De minimis rate
A flat indirect cost rate an organisation with no negotiated agreement may elect instead of negotiating one. It is a property of the applicant, elected by the applicant, and no field on an opportunity record is one.
Part of the GrantTrove grant funding glossary — one entry for every field the catalogue stores.
Also called De minimis indirect rate
In detail
The rate exists so that a small organisation is not forced through a negotiation it has no capacity for in order to recover any overhead at all. Electing it is a decision the organisation records in its own accounting policy and then applies consistently across every federal award.
Programmes may still cap indirect recovery below the de minimis rate. Where they do, the cap wins, and it is stated in the notice among the budget instructions rather than in any structured field.
Against a negotiated rate
A negotiated rate is agreed with a cognisant agency and documented in an agreement. The de minimis rate is elected unilaterally by an organisation that has no such agreement. An organisation with a negotiated rate may not use the de minimis rate instead because the negotiated figure is inconvenient. Neither is stored here: both belong to the applicant.
How GrantTrove stores it
- No amount column on a record is a rate. `amount_min`, `amount_max`, `amount_typical` and `amount_total_pool` are award figures, and none is a computed recoverable total.
- Where a notice’s wording qualifies an amount, that wording is kept beside the number in `amount_note` rather than folded into it.
Common questions
Do you record which programmes accept the de minimis rate?
No. It is stated in the notice, and a field empty on most records would read as "no cap", which is the false reading the three-state rule exists to prevent.
Can I switch to the de minimis rate to get more overhead?
Not if you hold a negotiated agreement. The agreement governs while it is in force.
What base does it apply to?
Modified total direct costs, unless the programme says otherwise in writing.