SPONSORED PROJECTS AT UNM
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What is a Sponsor?

In the context of this guide, a sponsor is an entity outside of the University that contracts with or provides a grant or cooperative agreement to the University for the purpose of funding a particular project. A sponsor can be a federal, state, or local government agency; a non-profit foundation or organization; a small or large for-profit company, domestic or foreign; or another university.

What is a Sponsored Project?

In the context of this manual, a sponsored project is research, instruction, public service, or other project involving funds, materials, or other compensation from an outside source under an agreement that usually contains the following elements:

:: The agreement binds the University to perform the project described by a written Statement of Work.     

:: The total amount of funding available for expenditures is based on a cost plan.
  
:: Initial pricing, expenditures, and/or performance may be subject to external audit.
     
:: Reimbursement (or payment in the case of fixed-price or fixed-rate agreements) is contingent on completion of specified deliverables as described in an agreement.
    
:: The agreement provides for the disposition of either tangible or intangible properties that may result from project activity. Tangible properties include equipment, records, technical reports, and theses or dissertations. Intangible properties include rights in data, copyrights, inventions, or other intellectual properties.

The agreement for a sponsored project can either be a contract, grant, gift, or cooperative agreement, and varies by sponsor and the source of the funds. In general, a contract has specific deliverables, usually in the form of an end product. The scope of work is determined by the needs of the sponsor. In contrast, a grant generally is given in support of a faculty member’s research area with fewer reporting requirements and greater flexibility in the programming of the funds and scope of work. A gift or donation has no expectation of future benefit to the donor/sponsor. Finally, a cooperative agreement includes characteristics of both a contract and a grant but is unique in that the scope of work is to be accomplished by both the sponsor and the PI. All of these have requirements that must be met, and if not handled properly, may have serious ramifications for the University and/or the PI. Assistance with compliance issues can be obtained from OVPRED–Office of Research Compliance or Pre-Award.

 

Signature Authority

Proposals are submitted by PIs on behalf of the Regents of the University of New Mexico. As such, all proposals must be approved institutionally before they can be sent to a funding agency. There are procedures outlined in this guide describing what types of reviews and approvals must be obtained for proposals and awards. In general, proposals are institutionally approved by designated individuals at the Pre-Award offices and awards are institutionally accepted by designated individuals in the Office of the Associate Vice President for Financial Services. Designated authority for various types of agreements between UNM and outside entities can be found in the UNM Business Policies and Procedures Manual (UNM BPPM), Policy 2010 — Contract Signature Authority and Review.

PIs, chairpersons, deans, directors, and other faculty or staff are not authorized to enter into agreements with entities outside of the University, except as designated in UNM BPPM, Policy 2010. Since a proposal is an offer (agreement) to perform research, services, etc. in exchange for funding, proposals must have institutional review and approval. Great care should be taken when dealing with funding agencies so they do not mistake preliminary discussions for institutional commitments.

 

Types of Agreements

In general, awards can be classified as contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or gifts, and are distinguished as follows:

Contract — A contract is primarily issued by industrial sponsors or by federal, state, or local governments for a detailed statement of work with final or milestone deliverables. All contractual terms to be followed are in the agreement, including budget flexibility, though there are frequently references to other applicable regulations. Contracts require the signatures of both parties for initial acceptance and for any modifications. Contracts can be fixed-price or cost-reimbursable. Fixed-price contracts are contracts for a specific amount of payment to UNM based upon satisfactory completion of the terms of the contract. The proposed costs are reviewed and pre-audited by the sponsor prior to award. Cost-reimbursable contracts, particularly for research projects, recognize the fact that the costs in the proposal are only an estimate, and UNM is responsible for doing the work in the contract only as funds are available. The contract usually requires notification to the sponsor before funds are depleted, and the sponsor can decide whether to continue the work and provide additional funds, or to accept the work done. In the latter case, the deliverables are typically either due at regular intervals throughout the contract period, or may only be a final report of research activities completed. Cost-reimbursable contracts are audited during, or more typically, after the award has ended.

Contracts are referred to by many names including: Memorandum of Understanding, Memorandum of Agreement, Collaborative Agreement, Basic Ordering Agreement, Joint Powers Agreement, Professional Service Agreement, etc. There are specific types of contracts such as a Teaming Agreement, Material Transfer Agreement (MTA), Confidentiality Agreement, Loaned Property Agreement, Clinical Trial Agreements, Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), etc. Any contract between the University and an outside entity or organization must be signed by a duly authorized individual at the University. Contracts or agreements involving sponsored projects, loan of research equipment, use of research facilities, use of research faculty or other personnel, etc., should be routed through Pre-Award whether or not funding is involved.

A specialized contract seen with more frequency is an Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement (IPA). This type of cost-reimbursable contract is used by the sponsor to “borrow” UNM personnel to work directly for the sponsor or vice versa. The UNM employee remains a UNM employee during the period of the agreement, but is usually assigned to work physically at the sponsor’s facility. The UNM employee retains all UNM benefits during the agreement. Depending on the assignment, the sponsor may directly reimburse the UNM employee for travel or relocation expenses, and may also provide additional compensation to the UNM employee for equity purposes. IPA agreements typically last no more than two years.

Grant — A grant is the most common instrument used by the federal government and private and corporate foundations for funding work at a university such as UNM. Grants are given as a result of a principal investigator proposing a particular study or particular avenue of research. The sponsor recognizes they are partially supporting the research program, with other support coming from institutional funds or other sponsored awards. Grants are likely to be more flexible than contracts, but also have terms and conditions that must be followed. Typically, a grant does not have dual signatures on the award document, but the PI and UNM are agreeing to adhere to the agency’s terms and conditions by signing the proposal application. Grants are subject to audits by the University’s outside audit agency annually. They may also be audited by the sponsor.

Cooperative Agreement – A cooperative agreement is similar to a grant but has statutory criteria that anticipates there will be substantial involvement between the agency and the recipient during the performance of the award. Depending on the funding agency, it may appear more like a contract than a grant.

Clinical Provider Agreements — For the sale of medical services to an external entity. This is typically not a sponsored project. (Note: Do not confuse provider agreements with Clinical Trial Agreements, which are sponsored project contracts, as listed above.)  Clinical Provider Agreements are process through the Office of Clinical Contract Services, a division of the UNM Medical Group (UNMMG).

Gift — A gift is a donation, not a sponsored project. The sponsor retains no rights to any outcome of the research beyond knowing the gift was used as designated. A gift may be given by a sponsor in support of a faculty or staff member’s work. All gifts must be processed through the UNM Foundation. Funding methodology for multi-year projects may vary by sponsor. Most commonly, contracts or grants are awarded for the project period, which may span several years, but funded incrementally, most typically annually.  The award is usually set up in the UNM financial accounting system for the period funded and then adjusted annually as the sponsor obligates additional funds. Annual increments are usually contingent upon the investigator showing progress (through reports and other deliverables) to the funding agency toward the proposed objectives and goals of the project.

It should be noted that sponsored projects are awarded to the institution and not to the individual PI. PIs should be aware that as representatives of UNM, they have obligations that extend beyond the research responsibilities of the award.

 

Standard Format Contracts

In order to expedite the review and negotiation of various types of agreements, the University has created several standard format contracts. These contracts can be used as a starting point for negotiations with the sponsor. If the sponsor accepts the standard terms without revision, a contract can be approved very quickly. The types of standard agreements used by the University are:

Teaming Agreement – Used occasionally during proposal preparation to formalize the current and future relationship of the members of the team preparing the proposal and to define roles after the award is executed. The teaming agreement does not define specific activities beyond award. A subaward agreement would be used after award. The teaming agreement may be used when dealing with industrial partners, and can be an exclusive or non-exclusive arrangement.

Industrial Sponsored Research Agreement (ISRA) – This agreement is suited for research projects funded by private sponsors. Since university and industry cultures are very different, it can help to give the sponsor a draft agreement at the proposal stage to enable them to better understand what terms are acceptable to the University. The terms most frequently negotiated in the ISRA are intellectual property issues. Both UNM counsel and Science and Technology Corporation @ UNM (STC) review any requested changes to the standard agreement.

Subaward Agreement – This agreement is used when UNM is the prime awardee and needs to subaward part of the scope of work to another entity. (This agreement is not used for a consultant or a vendor relationship.)

Non-Disclosure/Confidentiality Agreement – Typically used in consulting arrangements and/or when personnel visit a host’s (UNM or sponsor’s) facility. If there is a sponsored agreement in place, non-disclosure or confidentiality requirements are made part of the agreement. Otherwise, a separate agreement may be negotiated. The PI and an authorized UNM official typically sign this type of agreement.

Material Transfer Agreement – A material transfer agreement represents the legal relationship between the University and a third party when the University receives or sends biological material to a third party. The third party can be another academic institution, the government, or private industry. The biological material is intended for use in non-commercial internal scientific research only.

Clinical Trials Agreement – The clinical trials agreement specifies the operational and legal relationship between an institution and the study sponsor in the performance and reporting of a defined clinical protocol under a clinical trial or investigation.

A clinical trial or investigation is a study conducted on patients and control subjects with a certain disease or condition to determine the ability of a new drug, device, or biologic to diminish the symptoms, prevent recurrence, or reduce the risk of death from the disease. Such an investigation may be referred to as a therapeutic or secondary prevention trial. Another type of investigation is called a preventive or primary prevention trial, which is designed to evaluate whether an agent or procedure actually reduces the risk of developing a particular disease. The primary purpose of the clinical trial is to conduct a research plan that is designed to assess the safety and efficacy of the new drug, device, treatment, or preventive measure.

The Office of the Associate Vice President for Financial Services has the primary offices responsible for accepting contracts or grants for the University.

The departments are responsible for notifying Financial Services Post Award (FSPA) of any patient reports or other deliverables sent to a sponsoring agency that will result in a payment being sent to the University.  To track and monitor receivables owed to the University, departments must notify FSPA of impending payments from sponsoring agencies. This billing process would apply to most clinical trial agreements with pharmaceutical sponsors that require confidential patient reports being submitted as deliverables.