Funded Agreements
Find insight on Sponsored Research Agreements with Industry entities.
A research agreement is a contract between UCSD and an external, for-profit entity (sponsor) that provides funding for UCSD, and its subcontractors, as appropriate, to perform a research project based upon a mutually agreed upon scope of work and budget for the benefit of both parties. The terms and conditions of the research agreement are negotiated between the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) and the Sponsor, and upon execution, serve as the award document for the proposed research project.
Research agreements with industry typically cover the rights and obligations of each party, including, but not limited to: publication, intellectual property, data rights, indemnification, payment of research costs, confidential information, export controls, and period of performance of the project.
A sponsored research agreement is intended to cover a single research project in the laboratory of a UCSD principal investigator. Commonly, a research collaboration agreement is needed when a company and a principal investigator are engaged in similar or complementary research and the company supports the full cost of research in the UCSD laboratory. The primary focus of this type of agreement is to assure that the rights of the parties are protected with respect to retention of ownership and restrictions on dissemination prior to the exchange of such information.
Non-disclosure/confidentiality agreements are generally only negotiated in advance of a formal research agreement and are generally limited to addressing topics such as the definition of confidential/proprietary information, the manner in which the information will be exchanged, and information that is excluded from being considered confidential/proprietary. In the event that prior disclosure is not necessary, appropriate non-disclosure/confidentiality terms will typically be included as part of the actual research or collaboration agreement.
Submitting Requests
Create a Kuali Research Record: For tips and guidance related to entering various agreements into the enterprise system of record.
Kuali Research Systems Training: To register for various eCourses and Virtual Instructor Led training related to the various Kuali modules and to access the Kuali Research Training Guides.
Additional Resources and Help: To get more information on various resources, search the knowledge base and how to contact a Research Administration Client Experience agent.
Center Membership Agreements
Membership Agreement: An agreement between a UCSD research unit and an individual external member entity to provide support for that unit’s general operations via funding intended to be pooled with that of other members who have signed identical agreements with the UCSD unit, and which does not support any specific PI or scope of work. The agreement provides the external entities an opportunity to support a specific area of research focus at UCSD and typically to engage with participating researchers and graduate students.
Clinical Service Agreement (CSA) and Clinical Consulting Agreement (CON)
UC provides a service for a fee: Professional (Medical director, patient care, clinical trial oversight, faculty consulting, data management for multi-site studies); Clinical (nurses, dieticians, research personnel); Educational Programs: (CME, preceptorships, community health outreach)
Clinical Trials
An agreement for the controlled, clinical testing in human subjects of investigational new drugs, devices, treatments, or diagnostics, or comparisons of approved drugs, devices, treatments, or diagnostics, to assess their safety efficacy, benefits, costs, adverse reactions, and/or outcomes.
Such studies may be conducted under an industry-developed protocol or a principal investigator-developed protocol.
For more information visit the Clinical Research and Trials page.
Contracts
Cooperative Agreements
Similar to a grant except the sponsor’s staff is usually actively involved in the design and conduct of the research activities. Generally used by the federal government.
Federal Flow-Through (including SBIR/STTR)
Definitions:
- Federal Flow-Through: an agreement that contains funding provided by a federal agency (e.g. Army, Navy, NASA, DOE, NIH, etc.) to an entity such as a University, For-Profit, or Non-Profit, to UCSD in support of UCSD's participation in a research project.
- SBIR: Small Business Innovation Research
- STTR: Small Business Technology Transfer
Federal Flow-Through Contracts Under SBIR/STTR
Federal Flow-Through Contracts under SBIR/STTR Program Agreements are subaward contracts or grants flowing through a small business entity to provide federal funds to UCSD for a research project.
A proposal is submitted by the small business to the federal agency and UCSD prepares and negotiates an agreement with the small business once the small business receives their Notice of Award from the federal agency.
The flow-through award (subcontract) covers the rights and obligations of UCSD and the funding pass-through entity (PTE), as well as the Prime federal agency. The document provided by the PTE also flows down applicable terms and conditions from the Prime award down to UCSD.
For more information see the SBIR/STTR page.
Fellowships
Grants
Grant Transfers
NIH calls a Grant Transfer a Change of Recipient Organization. Most are submitted electronically via the ASSIST module in eRA Commons, but a few are still submitted via paper. Please refer to the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to determine which option is the correct option for you and your PI.
To locate how you may submit your application, it is under the Activity Code, which is just below the Funding Opportunity Title, near the top of the FOA.
Please see the Review Priorities document which outlines both the department's and the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) responsibilities in reviewing Grant Transfer (Change of Grantee Institution) applications.
Minimum Requirements for SPO Review
| NIH or AHRQ | Change of Recipient Organization (Grant Transfer) |
|---|---|
| PD Record | |
| Basics: Proposals Details | Indicate the proposal type as New. |
| Basics: Delivery Info | Indicate the ASSIST # at the Submission Description. |
| Basics: Sponsor & Program Information | Indicate the FOA # at Opportunity ID. Indicate the FOA title at Opportunity Title. Indicate the NIH Grant # at Sponsor Proposal ID. |
| Compliance | Indicate the IACUC and/or IRB protocol # for congruency review. |
| Attachments: Internal | Internal Budget (Excel) Copy of Awarded Application Copy of the Most Recent NoA Relinquishing Statement If applicable:
|
| Proposal | When the application is ready to submit, change the status in ASSIST to "Ready for Submission" and notify the SPO Analyst via email. |
Confused Between the GPS, Guidelines, FOA, and Notices?
Helpful Additional Resources
Lab Service Agreement (LSA)
Pre-clinical activity involving non-human clinical observation such as performing assays, gathering data, and testing proprietary substances in a controlled setting. The results are provided to the sponsor.
Limited Submissions
Master Agreements
Master Agreements are research contracts between a single sponsor and UCSD to cover a multitude, or variety, of research projects at UCSD or within a UCSD Department or Center.
The terms and conditions of the master agreement can govern all UCSD projects with the sponsor; therefore, an agreement does not need to be prepared or negotiated for each project, but a master agreement may require a long time to finalize due to its applicability to undefined research projects.
Once the master agreement is finalized, the sponsor will usually require pre-approval of a UCSD principal investigator’s proposal describing the scope of work and other project-specific aspects such as budget and schedule.
Muli-Campus Award (MCA)
An agreement between two UC campuses when more than one campus will be engaging in a sponsored project. An MCA is a formal agreement between one UC campus and another to delineate roles in the research program, where the overall project is funded by an external sponsor. This is processed as a type of subaward, even though legally the two UC campuses are a single entity.
For more information visit the Multi-Campus Award (MCA) page.
Multi-Project Grants
Per the National Institutes of Health (NIH) page Multi-project grants share the following features:
- At least two interrelated research projects (unless stated otherwise in the NOFO) related to a theme with each capable of standing on its own scientific merit but complementing one another.
- Collaboration and interaction among projects and investigators to achieve a common goal.
- Synergy among projects.
- One grantee institution will be legally and financially responsible for the use of funds.
- Support as needed for shared resources—core resources or facilities—that provide services or resources to at least two research projects.
Other Transaction Authority (OTA)
A federal agency petitions Congress for Other Transaction Authority. Once a federal agency has this authority, the agency (and any entity that a federal agency might contract to manage OTA funds) is tasked with determining the business model to accomplish the approved OTA purpose.
The following agencies have Other Transaction Authority:
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- Department of Defense (DoD)
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
- Department of Transportation (DOT)
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
- Transportation Security Agency (TSA)
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Each agency uses its OTA differently. NASA and TSA, for example, are two agencies with broad OTA powers, and use this authority for several different types of procurement activities. Congress granted the National Institutes of Health (NIH) OT authority in 2014 through the NIH Common Fund.
Personnel Agreements
Service/ Vendor Agreements
Subaward (Grant or Contract)
Training Grants
For more information or questions email researchadmin@ucsd.edu.