Health Sciences Technology Services Charge (HS-TSC)

​Guidance to Health Sciences regarding UC San Diego Health Technology Services Charge and its application to sponsored research contracts and grants

Health Sciences Communications issued a notice on May 9, 2017, about the Health Sciences Technology Services Charge (HS-TSC) applicable to sponsored research contracts and grants.  This charge is for services to ensure a higher level of security protection for Health Sciences personnel who are clinically integrated with HIPPA data. The rate has been updated below for FY 2023.

The following are guidelines regarding the HS Technology Service Charge, based on information available to us at this time: 

  • $122.33 per month per projected FTE or fractional proportion based on FTE effort. 
  • Applies to contracts and grants for researchers operating within the Health Sciences domain, and receiving full-service support from HS-ITS.
  • Applies to those HS personnel operating at “full-service” locations. “No-Service” locations will not be subject to this charge.  (Full-Service and No-Services refer to the level of services provided by HS-ITS.)
  • Applies to contract and grant budgets for all sponsors.
  • Include on proposal budgets now. Include a 7% escalation rate in the out years. 
  • Applies to contract and grant awards effective July 1, 2022.
  • Will not apply to awards from sponsors that do not allow these types of costs as a direct charge without advance notification and approval.  If a sponsor does not approve, it will be necessary to allocate this charge to other discretionary funds as approved by the Department Chair.
  • Awards, where funding is not adequate to cover these charges, will be given consideration of a waiver from these fees, on an award by award basis, from their Department Chair.
  • Does not apply to General Campus or SIO researchers.  For General Campus or SIO researchers collaborating with Health Sciences researchers on projects, the fee will only be assessed for Health Sciences affiliated personnel and will not be assessed on the salaries of non-Health Sciences personnel.

The budget line item and justification for this charge should be included in all proposal budgets.  

BUDGET LINE ITEM:  HS-TSC (Health Sciences Technology Services Charge)                $$$$

BUDGET JUSTIFICATION:

UC San Diego Health Information Services costs have been included to reflect costs associated with the increased level of security required for all personnel within UC San Diego Health, which includes UC San Diego School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, and the hospitals and clinics. These charges are directly attributable and proportionally applied to the individual(s) included in the proposed budget for the project.  

BUDGET CLARIFICATION IF MORE INFORMATION IS REQUESTED :

UC San Diego Health Information Services (IS) provides mandatory Information Technology Services to all Health Sciences faculty and investigators, including costs associated with the increased level of security required for all personnel within UC San Diego Health, which includes UC San Diego School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, and the hospitals and clinics. To mitigate the specific risk profile of this highly connected environment, UC San Diego Health Information Services ensures that all PIs to who IS provides services, whether they directly access patient information or not, operate in a highly secure desktop, application, and server environment with dedicated and highly trained support. Charges are based on the percent of FTE working on a grant and are charged on a monthly basis.

These costs are not included in the campus' Facilities & Administration (F&A) rate as an indirect cost. UC San Diego auditors have determined that it is both equitable and consistent with the OMB Circular 2 CFR 200 provisions on cost allocability that the costs be assigned to FTE on grant and contract funds. Accordingly, an allocable portion of these Technology Services costs is included in this proposal as direct project costs.

For questions about the Health Sciences Technology Services Charge please contact Andrew Greaves.