here.
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Are junior faculty members eligible for the Individual Investigator award?
Yes.
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Investigators are limited to applying for one Individual Investigator research award. However, collaborations are encouraged according to the announcement. If an investigator is a collaborator on a project directed by another PI, may the same investigator serve as a PI on a different proposal during the same funding cycle?
Yes. Although an investigator may serve as PI on only one Individual Investigator application during this funding cycle, the same investigator may be listed as a collaborator (Co-PI, Other Senior Personnel) on a different Individual Investigator application directed by another PI during the same funding cycle. Furthermore, an investigator submitting an Individual Investigator application as a PI may submit a High-Risk/High-Impact application during the same funding cycle and vice versa. (Please note that the High-Impact/High-Risk applications are subject to an institutional cap on the total number of applications submitted).
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Does the PI have to have current funding from a cancer-related grant to be eligible to apply?
Current funding from a cancer-related grant is not required. However, this forms some basis to demonstrate the ability and qualification to complete the proposed work.
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Are individuals or organizations that contribute to the CPRIT Foundation eligible to receive a CPRIT grant?
Individuals or organizations that contribute to the CPRIT Foundation are not eligible to receive CPRIT grant funds.
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Does a contribution to the CPRIT Foundation by a not-for-profit 503(c)(3) corporation affect the eligibility of the associated institution or organization for CPRIT grant award funding?
No. To the extent that the applicant institution or organization is a legally separate entity from the 503(c)(3) corporation, a contribution to the CPRIT Foundation by the corporation does not affect the eligibility of the applicant institution or organization to apply for and, if qualified, receive a CPRIT grant award.
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Has CPRIT placed any restrictions on visa requirements for recruits or trainees?
No.
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Once you apply for a grant, what determines when you can reapply? Are you restricted to every other year?
As long as a grantee is in good standing with CPRIT on a current grant, they may apply for grants in each grant cycle. Applications will be judged on their merit and criteria outlined in each RFA. Awards will be made based on available funds.
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At what point in the grant process is the applicant required to demonstrate that it is able to meet the matching requirement?
The matching requirement must be met before the CPRIT grant is officially awarded to the recipient. An applicant is not required to provide documentation of the ability to meet the matching requirement when the CPRIT grant application is submitted. However, all applicants should be aware of the law and be prepared to demonstrate compliance before receiving a CPRIT grant.
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Will we need a letter stating the institution's matching funds?
CPRIT's Policies and Procedures Guide provides instructions regarding the certification of matching funds. Certification is not required unless the applicant receives a Notice of Funding Recommendation (NFR) from the Oversight Committee. Click here to download a copy of the Policies and Procedures Guide. Evidence of matching funds is required at the time of the award contract, not when the application is submitted.
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How can a CPRIT research grant recipient fulfill the matching requirement?
Institutions, not individuals, are the recipients of most grants. CPRIT's proposed rule (§ 703.11) requires that at the time of the grant award (and then annually for multi-year awards), the academic health institution, university, government organization, non-government organization, public or private entity, or individual certifies: 1.) that it has funds, not yet expended, that equal one-half of the grant award(s); and 2.) that those funds will be spent on the same area of cancer research that is the subject of the grant. For purposes of this requirement, the applicant may rely upon a "Notice of Grant Award" to demonstrate funds that have been awarded and encumbered but not yet received by the applicant.
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What does it mean that available funds must be spent in the same area of cancer research?
§703.11 provides five categories of cancer research that encompass most cancer projects. The subject matter of the grant and the recipient's available funds must be grouped in the same category.
The categories are:
- Cancer Biology and Genetics (includes molecular characterization of tumors)
- Cancer Immunology (includes vaccines)
- Cancer Imaging and Diagnostics
- Cancer Epidemiology, Population Research, Behavioral Research, and Outcomes
- Cancer Treatment (includes drug discovery and development and clinical trials)
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How can the recipient show that it has available funds designated to be spent upon the same area of cancer research as the grant award?
There are at least three different ways that this can be done. An applicant can use one or more than one in combination to fulfill the requirement.
- The recipient institution or organization can certify that it will be spending money from whatever source on cancer research in one of the same five categories as the subject matter of the research grant.
- The recipient may also rely upon funds received from other sources (federal, state, or non-governmental) for cancer research in the same category as the grant.
- The recipient can satisfy some portion of its match requirement (up to 10% of the total grant award amount) by demonstrating that the recipient's own money will be spent on costs not directly associated with a specific project but are nonetheless true costs. These indirect costs may not be recovered with CPRIT funds and the recipient must have a documented federal indirect cost rate or a rate that has been certified by an independent accounting firm.
For example, the recipient of a $2 million one-year grant for research into cancer vaccines meets the requirement if the recipient institution certifies that it has budgeted and/or received other funds totaling at least $800,000 for cancer immunology research over the next year and will spend at least $200,000 on unrecovered indirect costs associated with the CPRIT research project.
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Are the matching funds required to be associated with the same principal investigator?
No. Institutions, not individuals, are the recipients of most grants. For the matching requirement, the funds available to be spent on cancer research are measured at a category and institutional level, not by principal investigator. For example, this means that all money to be spent by the recipient institution for cancer immunology research counts toward the match for a cancer immunology CPRIT grant, even if some of the institution's money is used for cancer immunology research conducted by a different principal investigator on a different project.
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Who is responsible for the matching funds if the PI and co-investigator/collaborator are from different institutions?
Either institution may certify that it has the funds available in the same area of cancer research as the subject of the CPRIT research award or both institutions may work together to meet the requirement.
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Who is responsible for the matching funds in the case of multi-collaborator project?
In the case of several collaborators or a consortium, CPRIT will take a global view regarding the match and require a grant-award level certification of the total match required, rather than looking to each collaborator or participant for their pro-rata share of the match.Â
For example, on a multi-collaborator project (eight different participating organizations) award totaling $20 million, CPRIT will require certification that together the collaborators have available funds equal to $10 million dedicated to the same area of research as the grant award. CPRIT will not look to each of the eight organizations to individually demonstrate that they have funds equivalent to the pro-rata share of the grant award.
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If the recipient is awarded a CPRIT grant for a multi-year research project, is the recipient required to show dedicated funds for the entire project at the time of the award?
No. The recipient may demonstrate available funds on a year-by-year basis. For example, if the research grant is awarded $10 million for a five-year project where the recipient will receive $2 million each year, the recipient's match requirement would be $1 million for each year of the project, to be certified at the time of each annual progress report.
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How do the indirect costs used to satisfy the match requirement reconcile with the law instituting a five percent cap on the amount of CPRIT grant funds that may be spent on indirect costs?
Texas law prohibits a CPRIT research grant recipient from spending more than five percent of the grant proceeds on indirect costs. To the extent that the recipient relies upon unrecovered indirect cost expenditures to satisfy the matching funds requirement, these funds are the recipient's own money and are not grant proceeds.
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Is the five percent limit on indirect costs based on the total amount of the CPRIT award or on the amount of direct costs?
State law prohibits CPRIT research award recipients from spending more than five percent of the total amount of CPRIT funds awarded on indirect costs. For example, a recipient of a $100,000 award from CPRIT may spend up to $5,000 of the CPRIT funds on indirect costs and $95,000 on direct costs.
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Is there a definition that CPRIT uses to determine what costs are considered indirect costs?
Texas law applicable to CPRIT research grants defines indirect costs as the expenses of doing business that are not readily identified with a particular grant, contract, project, function, or activity, but are necessary for the general operation of the organization or the performance of the organization's activities.
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What costs are not limited by the five percent cap on indirect cost recovery?
Costs that are clearly associated with the research funded by the grant are considered direct costs and are not subject to the five percent limitation on indirect cost recovery.
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What are direct costs?
Direct costs are identified specifically with a particular grant and directly assigned to grant activities relatively easily and with a high degree of accuracy. In general, direct costs must be allowable, allocable, and reasonable.
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What is an allowable cost?
Allowable costs are costs that are not otherwise prohibited from recovery by state law, regulation, or grant guidelines. Texas law requires that CPRIT funds be spent only on authorized expenses, including honoraria, salaries and benefits, travel, conference fees and expenses, consumable supplies, other operating expenses, contract research and development, capital equipment, and construction or renovation of state or private facilities. However, the law limits the amount of money that may be spent on certain items like indirect costs and facility construction, remodeling, or renovation. Certain CPRIT grant applications further limit or prohibit recovery of specific costs. For example, recipients of High Impact/High Risk grants are not permitted to spend any grant funds on travel expenses or construction costs.
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What is an allocable cost?
A cost is allocable to a particular sponsored project if the goods and services involved are chargeable to the sponsored project. A cost is allocable if it:
- Is incurred solely to advance the work under the sponsored grant; or
- Benefits the grant project and can be assigned to the project through the use of reasonable methods. Some direct costs may simultaneously benefit other work of the institution.
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What is a reasonable cost?
Goods or services paid for with CPRIT grant funds must be generally recognized as necessary for the performance of the grant and may be considered reasonable if the nature of the goods or services acquired and the amount involved reflect the action that a prudent person would have taken under the circumstances prevailing at the time the decision was made to incur the cost.
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What are some examples of costs that may be considered direct costs?
- Salaries and fringe benefits of personnel including faculty, technicians, post doctoral fellows, graduate research assistants and other personnel directly engaged in performing sponsored project's scope of work subject to certain limitations by grant guidelines.
- Tuition and fees for personnel directly engaged in performing the sponsored project's scope of work.
- Costs such as travel, scientific/equipment maintenance and repairs, utilities, communications costs, and other directly related costs necessary for performing the grant's specific scope of work unless specifically prohibited by grant guidelines.
- Supplies and materials (including cost of animals) necessary for performing the grant's scope of work including educational material when approved in the budget.
- Research costs including institutional review board costs, facility fees, research office, etc. that are reasonable, directly associated with the grant's scope of work and approved in the budget.
- Rental/leasing costs for grant projects conducted in rental space not owned by the grant recipient may be approved in extraordinary circumstances.
- Subcontracts necessary for performing the sponsored project's specific scope of work and approved in the budget. Please note that the limit on indirect costs is measured by looking at the total project expenditures, including subcontractor costs.
- Consultant services contracted to accomplish specific grant objectives and approved in the budget.
- Equipment, including capital equipment (as established by the State of Texas capitalization threshold), that can be allocated to the grant and that is specifically approved in the budget.
- Service/maintenance agreements on equipment and facilities (including animal facility maintenance) directly associated with the grant and approved in the budget.
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What are some examples of costs that will not be considered direct costs?
- Salaries of clerical and administrative personnel engaged in routine departmental or administrative work that benefits all activities of the department (instruction, research, training, public service, etc.), i.e., there is no direct relationship to the sponsored grant's scope of work.
- Supplies and materials for routine departmental or administrative activities of the department that benefit all activities of the department (instruction, research, training, public service, etc.), i.e., there is no direct relationship to the sponsored grant's scope of work.
- Other costs such as repairs, fees and services, local and long distance telephone expenses, copying and postage that are for routine departmental or administrative use, and do not have a direct relationship to the sponsored grant's scope of work.
- General office items with multi-functional use such as computers, fax machines, answering machines, staplers, hole punches, filing cabinets, chairs, desks, calculators, waste baskets, etc., that do not have a direct relationship to the sponsored grant's scope of work.
- Costs being paid by another source.
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What are some examples of costs that will never be considered direct costs?
- Advertising for general promotion, including promotional items, memorabilia, gifts, and souvenirs
- Alcoholic beverages
- Alumni or fund-raising activities
- Donations or Contributions
- Commencement expenses
- Cost Overruns; any costs overruns allocable to another agreement may not be shifted to the sponsored grant
- Decorative objects for private offices
- Entertainment
- Meals or any food items
- Fine/original art
- Fines and penalties
- First-class/business-class air travel differentials
- Flowers
- Gifts or prizes
- Goods or services for personal use
- Lobbying
- Memberships in airline travel clubs, civic, social, community organizations or country clubs
- Social events and entertainment costs
- Bad debts
- Labor relations costs
- Grant proposal costs
- Sabbatical leave costs
- Trustee expenses
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When calculating indirect costs, should items like equipment be excluded from the calculation?
No. There are no exclusions to be made before calculating indirect costs.
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Does the five percent limit on indirect costs apply to subcontractors also?
Yes. The law prohibits spending more than five percent of CPRIT funds on indirect costs. No exception is made for subcontractor costs.
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Are prevention grant recipients subject to the five percent limit on indirect cost recovery also?
While state law does not specifically address a limit on indirect cost recovery for CPRIT-funded cancer prevention programs, it is the agency's long-standing policy to not allow recovery of indirect costs for prevention programs unless under exceptional circumstances.
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Can CPRIT award recipients use the funds to conduct research outside of Texas?
CPRIT-funded research and delivery of prevention programs and services must be conducted in Texas.
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The CPRIT guidelines state that although out of state subcontractors and collaborators are allowed, they are not allowed to receive CPRIT funding. Does this just mean that out of state institutions cannot apply for CPRIT funding, or that they will have to be paid by matching monies?
The legislative intent regarding the use of CPRIT funds is to support research and prevention programs occurring in Texas and to induce researchers outside of Texas to relocate to Texas. For this reason, collaborators located outside of Texas are not eligible to receive CPRIT funds. Collaborators can be paid with matching funds.
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Can CPRIT funds be used to purchase goods and services from out-of-state vendors?
With regard to purchasing goods and services to carry out the work of the research project, CPRIT recognizes that it may be necessary to purchase some items from vendors outside the state of Texas. CPRIT's enabling legislation establishes a goal of at least 50% of the goods and services to be purchased from Texas-based suppliers so there is some room for flexibility in how CPRIT funds are spent by the recipient. CPRIT award recipients will be required to provide a clear and compelling justification for purchasing more than 50% of goods and services outside of the state. There is no absolute bar against fee-for-services payments to persons outside of Texas, but the budget proposal for every award recipient will be reviewed and fee-for-service payments will be scrutinized.
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Will sub-contracts be allowed for co-investigators outside the state of Texas?
The applicant must be a Texas-based entity, including a public or private institution of higher education, academic health institution, university, government organization, nongovernmental organization, other public or private company, or an individual residing in Texas. Collaborations are encouraged. However, collaborators who do not reside in Texas are not eligible to receive CPRIT funds. Subcontracting and collaborating organizations may include public, not-for-profit, and for-profit entities. Such entities may be located outside of the State of Texas, but no Texas-based organizations are not eligible to receive CPRIT funds.
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Does every investigator need to reside in the state of Texas?
Investigators who are supported by CPRIT grant funds must reside in Texas during the term of the research project.
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Can a Texas-based company employ a non-Texas-based subcontractor (such as a Clinical Research Organization (CRO) to conduct a clinical trial) using CPRIT funds?
The evaluation of applications that include out-of-state clinical trial costs to be paid for with CPRIT funds will be on a case-by-case basis. The legislative intent is that CPRIT funds be spent in Texas and that research, including clinical trial opportunities, is available to help Texans. It is highly likely that in order to be funded, CPRIT will require that at least some clinical trial opportunities be made available at institutions in Texas.
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What kind of information should be submitted for the subcontractors?
Comprehensive information regarding subcontractors should be submitted at the time of the application, including specific budgets for subcontracting expenses.
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Does the limit on indirect expenses apply to subcontractors also?
Yes. A recipient of a CPRIT research grant may not spend more than five percent of the total funds awarded by CPRIT on indirect costs. This limit includes subcontracting expenses.
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Will CPRIT allow international collaborators?
Yes. However, international collaborators are not eligible to receive CPRIT funds for research that is done outside of the state.
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We are contemplating a grant submission that will involve a contractor who has a home office in another country and also a corporate office in the United States of America (not in Texas). The firm is very interested in doing business in Texas, beyond just working with us on the CPRIT grant opportunity. If the firm chooses to establish a corporate office in Texas and to hire or provide Texas-based workers for our projects, will the firm be eligible to receive CPRIT funds?
Yes, based upon the circumstances that you have described. CPRIT intends to encourage businesses to locate in Texas. To the extent that the firm establishes a corporate office in the state and hires Texas-based workers to perform research that is the subject of the funding award, they would qualify to be awarded CPRIT funds.
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