[labnetwork] Question about the legality of caps

[Begliarbekov, Milan]

Dear All,

At CUNY some of our administration is questioning the legality of capping user fees. After pointing out that this is a ubiquitous practice for all nanofabs, the administration informed us of the following NIH guideline, in particular this paragraph:


g. Can fee schedules cap the amount charged to a user in a particular time period?

Generally, no. Fee schedules that cap charges at a certain dollar amount per month if more than a certain number of hours or units are used are not consistent with applicable cost principles unless the institution or some other non-Federal funding supports the difference between the allocable cost and the amount charged to a heavy user. If appropriate for a particular facility, it may be possible to create fee schedules that have different charges depending on timing and level of usage as long as the charges are determined and consistently applied in accord with applicable Federal cost principles.

In principle none of our users are NIH funded, but I'm wondering if you ever heard of such a guideline, and if so, how does it impact your operations.

Thank you as always,

Milan


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