Core Facility Management Certification — Professional

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1. Module 1

   1

   1 lesson · 6 h

   1. Locked.What a core facility is, in regulatory terms6 h · Locked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [R] Explain the difference between how a facility director describes their facility and how 2 CFR Part 200 describes it.
      • [A] Determine whether a described operation falls within §200.468 and whether its costs are material for the purposes of that section.
      • [An] Determine whether an operation's costs should be charged directly on actual usage under §200.468(b) or allocated as indirect costs under (c), and justify the determination.
      • [R] State that §200.468 contains no dollar threshold and that materiality is a defended judgement.
      • [R] Identify the applicable credits under §200.406 that attach to a facility.

2. Module 2

   2

   1 lesson · 8 h

   1. Locked.§200.468 clause by clause8 h · Locked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [R] State §200.468(b)'s two conditions on the schedule of rates or established methodology: that it does not discriminate between activities under federal awards and other activities of the recipient, including usage by the institution for internal purposes, and that it is designed to recover only the aggregate costs of the services.
      • [R] State the requirement that rates be adjusted at least biennially and take into consideration over- or under-applied costs of the previous period(s).
      • [An] Apply the non-discrimination requirement to five real pricing arrangements and identify which breach it.
      • [A] Determine when §200.468(c) applies and the consequence of allocating a facility's costs as indirect.
      • [R] Describe the §200.468(d) alternative costing arrangement, who negotiates it, and why a facility director does not.
      • [An] Identify a §200.468 breach in a described facility and state the remedy.

3. Module 3

   3

   1 lesson · 5 h

   1. Locked.Double recovery and the F&A interface5 h · Locked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [An] Identify where a facility's costs are also recovered through the institution's F&A rate.
      • [A] Determine whether an instrument depreciated into a recharge rate also sits in the institution's F&A equipment pool, and state the remedy.
      • [A] Determine the treatment of space and utilities charged into a recharge rate where the same space appears in operation and maintenance.
      • [R] Describe, at navigation level, what Appendix III to Part 200 does and which pools are relevant to a facility.
      • [An] Escalate correctly: identify the questions a facility director must route to the central office rather than resolve.

4. Module 4

   4

   1 lesson · 9 h

   1. Locked.Building a break-even rate9 h · Locked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [A] Assemble a facility's full cost base from its component costs.
      • [A] Exclude from the rate base every cost that is unallowable, recovered elsewhere, attributable to non-recharge activity, or funded by subsidy.
      • [A] Select a rate unit and defend the choice.
      • [A] Compute a break-even rate from a cost base and a projected volume.
      • [A] Build multiple rates for a facility with genuinely different services.
      • [An] Determine when a single blended rate cross-subsidises in a way that breaches §200.468(b).
      • [An] Model the sensitivity of break-even to a volume shortfall and identify the point at which the rate model fails.
      • [A] Prepare a rate proposal package for institutional review.

5. Module 5

   5

   1 lesson · 7 h

   1. Locked.Carryforward, biennial review and rate maintenance7 h · Locked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [A] Compute a prior-period over- or under-application from a facility's actual costs and actual revenue.
      • [A] Carry a surplus or deficit forward into the next rate and show the arithmetic.
      • [An] Explain why a persistently accumulating surplus is a rate error rather than a profit, and what §200.468(b) requires be done about it.
      • [A] Determine when a rate must be adjusted mid-year and when it should not.
      • [A] Assemble the evidence of a biennial rate review, including where the conclusion is that no change is needed.
      • [An] Diagnose a facility whose rate has not been reviewed in six years and sequence the remediation.

6. Module 6

   6

   1 lesson · 6 h

   1. Locked.User classes, discounts and the “favour” problem6 h · Locked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [A] Define user classes and apply them consistently.
      • [An] Determine whether a proposed differential between two internal user classes is permissible under §200.468(b).
      • [An] Identify a "favour" rate — an undocumented discount to a colleague or a friendly department — as a breach of the non-discrimination requirement, and articulate why to the person who granted it.
      • [A] Convert an informal practice into a compliant documented subsidy applied to a defined class.
      • [A] Publish a rate schedule and explain why publication is itself a control.
      • [A] Handle a waiver request.

7. Module 7

   7

   1 lesson · 5 h

   1. Locked.External sales, subsidy and when to escalate5 h · Locked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [A] Set an external (non-institutional) user rate.
      • [R] State that §200.468 does not prohibit charging external customers a higher rate, and identify precisely what the non-discrimination requirement does constrain.
      • [An] Identify the questions raised by an external sales surplus — applicable credit treatment under §200.406, unrelated business income tax, and rate base distortion — and escalate rather than determine the tax question.
      • [A] Record an institutional subsidy correctly and ensure the subsidised portion is not recovered from federal awards.
      • [An] Determine whether serving another institution is a subaward or a procurement of services, and identify who makes that determination.

8. Module 8

   8

   1 lesson · 8 h

   1. Locked.Billing, usage records and reconciliation8 h · Locked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [A] Operate a billing cycle from usage capture to posting to reconciliation.
      • [An] Explain why usage records are the audit evidence for every charge, by reference to §200.468(b)'s requirement that charges be based on actual usage.
      • [A] Reconcile the scheduling system, the billing system and the general ledger, and investigate a break.
      • [A] Resolve a billing dispute.
      • [A] Handle a charge that lands after an award's period of performance ends.
      • [An] Determine where the loss falls on an unrecoverable charge, and identify the non-discrimination question raised by absorbing it selectively.

9. Module 9

   9

   1 lesson · 5 h

   1. Locked.Facility systems and in-year financial management5 h · Locked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [A] Track the facility's operating position against break-even during the year and identify the management action available at each point.
      • [A] Produce a financial position for institutional review and for audit.
      • [An] Evaluate a facility management or scheduling system against compliance requirements — immutable usage records, rate versioning, audit trail, user class management — as distinct from convenience features.
      • [A] Specify the reporting a facility needs from its system.

10. Module 10

    10

    1 lesson · 7 h

    1. Locked.Instruments: business case, funding and depreciation7 h · Locked

       On completion you will be able to

       • [A] Build an instrument business case including its effect on the facility's rate.
       • [An] Determine, for each funding route — institutional capital, equipment grant, funder instrumentation programme, departmental contribution, lease — whether and how the instrument may be depreciated into the rate.
       • [A] Apply §200.439 and its prior-approval requirement.
       • [A] Apply the §200.1 equipment definition (the lesser of the institution's capitalisation level or $10,000).
       • [An] Identify a double recovery arising from an instrument's funding route.
       • [A] Manage a competitive procurement for a major instrument in compliance with institutional and funder procurement rules.

11. Module 11

    11

    1 lesson · 5 h

    1. Locked.Service contracts, replacement and disposal5 h · Locked

       On completion you will be able to

       • [A] Evaluate and negotiate a service and maintenance contract.
       • [A] Compute the total cost of an instrument over its life, including service.
       • [An] Assess whether an institution permits a replacement reserve to be accumulated through the rate, and identify the §200.468(b) constraint on doing so.
       • [A] Plan a replacement.
       • [A] Manage decommissioning and disposal, applying §200.313's disposition requirements to federally funded equipment.

12. Module 12

    12

    1 lesson · 7 h

    1. Locked.Access, training records and the safety boundary7 h · Locked

       On completion you will be able to

       • [A] Design an access control regime proportionate to risk and requirement.
       • [A] Maintain training records demonstrating that every user was trained and authorised before they used the instrument.
       • [A] Operate onboarding and — critically — offboarding.
       • [An] Identify precisely who owns each safety requirement, and escalate across the boundary rather than determining across it.
       • [A] Design scheduling policy including booking, cancellation, no-shows and priority, and recognise that a no-show charge is subject to the same non-discrimination requirement as any other charge.
       • [A] Manage staffing: role definitions, cover, succession.
       • [A] Produce a business continuity position for instrument failure and staff absence.

13. Module 13

    13

    1 lesson · 7 h

    1. Locked.Utilisation, instrument data and sustainability7 h · Locked

       On completion you will be able to

       • [A] Define, collect and report utilisation metrics that serve both management and rate setting.
       • [An] Distinguish utilisation, productivity and impact, and report each honestly rather than reporting the most flattering.
       • [A] Produce a facility annual report to institutional leadership.
       • [A] Write a facility data policy: capture, retention, transfer, and the point at which responsibility passes to the researcher.
       • [A] Apply the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework to a facility staff member's contribution and state a defensible facility policy on acknowledgement versus authorship.
       • [An] Quantify the gap between cost recovery and sustainability, and present it as an institutional strategic decision rather than a management failure.
       • [R] Identify the facility's environmental footprint and the operational levers available.