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Proposal Development and Success Fee Procedures
Western researchers leading or partnering on select funding opportunities may choose to, be required to, or be requested to engage a consultant to support proposal development. There may be a need to contribute to proposal development fees and/or success fees during the application development process or following the award.
Proposal Development Fees
Large and complex funding opportunities, such as the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), New Frontiers in Research Fund – Transformation (NFRF-T), CFI Major Science Initiatives (MSI), and Horizon Europe, may involve proposal development costs or fees charged by an external consultant engaged to support application development. Proposal development fees are payable regardless of application outcome and are typically not eligible to be reimbursed from grant funds if the application is successful.
In cases where Western is the lead institution on opportunities such as CFREF or NFRF-T, these costs will be assessed and approved by Western Research, in consultation with faculties at an early stage of application development. In cases where Western is partnering in a consortium application, such as Horizon Europe, these fees could be introduced by the lead institution and Western may accept the proposed fees, negotiate the proposed fees or decline participation in the application.
Procedure: Proposal Development Fees
- Western agrees to consider the payment of upfront consultant fees for proposal development on a case-by-case basis.
- Requests for payment of upfront proposal development fees of $5,000 CAD or less are the responsibility of the relevant faculty(ies).
- Proposal development fees exceeding $5,000 CAD will in most cases be cost-shared equally (50%/50%) between Western Research and the relevant faculty(ies). Western Research may consider negotiating the consultant fee threshold/matching terms with faculty(ies) in cases where there are demonstrated challenges in covering the costs.
- Ideally, consultant agreements from another lead institution should be received by Western Research as early in the application development process as possible to ensure thorough review and acceptance by all parties.
Success Fees
Western researchers partnering on a consortium, such as Horizon Europe, may be approached by the lead institution/lead PI to contribute toward success fees, payable only if the application is successful. Some sponsors, such as the National Cybersecurity Consortium (NCC), may also require institutions to pay a success fee. In most cases, such as Horizon Europe or the NCC, the success fee is typically a small percentage (0.9 – 1.6%) of the total awarded direct and indirect costs.
Procedure: Success Fees
- Western agrees to consider the payment of success fees, on a case-by-case basis, supported from indirect costs (where allowed by sponsor guidelines). The success fee will be allocated to the Vice-President (Research) (22.5%), corporate (22.5%) and faculty (55%) from appropriate accounts, proportional to indirect cost distribution. Invoices will be paid by Western Research, with contributions from corporate and faculty sources recouped through fund transfers. The faculty may choose to recoup funding from department and/or principal investigator indirect costs related to the project.
- The agreement to pay success fees and the amount required from a proportion of indirect costs will be communicated to the impacted parties by Western Research.
- Any success fee agreement must be reviewed internally by Institutional Planning & Budgeting and Western Research before any institutional signature or agreement is finalized. Ideally, agreements should be received by Western Research 10 business days prior to application deadline to ensure thorough review by all parties.
Example Success Fee Calculation
|
Total Western subaward |
$500,000 |
| Western direct costs | $400,000 |
| Western indirect costs (25%) | $100,000 Distribution: $22,500 Vice-President (Research) $22,500 Corporate $30,000 Faculty $12,500 Department |
| Success fee for Western (1.6% of total sub-award) |
$1,800 Vice-President (Research) $1,800 Corporate $4,400 Faculty |
Contact Us
For more information, or if you have any questions, please contact Lisa Cechetto, Executive Director, Western Research