Circular A‐21

The Bureau of the Budget, in consultation with the American Council on Education and the National Association of College and University Business Officers, has prepared a revised edition of its Circular No. A‐21. This document in its various editions, has, since 1958, served as a policy guide for providing reimbursement to educational institutions of costs attributable to research grants by agencies of the federal government. In defining these costs, the circular seeks to identify those direct costs that can be ascribed specifically to a particular research agreement, as well as those indirect costs not directly attributable to the research grant. These latter include such items as general administration expenses, library expenses, and use allowances for building and equipment. The circular does not try to define the extent of an agency’s financial participation in a particular grant. Thus, after the allowable costs have been determined, it is left to the federal agency and the school to determine the extent of any further cost sharing. The current edition of the document includes changes that are “intended to clarify and refine the methods used in identifying, classifying, and distributing indirect costs, and to provide more definite standards concerning the allowability of costs, both direct and indirect, applicable to Government research grants and contracts”.

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