Recently, Jim Wrenn, President and CEO of IT Works and Rebecca Vandall, Director of New Program Development and Strategic Partnerships at SRA International, held a seminar entitled Managing Re-charge Centers and Research Service Facilities. The next several blog posts will provide an outline of material that was covered during the seminar.
Justifying a Re-Charge Center
In order to justify whether or not a recharge center needs to exist, the following questions must be addressed:
- Does the service fit the mission of your organization?
- Are there other units providing the same or similar services?
- How long will the products/services be in demand?
- What is the expected level of activity, and when will it be reached?
- What is the financial plan for the center?
- Can your organization survive without it?
University Requirements
- Complex and specific services not otherwise readily available
- Minimum annual billing requirements and charges to grants
Government Requirements
- Billing rates should recover direct and indirect costs of providing products or services
- Billing rates cannot discriminate between federal and non federal sponsors. Outside customers may be billed more.
- Operate on fiscal year basis
- Calculation and review of billing rates
- Establishment of operating accounts
Operating the Center
- Department administrator responsibilities (typically responsible for coordinating with Principal Investigators, the Department Head/Chair and other administrative personnel in order to provide financial and administrative advice on various projects.)
- Preparing and administering budgets
- Developing and supporting billing rate schedules
- Record keeping
- Determining allowable costs
- Invoicing requirements
- Support audit requests
- Allowable working capital
- Separation of multiple services (i.e. You cannot take the profits from one recharge center and use it to supplement losses from another one. You cannot merge one with the other.)
For more information about Facility/Re-Charge Center Management or for questions regarding this seminar, contact Rebecca at rvandall@srainternational.org or Jim Wrenn at wrennj@itworks-inc.com.