Indirect costs and the business of biomedical research funding

Indirect costs on research grants represent charges to cover the administration of grant funds; heating, cooling, water, gas, fume hoods and other centralized infrastructure; building and grounds security; facility maintenance and custodial services. Historically, these have been negotiated every two years between each institution and the NIH depending on the proportion of infrastructure devoted to NIH-funded research. My medical school, for example, had a negotiated IC rate of around 50%.

The NIH just announced a new policy whereby all NIH funded institutions will be held to an IC rate of 15%. This is far too little to support NIH-funded biomedical research at any medical school. Most universities cannot subsidize the NIH research mission on this scale. Talented researchers will leave in droves for industry or for other countries. If this decision is not overturned, it marks the end of an era in which the US was the premier nation for biomedical research.

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-068.html

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