Other Direct Costs

Budget Guidance: 

• Travel Quotes: Use any reputable online travel portal to generate travel estimates
• Confirm any sponsor restrictions that may limit specific travel costs 

Additional Resources: 

• See FORA’s page on Travel and Entertainment to ensure compliance with requirements for travel on sponsored awards

Budget Guidance: 

• Beginning on July 1, 2026, faculty and researchers who will utilize the Regulated Data (ReD) Environment  from University Research Computing and Data (Univ RCD) Services will be charged for this service. When ReD computation and data storage will used in support of a sponsored award, we must budget for this cost. While each research lab and project will have different computing, storage, and database needs and thus need to budget accordingly, the following can be used as general first approximation for the amount of direct costs one could expect:
  • Individual PI: 1-2 active researchers with a small amount of data (GBs): $1,200/yr
  • Small Lab: 8-10 active researchers with a typical amount of data (TBs): $14,000/yr
  • Center: Multiple PIs, 30-40 active researchers with large data (100TBs): $65,000/yr
• These costs should be budgeted as Direct Charges in your sponsored research proposals and/or other research budgets. 

Additional Resources:

• For support with budgeting ReD environment costs, please email regulated_data_environment@harvard.edu. 

Budget Guidance: 

• Required Documentation: All subrecipients must provide us with a budget and budget justification that has been authorized by their home institution. This must be shared with the lead Harvard admin team in advance of our own internal deadline.
• Federal Awards: Charge indirect costs on only the first $50,000 of each subagreement
• Non-Federal Awards: Apply the sponsor’s published indirect cost rate on a total cost basis, including the full amount of subcontract 

Additional Resources: 

• See OSP’s Subrecipient vs Contractor Guidance to decide whether a Contractor or a Subrecipient arrangement is most appropriate. 

Budget Guidance: 

• Capital equipment threshold: Items costing $10,000 + are exempt from overhead on federal awards. For non-federal awards, these costs should be budgeted on a Total Direct Cost basis. 

Additional Resources: 

• See guidance on Purchasing and Transporting Equipment and Research Materials
• For international shipments, consult the OVPR’s Export Control Policies & Procedures

Budget Guidance: 

• Effort: The percentage of tuition remission budgeted should match effort percentages calculated from the student's salary distributions. These percentages of effort must be certified quarterly.
• Teaching Fellow (TF) Appointments: If a TF has a simultaneous Research Assistant (RA) appointment AND tuition remission is paid as part of RA compensation, tuition remission must also be provided as part of the TF appointment in the same ratio as the RA and TF salaries. The remainder of tuition paid by the department is referred to as "tuition support" rather than tuition remission. The budget preparer should ensure that departmental funds are available for tuition support for the TF appointment. If the TF appointment pays the student's entire salary, a faculty grant may not be used to pay tuition remission.
• Indirect Costs: Tuition is exempt from overhead on federal awards. Charge tuition to the non-overhead-bearing Object Code 6430. On non-federal awards, tuition would bear overhead on a Total Direct Cost basis.
• Additional Resources: See OSP’s Tuition Policy for further university-level guidance

Budget Guidance: 

• Indirect Costs: See sponsor guidelines to determine whether or not overhead is permitted on this expense type. Allowability varies by sponsor. A separate PSC subactivity may be required if IDC is not permitted on this line item. 

Additional Resources: 

• See OSP’s Participant Support Costs Guidance for further university-level guidance