Cap on overheads may put universities off defence


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The US Congress has set a limit on overhead expenses for research done at universities on behalf of the Department of Defense.


The provision, approved in a final version of the defence-spending bill on 8 November, says that no more than 35% of research funding can be spent on costs such as maintenance and utilities.


The bill now goes to President Bush to be signed into law.


?It's going to be a disincentive for the nation's best universities to conduct defence research,? says Barry Toiv, a spokesman for the Association of American Universities in Washington DC.


After the Department of Agriculture set a similar cap, he notes, fewer universities applied for government grants.


Currently, overhead expense rates are negotiated individually with the university department ? the average is 34%, according to the latest survey from the Council on Governmental Relations.


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