VERA dollars and protected research time

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NIH budget issues for investigator with VA
salaries
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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Dont duplicate salary from NIH and VA
For example, one cannot be the recipient of a K
award, which is supposed to pay for 75 protected
research time, and be 8/8ths VA
Effort above 3/8ths is unlikely to pass audit
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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VA time and VA salary do NOT appear anywhere on
the NIH budget page. PI may mention the time d
onated by the VA to explain in the mismatch
between salary and effort but this is done in
the justification section only.
The PI is paid by BCM for 15 hours per week and
will spend 93 of that time on this project.
The PI is also employed by the MEDVAMC. The VA
has agreed to donate 8 hours per week AT NO COST
TO THE NIH for the investigator to work on this
project. No salary is being requested from NIH
for this time/effort. Thus the total time
available to work on the project will be 148
23 hours per week.
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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NIH only cares about BCM-paid time and effort
MOU
NIH budget page
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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The sum of the effort on your NIH grants must
never exceed 100 Nor the available research
effort listed on the BCM-MEDVAMC MOU) see
slides on TimeEffort MOU for more details
VA-funded grants are done on VA time and eff
ort there should not be combined into NIH
efforts To avoid potential confusion, when listi
ng VA grants on the Other Support pages, report
the time/effort for the VA grant in terms of
hours per week and indicate that this is VA-paid
time that does not count towards effort at the
medical school. Alternatively, one could list VA
grants but without any effort
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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VA clinician with NO BCM salary at time of
submission can submit NIH grant and should ask
for salary
Writing an NIH grant without including salary for
PI has multiple disadvantages
VA misses out on alternative source of salary pa
y BCM is penalized in negotiations with NIH for
indirects PI loses control of their research t
ime
Best alternative is to reduce VA time, and ask
for enough salary on NIH grant to offset the loss
in VA income. Use the freed-up FTE to hire
additional clinician to cover patient care
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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Compensation should remain level with a new gran
t NIH and VA do not allow writing yourself a
raise with a grant. Advice is to keep salary
level, but not worry about matching health plan
costs, retirement benefits, etc.
Recall that VA has 9000 full time bonus that ne
eds to be compensated for. The hourly rate for
BCM and VA time do NOT need to be the same
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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Situation VA clinician with NO BCM salary at
time of submission
Wording requested by NIH in Justification for
investigator who does not already have BCM
salary Investigator will work 15 hrs per week
at the institution and will spend 93 of that
time on this project. The proposed effort and
requested salary reflect the structure that will
exist if the application is successful. The MOU
will be modified at the time of award, to reflect
the hours and effort presented in this
application
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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• The following are examples of different
  situations with varying time and effort at VA and
  BCM to illustrate how the MOU and the NIH budget
  pages should be completed.

HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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Situation PI already getting VA and BCM salary
Example Now getting 50,000 for 20 hrs/week BC
M and 50,000 for 4/8thsVA Wants to get 40,000
of BCM pay from NIH grant, and rest from dept.
VA time to stay the same and VA donating 5 hrs
/week to research
MOU
NIH budget page
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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Situation VA clinician seeking second NIH grant
Option 1 Decrease time/effort on grant 1 and
apply to grant 2. MOU unchanged since salary
and total research time dont change
Proposed 2nd grant
Revised 1st grant
PI must get OK from NIH program officer to
decrease effort and salary on 1st grant
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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Situation VA clinician seeking second NIH grant
Option 2 Decrease VA time Example VA droppe
d to 1/8th
Old MOU
New MOU
No change
Note new institutional base salary
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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Situation VA clinician seeking second NIH grant
Option 2 Decrease VA time Example VA droppe
d to 1/8th
Proposed 2nd grant
Revised 1st grant
Justification for 1st grant Investigator has
increased their time at BCM and now has a higher
base salary and time at the institution. The
hours per week dedicated to this project and the
salary requested from this grant are unchanged.
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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Situation VA clinician with NO BCM salary at
time of submission Example Pl plans to drop VA
from 100,000 for 8/8ths to 62,500 for 5/8ths.
VA also agrees to donate 8 hrs/week for
research.
MOU
NIH budget page
HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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• VA-paid investigators who also receive salary
  from an NIH grant need to have a signed MOU on
  file detailing the partitioning of their salary
  and hours between BCM and MEDVAMC
• See slides on MOU for time effort for more
  details.

HH Birdsall MD PhD ACOS R/D MEDVAMC Houston
May 1, 2006
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