FY26 McCain SUSI_Budget Template.xlsx

XLSX spreadsheet 89 KB Posted Mar 12, 2026

Attached to: FY 2026 John McCain Study of the U.S. Institute for Student Leaders on the Rule of Law and Public Service
Opportunity number: DFOP0017914
Issued by: Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs

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Written by GovTribe AI · Mar 13, 2026

This is a budget template and guidelines document for the FY 2026 John McCain Study of the U.S. Institute for Student Leaders on the Rule of Law and Public Service (McCain SUSI) cooperative agreement funded by the Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Applicants must submit three budget elements: a summary budget using OMB cost categories, a detailed line item budget in Microsoft Excel format, and a budget narrative justification. The detailed line item budget must break down all direct costs including personnel, fringe benefits, travel, equipment (items exceeding $5,000), supplies, contractual/sub-award costs, and other direct costs. All sub-awardees require Unique Entity Identifiers and valid SAM.gov registration. Personnel costs must specify position titles, annual salaries, percentage effort, and months devoted to the project. Travel costs must comply with the Fly America Act and GSA per diem rates. The template includes separate sections for U.S.-based and field personnel, international and local travel, and distinguishes between equipment purchases over $5,000 and supplies under that threshold.

Organizations with an indirect cost rate agreement (NICRA) must submit a copy; those without one may claim a de minimis rate of 10 percent based on modified total direct costs. Cost-sharing is encouraged and should be listed separately, including both cash and in-kind contributions valued according to 2 CFR 200. The budget narrative must justify each line item, explain unit cost calculations, and detail how fringe benefit rates were derived from organizational policies. The template is provided as an example only and applicants should modify it to reflect actual project expenditures. According to the related grant opportunity, the McCain SUSI is a five-week summer 2027 intensive academic exchange program for approximately 20 foreign undergraduate and recent graduate students from military and law enforcement institutions, comprising a four-week academic residency and one-week integrated field experience, with required follow-on engagement activities after participants return home.

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FY 2026 John McCain Study of the U.S. Institute for Student Leaders on the Rule of Law and Public Service Excel Version

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File	Type	Posted
performance_monitoring_plan_mode_2.3_02.03.2025.pdf	PDF	Mar 12, 2026
performance_monitoring_plan_mode_2.3_02.03.2025-4.docx	DOCX document	Mar 12, 2026
FY26 McCain SUSI_Budget Template.pdf	PDF	Mar 12, 2026
FY26 McCain SUSI_NOFO.pdf	PDF	Mar 12, 2026

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1. Budget Guidelines

BUDGET GUIDELINES
In addition to the budget information required on the SF-424A, applicants must provide the following three elements as part of the budget submission:
A.	Summary Budget (using the OMB cost categories, see SF-425A)
B.	Detailed Line Item Budget (Direct and Indirect Costs)
C.	Budget Narrative

Summary Budget (TEMPLATE ON TAB 2, autofills from Tab 3 "Detailed Budget")

Detailed Line Item Budget (TEMPLATE ON TAB 3)
Applicants must provide a detailed line item budget (in Microsoft Excel or similar spreadsheet format) outlining specific cost requirements within each of the summary budget categories. Please note that all items detailed in the template are examples.
ü	10 font or larger; must fit on 8x11 letter sized paper, not legal size.
ü	Any cost-sharing should be included in a separate column. See section on cost-sharing for more details.
ü	The budget should be for the entire project period. Successful applicants may be asked to provide a year-by-year budget after the award is signed.
ü	All sub-award costs should be listed under Contractual, and should also be broken out and organized according to the subcategories. All sub-awardees must be organizations with Unique Entity Identifiers (UEI) and valid SAM.gov registration (certain exceptions apply). Sub-award budgets, if available, should be included in separate budget tabs and should be in the same format as the approved budget according to the OMB budget categories.
ü	All line items must be described in the budget narrative. The budget narrative should justify each cost outlined in the budget as well as explain the unit cost calculation and methodology.

The budget template on Tab 3 is an example of the required format, but is not exhaustive: your budget might have additional items not listed. Please edit it to reflect all planned expenditures and add lines as necessary. Please refer to the Program Objectives, Goals, and Implementation (POGI) document for further informattion on allowable costs specific to this program.

Budget Narrative

Include a budget narrative (preferably in Microsoft Word format) to explain each line item and how the amounts were derived, as well as the source and description of all cost share offered.

Personnel: Identify staffing requirements by each position title and brief description of duties. List annual salary of each position, percentage of time and number of months devoted to project (e.g., Administrative Director: $30,000/year x 25% level of effort x 8.5 months; calculation: $30,000/12 = $2,500 x 25% x 8.5 months = $5,312).

Fringe Benefits: Indicate benefit costs separately from salary costs and explain how benefits are computed for each category of employee - specify type and rate. Fringe rate should be supported by organization's policies and procedures.

Travel: Staff and participant travel, including in-country, domestic U.S., and international travel, if any, and per diem (broken out by lodging and M&IE (meals and incidentals) for both participant and staff travel). Per diem rates may not exceed the published U.S. government allowance rates (available from the www.gsa.gov website) without comprehensive justification; however, applicants may use per diem rates lower than official government rates.

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/100000

Explain differences in fares among travelers on the same routes: e.g., project staff member traveling for three weeks whose fare is higher than that of staff member traveling for four months. All travel must be in compliance with the Fly America Act.

Equipment: Provide justification for any equipment purchase/rental, defined as tangible personal property having a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5000 or more.

Supplies: Detail items separately using unit costs (and the percentage of each unit cost being charged to the grant) for photocopying, postage, telephone/fax, printing, and office supplies (e.g., Telephone: $50/month x 50% = $25/month x 12 months).

Contractual: Provide a detailed line item breakdown for each sub-grant/contractual explaining specific services.

Other Direct Costs: These will vary depending on the nature of the project. Justify each in the budget narrative.

Indirect Charges: See 2 CFR 200.56 and 2 CFR 200.414
ü	If your organization has an indirect cost-rate agreement (NICRA) with the U.S. Government, a copy must be included with the application.
ü	If your organization does not have a NICRA, you may claim indirect charges in this field at a deminimus rate of 10%.
ü	If Sub-Grantees are claiming indirect costs contained within a NICRA, they should have an established NICRA that is also submitted with the proposal package.
ü	Do not account for indirect costs against participant expenses in the budget.

Before grants are awarded, the Bureau reserves the right to reduce, revise, or increase proposal budgets in accordance with the Bureau’s program needs and availability of funds.

Cost Share

Cost sharing is the portion of program costs not borne by the USG. Refer to the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to determine whether cost-sharing is required or encouraged. In general, applications that include in-kind and/or cash contributions from non-U.S. Government sources will be more competitive, as cost-sharing demonstrates a commitment to the activities and greater cost effectiveness.

If cost share is included, it should be listed as a separate column in the budgets. Cost share can be either cash or in-kind (in which case a U.S. dollar monetary value to each in-kind contribution needs to be assigned). If the proposed project is a component of a larger program, identify other funding sources for the proposal and indicate the specific funding amount to be provided by those sources.

Applicants should consider all types of cost sharing. Examples include the use of office space owned by other entities; donated or borrowed supplies and equipment; (non-federal) sponsored travel costs; waived indirect costs; and program activities, translations, or consultations. The values of offered cost share should be reported in accordance with 2 CFR 200. Other federal funding does not constitute cost sharing.

The recipient of an assistance award must maintain written records to support all allowable costs which are claimed as its contribution to cost share, as well as costs to be paid by the Federal government. Such records are subject to audit. The basis for determining the value of cash and in-kind contributions must be in accordance with 2 CFR 200. In the event the recipient does not meet the amount of cost sharing stipulated in their application, the Bureau’s contribution may be reduced in proportion to the recipient’s stated contribution.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 2 CFR 200 and 2 CFR 600

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title02/2cfr200_main_02.tpl

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=1&SID=11bc02f059d60b385c07b4c3f6bb602a&ty=HTML&h=L&r=PART&n=pt2.1.600

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/100000http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title02/2cfr200_main_02.tplhttp://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=1&SID=11bc02f059d60b385c07b4c3f6bb602a&ty=HTML&h=L&r=PART&n=pt2.1.600

2. Budget Categories

SAMPLE Summary BUDGET

Organization Name

John McCain Study of the U.S. Institute for Student Leaders on the Rule of Law and Public Service

Project Duration (e.g., September 1, 2026 - December 31, 2027)

Federal Funds

1	Personnel	0.00
2	Fringe Benefits	0.00
3	Travel	0.00
4	Equipment	0.00
5	Supplies	0.00
6	Contractual	0.00
7	Construction	-
8	Other Direct Costs	0.00
9	Total Direct Costs	0.00
10	Total Indirect Costs	0.00
11	Total Project Cost	0.00
	Cost Share (if applicable)	0.00

* line item amounts auto-fill from "Detailed Grant Budget Template" tab
	Total costs per participant:
	Number of participants:

3. Detailed Budget Template

SAMPLE LINE ITEM BUDGET
Organization's Name	Organization Name
John McCain Study of the U.S. Institute for Student Leaders on the Rule of Law and Public Service	Project Title
Project Duration (e.g., September 1, 2026 - December 31, 2027)	Project duration

		Unit Cost				Requested Federal Funds		Cost-Share by Applicant		Program Total
		Unit	Number	Amount	Rate
1	Personnel	months	# units	salary (monthly)	% effort
1.1	U.S.-based Personnel
1.1.1	Project Manager	months								0
1.1.2	Project Officer, etc.	months								0
1.2	Field Personnel									0.00
1.2.1	Project Manager	months								0
1.2.2	Project Officer, etc.	months								0
Subtotal Personnel						0		0		0
2	Fringe Benefits			amount	rate
2.1	U.S.-based Project Manager	months		0.00						0
2.2	U.S.-based Project Officer	months		0.00
2.3	Field Project Manager	months		0.00
2.4	Field Project Officer	months		0.00						0
Subtotal Fringe Benefits						0		0		0
3	Travel	unit (trips, days)	# units	cost
3.1	International Travel									0
3.1.1	Airfare/Ground Transportation (specify R/T or otherwise)					0				0
3.1.2	Meals and Incidentals					0				0
3.1.3	Lodging					0				0
3.2	Local Travel
3.2.1	Airfare/Ground Transportation (specify)					0				0
3.2.2	Meals and Incidentals					0				0
3.2.3	Lodging					0				0
Subtotal Travel						0		0		0
4	Equipment (> $5,000 per unit )		# units	unit cost
4.1	(description, i.e. generators)					0				0
Subtotal Equipment	Sub Total Equipment					0		0		0
5	Supplies (< $5,000 per unit)		# units	unit cost
5.1	(description, i.e. banners)					0				0
Subtotal Supplies	Sub Total Supplies					0		0		0
6	Contractual (Consultant fees)	unit (sub, consultant)	# units	unit cost
6.1	Contractual Sub-Awardee (NAME)					0				0
6.2	(description, i.e. consultants)					0				0
Subtotal Contractual						0		0		0
7	Construction	Not Allowable
8	Other Direct Costs	unit	# units	unit cost
8.1	Follow-on activities	1				0				0
8.2	(description, i.e. telecommunications)					0				0
Subtotal Other Direct Costs						0		0		0
9	Total Direct Costs					0	0.00	0	0.00	0
10	Total Indirect Costs (Indicate: NICRA Provisional, Final, Pre determined or 10% deminimus Rate based on MTDC)	base		NICRA %
						0		0		0
11	Total Project Cost	(must match award amount)				0		0		0

File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated Mar 13, 2026.