NIH SALARY CAP GUIDELINES (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-11-073.html)
Every year since 1990 Congress has legislatively mandated a provision limiting the direct salary that an individual
may receive under an NIH grant. For FY 2011, the Department of Defense and Full-year Continuing Appropriations
Act of 2011 (Public Law 112-10) continues implementation of Public Law 111-117: Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2010 which restricts the amount of direct salary to Executive Level I of the Federal Executive Pay scale. No
increase has been provided for Federal salaries. Therefore the Executive Level I salary level remains at $199,700
which will be the salary limitation for the remainder of FY2011.
For the purposes of the salary limitation, the terms "direct salary," "salary," and "institutional base salary" have the
same meaning and are exclusive of fringe benefits and facilities and administrative (F&A) expenses, also referred
to as indirect costs. An individual's institutional base salary is the annual compensation that the applicant
organization pays for an individual's appointment, whether that individual's time is spent on research, teaching,
patient care, or other activities. Base salary excludes any income that an individual may be permitted to earn
outside of the duties to the applicant organization.
NIH grant/contract awards for applications/proposals that request direct salaries of individuals in excess of the
applicable RATE per year will be adjusted in accordance with the legislative salary limitation and will include a
notification such as the following: None of the funds in this award shall be used to pay the salary of an individual at
a rate in excess of the current salary cap.
An individual's base salary, per se, is NOT constrained by the legislative provision for a limitation of salary. The rate
limitation simply limits the amount that may be awarded and charged to NIH grants and contracts. An institution
may pay an individual's salary amount in excess of the salary cap with non-federal funds. The salary limitation
provision DOES apply to subawards/subcontracts for substantive work under an NIH grant or contract. The salary
limitation does NOT apply to payments made to consultants under an NIH grant or contract although, as with all
costs, those payments must meet the test of reasonableness and be consistent with institutional policy.
The SALARY CAP CALCULATION WORKSHEET INSTRUCTIONS
GENERAL INFORMATION
This is general information such as name, employee ID, record number per GEMS, annual salary per GEMS
(include stipends), term, USF FTE, and whether the individual is a 9 month or 12 month faculty member.
GRANT INFORMATION
B. Enter the FAST project number.
C. Enter the year in which the grant was awarded or last competitive renewal, whichever is most recent.
E. Please note that D will calculate from the grant year awarded or competitive renewal. If you are within the
executive level one, you are allowed to use a higher salary cap within executive level 1, but you MUST have
available budget to do so. You will not receive additional funds. If you do not have available budget, you must stay
at the original cap. (Please refer to paragraph 3 above).
F. Enter the committed effort that was submitted to the NIH per the proposal unless you have received permission
from NIH to reduce the level of effort. Please note that key personnel are allowed to modify up to 25% of your
committed effort without approval, but you would also need to modify your payroll distribution as well. (For
example, if you committed 25% to a project, you would only be able to adjust you effort by 6%. (25 original effort *
K. Enter the cost share account code per GEMS and the chart field that will be paying the cost share component of
the individuals effort.
OTHER
Any individual that is over the NIH salary cap will ALWAYS cost share a portion of their salary; therefore, the pay
distribution to the grant will be less than their committed effort. The balance of their effort will be on a cost share
account code so the cost share will be able to be tracked.
This form must be submitted with each pay distribution for each individual that is over the NIH salary cap and
working on NIH grants. This will ensure that the pay distribution is correct and the cost share is appropriately
During the PERT reporting cycle, this form must be submitted to Research Financial Management for the grant files.
e grant files.
USF Health
NIH Salary Cap Calculation Worksheet
Directions: Enter the required information in the yellow highlighted fields. All other fields will calculate automatically.
SECTION 1 - General Information
1. Faculty Member 5. Term and Dates Spring 2011
2. GEMS EmplID # 000000xxxxx 6. Employee's total USF FTE 1.00
3. GEMS rcd # 0 7. Faculty 9 month or 12 month 12
4. Salary per GEMS (include stipend) 200,000.00
GRANT 1
1A. Agency NIH 1B. Project #: 1C. Grant Year Awarded 2010
1D. Salary Cap per award 199,700 1E. NIH Cap to Use 199,700 1F. Effort committed 100%
1G. Maximum total annual amount to be charged for a 12 month appointment at this FTE: 199,700
Direct Cost Share Total Monthly Biweekly
1H. Percentages 99% 1% 100% Direct 16,500.00 7,586.21
1J. Salary Dollars 198,000.00 2,000.00 200,000.00 Cost Share 166.67 76.63
Acct Code Unit Dept GL Code Fund Product Initiative
1K. Cost share acct code & chartfield
GRANT 2
2A. Agency NIH 2B. Project #: 2C. Grant Year Awarded
2D. Salary Cap per award 0 2E. NIH Cap to Use 2F. Effort committed
2G. Maximum total annual amount to be charged for a 12 month appointment at this FTE: 0
Direct Cost Share Total Monthly Biweekly
2H. Percentages 0% 0% 0% Direct 0.00 0.00
2J. Salary Dollars 0.00 0.00 0.00 Cost Share 0.00 0.00
Acct Code Unit Dept GL Code Fund Product Initiative
2K. Cost share acct code & chartfield
GRANT 3
3A. Agency NIH 3B. Project #: 3C. Grant Year Awarded
3D. Salary Cap per award 0 3E. NIH Cap to Use 3F. Effort committed
3G. Maximum total annual amount to be charged for a 12 month appointment at this FTE: 0
Direct Cost Share Total Monthly Biweekly
3H. Percentages 0% 0% 0% Direct 0.00 0.00
3J. Salary Dollars 0.00 0.00 0.00 Cost Share 0.00 0.00
Acct Code Unit Dept GL Code Fund Product Initiative
3K. Cost share acct code & chartfield
Pay distributions - Send a copy of the form unsigned to the USF Health Business Office MDC 66.
For PERT, a signed copy of this form must be submitted to RFM ADM 200 with each PERT cycle.
Page 5 of 7
USF Health
NIH Salary Cap Calculation Worksheet
GRANT 4
4A. Agency NIH 4B. Project #: 4C. Grant Year Awarded
4D. Salary Cap per award 0 4E. NIH Cap to Use 4F. Effort committed
4G. Maximum total annual amount to be charged for a 12 month appointment at this FTE: 0
Direct Cost Share Total Monthly Biweekly
4H. Percentages 0% 0% 0% Direct 0.00 0.00
4J. Salary Dollars 0.00 0.00 0.00 Cost Share 0.00 0.00
Acct Code Unit Dept GL Code Fund Product Initiative
4K. Cost share acct code & chartfield
GRANT 5
5A. Agency NIH 5B. Project #: 5C. Grant Year Awarded
5D. Salary Cap per award 0 5E. NIH Cap to Use 0 5F. Effort committed
5G. Maximum total annual amount to be charged for a 12 month appointment at this FTE: 0
Direct Cost Share Total Monthly Biweekly
5H. Percentages 0% 0% 0% Direct 0.00 0.00
5J. Salary Dollars 0.00 0.00 0.00 Cost Share 0.00 0.00
Acct Code Unit Dept GL Code Fund Product Initiative
5K. Cost share acct code & chartfield
SECTION 3 - NIH Salary Cap Summary as Listed on NIH Web Site
Executive Level 1 Executive Level 2
Annual Rate Hourly Rate
Grants Awarded during Annual Rate Hourly Rate Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2001 145,100 69.76
Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2000 141,300 67.93
Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2011 199,700 96.01 Oct. 1 - Dec. 31, 1999 136,700 65.72
Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2010 199,700 96.01
Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2009 196,700 94.57 Executive Level 3
Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2008 191,300 91.97
Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2007 186,600 89.71 Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2000 130,200 62.60
Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2006 183,500 88.22 Oct. 1, 1998 - Dec. 31, 1999 125,900 60.53
Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2005 180,100 86.59
Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2004 175,700 84.47 FY 1992 - FY 1998 Awards (not tied to executive level)
Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2003 171,900 82.64 October 1, 1991 through September 30, 1998 125,000 60.10
Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2002 166,700 80.14
Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2001 161,200 77.50 FY 1992 - FY 1998 Awards (not tied to executive level)
Oct. 1 - Dec. 31, 2000 157,000 75.48 October 1, 1989 through September 30, 1991 120,000 57.69
SECTION 4 - Information
Prepared by: Approved by: Date
Page 6 of 7
Use the highlighted column to enter in #C.
Exec_LevelGrant Year Time Frames Salary Cap
N/A 1990 January 1, 1990 through December 31, 1990 120,000.00
N/A 1991 January 1, 1991 through December 31, 1991 120,000.00
N/A 1992 January 1, 1992 through December 31, 1992 125,000.00
N/A 1993 January 1, 1993 through December 31, 1993 125,000.00
N/A 1994 January 1, 1994 through December 31, 1994 125,000.00
N/A 1995 January 1, 1995 through December 31, 1995 125,000.00
N/A 1996 January 1, 1996 through December 31, 1996 125,000.00
N/A 1997 January 1, 1997 through December 31, 1997 125,000.00
N/A 1998 January 1, 1998 through December 31, 1998 125,000.00
3 1999 January 1, 1999 through December 31, 1999 125,900.00
3 2000.1 January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2000 130,200.00
2 2000.2 January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2000 141,300.00
2 2001.1 January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2001 145,100.00
1 2001.2 January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2001 161,200.00
1 2002 January 1, 2002 through December 31, 2002 166,700.00
1 2003 January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2003 171,900.00
1 2004 January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2004 175,700.00
1 2005 January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2005 180,100.00
1 2006 January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006 183,500.00
1 2007 January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2007 186,600.00
1 2008 January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008 191,300.00
1 2009 January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009 196,700.00
1 2010 January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010 199,700.00
1 2011 January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011 199,700.00
Note: 1. When reporting and computing your NIH salary cap, you are NOT allowed to
cross executive levels.
2. If you are in executive level 1, you may use a higher salary cap PROVIDED
you have enough budget in the award to allow for the difference. You will
not receive any new monies from NIH.