Award Contracts & Subcontracts
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Award Contracts from external sponsors funding research, educational or service projects conducted by UTC must be processed through the Office of Grants and Program Review.
Contact Maria Derrick of the Office of Grants and Program Review at 425-5399 or maria-derrick@utc.edu for assistance if you receive an award contract. She will work with you, the external sponsor, UT general counsel, UT Research Foundation and others as needed to develop and/or negotiate award contracts.
Signing contracts. Only certain individuals (such as the Chancellor) have authority to sign contracts for the university. No one else may sign!
Contract Review Form and Certification must be signed by the project director/principal investigator and approved by the Office of Grants and Program Review and appropriate administrators (e.g. department head and dean). Staff in the Office of Grants and Program Review will complete the form for award contracts and route it for approvals.
Contract Review Form Certification
General Award Contracts. Typically, an organization making an award will use its own contract, but if not UT has developed a general contract form which we can use in many award situations. There is also a contract amendment form used to change the terms of an agreement, such as extending the end date or awarding additional money.
Other templates are available for specialized situations such as research, confidentiality, and task order agreements.
Material Transfer Agreements (MTA) are a type of award contract used when an organization provides proprietary materials (such as drugs or research samples) to the university for use in research. MTA frequently contain intellectual property, confidentiality, and publication provisions.
Confidentiality Agreements are not award contracts but may be associated with them. Confidentiality agreements (sometimes known as proprietary or nondisclosure agreements) require sensitive information to be safeguarded or kept in confidence.
Confidentiality agreements which are required before you can submit or conduct an externally-funded project are processed by the Office of Grants and Program Review. All other confidentiality agreements are processed by Business & Financial Affairs – contact Gayle Barrett at 425-1705 or gayle-barrett@utc.edu.
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Subcontracts that pay outside/third parties to do a portion of the work on an externally-funded project must be processed through Business and Financial Affairs.
Note about Non-Competitive / Sole-Source Contracting: Typically the university collects bids from potential contractors / consults and awards contracts through a competitive bidding process. However, it may not always be possible to utilize the competitive bidding process. If implementation of an externally-funded project requires that you execute a “sole source” contract, you will need to complete a Justification for Non-Competitive Purchases & Contracts. The form should be completed before a contract is executed. Different forms are used for contracts of less than $50,000 and for contracts of $50,000 or more. Also, if you identify the contractor in your proposal/ application for the award, the process of securing sole-source contract approval will be easier. See details about sole-source contracting and get copies of the Justification form here:
http://www.utc.edu/Administration/Purchasing/Guidelines/JustificationMemoOct04.php
Contact Harriet Neely in Business & Financial Affairs at 425-1768 or harriet-neely@utc.edu for assistance/guidance on grant/award subcontracts.
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Other Contracts that are not related to externally-funded projects are processed by Gayle Barrett in Business & Financial Affairs. Some examples are affiliation agreements which generate no funds for the university, rental agreements for university facilities, agreements to use resources (equipment, computer systems, etc.) of outside organizations, and confidentiality agreements not associated with an externally-funded project.
Contact Gayle Barrett in Business & Financial Affairs at 425-1705 or gayle-barrett@utc.edu for assistance/guidance on other university contracts.
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