Facility Costing
All applications to AMOF undergo a Technical Review. In addition to determining whether or not the requested instruments are available, this review determines the level of AMOF support required for the project. This in turn allows the facility costing to be derived.
This page describes the 3 types of costs, which will be itemised in an official offer letter:
Note that:
- The significance of each cost depends on the pathway used to access AMOF.
- Commercial Access projects are liable for full economic costs rather than the nominal costs described on this page. The rates will be determined on a case by case basis.
If you require more details about an of the topics covered by this page, refer to the official Access and Costing document.
Basic costs
Irrespective of the pathway used to access AMOF, the applicant is always responsible for the basic costs.
The following costs will need to be paid directly to the host institution of the relevant AMOF Instrument Scientist(s):
- travel and subsistence costs, if on-site attendance is required during the project
- the cost of any consumables required for operation of the loan instruments
- the cost of electricity, and potentially for some of the site manager’s time, for guest instruments deployed to the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory
Moreover, it is the responsibility of the applicant to arrange for (and to fund) the following:
- transportation of loan instruments between their home base and the deployment site (and back again)
- insuring the instruments for the duration of their deployment
- this is not obligatory. However, since the applicant is responsible for the full replacement cost of an instrument in the event of something happening to it, it is highly recommended.
AMOF staff time costs
The amount of AMOF Instrument Scientist time required to support a project depends on the instrument(s) chosen. Each individual instrument page indicates its associated instrument support level. The higher the level, the more time will be required to support it.
The number of days of AMOF staff time required to support a project will always include:
- the time required to prepare the instruments for use in the project and to check them over on their return
- the time required to quality-control the data and deliver the files to the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) at the end of the project
Depending on the requirements of the project, and on the instrument support level, the number of days of AMOF staff time might also include:
- the time required to train the members of the project team to use the instruments
- the time for which the AMOF instrument scientist is required to be on-site in order to support the project
- the time for which the AMOF instrument scientist is required to remotely monitor the instrument during the deployment
The significance of the staff time depends on the access pathway used:
- For a NERC Grant, the cost (charged at £270 per day) must be included in the Directly Incurred Costs section of your grant application.
- For a Non-NERC Grant, the cost (charged at £270 per day) must be covered by a payment to the host institution of the relevant AMOF Instrument Scientist.
- For Direct Access, there is no direct charge to the user. However, there is a limit of 20 staff days, or 40 staff days in the case of an application made by a NERC-funded PhD student.
Instrument rental costs
This covers the nominal cost of instrument rental for the duration of the project. The daily charge varies from instrument to instrument as is given on individual instrument pages.
The significance of the charge depends on the pathway used to access AMOF:
- For a NERC Grant, this charge must be included with the ready-to-go (facility) costs on the NERC grant application.
- For a Non-NERC Grant, this charge must be covered by a payment to the host institute of the relevant AMOF Instrument Scientist.
- For Direct Access, there is no direct charge to the user.