1 Navigating the Award Kim Hayes Michael Lenetsky
Jan 21, 2016
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Navigating the Award
Kim Hayes
Michael Lenetsky
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Navigating the Award - Overview
• Types of Awards
• Above / Below the Line– Foundation Relations
• Non-Monetary Agreements– Non Disclosure Agreements
– Material Transfer Agreements
– Restricted Data Set Access Agreements
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Types of Awards
• Gift, Grant or Contract– Issue is whether assistance, procurement or type of donation
– Can lead you to SPS or to Development
– Questions on categorizations• Restricted or Unrestricted
• Above the Line or Below the Line
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Gifts
• In general the following criteria identifies a gift:– No contractual requirements
– Award is irrevocable
– No defined period of performance
– No formal financial accounting required
– Not from a government entity
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Gifts (continued)
• Gifts may
– Be restricted to specific person or purpose
– Request report describing use, utilization or impact of gift
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Grants and Contracts
• Important to note
– Contract is both term of art and a legal document
– Grants, Cooperative Agreements and “Contracts” are all legally binding documents that fit under the umbrella of contracts
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Grant (Assistance Action)
• Used in a relationship when:
– Accomplish a public purpose of support
– Little involvement between sponsor and recipient is anticipated
– Deliverables are minimal
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Grants (continued)
• In general the following criteria identify a grant:– Specific budget w/restrictions
– Specific goals/objectives (Scope of Work)
– PI responsible for completion of effort
– Period of performance
– Authority to withhold funds
– Return of unused funds
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Grants (continued)
• Criteria of Grants (continued)– Formal financial accounting
– Formal reporting on efforts, effects of work, etc.
– Copies of published materials
– Acknowledge of Support
– Unilateral Agreements
– FDP agreements are grants
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Cooperative Agreement
• Used in a relationship between the Sponsor and Recipient when:
– Need to support public purpose
– Substantial interaction between Sponsor and Recipient is anticipated
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Contracts (Procurement Action)
• Used in relationship between the Sponsor and Recipient when:
– Goal of relationship is to acquire property or services for the direct benefit or use of the Sponsor
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Contracts (continued)
• In general the criteria for identifying a contract (procurement action are):– Formal conditions for performance and outcomes
– Not unilateral agreement
– Publication restrictions
– Intellectual Property
– Conveyance of tangible property
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Contracts (continued)
• General criteria (continued):– Conveyance of intangible property rights
– Strict restrictions on financial spending
– Frequent reports
– Ability to stop work on short notice
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Payment Terms
• Payment terms further define Awards:– Cost Reimbursement
– Most common
Or
– Fixed Price – Needs to be closely monitored
– Seldom used
– Could be costly
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Above the Line/Below the Line
• Gifts and restricted grants that are accepted without indirect cost recovery factored into the budget, have an impact on the financial condition of the University overall
• Carry 10% rate instead of typical F&A rate
• Rate cannot be waived on below the line– Impacts Department/PI when Sponsor does not allow
charges
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Above/Below the Line (continued)
• To be considered Above the Line –– Award document must contain one or more of the following
requirements:• Specified deliverable (report, hardware, software, data, etc.)
• Sponsor receives rights to intellectual property
• Sponsor is main beneficiary of work
• Sponsor has input on performance of effort
Note – Government awards are always Above the Line
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Above/Below the Line (continued)
• When Above the Line– Full F&A applied unless Sponsor policy applies.
– F&A can be waived if prohibited by Sponsor in written policy
• SPS makes determination Above or Below the Line.
• If sponsor states in Guidelines or Agreement that no overhead can be charged to this grant then the 10% will need to come from other sources
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Working with Foundation Relations
• http://www.alumni.cornell.edu/foundations/
• Priority Foundations – 1st Tier (always Foundation Relations)
– 2nd Tier (SPS or Foundation Relations)
– 3rd and 4th Tier (SPS with cc to Foundation Relations)
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Non-Monetary Agreements
• MTA (Material Transfer Agreements)
• NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreements)
• RDS (Restricted Data Sets)
• Referred to as non-monetary agreement because no funding is associated with it.
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Material Transfer Agreement
• The transfer of material coming into Cornell
• Some types of material are:– animals, cells, vector, plants, roots, seeds and trees
• MTA’s are contracts that cover the transfer of the property (material) from the owner of the property to the user (the researcher)
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Material Transfer Agreement
• Can be complicated Agreements to negotiate
• Can be very restrictive– In use
– Who can work with the material
– Ownership
– Transferring
– Patents
– Publications
– Location
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Material Transfer Agreements
• Can negotiate with same sponsor several times. A sponsor can have different agreements because of restriction on the material
• AUTM (Association of University Transfer Managers) – – UBMTA (Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement)
– A FREEBIE !
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Material Transfer Agreement
• Material leaving Cornell is handled through CCTEC (Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise and Commercialization) – was CRF– Caution when transferring material that comes into Cornell
through SPS and is transferred out through CCTEC
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Material Transfer Agreement
• A MTA statement is required from the researcher
• An electronic copy of a sponsor’s MTA is very helpful
• Documentation when destroying or returning the material
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Non-Disclosure Agreement
• Contracts that covers the transfer of some intellectual property information (tangible and non-tangible) from the discloser of the information to the recipient of the information
• Also called “Confidentiality Agreement” or “Secrecy Agreement”
• Frequently complicated documents to negotiate
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Non-Disclosure Agreement
• Areas of negotiations that can be problematic -– Intellectual Property
– Who can have access to the information
– Publications
– Length of time information needs to remaining confidential
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Non-Disclosure Agreement
• A NDA is sometimes necessary before a researcher can have a meeting with a sponsor
• SPS encourages faculty to try and use our own NDA. – No negotiation necessary
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Non-Disclosure Agreement
• A Form 10 is required
• An electronic copy of the sponsor’s DNA is very helpful
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Restricted Data Sets
• Information that is coming into the University that must be strictly maintained.
• Often seen in agreements with Dept of Ed and Dept of Census.
• Protecting information usually about individuals
• CISER is approved facility for maintaining information.