Department: Management and Budget
Department Head/Elected Official: Daniel Ramos, Executive Director
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Discussion Item
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
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Request for discussion and possible action on two proposed policies from the approved Harris County 5-year Financial Plan: the Grants Indirect Cost Policy and the Department and Special Fund Indirect Cost Policy.
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Background and Discussion:
Following discussion on the September 10 Commissioners Court and input from Commissioners Court, OMB is returning for approval of the Grants Indirect Cost Policy and the Department and Special Fund Indirect Cost Policy.
Harris County incurs overhead costs, such as facilities and administration, in the General Fund to support various activities that are themselves not funded with the General Fund. The County currently has no uniform policy that establishes whether to or how to recover these indirect costs, and so they are managed in an ad hoc manner where some grants, departments, or special funds are charged indirect costs while others are not. There are two main cases where such costs occur: grants and special funds, and OMB is presenting two policies that cover each for discussion.
In the Grants Indirect Cost Policy, OMB proposes that indirect costs for grant applications should be at least 5% across Harris County unless otherwise approved. This amount is based on a study performed by MGT of America using actual expenditures and other data to determine full indirect costs attributable for County work. Departments can go higher than 5% without approval. OMB proposes to exclude grants for public infrastructure and exempt departments, whose main operat...
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