Procurement Services: Research Grants and Budgets

To ensure the integrity of the grant application as well as minimize the risk of cost overruns after the grant is received, Procurement Services follows a checklist as part of the quotation process. Below are some specs to ensure cost/value accuracy:

• Proper cost/discount structure required by granting agencies, such as CFI.
• Price protection clause or inflation factor to forward cost to estimated acquisition date.
• Latest release of instruments and software are quoted and there is protection to ensure we obtain new releases free within a specified period after delivery.
• Extended warranty costs.
• Set up, training, calibration, documentation and testing details and costs.
• Parts and service availability.
• Delivery details including FOB point, transportation and insurance costs, cross border documentation requirements etc.
• Accurate Tax costing (HST, GST and customs).
• Post installation service availability.
• Reference sites.
• Off-instrument software licensing for analytical purposes.
• Software upgrade and maintenance fees covered.
• Electrical certification requirements eg. CSA, ULC.
• Currency impact and protection capability against future fluctuations.
• Interface issues with mechanicals e.g. water hook up & filtration, air filtration

For your convenience an NSERC - RTI Request for Quotation (RFQ) (.docx) template is available online. Please download the form, complete and distribute when you require quotations from the vendor community. The costing sheet template (.xsl) can be downloaded as well. 

For the NSERC-RTI application, two quotations are required for equipment or systems costing more than $25,000 and only one quote for less than $25,000. Once you have obtained the vendor quotations, you need to decide which quotes to use for developing your grant budget. To determine the total costs you need to consider and include the following direct and indirect costs for your budget:

• Ensure the pricing is firm until the time of purchase. If this is not possible, you may need to include an “inflation factor”.
• Taxes should be budgeted at 3.43% of your purchase due to HST in Ontario effective July 1st, 2010
• Transportation: Delivery or shipping costs and in transit insurance can be in the range of 2-5%, depending on the total value of the goods being ordered, size and weight.
• Duty & Brokerage Fees: Brokerage fees are to be budgeted at $25 per transaction. Duty may vary. (If you are unsure of any of the above items, please contact our Customs and Logistics Manager).
• CSA or equivalent electrical approval is required for all electrical equipment. If the equipment quoted is not certified to meet Ontario’s standards, the vendor will need to arrange this prior to shipping.. If the vendor refuses to arrange this, then you must include the cost of certification in your budget. Please contact Procurement Services for advice.
• Warranty & extended warranties.
• Associated options or accessories that may be required to enable the primary equipment to become fully operational. (i.e. Computers, software, anti-vibrations tables, cabling, etc).
• Currency Exchange (Please contact Procurement Services for details)

When the grant becomes successful, Board Policy 2.8 on obtaining quotes (.pdf) will then apply (unless the agency has a more stringent requirement):

UWO Policy 2.8:

When obtaining quotations from vendors, the following policy must be followed:

• Orders valued up to $10,000 – at the discretion of the Researcher
• Orders valued between $10,001 to $25,000 – minimum two quotations
• Orders valued over $25,000 - minimum of three formal quotations.

Note: For items valued over $25,000.00, but under $100,000.00 and deemed to be “sole source”, the researcher must complete an exception report and forward it to Procurement Services with the Purchase Requisition.

Acquisitions over $100,000 must be openly bid on the Merx internet open bid system. To obtain quotations from suppliers over $100,000.00, we work with the researcher to develop a formal “Request for Proposal” and post it on Merx for 15 days. The responses from vendors are required to be presented in a specific, organized format which is useful for evaluation purposes. We present the proposals to the researcher for their consideration and evaluation.

Note: On CFI grants, the CFI will not accept “Sole Source” orders unless it can be proven using the open bid process.