Gravy Train of NIH "Indirects" Gets Bull-DOGEd
Progressively Growing Extra Costs Tagged to Research Grants Cut Back to 15%
By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
I talked to someone today who has recently received a coveted NIH RO1 grant. Instead of being happy she said she is terrified. Why? Recently, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has trimmed back “indirects” universities and hospitals slap on top of the direct research funded projects. This rate has grown from 15% over decades to >50% at many prestigious medical centers. The current indirect rate at Harvard is 69%.
Research administrative personnel costs have exponentially grown over time creating more bureaucracy with all the policies and procedures put in place to justify those positions, office space, and resources.
The new policy, currently blocked by a federal court, would limit NIH research funding for "indirect costs," or overhead expenses, to 15%, which is far below what most institutions receive.
I think this is a healthy trim for government-funded research in the United States. The public deserves more dollars going to the research itself and less being siphoned off as indirect, poorly justified overhead costs which amount to administrative largess.
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Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
President, McCullough Foundation
www.mcculloughfnd.org
Most people do not realize what this is. Having worked for a research university for most of my career and most of those years in areas where the research was highly funded by NIH and NSF, I literally sucked in my breath at this news. Faculty and researchers have complained for years about the overhead costs (indirects). Well let's see what it really cost to keep the lights on. This will cause a reduction in the bloat and there is lots of bloat. I am retired now and happy to sit this one out. Thanks for sharing it.
As a former fed and contract project officer, I was always outraged at 25% overhead with 15% indirect on top that. Clearly this long overdue. As is reform of the entire contracting process which most likely continues to take cancellation for poor performance virtually impossible.