Joint Associations Group Pitches New Model to Assess Research Costs

By: Yvette Seger
Thursday, July 24, 2025
In response to administration proposals to apply a flat 15 percent Facilities and Administration (F&A) rate to research grants issued by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense, a group of 10 national organizations launched the Joint Associations Group on Indirect Costs (JAG) to develop a new model to support these costs. After collecting feedback from research administrators, individual researchers, and members of Congress, JAG released its Financial Accountability in Research (FAIR) Model on July 11, followed by a virtual town hall with the research community on July 15.

The goal of the FAIR model is to provide a transparent and less complex approach to determining the indirect costs associated with conducting research. As proposed, the model presents research costs in three categories: research performance costs (formerly “direct costs” that represent project-specific expenditures to perform the research), essential research performance support (project-specific costs needed to support completion of a specific project), and general research operations (costs that cannot easily be assigned to a specific project but are applicable to all research activities).

JAG is currently seeking feedback on and additional testing of the FAIR model. Researchers and research administrators are encouraged to submit feedback on the model or via webform. Additional resources about the JAG initiative are available here.