Posted May 1, 2026 by Dan Moser
New rates have been established for the Indirect Cost Rate Agreement between UNL and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.These new rates will apply to all agencies.
The agreement, also known as the Facilities and Administrative Agreement, was negotiated based on UNL’s F&A rate proposal. It is effective as of July 1, 2025. The full F&A Rate Agreement is available on the Sponsored Programs website.
F&A funds play an important role in supporting the facilities, compliance requirements and administrative services that make sponsored research possible across the university. These shared resources help ensure a strong foundation for UNL’s research activity and long-term competitiveness.
The following table represents the updated rates:
Proposal budgets submitted from this point forward should use the updated F&A rates. As has been the case historically, the applicable rate will depend on the type of sponsored activity and whether the work is conducted on or off campus.
- Existing awards are not impacted and will continue using the F&A rate in effect at the time the award was made.
- Proposals already submitted will not be revised unless a sponsor specifically requests an updated budget.
- The updated rates have been incorporated into the Office of Sponsored Programs budget template available on OSP’s website.
In addition to the updated F&A rates, two federal Modified Total Direct Cost threshold changes will take effect July 1, 2026.
- The subaward threshold will increase from $25,000 to $50,000 per subaward.
- The equipment capitalization threshold for federal awards will increase from $5,000 to $10,000.
Although these MTDC threshold changes are not effective until July 1, proposal budgets should begin accounting for them now when the anticipated award will start on or after that date. These updates are also reflected in the current OSP budget template.
Questions about how the updated rates or MTDC threshold changes apply to proposal budgets may be directed to the OSP Pre-Award team.
