<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><span></span></div><div dir="ltr">Hi Milan,<div><br></div><div>Federal Circular A-21, I believe, is the de facto document for such matters. Visit this link and search for “Applicable Credits”, pages 12-13, sections 5a and 5b</div><div><br></div><div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/circulars/A21/a21_2004.pdf">https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/circulars/A21/a21_2004.pdf</a></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">My takeaway is that caps (“discounts, rebates, allowances”) are allowable. The NIH guideline snippet in your original email points to handling cap abuse (“a heavy user”) and may apply more specifically to an NIH core. As written, it requires definition of a cap abuse threshold and an internal recharge mechanism. I like the intent/spirit of this.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Lastly, as far as I know, all federal funding granted to an educational institution must be charged uniformly. So, an NIH grant can’t be charged differently than an NSF grant.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Good luck,</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Noah Clay</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">University of Pennsylvania </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Philadelphia, PA</span></p><br><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone</div><div dir="ltr"><br>On Sep 27, 2019, at 15:34, Begliarbekov, Milan <<a href="mailto:mbegliarbekov@gc.cuny.edu">mbegliarbekov@gc.cuny.edu</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">
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<p class="MsoNormal">Dear All,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At CUNY some of our administration is questioning the legality of capping user fees. After pointing out that this is a ubiquitous practice for all nanofabs, the administration informed us of the following NIH guideline, in particular this
paragraph:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="regulartext" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:#333333">g. Can fee schedules cap the amount charged to a user in a particular time period?</span></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="regulartext" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;orphans:auto;text-align:start;widows:auto;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:#333333">Generally, no. Fee schedules that cap charges at a certain dollar amount per month if more than a certain number of hours or units are used are not consistent with applicable cost principles
unless the institution or some other non-Federal funding supports the difference between the allocable cost and the amount charged to a heavy user. If appropriate for a particular facility, it may be possible to create fee schedules that have different charges
depending on timing and level of usage as long as the charges are determined and consistently applied in accord with applicable Federal cost principles.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In principle none of our users are NIH funded, but I’m wondering if you ever heard of such a guideline, and if so, how does it impact your operations.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thank you as always,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Milan<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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