Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate AgreementNICRA
The agreement that sets an institution's official F&A (and often fringe) rates with its cognizant federal agency.
A NICRA records the F&A rates an institution may charge federal awards, the cost base they apply to, and the period they cover. It's negotiated with the institution's cognizant agency: for most universities, the Department of Health and Human Services or the Office of Naval Research.
Rates come as predetermined, provisional, fixed, or final, and proposals are expected to budget at the current negotiated rate unless a sponsor caps it.
The NICRA is the authority for every F&A charge: budgets that don't match it get corrected or disallowed.
Track this in GrantsManager
GrantsManager gives PIs and administrators one real-time view of proposals, awards, budgets, and compliance, so terms like this stop living in spreadsheets.