Useful life of computer?

[Carolyn O'Grady]

Hi all,

I have a student who needs a new computer to work on a sponsored project. This student is paid on the project and will use the machine only for this project which is ending in 14 months. Two questions I have related to this:

1. Can 100% of the machine cost over the next 14 months be allowed as a direct cost on the project?
2. What do you consider the useful life of a computer that is used for research, would you think 36, 48, or 60 months? If 100% of the cost is allowable I would use that fraction to allocate the cost, i.e., 14/36, 14/48, or 14/60.

Thanks, Carolyn

[Jeff Zytkovicz]

Hi Carolyn,  from my understanding you should be able to charge 100% of the computer to the grant. Under the old A21 rules, it had to be used exclusively for the project but they've loosened that up under UG. UG states that computing devices are allowable as direct costs but do not need to be solely dedicated to a project, indicating that some non-project use is acceptable, although the predominant use of the computing device should be on the project. 2 CFR 200.453(c) also states that “In the specific case of computing devices, charging as direct costs is allowable for devices that are essential and allocable, but not solely dedicated, to the performance of a Federal award”. If they put the computer in their sponsor-approved budget, I always feel better about approving a 100% allocation. When putting computing devices in the budget at pre-award time, I'd recommend the justification indicate that it's "essential and allocable to the project". This is per the UG PI Quick guide SPA put out a few years back. As for the useful life of a computer, I'm not sure as that is kind of hard to estimate. Kind of depends if they buy a nice one or a piece of junk lol. I'd estimate a useful life is roughly 3-4 years. -Jeff