New Guidance on RDMC Basic Services Fee Model

RDMC Service Models

Key Reminders on RDMC Basic Services Fee

Review the new OSP RDMC Basic Services Fee Guidance for detailed information on budgeting and applying the RDMC basic services fee.

• Applicable for all sponsors.
• Required 11/1/24 in proposal budgets if categorized as OR, CT, C4.
• RDMC basic and add-on service fees are subject to F&A recovery.
• OSP adds basic fees to projects when proposed or elected by Dept.
• Standard language for budget justifications available from RDMC.
• Fees billed monthly – details on billing process coming soon.

• Projects w/annual budget less than $50,000 = 100% subsidy
• Projects w/annual budget between $50,000 – $74,999 = 50% subsidy

OSP Form Updates

Several OSP forms and a new waiver have been updated in conjunction with the newly released RDMC Fee Guidance:

• RDMC Basic Services Fee Waiver 
• Budget Revision Form
• Prior Approval Form

All OSP forms are available on the OSP Forms webpage. Always make sure you are using the most up-to-date versions of these forms. Download forms and access them from the Desktop/Downloads folder, or open it using Adobe.

RDMC Basic Services Fee FAQ Highlights

A full list of FAQ related to the RDMC basic services fee is available on the OSP RDMC FAQ webpage. This includes questions from the recent RDMC Symposium presentation, which will be available online soon.

Q: What projects are subject to the RDMC basic services fee?
A: The RDMC basic services fee (expensed on account 559011) applies to proposals in RAMSeS categorized for Research and Development (Chess Code 01) or Clinical Trials (Chess Code 05). These projects would be set up in ConnectCarolina with an F&A Activity Type of Organized Research (OR), Clinical Trials (CT), or Phase 4 Clinical Trials (C4). Reference the F&A Activity Types webpage to learn more about the different types of classifications.

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Q: Are there going to be any exceptions, such as for fellowship or training grants?
A: Yes. The RDMC basic services fee requirement excludes training and fellowship awards.

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Q: If a PI is not allowed to share data or doesn’t plan on sharing data, do they still need to pay the fee?
A: Projects that cannot share data would greatly benefit from data management plans, as their data must be thoroughly protected. RDMC should collaborate closely with these projects to catalog and manage their data to ensure its security. For instance, if data from such a project is breached and shared after the project concludes, it could pose a significant liability. Therefore, for these types of projects, the data management services covered by the RDMC basic fee are critically important.

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Q: What should we do if we didn’t budget for the RDMC basic services fee at the proposal stage and want to add it to the award?
A: Submit a budget revision to OSP to allocate the appropriate RDMC basic services fee for that project. If prior approval is required from the sponsor to rebudget, submit a prior approval form to OSP with a budget revision included.

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Q: Are there any changes to the RAMSeS Internal Processing Form (IPF) process?
A: No. The Data Management and Sharing screen is required for proposals selected as Chess Code 01 or 05 and exclude training and fellowships for an “NIH Grant”. Refer to the RDMC Pre-Award guidance to learn more.