Huge Grants

The size of the grant awards is enormous by federal grant standards - 6 million dollars per year (up to 2% of the total).1 In my job, our research group has a number of federal grants. Most of the grants are funded for a few hundred thousand dollars a year (including the one that pays my salary). Our group has one "Center" grant, which is funded for over one million dollars a year. However, this grant funds investigators and research at several different institutions. The 6 million dollar allowance provided in the initiative is virtually unheard of and could even be raised by the ICOC governing board.1 Such high limits of awards is guaranteed to foster waste in an attempt to spend all the money.

Reference

  1. ARTICLE 1. California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act
    125281.13    Appropriation and Allocation of Funding.
    (3) In any single year any new research funding to any single grantee for any program year is limited to no more than two percent of the total bond authorization under this Chapter.  This limitation shall be considered separately for each new proposal without aggregating any prior year approvals that may fund research activities. This requirement shall be determinative, unless 65 percent of a quorum of the ICOC approves a higher limit for that grantee. (Source: The California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act)