Equipment is tangible, nonexpendable property having a useful life of more than one year and costing $5,000 or more per unit. Each piece of equipment should be listed separately in the proposal budget and budget justification.

Things to keep in mind when including equipment in your project:

• The sponsor may require you to include quotes from one or more vendors; check the sponsor's guidelines/RFP (Request for Proposal) for their requirements.
• Review the Purchasing Equipment page in the Start and Manage Projects section of this website for more information on procedures you will be expected to follow when your project is funded.
• Check the guidelines/RFP to see if the sponsor will pay for maintenance and service of the equipment during the project period; some will not. If not, talk with your chair and dean about who will fund these costs.
• Check with your chair and dean to see who will pay for the long-term maintenance and service of the equipment after the funded project period ends.
• Check with your chair and dean about whether or not space and infrastructure (structural support, electrical, etc.) will be available for the equipment if your project is funded. You may also need to consult with the Physical Plant and/or Planning, Design and Construction to assess space and infrastructure needs.
• Check with the Physical Plant and/or Planning, Design and Construction to determine their costs for installing the equipment and/or any supporting infrastructure, and include those costs in your proposal budget (as Other Direct Costs).
• Obtain approval from the appropriate department chair if you propose to use a resource that is not a standard facility, e.g., an expensive microscope in someone else's lab where there is no reason to expect that you would necessarily be given free access, because the person who runs that instrument is not a named co-investigator or collaborator on your project.

If allowed by the sponsor, you may include expenses for transportation incurred by project personnel at Appalachian (i.e. principal investigator, co-principal investigators, graduate and undergraduate students, etc.). Enter the total amount for all such expenses on the line for travel in your proposal budget, which may include:

• Mileage reimbursement;
• Airfare;
• Baggage fees;
• Daily parking at airport;
• Ground travel, such as airport shuttles, taxis, etc.;
• Per diem for meals**
• Lodging***

**Current Appalachian per diem rates for meals and lodging

***Federal per diem rates by city for lodging

Note: Use federal per diem rates for lodging only, not meals; and if you use the federal rate for one trip, you must use it consistently for all trips in your project.

A few other things to keep in mind when budgeting for travel:

• Costs for travel related to sponsored projects must conform to Appalachian's current travel policies (see section 510, Travel and Transportation, in the Policy Manual).
• Depending on the sponsor's guidelines/RFP (Request for Proposals), you may need to break out the costs for each trip in the budget justification, including the location (if known), purpose, number of persons traveling, and expenses included.
• Travel for consultants should be included in their consulting fee.
• Travel for colleagues at other institutions who are included as subcontractors should be included in the separate subcontract budget.
• Conference registration fees should typically be budgeted under Other Direct Costs.

Materials and supplies are expendable items that cost less than $5000 per unit (tangible, nonexpendable property having a useful life of more than one year and costing $5,000 or more per unit should be listed in your budget as equipment).

Provide a breakdown of the materials and supplies you need, a description of them, and why they are necessary in your budget justification. Also show how you calculated the cost of the items.

A note about computers: Only computers that are necessary for carrying out the work of the proposed project should be included in your budget (for example, a laptop for a grad student to use doing field work). Office computers should not be charged to a grant.

Other direct costs include items that cannot be attributed to any other budget category. This line item in your budget should not include unexplained "miscellaneous" items. Be sure items are detailed and justified in the budget justification.

Items may include:

• Marketing or advertising costs;
• Space or equipment rental;
• Insurance for shipping equipment;
• Fees for use of labs or other campus services (for fees to use Appalachian's Dewel Microscopy Facility, please see https://casmifa.appstate.edu/facility/access-fees);
• Fees for professional services provided by other institutions/organizations (See when it is more appropriate to pay another institution/organization via a professional services agreement, rather than a subcontract.)
• Publication costs (which may be its own separate line item depending on the sponsor's budget form/guidelines), which include the costs of documenting, preparing, publishing, disseminating and sharing research findings and supporting material; consider both page charges and reprint costs.
• Costs for communication/postage (which may be its own separate line item depending on the sponsor's budget form/guidelines), including long-distance phone charges. For the most current U.S. Postal Service rates, please see https://postoffice.appstate.edu

There may be times when it is more appropriate to pay another institution/organization via a professional services agreement, rather than a subcontract. If the former situation applies, the institution/organization is called a vendor. In your budget and budget justification, list this payment under Other Direct Costs rather than on the line for subcontracts.

What is the definition of a professional service?

Professional services can be defined as unique, technical, and/or infrequent functions performed by an independent contractor/vendor qualified by education, experience, and/or technical ability to provide services.

• In most cases, these services are of a specific project nature, and are not a continuing, ongoing responsibility of the institution.
• The services rendered are predominately intellectual in character, even though the contractor may not be required to be licensed. 
• Examples of professional services typically utilized include laboratory analyses, project/program evaluation, marketing analysis, auditing, statistical analysis, translation services, website and software development/design, and editing services. 

Subcontractor vs. Vendor

An organization is considered to be a subrecipient of an award (or subcontractor) when it:

• Determines who is eligible to receive financial assistance;
• Has its performance measured against whether the objectives of the program are met;
• Has responsibility for programmatic decision-making; 
• Has responsibility for adherence to applicable program compliance requirements;
• Uses the funds to carry out a program of the organization as compared to providing goods or services for a program of the pass-through entity.

In contrast, an organization is considered a vendor when it: 

• Provides goods and services within normal business operations;
• Provides similar goods and services to many different purchasers;
• Operates in a competitive environment;
• Provides goods or services that are ancillary to the operation of the program; 
• Is not subject to compliance requirements of the program.