Frequently Asked Questions

Generally, the subcontract amount subject to UW F&A costs is based on the business rules of the Funding Action. If, for example, the cost base type for your funding action is Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), then your subcontract is subject to F&A on the first $25,000 at the same rate as the primary award. If the cost base type for your funding action is Total Direct Cost (TDC), then all of the subcontract is subject to UW F&A at the same rate as the primary award. You can always use Grant Tracker or review the Funding Action associated with your award for more information about the F&A charges to your subcontract(s). If you still have questions after you review the Funding Action, contact the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) at osp@uw.edu for assistance.

Please contact the OSP Subawards team.

Applying indirect costs related to subcontracts is a manual process. At the end of each calendar quarter, GCA performs a Budget Subcontract (BSC) F&A reconciliation to determine if an adjustment is needed to the indirect cost for each subcontract.

Subcontract F&A encumbrances are set up by GCA when we first reconcile F&A. The subcontract F&A encumbrance amount is equal to the projected F&A costs to be charged on the subcontract(s). As subcontract F&A is charged to the budget, we manually reduce the subcontract F&A encumbrance until the subcontract F&A threshold is reached.

If you have an urgent need for an immediate adjustment (e.g. an adjustment was missed, the budget is about to close, or you need current expenditure totals for a no-cost extension or carryover request), or if you believe the subcontract F&A encumbrance is incorrect, please contact GCA via Grant Tracker using the Indirect Costs topic.