F&A costs are those costs associated with the infrastructure that support the research enterprise (buildings and their maintenance, libraries, etc.) and which cannot easily be determined for each project. The University requires that F&A costs be included in all proposal budgets (unless the funding agency specifies otherwise) and that F&A costs be recovered to the maximum extent possible. F&A rates are negotiated with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Current rates can be found on ORSP's F&A Rate Agreement webpage.

Under RCM Budgeting at the University, an amount of funding based on F&A from grants is transferred to the SAS Dean's Office.  In turn, the SAS Dean's Office includes F&A funding in annual department budgets based on the F&A return from their PI's grants. F&A funds are transferred to the SAS Dean's Office during the year. The SAS Dean's Office subsequently includes funding (currently an amount equivalent to 7.5% of the total F&A) in departmental budgets during the following fiscal year. See pdf standard F&A return flowchart .