Faculty Research Incentive Plan

The goal of the Faculty Research Incentive Plan (FRIP) is to provide an incentive for principal or co-principal investigators to secure additional competitively awarded, externally sponsored activities. Through the leveraging of appropriately charged time to competitive grants and contracts, research time that is funded by departments or colleges can be reduced, resulting in salary savings that can be used to both support the incentive program as well as to support academic initiatives.

Faculty members on regular appointments who are principal or co-principal investigators and whose base salaries are supported by E&G funds may qualify and may be approved for an annual one-time research incentive payment. Faculty members with primary appointments in a research institute are not expected to participate.

Implementation Guidelines

The faculty member qualifies for a salary payment when (a) more than 10 percent of the faculty member’s E&G-funded salary has been charged to a competitively awarded sponsored grant or contract during the prior fiscal year, and (b) when the faculty member’s assignments have not changed. Salary recovered due to a teaching buy-out or relief from service or other assignments is not included in the FRIP.

Departments with existing salary recovery plans will work with the Office of Research and Innovation to integrate the existing plan with the FRIP.

Research incentive payments must be approved by the department head or chair, the dean, and the provost (or the appropriate administrators based on reporting structure); all disapprovals must also be reviewed by each management level.

The research incentive payment is a one-time annual supplement to the recipient’s regular annual compensation. It is not included in the retirement base salary. The incentive payment is subject to the applicable federal and state taxes and FICA withholdings. The incentive payment does not affect a recipient’s eligibility for merit or other salary increases. Sponsored research funds cannot be used for research incentive payments; only university funds may be used for this payment. Participation is for the full fiscal year and not eligible for partial fiscal year engagement. Faculty member must have continued employment at the time of payment.

The FRIP will be evaluated annually to determine whether to renew, modify, or discontinue the plan.

Additional information can be found in the “Procedures for Implementing the Faculty Research Incentive Plan”.

How to Participate

A faculty member must indicate his/her participation in the FRIP by the announced due date by completing the Intent to Participate in the Faculty Research Incentive Plan form and submitting it to the appropriate department head/chair or director by the deadline established by the Office of Faculty Affairs. Due dates may vary year to year, but will generally fall in October-December, and will be posted on this webpage.

Departmental administrators will prepare documentation of the recovered salary savings and initiation of the salary recovery payment within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year using the Certification of Salary Recovery form.

PIs and Co-PIs are responsible for timely salary charges to their eligible grants and contracts. Charges posted later than 90 days after the end of the fiscal year will not be considered. Likewise, all salary charges considered in the calculation of the incentive payment must have been previously certified through the PARS process.

Grant and Contract Qualifying Criteria

Only externally funded, competitively awarded grants and contracts qualify for this compensation program. Noncompetitive grants and contracts (e.g., earmarks) do not qualify for the program. The provost has the final authority to determine which grants or contracts are eligible for inclusion in the program.

The amount of salary support recovered from the grant or contract should match faculty effort. Salary recovery charges to an external grant or contract may not exceed actual effort expended.

Under no circumstances should salary recovery payments be charged directly to an extramural grant, nor should they be included in the calculation of the faculty member’s salary for FRIP proposals. The research incentive payments are paid from released E&G salary savings once certification of salary recovery is confirmed.

2025-26 Timeline

Forms and Additional Information

Forms should be submitted to facultyaffairs@vt.edu

• Procedures for Implementing the Faculty Research Incentive Plan (PDF)
• Intention to Participate in the Faculty Research Incentive Plan Form (PDF)
• Certification of Salary Recovery Form (PDF)
• FRIP Calculator (BETA)

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is participation in the Faculty Research Incentive Plan (FRIP) mandatory? No. Faculty members apply to participate each fiscal year by the posted due date. If a faculty member does not choose to participate, the faculty member’s college and/or department policies related to salary savings remain in effect. The existing policies may need to be met before participating in the FRIP. Participation is for the full fiscal year and not eligible for partial fiscal year engagements. Faculty member must be employed at the time of payment.
2. Is there a minimum or maximum amount for the incentive payment? The minimum amount for receiving an incentive payment is $100; amounts less than $100 will remain in the department or college budget. There is no maximum amount based on the salary level of the faculty member, but faculty may only charge up to 50 percent of their base salary to grants/contracts as part of the calculation for incentive payments. Exceptions to the cap will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
3. When and how will incentive payments be made? Incentive payments will be processed using a P-14A form and will be a one-time payment. The payment will be processed after the 90-day fiscal year close-out period ends on September 30. Payments will be made from university funds. Funding from an external sponsor (grants or contracts) cannot be used for research incentive payments.
4. What are examples of competitive and non-competitive research funds? Competitive research funds are those awarded by an agency or organization usually in response to a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) from federal agencies (see grants.gov). FOAs usually involve a competition for funds. FOAs may be known as program announcements, requests for applications, notices of funding availability, solicitations, or other names depending on the agency and type of program. FOAs can be found at grants.gov and in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts. Other research funding may be awarded through the Office of Sponsored Programs from foundations, institutions, organizations, business/industry, or other entities. These research funds may be used to support academic year research efforts and may be included in the calculation of salary savings. Funds awarded through earmarks, noncompetitive grants (e.g., HATCH), or donations to the Virginia Tech Foundation are not included in this plan. The Office of Faculty Affairs makes the final determination when there is a question about noncompetitive funds.
5. What does the annual salary used in the calculation for FRIP include? The annual salary used in FRIP calculations is the prior fiscal year’s E&G-funded salary; it does not include privately-funded ES (eminent scholar stipends) or other one-time additional pay (including from prior year FRIP payments). For faculty on leave with partial pay, the calculation would be adjusted to be based on their full pay.
6. Are PIs and Co-PIs allowed to shift research funding on existing grants and contracts to cover larger percentages of their salaries and thus qualify for an incentive payment? Current grants and contracts have budgets and justifications for the effort attributed to the PI/Co-PI. The expectation is that the effort will remain the same. If greater PI/Co-PI effort is needed, faculty members should consult with the department head to discuss the increased need and the implications for other personnel funded on grants and contracts (e.g., graduate research assistants, postdoctoral associates, and other research staff). PIs/Co-PIs are unlikely to shift funding to their salaries if such a shift would reduce the overall efforts justified for the grant, as this would threaten the success of the research. Department heads must approve these funding changes and should discuss each situation individually. The intention of the FRIP is to increase overall research funding, not to shift current funding for other personnel to the salaries and efforts of PIs or Co-PIs. All salary charges considered in the calculation of the incentive program must have been previously certified through the PARS process.
7. How will this incentive plan be integrated with existing department, college, or institute programs? The FRIP is designed to provide a one-time annual salary payment, which is not part of any existing college, department, or institute plan. Faculty members with primary appointments in research institutes are not expected to participate in the FRIP, as their primary assignment is to pursue funded research grants and contracts. Likewise, faculty members on restricted appointments are not eligible to participate. There may be department or institute policies that supersede the FRIP. If there are perceived conflicts between existing salary recovery plans and the FRIP, please contact the Office of Faculty Affairs to consult.
8. Will information sessions for faculty or staff members be offered? Please contact the Office of Faculty Affairs to arrange for presentations to departmental meetings or other groups. Additional educational opportunities may be offered during the academic year.
9. What would be reasons for disapproving a research incentive payment? Though reasons may vary, the most likely reason would be when departments and colleges include noncompetitive research funding in the year-end calculation of AY salary savings..
10. Will a form be provided to department administrators for requesting payment of research incentive payments? Yes, a form will be posted each year for making these requests.

Questions

Email Rachel Gabriele, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs