Title 48

SECTION 9905.502-60

9905.502-60 Illustrations.

(a) Illustrations of costs which are incurred for the same purpose:

(1) An educational institution normally allocates all travel as an indirect cost and previously disclosed this accounting practice to the Government. For purposes of a new proposal, the educational institution intends to allocate the travel costs of personnel whose time is accounted for as direct labor directly to the contract. Since travel costs of personnel whose time is accounted for as direct labor working on other contracts are costs which are incurred for the same purpose, these costs may no longer be included within indirect cost pools for purposes of allocation to any covered Government contract. The educational institution's Disclosure Statement must be amended for the proposed changes in accounting practices.

(2) An educational institution normally allocates purchasing activity costs indirectly and allocates this cost to instruction and research on the basis of modified total costs. A proposal for a new contract requires a disproportionate amount of subcontract administration to be performed by the purchasing activity. The educational institution prefers to continue to allocate purchasing activity costs indirectly. In order to equitably allocate the total purchasing activity costs, the educational institution may use a method for allocating all such costs which would provide an equitable distribution to all applicable indirect cost pools. For example, the institution may use the number of transactions processed rather than its former allocation base of modified total costs. The educational institution's Disclosure Statement must be amended for the proposed changes in accounting practices.

(b) Illustrations of costs which are not incurred for the same purpose:

(1) An educational institution normally allocates special test equipment costs directly to contracts. The costs of general purpose test equipment are normally included in the indirect cost pool which is allocated to contracts. Both of these accounting practices were previously disclosed to the Government. Since both types of costs involved were not incurred for the same purpose in accordance with the criteria set forth in the educational institution's Disclosure Statement, the allocation of general purpose test equipment costs from the indirect cost pool to the contract, in addition to the directly allocated special test equipment costs, is not considered a violation of the Standard.

(2) An educational institution proposes to perform a contract which will require three firemen on 24-hour duty at a fixed-post to provide protection against damage to highly inflammable materials used on the contract. The educational institution presently has a firefighting force of 10 employees for general protection of its facilities. The educational institution's costs for these latter firemen are treated as indirect costs and allocated to all contracts; however, it wants to allocate the three fixed-post firemen directly to the particular contract requiring them and also allocate a portion of the cost of the general firefighting force to the same contract. The institution may do so but only on condition that its disclosed practices indicate that the costs of the separate classes of firemen serve different purposes and that it is the institution's practice to allocate the general firefighting force indirectly and to allocate fixed-post firemen directly.