controller and such funds rollover each fiscal year but must be spent in accordance with applicable State of Alabama Purchasing Rules and Procedures. Indirect costs may also be referred to as facilities and administrative (F&A) costs.

In-Kind Contribution: An in-kind contribution is a type of cost sharing that consists of a non-cash donation to a project. In-kind contributions are generally made by the university or non-federal third parties. In-kind contributions may be in the form of real property, equipment, supplies and other expendable property, and the value of goods and services directly benefiting a specific project. Some organizations may also donate the use of space or staff time as an in-kind contribution.