Our Services - Budget Planning
It is part of the core mission of the Comprehensive Clinical Research Unit (CCRU) to:
- Assist clinical sites with budget planning for research projects
- Support clinical sites to ensure the financial health of the project
To this end, the CCRU Research Administrator is available to assist with site feasibility assessments, as well as assistance with the preparation of budget related documents for Kaiser Permanente Northern California clinical trials.
Site Feasibility Assessment
Site feasibility assessments can be provided for all clinical trials and clinical research projects based upon the Site Assessment Survey developed by the CCRU and sponsor protocol submitted by the Principal Investigator. This survey identifies all of the relevant potential costs in the project.
The benefits of a site feasibility assessment include:
- Ensuring the financial health of the project by more accurate budgeting
- Realistic assessment of necessary personnel and project needs
- Faster startup and closeout times
Budget Preparation
Following the site feasibility assessment, methodical budget preparation is necessary to guarantee the success of the clinical research project. In the case of clinical trials, many sponsors will send the clinical site a proposed budget, but the budget offered may or may not cover the true cost of the clinical project. Therefore, a careful review of the project activities and scope is necessary to estimate the true costs, keeping in mind that if these costs are not listed in the budget, then the funder is not obligated to cover them.
The DOR Grants and Contract team, in conjunction with the Principal Investigator, is responsible for creating budgets for clinical trials that are sponsored by any agency of the federal government. If you need to prepare a budget for a federally sponsored clinical trial, please visit the Research Collaboration Web Portal to request assistance with budget preparation.
If you are unsure of who to contact to request assistance with your budget preparation, please e-mail the CCRU Research Administrator, Ms. Deanne Wiley so that we may direct you to the appropriate contact.
Budget Submission and Negotiation
Prior to submitting the budget to the project funder, it must be directed through the appropriate channels of the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute (KFRI) for final review. Final budget negotiation for non--Federal clinical trials is provided by Steve Stoller, PhD, Senior Research Finance Consultant at KFRI.