Costs

Costs

• What are the costs?
• How are they calculated?
• How am I billed?
• What if I don't have a grant?

Currently, use of the RCC is free, but this will change on October 1, 2009, when a nominal charge for allowable costs will be instituted.

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What are the costs?

Effective October 1, 2009 there will be a nominal charge of $0.11/CPU hour. This charge reflects costs for licenses and maintenance contracts, the only allowable costs that may be passed along to users according to F&A regulations. Currently, there is no charge for the limited storage that is available, however as storage needs increase, a charge may be instituted.

This usage charge is allowable by most research funding agencies, so it is important to included it as costs when proposals are being written. To help users estimate their usage, we will provide data on past usage. We will also provide researchers with the text and details needed to justify the costs.

What is the CPU hr cost for FY2010?

The cost depends upon the RCC queue that you use for your job. Most queues cost 11 cents per CPU hour, but there are a few queues that are free for the users that obtained the equipment and licenses used on that queue. Please see the table below.

FY2010 CPU hr Cost Back to top

How are the costs calculated?

The cost is calculated for each fiscal year based on the actual costs for maintenance contracts and licensing fees for the current budget year. The total cost is divided by the total number of CPU hours of computing used in the previous twelve months on all RCC shared use computers.

Currently, there are no charges for equipment that has maintenance and license fees paid by the granting or funding source that was used to acquire it. However, as funding periods end and warranties expire, fees will be imposed to keep maintenance and license contracts valid as needed.

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How am I billed?

The Office of Research Services and the RCC have implemented a tracking system that will keep track of each user's compute time and storage usage at the RCC. These totals will be provided in the form of an electronic monthly bill that will be sent to each primary investigator, Laboratory head, or Departmental accountant as arranged.

In order to institute the new system, all researchers, laboratory heads and users will need to re-register in a new system that will go on line in September. Users will need to use their MyID, and individual users can be paired with specific grants that should be charged for their CPU time. Users that do not have MyIDs (e.g. Collaborators) will have the ability to get IDs that can be used in the system. Current users will be notified when the system is ready and links will appear on this RCC web site.

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What if I don't have a grant?

Users that do not have a grant to cover their usage charges should apply for an internal grant. Your usage will not be cut off. However, continued use of the RCC will require submission and approval of an internal grant request to the RCAC. Please check the OVPR internal grants page after September 14th for links to the application. The first applications will be reviewed in October 2009. Information will be posted on this RCC Web site and a notice will be sent to all users.