Sponsored Agreement Basics

What is an Interagency Agreement?

State agencies in Oregon, such as the Oregon Department of Transportation, Oregon Department of Energy, or the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, using state or federal funds may fund a research project at OSU. The type of awarding document used is called an Interagency Agreement. This document is an agreement between two State of Oregon agencies. OSU receives these agreements from the awarding agency, but on occasion an Oregon state agency may ask OSU to write the agreement.

 

What is an Intergovernmental Agreement?

Local governmental agencies, such as Lane County, Corvallis School District, or the City of Bend, may decide to fund a project at OSU. They may need information or services that only a principal investigator at OSU can provide. The awarding document received from one of these agencies to fund this project should be called an Intergovernmental Agreement. It is an agreement between two governmental entities. OSU will account for this project just like a research project and in most instances, it is a research project.

What is a Sponsored Agreement?

OSU Principal Investigators submit proposals to Private Companies in and effort to obtain funding for research projects. Often, private companies contact OSU Principal Investigators in an effort to acquire their expertise on a particular project. If the private company contacted the OSU Pi and the OSU PI decides to submit a proposal tot he company or respond to a proposal  from the company, that proposal needs to be approved by the OSU Research Office. When submitting a proposal to a private company, it is recommended that the PI  include a copy of a sample research agreement, if only for review by the company. This will ensure that the company understands OSU's policies concerning proprietary information and patents and could save delays in negotiating a research agreement.

Most private companies, if they decide to contract with OSU in support of these proposed research projects, will send the OSU contract office a contract to approve. Often these contracts require negotiation because they contain language regarding publication, patents, state laws and proprietary or confidential information that need to be modified in order to be acceptable by OSU. These modifications are required because of the limitations and conditions of either State of Oregon Law or OSU's policies on sponsored research. Often the private company, especially if its a company that does not normally fund basic research at a state university, will ask OSU to write the agreement supporting the research project at OSU. The OSU contract office will assist and write the Research Agreement.

Does OSU Subcontract Research?

Oregon State University annually receives over 100 million dollars in support of research. Most of the funding comes from federal agencies and often OSU is required to subcontract some of those research dollars to other entities. Those entities mostly consist of other universities, private companies and occasionally other federal agencies who will assist and /or collaborate with the OSU PI on the research project. These agreements to other entities are called subcontracts and are written by the OSU Contracts Officer. The terms and conditions of the federal grant or contract received by OSU in support of the research project are incorporated into these subcontracts to the other entities.

How is funding obtained by OSU?

OSU Principal Investigators submit proposals to a variety of entities (including federal, state and local, foreign and private) in an effort to obtain funding for research projects. If a federal agency decides to fund a research project at OSU, they will always send OSU the contract or grant. The OSU Contract office will review and approve that agreement. That agreement rarely needs to be negotiated or modified by the contract office. The awarding document may be called a cooperative agreement, memorandum of understanding, contract, or grant.  It may or may not require OSU to sign the agreement.

Agreements

Regardless of the name of the agreement, all sponsored agreements must be processed through the Office of Sponsored Programs.

Types of Agreements:

Contract

Cooperative Agreement

Grant

Interagency Agreement

Interagency Personnel Agreement

Intergovernmental Agreement

Memorandums of Understanding (MOU)

Subaward/Subcontract/Subagreement/Subgrant Subaward

Contract

An agreement for research work to be performed by an organization for the awarding agency. Contracts are usually specific about the objectives, direction, specifications, cost, or methods of research. A contract requires substantial involvement between the awarding agency and recipient during performance of the research.

Cooperative Agreement

An agreement that provides for a mutal undertaking by the awarding agency and the other parties performing the research. Both parties take part in the project and are mutually interested in the aims and benefits, even though there may be a difference in the scope of the interest.

Grant

An agreement that provides for an agency to furnish money, property, or materials to a recipient of the grant (or grantee). The grantee has freedom to pursue the grant's stated purpose. The agency does not specify the manner of performance of the work and is not substantially involved in it.

Interagency Agreement

An agreement between two differenct agencies of the state of Oregon.

Interagency Personnel Agreement (IPA)

These agreements are usually associated with a federal agency and allow OSU employees to work for an agency for a specific period of time at their determined location without losing benefits and status as an OSU employee.

Intergovernmental Agreement

An agreement between two different governmental agencies

Memorandums of Understanding (MOU)

An agreement similar to a cooperative agreement that provides for a mutual undertaking between two or more parties to perform research. All parties take part in the project and are mutually interested in the aims and benefits, even though there may be a difference in the scope of that interest.

Subaward/Subcontract/Subagreement/Subgrant

An agreement between a party of an original contract/grant/agreement and a third party, to provide all or a specified part of the work or materials required in the original award. In most cases, subcontracts must be approved by the sponsoring agency. Subcontractors should be identified in the proposal, including the subcontractors budget, their indirect rates, scope of work and approval from their administration to participate in the project.