Effort on Proposals

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Effort Overview

Effort is time spent on a sponsored project, regardless of whether the sponsor funds salary.

When an individual is listed as PI, co-PI, or key personnel on a grant proposal, they are obligated to commit a certain amount of effort to the sponsor.

To comply with federal regulations, effort committed to a project must be documented at the proposal stage and tracked (certified) throughout the lifecycle of the project.

SMPH’s policy for Faculty Effort and Salaries on Sponsored Research Projects can be found in the UW–Madison policy library.

Effort Commitment

What is an effort commitment?

A commitment is the amount of effort proposed in a grant proposal or other project application, and that the sponsor accepts – regardless of whether salary support is requested for the effort.

How are effort commitments measured?

Commitments are expressed in terms of a percentage of work time or calendar months (CM) over a given project period. At 20% for a 12-month appointment: .2 x 12 = 2.4 CM.

Who needs to record effort commitment on a proposal?

Commitments are recorded and tracked for individuals named in the notices of award at a minimum.

Which proposal components are used to document effort commitments?

  • Award requirements
  • Budget/budget justification
  • Project description/research plan

Limits on Effort Commitment

  • An individual’s aggregated commitments to sponsored projects cannot exceed 100%
  • Commitments to sponsored projects can only add up to 100% if all job duties are allocated to sponsored projects.
  • Proposal-writing, institutional committee service, etc. are not allocable to sponsored projects. Individuals with such responsibilities must reserve some percentage of effort for these duties (5% is recommended), to be funded by unrestricted sources.
  • For investigators with academic or administrative responsibilities, commitment to sponsored projects generally cannot total 100% for any consecutive 12-month period.

Minimum Effort Commitment

  • The minimum required commitment for PIs on all sponsored projects, except nonfederal clinical trials, is 1% of total effort.
  • For nonfederal clinical trials, commitment to any one trial may be less than 1% as long as the sum of commitments for all the trials totals at least 1% and represents a reasonable level of effort. Federal clinical trials will need the effort accounted for due to effort reporting.
  • The minimum effort requirement does not apply to equipment/instrumentation grants, doctoral dissertation grants or student augmentation grants.
  • The minimum effort requirement does apply for the PI on a training grant, but not for the faculty mentors, as their effort will be assigned to the trainees’ specific research projects.
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Commitment Management

For more information on how to convert commitments to percent effort: Effort Guidance Document — Commitment Conversions (DOCX)

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Funding Effort

Effort on a sponsored project can be funded in two ways:

  • Paid effort is work for which the sponsor provides salary support.
  • Cost-shared effort is work on a sponsored project for which the university, rather than the sponsor, provides salary support. There are several types of cost-shared effort:
    • Mandatory: Cost sharing required by the sponsor as a condition of the award
    • Voluntary committed: Cost sharing that appears in the proposal but is not required by the sponsor
    • Voluntary uncommitted: Cost sharing not stated in the award documents; usually occurs when more time is devoted to a project than stated in the proposal or award.

An individual’s effort on a given grant may be a combination of paid and cost-shared effort.

For example, if an individual indicates in a proposal that they will devote 30% of their effort to the grant for one year, and requests salary support for 10% of their effort, then:

  • Effort commitment is 30%
  • Paid effort is 10%
  • Cost-shared effort is 20%
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Outstanding Effort Tasks

It is important to keep all effort tasks (training, certification, etc.) timely and current. According to University policy, failure to do so will prevent submission of proposals and processing of awards. More information can be found at: UW–Madison Policy: Consequences for Failing to Complete Training and Certify Effort

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Changes in Effort Commitment

Agency Approval

Agency approval is necessary for REDUCTION of time devoted to a project by 25% or more from the level that was approved at the time of initial competing year award. If effort will increase but funds are unavailable and the scope of work is unchanging, it is considered voluntary uncommitted cost-share, and there is no need to contact the agency or report on the extra effort. Individuals should work with the department effort coordinator to make changes to commitments.

Special Considerations

Reductions in budget: When an agency agrees to fund a proposal at less than the original budget amount, effort needs to be taken into consideration during budget revisions. If the scope of the project is changing due to less funding, will effort levels remain the same?

No-cost extensions (NCEs): With the exception of grant programs that have a specific minimum effort requirement (e.g., NIH K-type awards), Research and Sponsored Programs (RSP) will no longer require the update of effort commitments when requesting or receiving a no-cost extension (NCE). After a thorough analysis of sponsor policies and Federal regulations, it has been concluded that an NCE simply provides additional time during which the originally proposed effort can be expended.

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Effort Resources

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Effort Contacts

For more information or assistance with efforts related to proposal development, contact your department research administrator or the SMPH Office of Research Administration:

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Development

Routing and Approvals

Agreements