Budget Toolbox
SPHHP IT Service Center
Recovering IT Service costs from extramurally-sponsored activities
Policy Statement
The IT Service Center Charge provides a mechanism whereby the costs for IT support to faculty, staff and students can be recovered as a direct cost to extramurally-sponsored projects.
In the School of Public Health & Health Professions (SPHHP), IT support is provided by the IT Services Center (ITSC). ITSC maintains the School's infrastructure and IT resources shared across departments, research centers and the Dean's Office including: servers (e.g. work stations, monitors and uninterrupted power supplies, racks; repair, replacement and upgrades); service contracts and warranties; software (e.g. anti-virus, firewall); network infrastructure (e.g. hubs, cabling); and the IT staffing used to maintain the IT infrastructure. ITSC employs three full-time staff; one part-time IT staff and a graduate student assistant. School website and database development is led by a full-time staff member. All other IT Services are provided by three full-time staff members and two half-time student assistants. Oversight and supervision of the ITSC is provided by the Director of IT Services.
All SPHHP personnel submit IT service requests through a web-based work order form which is linked to a database. Each work order includes the requestor's affiliation, name, email address, date requested, and request description. ITSC personnel supply additional information that includes: date completed, time to complete, hardware/software costs, and a brief description of the work performed. The database holds the complete record of services provided to SPHHP units, including time to task completion, hardware and software costs, etc. All ITSC costs are periodically reviewed and adjustments made to the ITSC rates.
ITSC services do not duplicate or replace any central UB services supported by institutional indirect costs.
Applicability
The ITSC Charge must be included as a direct cost in the budget of every extramural funding application involving SPHHP faculty, students or staff.
Determining the Amount of Charge 
Generally speaking, the cost that must be included in every grant budget is equivalent to:
IT Service Rate times the SPHHP FTE charged directly to the project (or provided on a quantified cost-sharing basis), rounded to the nearest dollar.
Beginning in 2007, each SPHHP department has its own IT Service Rate:
| Biostatistics | $1,347 |
| CAT | $1,667 |
| CHR (formerly CPM) | $2,136 |
| Dean | $2,130 |
| ENS | $1,415 |
| Health Behavior | $1,384 |
| Rehabilitation Science | $1,503 |
| Social & Preventive Medicine | $1,200 |
Example: A proposal budget includes the following annual personnel costs:
| Principal Investigator, Health Behavior: | 20% Effort |
| Co-Investigator 1, Social & Preventive Medicine: | 10% Effort |
| Co-Investigator 2, Biostatistics: | 5% Effort |
Calculations:
PI effort X rate = 20% x $1,384 = $277
Co-Investigator1 = 10% x $1,200 = $120
Co-Investigator2 = 5% x $1,347 = $67
Total IT Service cost = $464
This calculation would be the same even if some portion of the FTE listed above were offered on a cost-sharing basis if the cost-sharing is quantified (which is rare).
The cost should be prorated when necessary. For example, if Co-Investigator2 above has a nine-month (academic year) appointment, then the IT service center cost calculation for this individual would be:
$1,347 x .05 x .75 = $51
Budget Justification Text
The following text should be included in the proposal budget justification:
"Computer charges represent costs associated with use of SPHHP IT services by project staff. These services do not duplicate or replace any central services supported by institutional indirect costs."
Exceptions
A waiver or reduction of the IT Service Center Cost may be granted by the Associate Dean for Research. In general, however, waivers or reductions will only be granted if:
- The sponsor indicates in published guidelines that the cost is unallowable
- Proposal viability is clearly threatened by inclusion of this cost item
Requests for waivers must be submitted to the Associate Dean for Research by completing the on-line waiver request form. Each request must indicate the basis for the request (reason A or B listed above). If reason A is the basis for the request, (a link to) the sponsor's published guidelines must be provided. If reason B is the basis for the request, a justification must include why the reduction or elimination of other direct costs is not an option.
Questions
Questions regarding the inclusion of this cost in proposal budgets should be addressed to Lesley Cephas, Director of Research Administration for the School of Public Health, at sphhp-research@buffalo.edu or 829-2975 ext. 630..