Post-Award Glossary
Release Time
Release time is defined as the time the department releases the PI from normal departmental duties (teaching, public service, etc.) to perform research. It is directly charged to a project instead of departmental funds.
Release time must be provided in the project’s proposal budget and budget justification, if allowed by the Sponsor. Charged effort should always reflect the actual time spent on the project. When a faculty member requests that their release time on a grant be counted towards cost sharing on a grant proposal, there is no exchange of funds between accounts.
Effort reports, reflecting unpaid (cost-shared) and/or paid effort, must be reviewed and certified by faculty annually.
Summer Salary
Summer salary is defined as any compensation paid during the summer period to a faculty member in excess of his or her academic year salary. Summer period covers May 16 through August 15. A request for summer salary indicates a commitment to put forth the comparable effort on the particular project(s) during the summer, not the academic year. Effort expended during the academic year does not satisfy a commitment related to the receipt of summer salary.
All effort devoted and corresponding salary charged to sponsored projects must be in compliance with sponsor and university policies. Committed effort on a sponsored project should be devoted exclusively to the activity supported by that sponsored project. Other activities performed during the summer months—for example,any administrative or academic activities, vacation, writing new proposals, and so on—may not be charged to sponsored projects. Faculty who will receive supplemental pay on sponsored research and all administrative staff who facilitate a part of summer salary must take the summer salary tutorial through NC State University’s REPORTER application every year.
While requesting summer salary, faculty need to provide the project number(s) and amount(s) of monthly allowable salary on the Supplemental Pay form if they wish to be paid.
- Maximum salary requested across ALL funding sources should not exceed 33.33% of annual base over the entire summer, and should not exceed 100% in any single pay period.
- Exceptions beyond 33.33% require Dean’s approval; no exceptions allowed if any portion of pay on a ledger 5 account.
- Exceeding 90% effort on ledger 5 in any single pay period requires a monitoring plan and Dean’s approval.
Additional Compensation Regulations
Cost Sharing
Cost sharing is defined as the portion of project costs not reimbursed by the sponsor. In most cases, the cost sharing source will be university funding, but other sources are also used to meet the university’s cost share obligation.
Cost sharing should be proposed only when mandated by the sponsoring agency.
Additional Cost Sharing Regulations
Export Controls
Export controls are federal laws regulating the transfer of items, technology, and services to non-U.S. persons and entities. They commonly refer to three distinct sets of regulations: the International Traffic in Arms (ITAR) administered by the Department of State, the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) administered by the Department of Commerce, and the Foreign Assets Control Regulations (FACR) administered by the Department of the Treasury. Export controls serve several purposes: to restrict exports of goods and technology that could contribute to the military potential of U.S. international adversaries; to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; and to advance U.S. economic and foreign policy goals.
Export Controls impact the following activities:
- Shipping items from the U.S. to a foreign country
- Transferring technology, information, or technical data, to entities or individuals outside of the U.S.
- Sharing technology, information, or technical data with foreign persons within the U.S.
- Providing services to – or conducting financial transactions with – an embargoed or boycotted country, restricted individual, or entity.