Facilities & Administrative Costs
Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs, also called Indirect Costs (IDC), are incurred for a common or joint purpose and cannot be directly charged back to a particular sponsor or award. However, they cover crucial aspects of research such as building utility and maintenance costs. In this video Assistant Professor Allon Klein discusses F&A costs and how important they are to maintaining a partnership between the federal government and research universities. The video was produced by HMS OCER.
University Policy for the Application of Indirect Costs to Sponsored Awards
For reasons of sound management and responsible stewardship, Harvard University endeavors to recover from every sponsored award the full cost of the facilities and administrative services which support it. The University recovers these expenditures through the application of indirect cost rates applied to each sponsored award’s direct costs. Review the University policy on the OSP website.
HMS Federal F&A and Fringe Rate Agreement
The HMS FY2026 Federal F&A and Fringe Benefit Rates, effective July 1, 2025, is available on the OSP Website. The FY26 Stipendee Post Doc Rate Breakdown can be found on the bottom of the OSP website. HMS-related questions may be directed to Brian Kimball, Associate Director of Cost Analysis, HMS Office of Finance.
HMS F&A/IDC Rates for Industry Sponsored Awards
Proposals to for-profit (industry) organizations submitted through HMS or HSDM must use the following rates, which represent the HMS full, calculated IDC rates, capped for administration:
- For Organized Research (A02) projects: 72.25%
- For Other Sponsored Activities (A03) projects: 46.05%
HMS Low IDC Policy
The HMS Low IDC Policy and Tools can be found on the HMS ARC SharePoint site, which requires HarvardKey login to access. Also included on the page are the current HMS Low IDC Policy (effective 10/29/24), Low IDC Policy Notice of Temporary Pause (effective 5/21/25), and the two Low IDC calculation tools (effective 6/12/25).