Useful Tips for Tri-Council Grants

Office Supplies

Some examples of eligible office supplies include:

• Laboratory notebooks
• Paper used for laboratory operations in the context of a funded research project
• Paper used for data collection (i.e. questionnaires)
• Paper and ink cartridges for printing different manuscript versions
• Research-related paper documents, posters and pamphlets distributed to conference, workshop, and focus group participants

Some examples of ineligible office supplies include:

• Office accessories for laboratory employees, researchers and students (i.e. paper clips, pens, file folders, writing pads, day planners, etc.)
• Paper used by students to print different versions of their dissertation or thesis
• Paper used to prepare course notes

A list of eligible vs. non-eligible expenses for stationery and office supplies may be found on our website at:

http://www.queensu.ca/financialservices/researchresources/tricouncilrequirements/List_of_Eligible_and_Non_Eligible_Expenses_for_Stationery_and_Office_Supplies.pdf.

Important note:  If you are submitting an expenditure claim for the purchase of office supplies using your Tri-Council grant funds, a detailed justification must be included with your claim, confirming how the supplies are essential to your research activities.

In order for the purchase to be deemed eligible by the Tri-Council agencies, the item must be deemed an eligible expense and a detailed justification must be provided.

If you will be purchasing supplies using agency funding and the item is not included on the list noted above, we recommend that you seek pre-approval from the appropriate agency, in order to ensure the purchase is in compliance with Tri-council spending rules.

Tri-Council agency contact details are as follows:

• NSERC & SSHRC:
  Shawn Ricard, Awards Officer, Awards Administration  Shawn.Ricard@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca
• CIHR:
  Ian Raskin, Manager, Internal Controls  expense-eligibility@cihr-irsc.gc.ca


Kind Regards,

Research Accounting