Guidelines

Consultants

External Consultant 

Circular A-21, J10d(1) – “…Since intra-university consulting is assumed to be undertaken as a university obligation requiring no compensation in addition to full-time base salary, the principle also applies to faculty members who function as consultants or otherwise contribute to a sponsored agreement conducted by another faculty member of the same institution…”

No Stevens employee(s) will serve as a Consultant for compensation on a Stevens proposal.

Additional considerations when including outside consultants:

• Presence must be justified
• Normal daily rate (number of days
• Travel costs and subsistence should be included in rate
• Usually (but not required) have terminal degree in the field/discipline

The following should be considered when deciding whether to include outside consultants:

Grantees normally expected to utilize services of their own officers of employees, whenever possible. Payment for consultants should be comparable to the normal fees charged by the consultant for comparable services

Presence of consultants is normally considered to be of limited duration, i.e., a few days.  Need for extended presence may indicated need for different relationship.
 

Intra-University Consultant

Subject to Full F&A

Circular A-21, J10d(1) – “…Since intra-university consulting is assumed to be undertaken as a university obligation requiring no compensation in addition to full-time base salary, the principle also applies to faculty members who function as consultants or otherwise contribute to a sponsored agreement conducted by another faculty member of the same institution…”

Considerations when contemplating the presence of external or intra-university consultants:

• Stevens employees who will be compensated for effort must be shown in the salary and wages section of the budget
• Stevens employees may contribute uncompensated effort on a limited basis as subject matter experts.  
   

Vendor

Individual or organization shall be considered a vendor under the following circumstances:

Provides the goods and services within normal business operations
Provides similar goods or services to many different purchasers
Operates in a competitive environment
Provides goods or services that are ancillary to the operation of the federal program

As a vendor, individuals or organizations are not subject to:

• compliance requirements of the federal award
• the performance being measured against whether the objectives of the federal program are met
• exercising  any programmatic decision making

As a vendor, individuals or organizations take all project direction from the principal investigator
 

Travel

Subject to Full F&A

Travel expenses directly related to the project are normally allowable under the conditions described as follows:

• Allowance for air travel normally will not exceed the cost of round-trip, economy airfares and   travelers must travel by US-Flag air carriers, if available
• Domestic travel:
  define as US, its possessions, Puerto Rico, and travel to Canada and Mexico
• Foreign travel is defined as travel outside areas specified above 
   

Foreign Travel

When traveling abroad employees must receive prior written approval from the appropriate vice president, dean, director, or department head (academic/administrative).