About Agreements
Funded
Types of Awards and Agreements
Industry Research Contracts
- Agreements with private sponsors cover many activities such as basic, applied or developmental research, collaborative research, research testing, and instruction. Whenever possible, UIC tries to negotiate an agreement using the appropriate standard UIC contract language for the activity proposed. These standard agreements address key concepts required by UIC general rules.
- Because for-profit private sponsors are motivated by different forces, they sometimes do not understand the ideals and principles behind our policies. Consequently, negotiations can take additional time while ORS works with the sponsor to arrive at a mutually acceptable agreement. When a private sponsor prepares an agreement or insists on controlling the preparation of an agreement, these concepts may or may not be addressed and can lead to protracted negotiations.
Federal/State/Local Government Agreements
Contract negotiations with a government agency primarily focuses on the review of budgets and scope of work issues. The terms and conditions of the award are usually fixed by law or regulation. However, it is important to make sure that the terms and conditions imposed by the agency are appropriate for the work proposed and applicable to UIC.
Sponsored Research Agreements
For basic research project where the sponsor may be interested in special intellectual property terms, i.e., reasonable delays in publications to allow the sponsor time to review a publication for purposes of preserving patent protection. The funding provision provides for either a fixed price or a cost-reimbursement funding basis.
Clinical Trial Agreements (CTA)
Contracts with for profit sponsors covering human testing activities related to an investigational drug, compound or device leading to approval by the Food and Drug Administration for commercial distribution.
As a public, nonprofit educational institution, the University is bound by certain policies and regulations regarding what it can and cannot accept in a clinical trial agreement. These policies are designed to protect the welfare of individuals participating as research subjects; foster the University’s basic mission of teaching, research and public service; and minimize the various forms of liability associated with human research. When negotiating clinical trial agreements, the University primarily focuses on securing acceptable contract clauses regarding high-risk issues such as subject injury, indemnification, confidentiality, ownership of data, patent rights and publication rights.
For more information on clinical trials at UIC, please visit the Clinical Trials Resource Page.
Standard Technical Testing Agreements
For testing projects involving the use of unique or special University facilities and no original, creative research work is being performed. The University makes no claim of ownership in data or other results generated under this agreement and, is not interested in preserving publications rights.
Veterans Administration (VA) Interagency Personnel Agreements (IPA)
An IPA is a funding mechanism for the VA to reimburse a department at UIC for a portion or all of the salary and fringe benefits of a UIC faculty or non-faculty person working on sponsored research projects funded by the VA. The goal of this type of agreement is to strengthen the relationship between UIC and the VA by the temporary assignment of UIC skilled personnel to work with the VA.
IPAs can be made for a period of up to two (2) years and can be extended for an additional two (2) year period. Please allow at least thirty (30) days from the date the IPA agreement is generated by the VA for the processing and execution of the agreement.
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Unfunded
Material Transfer Agreements (MTA)
Material Transfer Agreements (MTA)
A contract covering the exchange of various kinds of materials between two entities where the recipient intends to use the materials in the recipient’s own research projects. The materials transferred under MTAs include biological materials such as reagents, cell lines, cultures and vectors but may also be chemical compounds, prototypes and equipment. Faculty members and departmental administrators do not have the authority to enter into MTAs on behalf of the University, whether UIC is the recipient or provider of the material.
The material provider is typically not the sponsor of the research project in which you are using the materials. If the material provider is also the sponsor of the research project, a sponsored research agreement may be the more appropriate form of agreement between the parties. MTAs typically limit the recipient Investigator to using the transferred materials for a specific research project and for non-commercial purposes.
Data Use Agreements (DUA)
A contractual document used for the transfer of data between organizations. A DUA is established between a provider institution and recipient institution to document the data being transferred and terms and conditions with respect to issues such as ownership, permitted uses of the data, publication of results, development of inventions, disposal of the data and liability. A DUA should protect confidentiality when necessary, but permit appropriate publication and sharing of research results in accordance with UIC policies, applicable laws and regulations, and federal requirements. Faculty members and departmental administrators do not have the authority to enter into DUAs on behalf of the University, whether UIC is the recipient or provider of the data.
DUAs can be classified into three different categories depending on the nature of the data being transferred:
- De-Identified Data Use Agreement: Appropriate for non-human subject data or de-identified human subject data. For de-identified data an IRB determination is required.
- Limited Data Set Use Agreement: Required for transfers of human subject data which contains identifiable patient information as defined by HIPAA that may be disclosed to an outside party. Such information consists of Protected Health Information (PHI) from which the 18 specific identifiers defined by HIPAA have been removed. Limited Data Sets are subject to HIPAA regulations and require IRB approval.
- Individually Identifiable Health Information Use Agreement: Regulates the transfer of information including demographic information collected from an individual, and that is created or received by a health care provider, health plan, employer, or health care clearinghouse, and that relates to the physical or mental health or condition, provision of health care, payment for the provision of health care to an individual who is identified or potentially identifiable. Transfers of Individually Identifiable Health Data require IRB approval.
DUAs may be required by OPRS in order to approve an IRB protocol and, at the same time, they cannot be processed unless there is IRB clearance. If you have questions regarding whether the data to be transferred is de-identified human subject data, a limited data set or identifiable human data requiring IRB approval or an exempt determination, please contact the Office for the Protection of Research Subjects (OPRS)
Confidential Disclosure Agreements (CDA)
A Confidential Disclosure Agreement, also called Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), is used for the exchange of confidential information. A CDA or NDA is a contract that defines and describes information to be shared between or among the parties for certain evaluation purposes and in which the parties agree to restrict the usage and additional disclosure of the share information. Faculty members and departmental administrators do not have the authority to enter into CDAs on behalf of the University, whether UIC is the recipient or provider of the confidential information.
A CDA or NDA is a useful tool to facilitate conversations in order to evaluate the possibility of a future collaboration, including clinical trials.
Other No-Money Agreement
There is a wide variety of other agreements which do not address funding or the exchange of material, data or information but which may be necessary for the conduct of a research project (e.g. No-Money Collaboration). OSP will process these agreements on behalf of the PI and department.