Below federal guidelines, office supplies should not be charged to research contracts and grants.
Please see the lists below for examples of what are considered office supplies vs. research supplies.
If you need to purchase office supplies at a campus storeroom, please make sure that you have an approved recharge code on an unrestricted funding source. Please contact the MRL staff if you need assistance with purchasing office supplies.
Examples of Office Supplies:
The following items should not be purchased on research funding:
Writing instruments:
Pens
Pencils – regular, colored, and mechanical
Pencil lead
Markers – black, colored, permanent, and dry erase
Highlighters
Correction fluid and tape
Erasers
Paper products:
Loose paper
Regular notebooks and tablets
Post-its
Envelopes
Filing & Storage:
File folders
Hanging file folders
Tabs
Filing trays
Binders
Folders
Adhesives and fasteners:
Transparent tape
Glue and glue sticks
Staplers and staples
Staple removers
Paperclips & binder clips
Thumbtacks
Miscellaneous:
Bulletin boards
Calendars
Dry erase boards
Dry erase board cleaner
Facial tissue
Hole punches
Printer cartridges
Rulers
Scissors
Sheet protectors
Transparency film
Transparency film
Examples of Research Supplies:
The following items may be purchased on research funding:
Paper products:
Laboratory notebooks
Computation notebooks
Labeling & Tape:
Specialty tapes for sample labeling
Specialty tapes required for lab set up
Miscellaneous:
Computer disks/compact discs (CDs) for research data storage