(A) Authority
This rule is established by authority conferred upon the
chancellor of higher education in section
3333.04 of the Revised
Code.
(B) Definitions
As used in this rule:
(1) "Action funds" means a program that
awards outright grants to projects initiated by eligible institutions which
meet the criteria and conditions described in this rule.
(2) "Investment funds" means a program that
provides interest-free loans to projects initiated by eligible institutions
which meet the criteria and conditions described in this rule.
(3) "Required match" means the amount of
money an institution
must pledge
pledges as required by an external funding agency in
support of a proposed project for which they are seeking funds. The match does
not include in-kind contributions by the institution.
(4) "Institutional liaison" means an academic
or fiscal officer of an eligible institution with full-time status as an
employee and who has been identified by the president of the institution as the
liaison to the Ohio department of higher education for the purposes of the
programs described in this rule.
(5) "Ohio council on research and economic
development" means a volunteer council appointed by the chancellor of higher
education to advise her/him on short and long-term programmatic options for
improving the research and economic development activities of the Ohio
department of higher education and the state-assisted colleges and
universities. The council serves at the invitation of the chancellor.
(6) "Major construction and/or renovation"
means building and renovation projects, including instrumentation, for which
the total project costs exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars for action
fund proposals, and two hundred thousand dollars for investment fund
proposals.
(7) "Research
facilities" means any building, or part of a building, structure, facility,
site or other interest in real estate used in connection with the conduct or
operation of an educational institution for research by faculty, students or
staff of that institution.
(8)
"Multi-campus research consortium" means two or more universities and/or
colleges in mutual, collaborative planning and implementation of a research
project. A multi-campus research consortium should demonstrate increased
efficiency and effectiveness in the use of state resources and in the impact
that can be achieved through collaboration. The Ohio department of higher
education may request that the university research officers and two college
representatives acting as an advisory council to the chancellor provide advice
on the quality and authenticity of multi-campus research
consortia.
(C) Scope and
purpose
The "action and investment funds" provide grants and loans, in
a timely manner, to eligible institutions of higher education for the
construction and/or renovation of research facilities and/or
instrumentation.
(D)
Eligibility
Eligibility is limited to Ohio's state-assisted colleges and
universities and two independent graduate research universities (Case Western
Reserve university and the university of Dayton). These schools
shall be
are
encouraged, through the consortial principle detailed in this paragraph, to
link up with research strengths in other Ohio institutions to ensure that
Ohio's resources are fully and efficiently employed. As a general principle,
the Ohio department of higher education encourages research projects that
exhibit a local, regional, or statewide consortia approach. This approach
includes, but is not limited to: the cooperative use of instrumentation and
facilities by researchers from other eligible institutions; collaborative
research projects; the establishment of inter-university research institutes or
centers; and programs that aid the articulation of students into and through
higher education.
(E)
Management of the funds
The college or university shall
is to appoint an
officer as liaison to the Ohio department of higher education for all action
and investment fund requests. Only requests received from this officer or from
a designee shall
will be considered. The Ohio department of higher
education shall
will maintain an online database of the projects which
have received action and investment fund support. The institutional liaison
officers may be asked to assist in monitoring these commitments so that the
chancellor's staff will be able to make the best possible use of resources. The
Ohio research officers' council will be charged with developing recommendations
for the use of the funds to be presented to the Ohio department of higher
education; and assisting the staff in conducting an annual review of the
effectiveness of the funds to prepare recommendations for the Ohio department
of higher education.
(F)
Procedures for application
(1) The action fund
is a grant program which combines state support with institutional or other
funds for capital projects in order to leverage major awards by federal and
private agency programs, especially those that
require
utilize a
competitive review
process.
(2) Limits and conditions for action fund
support:
(a) Categories of support are limited
to new construction, expansion or renovation of existing research facilities,
and/or the purchase of major research equipment and instrumentation to be used
for research and research-oriented instructional programs.
(b) "Major awards" means total project costs
of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars or more. The minimum action fund
commitment is sixty thousand dollars and the maximum is three million
dollars.
(c) For the purpose of
review, there are three categories of proposals to the action fund: proposals
that are peer reviewed and have a required institutional cost share; proposals
that are peer reviewed but do not have a required level of institutional
participation; and proposals that do not receive a peer review on the national
level. The federal agencies whose programs are eligible for action fund
leverage without further review at the state-level include those from the
national science foundation, the national institutes of health, and a few other
agencies that have a required match or participation from the institution.
Those proposals not meeting the criteria for national peer review and/or a
required level of participation by the institution described above will be
considered according to the procedures for review established for the
investment fund described in paragraphs (F)(9)(a) to (F)(9)(e) of this rule.
A list of all agencies and/or programs considered to have
national peer review will be available from the Ohio department of higher
education.
(d) Action fund
commitments are conditional and pledged in support of a specific project
proposal and for a limited period of time. If the designated sponsor does not
support the proposal within the stipulated period of time, the pledge of
support is canceled.
(e) The action
fund is intended as an enhancement that strengthens a proposal that an
institution would submit in any case; it is not a substitute for institutional
commitment. Action funds
shall
are to be used only for capital expenditures and only
to match institutional capital expenditures of an equal or greater amount; the
sponsor's funds may or may not be for capital costs. Action funds
shall
are to
match only cash-cost sharing.
(i) The action
fund contribution may be used to replace up to fifty per cent of the
institution's required match or participation.
(ii) If there is no required level of
institutional participation or matching, action funds may be used to match up
to fifty per cent of the institutional cost
share.
(3)
Request for action funds:
The request for an action fund commitment
shall require
is to
include the following : a letter from the institutional liaison(s); a
summary or abstract of the most current draft of the proposal narrative and the
proposal budget, showing the commitment of all parties including the action
fund and the sponsor(s); and a brief narrative describing the consortia
arrangements (if applicable), the project's impact on the strategic needs of
the state together with a description of the role that it will have in
addressing the human resources needs of the discipline(s) involved described in
the section on educational activities, paragraph (G) of this rule.
(a) Electronic proposal: The institutional
liaison or designee
shall
is to clarify funding levels, use of funds, estimated
date to purchase instrumentation, or for institutional requests to extend the
estimated date of the external award period, for the proposal project request.
The project title and principal investigator and/or project director's name,
address, and telephone number(s) and email address
shall
is to be listed
to enable the chancellor's staff to ask questions during the review period. The
institution
shall
is
to propose a time limit for the pledged support; typically this will
coincide with the sponsor's stated award date.
A summary or abstract of the most recent version of the
proposal narrative shall
is to be provided in the electronic proposal
submission by the institutional liaison or designee. The narrative
shall
is to
include sufficient information for the staff to identify the nature of the
research project or program being proposed and the work plan, etc. A copy of
the full proposal shall
is to be available if requested by the chancellor's
staff. A copy of the proposal's budget shall
is to be
included.
(b) Budget: A
budget defined in the electronic proposal submission request
shall
is to
identify the contributions of the agency, institution, and action fund to the
total project costs. The budget
shall
is to identify the major areas of
expenditure.
(c) Narrative: A brief
narrative defined in the electronic proposal submission request
shall
is to
identify the project's impact on the strategic needs of the state, including
its quality of life; a description of the role of the project in addressing the
human resources needs of the discipline(s) involved described in the section on
educational activities, paragraph (G) of this rule; and any consortia
arrangements or planning involved in the project's
activities.
(4) Action
fund proposal review
(a) All requests for
required-match peer-reviewed grants
shall
is to be
received by the Ohio department of higher education no later than three weeks
before the sponsoring agency's published deadline for receipt of proposals.
Proposals will be accepted up to
three
seven working days before the agencies' deadlines in
extraordinary circumstances. Requests for non-peer reviewed grants or those not
requiring a match by the institution
shall
are to be
received at least five weeks before the sponsoring agency's published
deadline.
(b) Required matching,
peer-reviewed fund proposals: requests for action fund support for a portion of
a required match
shall
will be reviewed by the staff with the advice of the
Ohio department of higher education and the university research officers and
two college representatives to determine if the request follows the guidelines
described in paragraphs (F)(3)(a) to (F)(3)(c) of this rule and meets the
criteria of peer-reviewed and requiring a institutional match. The staff
shall
will
forward a recommendation to the chancellor.
(c) A copy of the "Request for Proposals" or
"Program Announcement" and description of the peer review procedures
shall
will be
available for chancellor's staff review.
(d) Non-required match or non-peer reviewed
fund proposals: Requests for action fund support for proposals not requiring a
match and/or not receiving a peer review shall be reviewed following the
procedures outlined for investment fund requests and described in paragraphs
(F)(9)(b) to (F)(9)(e) of this rule.
(e) A report of all applications for and
awards made under these procedures
shall
will be
forwarded to the president of the Ohio senate and the speaker of the Ohio house
of representatives on a regular basis.
(5) The investment fund is a loan program
which assists, in a timely fashion, in major construction and/or renovation to
campus research facilities. The funds
shall
will be
distributed in one or more competitive rounds each year, with total funding
limited to the amount currently allocated for that purpose by the Ohio
department of higher education.
(6)
Limits and conditions of support for investment fund proposals
(a) Categories of support are limited to
major construction or renovation of campus research buildings or that portion
of campus buildings which
shall
are to be used principally for research and
research-oriented instructional activities.
(b) Minimum investment fund participation
shall be
is
two hundred thousand dollars; the maximum
shall
be
is three million dollars.
(c) Investment fund loans
shall be
are
interest-free.
(d) Loans
shall
will
normally be repaid over a ten-year period from the time funds are available.
Institutions
shall have the option of
delaying the initial payments for one to three years, although in such cases
the yearly payment
must
will be at a higher rate to permit repayment within
the remaining portion of the ten-year period. A delayed payment schedule
shall
will be
proposed at the time of the original request. In the case of very large loans
(in excess of two million five hundred thousand dollars), a fifteen-year
repayment schedule may be considered.
(e) Repayments of loans
shall
will be
deposited to the higher education improvement fund (fund 034).
(f) A maximum for any one institution's share
of the total investment fund may be set by the chancellor.
(g) Priority
shall
will be given to
investment fund proposals for facilities and research groups which have
attracted other, non-state funds and which clearly add to the competitiveness
of the state's institutions for future research funding.
(7) Investment fund grants for multi-campus
research consortia
(a) In order that
collaborative research projects may be encouraged, the Ohio department of
higher education may make investment grants to multicampus research consortia.
The conditions and limitations of paragraphs (F)(6)(a), (F)(6)(b), (F)(6)(f)
and (F)(6)(g) of this rule apply. These grants will not require
repayment.
(b) Priority
shall
will be
given to investment grant proposals from multi-campus research consortia that
demonstrate a high probability of attracting future federal or other external
funding and that combine state resources in a manner that increases the
competitiveness of Ohio universities in external grant funding
competitions.
(c) Projects from
multi-campus research consortia should include an evaluation component to
assess such cost-effectiveness.
(d)
Any consortium
must
is to be one that is legally constituted and that
complies with all applicable Ohio law.
(8) Requests for investment funds
A request for investment funds shall
is to include at
least three components: a letter and a narrative report from the institution
describing the project; a copy of any feasibility or planning studies that
outline the construction and/or renovation planned; and a total project
budget.
(a) Institutional letter: The
letter
shall
is
to be signed by the chief research and fiscal officers of the institution
and
shall request a specific amount of
money from the investment fund. The project name and a brief description of the
nature and timetable for the project and for repayment
shall
is to be
included in this letter.
Narrative report: The narrative report
shall
is to
include a description of: the nature of the research activities to be housed in
the facility; the scholarly merit of these activities; the project's impact on
the strategic needs of the state; the role of the project in addressing the
human resource needs of the discipline(s) involved as described in the section
on educational activities, paragraph (G) of this rule; the role of the
investment in leveraging additional resources and attracting long-term economic
development for Ohio; and the funding and research opportunities a positive
department decision would provide the institution.
(b) Studies: Copies of any feasibility and/or
planning studies that outline the construction and/or renovation planned for
the specific facilities
shall
is to be included.
(c) Budget: A separate budget
shall
is to be
prepared which identifies the costs for planning and construction/renovation of
the facilities and the timetable for the project.
(9) Investment fund proposal review
(a) The distribution of monies from the
investment fund
shall
will be made in one or more competitive rounds each
year. A request for proposals
shall
will be issued by the Ohio department of higher
education before the review.
(b)
All proposals
shall
will be reviewed by the chancellor's staff with the
advice of the university research officers and two college representatives
acting as an advisory council to the chancellor and, if necessary, statewide
research advisory councils. The research Officers council
shall
are to
advise the chancellor on issues of:
(i) The
level of support requested, which can include an analysis of the adequacy of
the funds to support the proposed activities or facilities and the strength of
institutional commitment;
(ii) The
collaborative opportunities of the project, which can include an analysis of
the project planning process, research-oriented instructional activities, or
potential for cooperative use of the facilities and/or
instrumentation;
(iii) The
scientific merit of the activity which can include the value of the proposed
activities to the discipline and/or the strengthen of Ohio's research
infrastructure.
(c) The
chancellor's staff and the research officers' council may seek a consultant to
help determine scientific merit and/or the feasibility of plan.
(d) Research advisory councils may assist the
chancellor on questions of scientific merit; collaborative opportunities; and
the level of support as described in paragraph (F)(9)(b) of this rule. The
statewide research advisory councils may be convened in broadly defined
disciplinary groups of faculty and researchers from the state-assisted colleges
and universities which are eligible for action and investment funds.
(e) The chancellor's staff
shall
will
make recommendations for support, including funding levels, to the
chancellor.
(G)
Educational activities
Colleges and universities proposing to use action and
investment fund monies are required to describe the contribution the project
makes to research-oriented instructional activities and development of human
resources. This statement may include, but is not limited to, the role of
research in student training, course preparation, and seminars. Special
effectiveness or achievement in the area of producing professionals from groups
presently under-represented in the discipline should be described. Finally, the
descriptions must specify actions to be taken by the proposing
program.