The College Research Office provides principal investigators and research administrators with a standardized budget template for common indirect rate calculations, specifically MTDC, TDC, TFFC, and NIH’s modular format. The template also accommodates the college’s requirement for account codes.

The COE-ORA pre-award team manages the template, so if you discover any issues, errors, or recommendations, please email preaward-coe@ncsu.edu.

COE Budget template (most current revision: 01/16/2026: revised fringe rates)

North Carolina State University has an extensive list of account codes; however, the College of Engineering allows only a limited set of account codes in a proposed budget during the proposal stage. These codes can be found at the link below.

Budget Account Codes

The university establishes individual fringe benefit rates for each employee category based on actual costs, health insurance, and the federally negotiated Composite Rate. Fringe benefits can be complex to calculate; therefore, the college has developed a resource tool.

Fringe Benefits Calculation Guide

This guide provides a list of common research administrative inquiries and requests made by principal investigators and research administrators. It is a cheat sheet or quick reference tool to help you navigate the many aspects of research administration in the College of Engineering.

Common Request Guide

Some solicitations may contain potentially problematic terms and conditions, commonly referred to as ‘red flag’ terms, as part of the proposal process. The college research office provides a list of these common terms to help identify them in solicitations, along with a brief description of each and guidance on how to respond during the department review process.

Potentially Problematic Terms Questionnaire

A project ID (ledger 5) may be necessary before finalizing a sponsored agreement. When assured that a sponsored agreement is reasonably expected to materialize, a pre-award project number can be established to begin recruiting project employees and ordering specialized equipment and supplies, for example, in preparation for the project’s start. If the University cannot fully negotiate and execute this agreement, the Department will retain sole financial responsibility for all costs incurred. If the deal is successfully negotiated and there are unallowable costs, the designated unit indicated on the pre-award request form will be responsible for paying these costs from other appropriate funding sources.

Remember, risks may be associated with research compliance, such as export controls, when requesting a pre-award account, and these may be identified in the sponsor’s final terms and conditions. It is possible the solicitation referred to compliance requirements, such as export controls; however, this may not be certain until the final agreement is received. Before requesting a pre-award account, it is vital to consider research compliance requirements and other restrictive terms, such as a sponsor prohibiting the employment of a foreign national on the research project. Therefore, consider these potential risks and proceed cautiously when requesting the pre-award account.

Pre-Award Form

The attached form must be completed and included in PINS (or PD) for core and enhancement center projects and center subcontractors.

To help ensure that NC State faculty understand their responsibilities as recipients of industrial research funding, the Office of Technology Commercialization and New Ventures (OTCNV) has prepared a new PI Acknowledgement Form (approved by OGC and SPARCS and now a required component of PINS (or PD) submissions) that is tailored to the specific needs of membership Centers and Institutes as well as industrial consortia.

• Please enter your unit’s name in all highlighted fields on the Form and save it as a template for use with projects funded by your Center, Institute, or consortium.
• The Form should be included with your Center/Institute/consortium RFP for project calls for funding from industry membership dues (internal and external).
• The Acknowledgement Form must be signed by the PI of each Core project at NC State approved for funding by your membership IAB, and uploaded to PINS (or PD) with each proposal.
• Signed Form is required as a component of the PINS (or PD) record for each Enhancement project funded by an industry member of your Center, Institute, or consortium.
• The Form must be signed by the PI of each external project selected for funding and uploaded with each PMR request to provide an external sub-award.

This requirement applies to all new and supplemental proposals (as described above) with the start date on or after July 1, 2018

All departments must add a project personnel document with multiple PIs to each PINS record (this is not required with PD).  This is due to a policy change requiring Senior personnel to be added to PINS records. 

RELATED TO COE CENTERS AND CONSORTIUMS ONLY:

SUBMIT form for NCE* or increment requests related to the following projects:

• Projects funded from the membership pool, i.e., core and administrative projects
• For segment projects from the center, consortium, or institution’s federal award (5-acct)

(*NCE requests for projects led by the Director as the lead PI; otherwise, NCE requests must be submitted via the PMR System.)

DO NOT SUBMIT a form for:

• Enhancement projects:
  • No-cos extension requests (Project Modification Request (PMR)
  • Increment notifications (sponsor sends to SPARCS directly at SPS@ncsu.edu; if not, please forward the notification to the college pre-award team).
• Core or Enhancement project:
  • Supplemental funding (PINS or PD)
  • Revised budget requests (PMR)
  • Change in PI (PMR)

For any questions or issues, please contact the college at preaward-coe@ncsu.edu

Background: In common circumstances, investigator eligibility questions arise for individuals who are not automatically eligible to serve as Principal Investigators. Depending on the circumstances, exceptions may be granted for any/all proposals, or on a one-time basis for a specific proposal. Requests for PI eligibility in the College of Engineering (COE) are made to the Associate Dean for Research and Infrastructure (ADRI), who reviews the request, provides college endorsement if eligible, and forwards the request for final approval to the Director of Sponsored Programs within the University’s Office of Sponsored Programs and Regulatory Compliance (SPARCS).

Timing: PI eligibility requests should be submitted to the ADRI well in advance of any associated proposal deadlines. To ensure that timely routed proposals have the correct PI information, they should be submitted at least 12 business days before a sponsor receipt deadline.

Guidance and Template