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Appendix F: Mandatory Cost-Sharing Due to Salary Caps

Beginning with the 1993-94 fiscal year, the Effort Reporting System will automatically calculate the minimum percentage of overall effort that an individual must spend on awards that are subject to salary caps imposed by the granting agency. At present, only awards from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are subject to salary caps.

HHS imposed a cap on the amount of an individual's salary that can be charged to an HHS award. For awards granted prior to October 1, 1991, the cap is $120,000 per year; for awards granted October 1, 1991 and later, the cap is $125,000 per year. Salary charges to HHS awards for individuals earning a salary in excess of the caps are limited to the percentage of effort expended on the award times the salary cap.

EXAMPLE

[For the calculation below, refer to the Annual Certification Statement on page 17, for the award entitled "Role of Sleep in Glucose Regulation", FAS 5-21266. NOTE: Cost-Sharing on Extra Service (EXT SERV) type payments would be calculated separately.]

  Dollars % of Actual
a. Dr. John Smith's Total Salary, as calculated by the Effort Reporting System $160,000 100.000%
b. 5% of Dr. John Smith's Total Salary 8,000 5.000%
c. Salary funds in a 7/1/93 HHS award, based upon 5% effort (5% times $125,000) 6,250 3.906%
d. Mandatory cost-sharing for this award 1,750 1.094%

On the Preliminary Account Distribution and the Annual Certification Statement, mandatory cost-sharing for all HHS awards is labeled COST SHR. On those documents, the cost-sharing percentage appears below the TOTAL OTHER field. For individuals affected by the HHS salary cap, you arrive at 100% effort using the following equation:

(TOTAL SPONS) + (TOTAL OTHER) - (CST SHR) = 100.000%

The calculated cost-sharing percentages are already included in the TOTAL SPONS subtotal (see example on page 17). Therefore, Dr. Smith will be required to certify that he expended at least 5.000% of his effort on the award, even though the department could only charge a maximum of 3.906% of his salary, based on the salary cap.