Research at the New School

Award Closeout

+Time Line

About two months prior to the end of an award, ORS Post Award will reach out the PI and their team to ensure preparations for closing out the award are in place. If the PI fells that additional time would be beneficial to the project, an extension or renewal of the award can be broached with the sponsor. If an extension or renewal is not warranted, then the closeout process begins with identifying new funding sources for salaries on the award (if any), as well as new worktags for any other ongoing costs.

Once the Award expires, ORS Post Award confirms that all reports and deliverables have been sent to the sponsor and no new expenses will be charged to the award. Once confirmed, the Grant and the Award will both be inactivated in Workday, closing the Award and ensuring that no new expenses can be charged to it.

+IDCR (Indirect Cost Return)

Indirect costs — sometimes called overhead, facilities and administrative (F&A) costs, or shared expenses — are costs incurred in the conduct of externally sponsored research and activities that are shared across a large number of areas of the University. Indirect costs include such things as grant administrative services, security, facilities and maintenance, depreciation and debt services taken on by The New School for new construction to provide researchers and performers with modern facilities, and any number of other items.

Absent of any instructions from the sponsor to the contrary, The New School will apply its full federally negotiated F&A rates to all externally sponsored projects. These rate agreements, sometimes known as NICRA (Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate) are developed and negotiated based on Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200), the federal government's regulation that provides cost principles for federal awards. In certain instances, a sponsor will indicate that it will only cover a specified amount of IDCR. This is not unusual with Private Foundations, for instance, and in those cases, the university will honor the sponsor’s F&A rate. This is summarized in TNS’ IDCR Policy

At the close of the project, after all costs have been accounted for, The New School returns 60% of the IDCR collected to the P.I. to help offset the costs of their future endeavors. These funds become available in the fiscal year following the close of the award and must be spent within the fiscal year received. Any IDCR funds left unspent at the end of that fiscal year will be returned to the university.

+Residual Balance

At the close of a fixed-price project, after all costs have been accounted for, any remaining funds left in the account are known as the Residual Balance. In those cases where a sponsor has not indicated that they wish to have any residual balance returned to them, these funds are moved into a residual balance account which is made accessible to the P.I. of record on the award. These funds do not expire and are intended to help offset the costs of the P.I.’s future endeavours. For more details about Residual Balance, see the XXXX.