Other Direct Cost
Definition
Other Direct Costs (ODC) are the remaining costs that are directly related to the project such as publications, tuition remission, payments to human subjects, animal costs, leases, and maintenance contracts.- ODC must be described in detail in the budget justification to adequately explain and support the amount of costs in the proposal.
- Different sponsors’ guidelines may categorize ODC differently. Some may break them out separately; some may lump them together in a single category marked ODC. See OMB Circular A21 for a discussion of allowable costs.
- Usually, ODC does not include expenses for clerical and administrative salaries, memberships, postage, subscriptions, telephone line (local) charges, and office supplies. These are treated as facilities and administrative costs. Circumstances occasionally arise when these costs have such a specific relationship to the research being performed that treatment as a direct cost may be considered an allowable exception.
