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DOD AWARDS – TIMELINE, SALARIES FOR VA EMPLOYEES, FORTY-HOUR WORK WEEK
March 19, 2008
TO: NAVREF Members
FROM: Barbara West, Executive Director
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- Salaries for VA Employees
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This morning there was another
conference call among DoD U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition
Activity (USAMRAA) and NAVREF representatives. USAMRAA personnel
have reviewed the following summary and affirmed that it accurately
reflects their positions. Please make note of the following:
USAMRAA requires outstanding documentation regarding IDC
rates, budgets, personnel, etc., to be submitted by the end of this week.
Next week it will review the status of the projects that were recommended for
awards and will start making decisions about alternates shortly thereafter.
As published in September 2007, USAMRAA policy in regard to use of DoD funds to
pay salaries and fringes of VA employees states:
Under grants to the VANPCs, in accordance with the
established policies and salary structure of the VANPC, if the PI is a
part-time VA employee, DoD funds may be used to pay the differential
between the individual's VA part-time salary and the salary level for a
full-time VANPC commitment in proportion to the level of effort devoted
to the project.
Therefore, if the PI has a part-time appointment with
the VANPC, an appropriate portion of the individual's salary that would
otherwise be supported by the non-profit VANPC may be charged to the DoD
grant.
No salary or fringe benefit payments may be made from
DoD funds to support career, career-conditional, or other Federal
employees (civilian or uniformed services) with permanent appointments
provided for under existing position ceilings of a given Federal
component. While the level of effort required for the research
project must be allowed by the employing agency as part of the
individuals' official duties, salary costs associated with an individual
participating in an official capacity as a Federal employee are not
allowable costs under a DoD grant.
While the third paragraph might lead one to
believe that salary support may be paid to VA to reimburse for term (or
non-career) employees, USAMRAA subsequently has made it
clear that DoD funds may not be used to support any VA salaries
regardless of whether the VA employee is a permanent or term, full-time
or part-time VA employee. Separately, the DoD office of General
Counsel has affirmed that it would be a violation of DoD appropriations
law pertaining to supplementation of appropriations for DoD funds to be
used to reimburse VA for salaries of VA employees, including term
employees such as PhD investigators on “soft” money.
As provided in the USAMRAA policy, an
NPC can hire a part-time VA employee as a part-time NPC employee and use
DoD grant funds to pay the salary of a part-time NPC position provided
that the total number of VA and NPC hours do not exceed a full-time
position, based on a 40-hour work week. It is our understanding
that some full-time VA PIs on term appointments are reducing their VA
eighths and becoming part-time NPC employees to accommodate the
USAMRAA policy.
Additionally, USAMRAA will allow
salary and fringes to be transferred to affiliated universities for
dually appointed VA/university personnel under joint personnel
agreements (JPAs) provided that – again - the total VA/university
commitment does not exceed a full-time position based on a 40-hour work
week. See discussion below for details. NPCs hiring
part-time VA employees and NPCs with JPA agreements with universities
must submit to USAMRAA contract specialists a copy of their
MOU detailing the employees’ respective VA, NPC and/or university
commitments.
NPCs should note that the USAMRAA salary policy makes no
mention of the 60-hour work week that is allowed under NIH policy when a
university is a joint employer with the VA and pays salary for academic
effort on an NIH grant. USAMRAA subsequently has clarified that
USAMRAA does not acknowledge the 60-hour work week and that all salary
calculations must be made on the basis of a 40-hour work week.
USAMRAA does not allow a full-time VA employee to obtain - from an NPC
or a university - additional compensation over and above a full-time
federal salary for effort on a DoD-funded grant. As noted above,
MOUs establishing employees’ respective VA, NPC and university
commitments must be based on a 40-hour work week.
NAVREF recognizes that the NIH 60-hour work week is
ingrained in VA culture and when preparing their budgets for DoD awards,
some NPCs may have assumed that USAMRAA would accept the NIH policy.
They are now learning from USAMRAA contract specialists and CDMRP grants
managers that this is not the case and are having to re-evaluate the
budgets and PI effort.
During the call this morning, USAMRAA staff
indicated that if an NPC does not already have a negotiated federal
indirect cost rate, it is likely that the provisional rate approved by
USAMRAA will serve as the NPC’s maximum rate for the duration of the
CDMRP PTSD/TBI awards. USAMRAA plans to cap IDC rates at the
provisional rate even if an NPC subsequently negotiates a higher final
rate. This is because the PTSD/TBI funds are a one-time
appropriation that must all be obligated by the end of the current
fiscal year so there will be no funds available to pay a later - and
possibly higher - negotiated rate. This reinforces the importance
of engaging expert assistance in preparing proposals for provisional
rates as discussed in the email sent yesterday (see below).
At this time, it is uncertain what process NPCs should
use to negotiate final IDC rates. CDMRP does not have an
arrangement with the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to negotiate final
IDC rates for institutions that receive their first federal awards from
CDMRP. This is being discussed at this writing, but is not yet
worked out. DHHS will negotiate rates for nonprofits that receive
their first awards from other agencies, but NAVREF is uncertain of the
process and will be looking into that. Please watch for an update
in a future email.
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Questions or comments about this Update may be directed to:
Email:
navref@navref.org
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Phone: 301-656-5005 |
Fax: 301-656-5008 |
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