Full Economic Costing (fEC)Research facilities FAQs
The external deadline for charging Research Facilities as Directly (rather than within the Estates charge) is February. The University will aim to complete this exercise by the end of January for all facilities where an existing charging mechanism is in place so that the necessary adjustments can be made to the annual Estates calculation. However, if information is not received in time an estimated adjustment will be made.
Where an existing charging mechanism is not in place none should be introduced unless discussed with the fEC Accounting Manager (k.boyle
If the facility falls under the £300,000 threshold and there is no intention of including a charge for the use of the facility in applications to the Research Councils or Other Government Departments then this exercise does not need to be carried out.
If the facility falls under the £300,000 threshold but there is an intention to include a charge for the use of the facility in applications to the Research Councils or Other Government Departments then this exercise does need to be carried out. Under the guidance the facility will be classed as a Small Research Facility (SRF). Certain costs can be excluded in the calculation of the charge out rate for SRFs (depreciation, estates and technician costs) but the general fEC Guidance must be followed - that is estimated costs will need to be identified along with estimated annual usage to arrive at the charge out rate.
Any charges for the use of facilities included in applications to the Research Councils or Other Government Departments (or any other funders who require evidence of costs incurred) will need to be justified. In order to be able to justify these costs sufficiently the fEC Guidelines must be followed and therefore this exercise must be carried out.
Yes, whilst a general description of the use of the facility may have been sufficient in the past at the application stage, it is likely that this will be insufficient in the future. As with all applications to Research Councils the Justification of Resource needs to be as full as possible. In addition, should the project be audited at a later stage justification of the charges will be required. In order to be able to justify these costs sufficiently the fEC Guidelines must be followed and therefore this exercise must be carried out.
As with any other DI cost there will be potential to vire funds.
Yes, the guidance states that "This replacement cost should be included irrespective of who funded its original purchase, when, and at what price". The charge out rate should allow for the equipment to be replaced in the future.
If there is an intention to include a charge for the use of the facility in applications to the Research Councils or Other Government Departments by any department, then this exercise needs to be carried out.
No, this exercise need only be completed if there is an intention to include a charge for the use of the facility in applications to the Research Councils or Other Government Departments.
Yes. Facilities will be looked at as part of the Quality Assurance Validation (QAV) process carried out by the Research Councils. The University is likely to have a visit from the QAV team at some point. If the QAV team find that any of the Facilities are not being managed in accordance with the Guidance, the University could face financial sanctions.
Separate from the QAV visit, individual projects may also be subject to the usual audit visit by the Research Councils. In this case, any amounts which cannot be justified are unlikely to be funded.
The information included in this exercise will be cross referenced with the separate Technician's Survey and any costs included in the Major Research Facilities calculation will be excluded from calculating the rate for General technical Support. Please ensure the Technician is named to allow this cross referencing to be carried out.
Yes, the cost must be identified following the fEC Guidance and this should then be used in any applications to the Research Councils and Other Government departments. Some funders will providing funding on a different basis in this case the price charged can be greater than the cost. For internal charging (i.e. to other departments for teaching or own-institution funded research) a price lower than the cost may be used (if agreed by the Head of Department). Any departments including a charge for the use of the facility in applications to the Research Councils or Other Government Department's must use the fEC calculated rate.
The fEC Guidance states: "The charge-out rates should be indexed, along with all other costs, over the life of the project. Rates calculated on 1 February each year should be indexed for two years' price rises, before they are applied to a research project application".
If the original purchase price is not known an estimate should be provided. The account code is required to ensure that the costs are stripped out of the correct charge out rate - in most cases this would be the Estates rate and this will be assumed for any costs where the account code is not known.