RBSA Customers

 

Customer Types

Internal Customers

Internal customers are those within the university who pay for the RBSA services using one of the following payment methods:

  • University of Colorado SpeedTypes (excluding Fund 80 SpeedTypes)
    • Fund 80s are considered external customers.
  • University of Colorado Issued CU Procurement Card
    • Procurement cards from external organizations like Colorado State University or Lockheed Martin would be an external customer.

Internal customers are not exclusive to the University of Colorado Boulder. Other CU campuses are also considered internal customers, despite these being outside Boulder.

  • University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS)
  • University of Colorado Denver (UCD)
  • University of Colorado Anschutz (UCA)
  • University of Colorado System Office

External Customers

Federal Customers: Federal agencies or departments who purchase goods or services directly from the University, excluding any grant-based funding arrangements. Contact your OCG Grant Officer for federal grant funding.

  • Federal customers are a government agency like NOAA, NASA, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), or an entity acting on behalf of a government agency.

Non-Federal Customers: Any customer that is external to CU and not a Federal agency. This includes non-profit and corporate customers.

  • Many external customers can be identified because they pay by cash, check, or a non-university-issued credit card. This includes students, faculty, and staff paying on behalf of themselves.
  • You may have a customer pay with a Fund 80 speedtype. They would be considered an external customer.

Sales to Internal Customers

Because sales to internal customers can include charges to sponsored research, departmental and central oversight will apply. All units engaging in internal sales and sales to federal agencies must charge rates in accordance with appropriate federal costing and accounting standards.

The maximum rate for internal/federal customers should be no more than the cost of the product plus a 60-day reserve allowance.

  • In other words, 60/365 is 0.1643 or 16.43%. If your service cost recovery rate is $61.43, the maximum you can charge is $71.53 (61.43 x 1.1643).

Sales to Federal Customers

All units engaging in internal sales and sales to federal agencies must charge rates in accordance with appropriate federal costing and accounting standards.

The maximum rate for internal/federal customers should be no more than the cost of the product plus a 60-day reserve allowance.

  • In other words, 60/365 is 0.1643 or 16.43%. If your service cost recovery rate is $61.43, the maximum you can charge is $71.53 (61.43 x 1.1643).

RBSAs are required to set both internal customers and federal customers at the same rate, meaning you cannot charge a federal customer $18.00 and an internal CU customer $16.00. This is not allowed.

Quick Links

Controller (CCO)

Procurement Service Center (PSC)

RBSA Feedback Form

Do you have ideas, questions, or feedback on the RBSA program? Please share your thoughts to help us improve and better serve you.

RBSA Feedback Form

External Customers & Service Contacts

An RBSA is allowed to charge what they see fit to external customers, as long as the rates are on par or above the rates for internal/federal customers.

External customers include other universities (like Colorado State University), state and local governments (State of Colorado and its agencies, City and County of Denver), etc. If you want to charge these types of customers the internal rate, we recommend setting your external rate minimum to match that of other Internal and Federal customers.

Sales to External Customers

The price charged to all external customers must be at or above the cost to provide the good or service and the price an internal customer would be charged for the same good/service.

  • In other words, you cannot charge an external customer $16.00, but your internal customers $18.00

Service Contacts

It is the responsibility of both the department and the Principal Investigator (PI) to ensure that proper contracting is completed for each customer before any services begin.

  • OCG must establish a formal contract between CU and the external party prior to the start of services.
  • Do not begin work or invoice customers without a signed contract; doing so puts the department, the PI, and the university at risk if anything goes wrong.

Failing to secure a contract in advance can lead to legal, financial, and reputational consequences. See OCG’s website for instructions on initial a Service Quotation or Agreement request.

No. This is a very high audit risk. RBSAs use the General Administrative and Infrastructure Recharge (GAIR) and more information on GAIR can be found on BFP’s website here and CCO’s website here. GAIR is already built into your rates. Charging an additional overhead rate also violates Federal Costing Principles, as internal/federal customers are supposed to receive services at cost.

No. You must charge all internal and federal customers the same rate. Meaning, if you’re charging internal/federal customers $83/hr, it needs to be consistent across the board. Charging different rates violates Federal Costing Principles.

Chapter 13-Internal Sales Activities does allow for time-of-day and volume discounting, but these must be applied consistently and be non-discriminatory with respect to classes of users.

In simple terms. A Fund 80 is also known as an agency fund, which is used to deposit funds that do not belong to and are not under the control of the Regents. These funds are considered private funds that belong to the depositor. Essentially, CU is acting as a bank, and the funds are distributed at the depositor's direction.

Typically, you would see a Fund 80 associated with the Center for Student Involvement (CSI), the Bursar’s Office, the Office of Financial Aid (OFA), and the Campus Controller's Office (CCO). You might see a Fund 80 transaction occur with your RBSA, but it is rare.

As part of your unit’s responsibilities in managing an RBSA, CU policy requires a legally binding contract whenever services are provided to an external customer. The OCG Service Contracts team is the only campus entity authorized to sign service contracts on behalf of the University of Colorado Boulder.

OCG’s involvement ensures:

  • Contracts are properly generated and negotiated with external customers
  • Protections are in place for both the university and its research
  • Clear terms and conditions are established between CU and the customer
  • Records are maintained, including quotes and contracts (especially if you do not have quote authority)
  • Compliance with university policies and external regulations

This process helps safeguard intellectual property, the PI, and the university.

Information on how to initiate a Service Quote/Agreement can be found on OCG Services Website.

No. If the customer is an internal customer that is paying with a CU issued procurement card, or a SpeedType, a Service Quotation request form does not need to be submitted to OCG.

Yes. Usually a federal customer is coming outside the university. Typically, a federal customer will come with their own terms and conditions, and OCG will need to work with the federal customer on those terms and conditions.