This effort may be expended during the Academic Year, Summer Quarter only, or both. For all other research proposals, some level of effort on the part of the PI must be committed to the project. Upon award of the project, when the committed effort is expended and NOT charged to the project, a corresponding amount of salary must be treated as cost sharing The underlying principle here is that the allocation of effort and salary should reasonably correlate to one another. Proposals should accurately represent the amount of time that key personnel are committing to the project. Once the project is underway, the PI must certify quarterly that, to the best of his or her knowledge, actual salaries are appropriate in relation to work performed.
Salaries constitute the single largest category of costs paid by research sponsors.
The proper handling of this funding rests on the PI's thoughtful allocation of effort and monitoring of project performance.