rates survey
Neil E. Jacobsen (neil@U.Arizona.EDU)
Tue, 03 Feb 1998 09:53:05 -0700
The recent summary of responses on rates charged by NMR facilities was
quite interesting. It appears that many facilities charge different prices
for different instruments (field strength) and different times of day, a
very sensible practice which maximizes the most efficient use of resources
and offers discounts to research groups with less abundant funding. I have
been told that in order to charge different prices for different
instruments or times of day that the costs of operating each instrument
must be itemized and the different prices must be a direct result of
different costs. This is supposedly a requirement of "the Feds". I'm told
we were once audited (before I started here) and threatened with a very
large fine for unjustifiable price differences. The only solution was to
charge the same price for all instruments and all times of day. This seems
absurd to me - has anyone else come up against this kind of regulation? If
the threat of large fines is real, the recent rate survey indicates that
most facilities would be in violation of this rule.
Neil
Neil E. Jacobsen, Ph.D.
NMR Facility Manager
Department of Chemistry
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
520-621-8146
FAX 520-621-8407