Faculty Incentive Pay Program Information

Eligibility

To be eligible to participate in the program, the following minimum criteria must be met:

• The participant must be a Boise State University clinical faculty, tenure-track or tenured faculty member serving as a principal investigator or co-principal investigator on an externally-sponsored project
• At least a portion of the participant’s institutional base salary must be paid from state appropriated funds
• Individuals who are split-funded from appropriated and other sources shall be eligible to participate in that portion of their salary supported by appropriated funds

Provisions

Incentive payments are contingent upon the faculty member meeting the eligibility requirements and complying with the terms and conditions of the program. Incentive payments are limited to up to 50% of the “recovered” or “bought out” salary and cumulative payments shall not exceed 25% of the faculty member’s institutional base salary per fiscal year. The amount of the incentive payment shall be estimated prior to the beginning of the associated academic semester and reconciled to actual activity before a payment is issued. Incentive payments shall be initiated with an ICP and shall be paid in a lump sum at the end of the fiscal year. Payments shall be subject to applicable withholding and issued in adherence to all prevailing laws and policies.

Terms and Conditions

Faculty Incentive Pay Program participants must comply with the following terms and conditions in order to receive incentive payments:

• The faculty member must fulfill all expectations for performance established through a written work assignment that is agreed upon in advance by the faculty member, the faculty member’s chair person or other immediate supervisor, and the faculty member’s dean in consultation with the provost, pursuant to Boise State University policy 4560, “Workload for Official Faculty.”
• The faculty member must exhibit satisfactory performance in all assigned duties as determined by their chair and dean, including good fiscal and administrative management of all extramural funds for which they are principal investigator or co-principal investigator, and completion of necessary reports in a timely manner.
• The incentive program applies to salary that is funded by external sources during the on-contract period.
• Incentive payment(s) shall not modify the faculty member’s institutional base salary and shall not be paid from sponsored project funds.
• Participation in the program is voluntary and is not mandated upon either the faculty member or the university. Participation is not an entitlement but may be made available to eligible faculty members when both the university and the faculty member determine that it is in their mutual best interests to do so. Furthermore, the university reserves the right to suspend or terminate this program or the participation of any faculty member at any time. No verbal commitment to participation or pay under the program is binding and only the final signatures of all required parties shall constitute a commitment under the program.
• Availability of any payments under the program is subject to the availability of state appropriations and to any applicable state or federal laws, regulations or policies.
• Modifications to any aspect of this program may be implemented at any time, as determined by the vice president for research in consultation with the provost. Such modifications may occur through amendment of this program or through written notice to the deans of affected academic units.
• Final approval for participation in this program shall be granted by the provost and vice president for research.

Incentive Pay Calculations

The maximum amount of the incentive payment is 50% of the net salary savings to the appropriated funding source.

Since, historically, departments have been able to recover 100% of salary savings generated from sponsored project activity and may be dependent on salary savings for operational costs, chairs and deans are not required to pay the maximum incentive of 50% of net recovered salary savings but may negotiate a smaller incentive payment if necessary.

The following costs may be factored into the incentive payment calculation:

1. Compensation to the department for costs incurred to replace the faculty member’s contributions to the department
2. Other costs incurred by the department for support of the sponsored project that are not recovered elsewhere

Procedure for calculation and disbursement of incentive payments

Download the Sponsored Project Contract for Services Template

• Go to DRED’s Forms web page.
• Search for “Faculty Incentive Pay Program “FIPP” Agreement” in the search box and click the link in the search results.
• Save the Word document to your desired location and open it for editing.

Before the buyout period

• At least two weeks before the start of the anticipated buy out period, the faculty member works with their department chair and business manager (if applicable) to complete the top portion of the Faculty Incentive Pay Program agreement.
• The department chair signs the request that confirms that eligibility requirements are met and that the request is consistent with the faculty member’s written workload assignment.
• The chair or departmental/college administrator (business manager) coordinates obtaining the dean’s and provost’s signatures and forwards the form to the Division of Research and Economic Development for review and approval.
• The Division of Research and Economic Development signs the form and sends the original form back to the department chair with a copy to the faculty member and the business manager (if applicable).

After the buyout period

• The faculty member works with their department chair and business manager (if applicable) to complete the bottom portion of the Faculty Incentive Pay Program agreement.
• The department chair signs the agreement, and the departmental or college administrator coordinates obtaining the dean’s and provost’s signatures. The signed form is sent to the Division of Research and Economic Development for review and approval.
• The Division of Research and Economic Development signs the form and sends the original form back to the department chair with a copy to the faculty member and the business manager (if applicable).
• The business manager or departmental administrator initiates an ICP for the lump sum payment and codes it as “FIPP.”
• An ICP may be submitted at any time after the agreement has been fully signed; however, it MUST be submitted NO LATER THAN May 15 in order to ensure adequate time for processing prior to the end of the fiscal year.