Grant Guidelines - Consultant Payments

Eligibility for Special Compensation The UI “HR Appointments, Special Compensation and Purchasing" policy states "Occasionally, a grant or contract is budgeted to include special compensation for consultants for a specific purpose and period of time within the greater project. In these cases, the consultant must be from outside the PI's college and must be named in the grant or contract budget in order to receive compensation beyond salary". The UI Operations manual states "The federal government and the University do not allow grant funds to be used to reimburse faculty members of the grantee institution for consulting or other time in addition to a regular full-time institutional salary covering the same general period of employment. Special exceptions may be made when the work to be performed is in addition to the individual's normal full-time duties and the additional compensation payment is commensurate with institutional policy." There are three basic guidelines to determine if extra compensation is allowed:

1. the person in question is from outside the PI's college
2. the person is named in the budget
3. the duties were in addition to his/her regular duties.

Documentation for Special Compensation If the above points are true, documentation must be provided. The operations manual continues to state that "When the faculty member serves on a strictly limited basis as a consultant on a research or training project for which another faculty member in another college... has principle responsibility, the work involves a separate or remote operation, and the work is in addition to the consultant's regular departmental load. In such instances the project director who arranges the consulting fee must obtain written approval through the proposed consultant's departmental executive and dean, and the Executive Vice President and Provost." In other words, you must provide documentation of the following:

1. The services to be provided are essential and cannot be provided by persons receiving salary support under the grant, or otherwise compensated for their services;
2. The charge is appropriate considering the qualifications and normal charges of the consultant
3. The nature of the services to be provided
4. Written approval from the Dean, Executive Vice President and Provost, accomplished by the correct routing of the Special Compensation Prior Approval Form though Workflow.

Consultant payments transferred to Faculty Development account If the consultant is outside the PI’s college, and is named in the budget, and the work was done within normal working hours, the consultant fee should be transferred to a Departmental Faculty Development account, instead of being paid out as salary. In effect, the grant is reimbursing the department for the time spent by the consultant during their regular scheduled work hours. If the work was done within regular scheduled work hours, the faculty either must be appointed to the grant, or the money should be transferred to the department. The funds remain under the control of the department Chair, and would stay in the department in the event of a faculty member leaving the University of Iowa. The following documentation is required:

1. A spreadsheet showing the dates, services and hours that were worked. Also the hourly consultant fee and the total owed.
2. A signed & dated memo from the faculty member, stating that they acknowledge the work was performed within normal working hours, and that the contribution should be recognized with a transfer of funds to a Faculty Development account within their home department.