Reduction in Effort
Two situations where effort can be reduced:
Sponsor Reduction
There are times when a Sponsor will issue an Award for less than the proposed amount. There are two courses of action:
Preferably, negotiate with the Sponsor to obtain a revised approved budget for the (reduced) Award amount. As always, such negotiations should be done with OSP. The faculty effort in the revised approved budget is the amount of effort to be met on the Award.
If the budget is not re-negotiated based on the reduced amount, then the amount of effort in the final budget submitted to the sponsor is the amount of effort on the Award. This is the percent of effort against which any future reductions should be calculated.
Reduction in PI’s Effort
During the Award implementation, it may be determined that the amount of effort for the PI, and any other named Key Personnel, needs to be reduced. Review the Award to determine Sponsor requirements for reduction in PI effort.
For more information on Sponsor approvals, see the PAFC website on Sponsor Regulations.
For Federal Awards, the federal regulations require that any reduction in effort, overall all non-competing segments of the Award, of 25% or more requires written Sponsor approval. However, review the terms of the Award for any specific requirements and review the Research Terms and Conditions to determine if the Federal Sponsor has waived this requirement.
Effort Reduction Example
Example #1: PI proposes to contribute 10% effort during the Award. During the Award, PI wants to reduce effort to 5%. Since the reduction from 10% to 5% exceeds the 25% threshold, the PI must obtain written sponsor approval before reducing committed effort.
Example #2: PI proposes to contribute 2% effort during the Award. During the Award, PI wants to reduce effort to 1%. Since the reduction from 2% to 1% exceeds the 25% threshold, the PI must obtain written sponsor approval before reducing committed effort.
Sponsors may define terms such as Co-PI and Key Personnel differently. Read your notice of award and your applicable terms and conditions to understand your sponsor's policies with respect to a reduction in effort of the PI or Key Personnel. Additionally, a sponsor's terms and condition flow down to any subrecipients.
If you have questions, please email gcafco@uw.edu.