Things indirect cost reimbursements fund at my institution: - The research animal facilities - HPC staff, upgrades, etc. - Our BSL-3 facilities (the only ones

Things indirect cost reimbursements fund at my institution: - The research animal facilities - HPC staff, upgrades, etc. - Our BSL-3 facilities (the only ones for a long way) - Various and sundry research cores - New faculty startup funds Those are all pretty tightly correlated with success, and very difficult to support via single grants.