'Tis the season for vaccinations and S10 submissions. Hope all are healthy and
safe.
Northwestern is looking into increasing the use of Voluntary Uncommitted Cost
Sharing as one mechanism for institutional commitments. This has the advantage
of not being audited and also allows cost to vary. Examples would be to provide
0.5 FTE to develop methods in the first year of a project or installation of a
key card access system. Many PI's like to see the budget explicitly stated to
indicate institutional commitment. I personally don't see a clear link between
the percent voluntary cost share and success rate.
Is anyone using Voluntary Uncommitted Cost Sharing as a method to show
institutional support? Have reviewers provided feedback on process? Is there
advice on tracking the internal commitments even though there is not a specific
commitment in the grant's budget?
