Research & Sponsored Contract Process
Following the appropriate process for the different types of agreements and contracts will expedite contract preparation and execution, allowing faculty and staff to begin working on their projects more quickly. Every contract and agreement handled by the Contracts and Industry Agreements (CIA) team goes through the same general stages for contract processing.
The timeline for contract drafting, negotiation and execution will vary depending on a number of factors, including the type of agreement, type of sponsor, and the nature and complexity of the project. However, having all needed documentation available and appropriate approvals for projects in place before the CIA team receives the contract agreement will avoid unnecessary delays.
Agreement Coordination
The Contracts and Industry Agreements (CIA) team has a close, daily working relationship with the college research administrators to ensure University, sponsor, and government rules and regulations are followed. Below are some general guidelines for faculty and staff to ensure timely and appropriate administrative action is taken before the initiation of the contract process.
Funded Agreements must be routed through the proposal system in coordination with the appropriate College Research Administrator. When the CIA team receives a contract request from the CRA staff to establish a sponsored project agreement on behalf of the Principal Investigator, the project proposal should already have been routed and approved in the system. If no proposal has been routed through the College Research Administrator, then the staff or faculty will be contacted to route the needed proposal documents. A contract or agreement for sponsored project activity (research, sponsored project, public service, or other), will not be negotiated until the proper documentation has been routed for institutional approvals.
Some contracts, such as confidentiality agreements, material transfer agreements, teaming agreements, and memoranda of understanding, normally do not include funding, as sponsored projects do. Thus, these non-financial agreements do not require routing a proposal through the proposal system. The Contracts and Industry Agreements team will work directly with faculty and staff to establish non-financial agreements.
These are subcontracts to UTSA (incoming) from a sponsor or prime awardee. The scope of work and budget for UTSA should be routed and approved as part of the original proposal before initiating the contract process. This documentation should be available for use by the Contracts and Industry Agreements team at the contract review stage.
These are subcontracts issued by UTSA (outgoing). The subcontract will be negotiated and executed by the Contracts and Industry Agreement team, in coordination with the Post Award team. The other institution’s work scope and budget should be routed and approved as part of the original proposal before initiating the contract process. This documentation should be available for use by the Contracts and Industry Agreements team at the contract drafting stage.
Who Can Sign?
Research and Sponsored Program Contracts, Proposals, and Other Binding Agreements
The University of Texas System Regents’ Rules and Regulations require that all contracts be approved by the chief administrative officer or his/her official, authorized delegate (ref. Rule 10501). Only an individual with a written delegation of authority from the President of UTSA may execute and deliver proposals, grants, contracts, and other binding documents for research and sponsored programs on behalf of the University. A University contract without an authorized signature may be invalid and unenforceable.
Various individuals within UTSA Research have delegated signature authority to sign research and sponsored program contracts and related research agreements. For details, please see UTSA’s full list of authority delegations by the UTSA President available here Delegations of Authority for The University of Texas at San Antonio.