The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is a standard document and policy for establishing research agreements, under which the Vice Chancellor for Research, Outreach, and Extension has delegated authority to the College to sign MOAs on behalf of the University to expedite the processing and handling of these agreements. An equally important purpose of this policy is to minimize, to the maximum extent possible, the administrative review, handling, and oversight of research agreements by the University’s administrative offices.

The MOA should be used with Industry Partners as an enticement to do business with the University and to establish an ongoing relationship in which any follow-on-agreements would carry our full federally negotiated Facilities and Administrative (F&A) rate.

Delegated MOA

The Delegated MOA is intended for preparation, review, and execution by the College Research Offices. The Associate Deans for Research have been delegated permission to sign this document on behalf of the institution. This delegation extends only to the utilization of the document without modification. Any deviation from this procedure or the standard agreement voids both the College’s signature authority and the reduced F&A rate and must be reviewed and approved, as normal, through the Office of Sponsored Programs and Regulatory Compliance Services.  The Delegated MOA is intended ONLY for the initial attraction of a corporate industrial sponsor. It is not intended and may not be used for the continual, incidental support of an investigator’s program of scholarship or research. As such, the Delegated MOA may be used only:

• Once per P.I.-sponsor relationship regardless of the scope of work.
• Once per university-sponsor relationship for the same or substantially similar scope of work.
• When there are no government funds involved directly, and as a flow-through component of the funding.
• For a supplement to the initial scope of work under the MOA, if the original award value is less than the $50,000 limit. Supplements can be issued at the reduced 15% F&A rate up to the $50,000 limit (the total dollar value cannot exceed $50,000 for the original MOA and the supplement). A supplemental PINS (or PD) proposal is required, and the Modification to the MOA must be issued and signed by SPARCS.
• Any substantial modification to the language contained in an MOA will void the lower indirect cost rate and the college’s delegated signature authority. Consequently, the proposed project will follow the normal sponsored research process and access the full federally negotiated.

Purpose and Procedure

The standard delegated MOA is to be used for one-time projects with sponsors not to exceed a direct cost cap of $50,000 (rev May 2014) and to include 15% of the Total Direct Costs (TDC) for (F&A) costs.

Purpose

The MOA may be used for research, training, or extension activities for projects totaling up to $50,000, and does not include federal, federal flow-through, state, or local government funding.

As mentioned above, the total cost allowable under an MOA is capped at $50,000 (includes direct costs and an F&A fee of 15%).

For Example, the maximum amount is demonstrated below:

Activity	Amount
Total Direct Costs (summary of all expenses except F&A)	$43,478
Total F&A Fee ($43,478  Total Direct Costs @ 15%)	$6,522
Total Project Costs (Total Direct Costs + F&A Fee)	$50,000

Any modification to the language contained in an MOA will render the agreement to be treated as a sponsored activity, whereby it will be processed as a standard proposal, and the University’s full federally negotiated rate is applied. Therefore, negotiations are not permitted under this agreement.

Procedure

We recommend downloading the MOA and sharing a copy of the agreement with your sponsor. The recommended action would allow us to confirm in advance that the sponsor accepts the University’s terms and conditions in the MOA, thereby avoiding further miscommunication in the process. Please also ensure that your proposal receives departmental approval before beginning the process with your sponsor.

You will need to provide the College office with the proposal which will be identified as Attachment A and appended to the MOA. Additionally, you will need to provide our office with the particulars of the agreement, including sponsor contact information, the project title, start/end dates, the amount of understanding, technical reporting requirements, etc.

Upon receipt of the above, COE-ORA will prepare the MOA and initiate a PINS (or PD) record on behalf of the PI.  Once the MOA is completed and signed by the authorized College representative, we will notify the PI, who will need to sign duplicate originals of the document. The College office will then mail the two (2) originals to the sponsor for their review and signature.

Upon receipt of the fully executed original MOA from the sponsor, the College will notify the PI, who should then review the PINS (or PD) record for accuracy, approve it, and initiate routing so that the next level of approval (i.e., Department Head) is notified and secured.

When the PINS (or PD) record reaches the College level for approval, we will review and approve it, attach the MOA with the original signature, and request that SPARCS process the award.

SPARCS will review, approve, and authorize Contracts and Grants to establish a ledger 5 account, and we will notify our PI as soon as the account has been set up.