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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.