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IBM Report: Reducing Administrative Burden in Federal Research Grants to Universities

The IBM Center for the Business of Government released a new report analyzing the regulatory and policy requirements surrounding federal research grants. The study focused on financial and programmatic requirements to comply with federal mandates. The report reveals that university researchers may spend up to 44% of their time complying with administrative requirements, rather than actually conducting research. According to IBM, the burden is due in part to auditors’ drastically different interpretations of federal mandates. Inconsistencies among auditors leads universities to favor extremely risk-averse administrative policies. As a conclusion, the report offers several possible solutions to streamline oversight.

The full report can be found here.