Sponsored projects are awarded to the University, not to individual investigators, departments, colleges, or other administrative units. Acceptance of a sponsored project by ORCA on behalf of the UNO signifies the university’s willingness to assume responsibility for the administration of the funds in accordance with the terms specified by the awarding agency.
Who can accept (or sign) external funding agreements on behalf of UNO?
The OSP director, associate, or assistant vice chancellor for Research and Creative Activity, are the only people who can officially sign sponsored project proposals, agreements, or financial reports as the institutional official (Authorized Organizational Representative) for sponsored projects at UNO.
The OSP Awards team reviews all agreements to ensure compliance with UNO and sponsor policy and then will obtain the institutional signature for the applicant as applicable.
All agreements are signed only by those with Delegated Authority at UNO, per NU Executive Memorandum 14.
Awards Processing
Negotiation
- Award negotiations, as defined in this section, mean the scope of activities between proposal submission and the acceptance of an award by UNO. During this period, the award mechanism (grant, cooperative agreement, or contract) and the sponsor will largely determine the length and complexity of the negotiation process. The end result of award negotiations is a mutually agreeable set of terms under which UNO will conduct the proposed project.
- The authority to negotiate an award on behalf of UNO has been delegated from the Board of Regents to the chancellor. The chancellor has re-delegated this authority to the ORCA and OSP. OSP works in conjunction with the PD/PI and, when applicable, UNeMed, to negotiate an award that is acceptable to UNO, PD/PI, and sponsor.
- As a public, non-profit educational institution, UNO is bound by certain policies and regulations regarding what it can and cannot accept in an agreement. These policies are designed to foster UNO’s basic mission of teaching, research, and public service and to ensure the academic freedom of our faculty. 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 OSP works with the sponsor to arrive at a mutually acceptable agreement.
- Whenever possible, UNO tries to negotiate an agreement using the appropriate standard UNO contract language for the activity proposed. These standard agreements address key concepts required by UNO policy. 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.
- Contract negotiations with private sponsors can be difficult and complex because the agreements must address a large number of issues such as budget, the scope of work, intellectual property rights, publication rights, indemnification, termination, and confidentiality.
- Principal Investigators should discuss all aspects of the proposed project with OSP prior to the start of negotiations. In particular, OSP needs to know whether graduate students will be involved in the project and whether existing UNO or sponsor-owned intellectual property will be used in conducting the project.
Execution
- Upon a mutually negotiated agreement, OSP Awards will begin reviewing the NuRamp form for any additional compliance requirements.
- OSP-Awards cannot execute an agreement until all compliance approvals have been obtained.
- Once the final agreement has been accepted and all compliance requirements are met, OSP-Awards will send it to the appropriate parties for signatures and send the Awards Packet to the PI.
NuRamp Processing and Notification
- Upon award execution, all applicable documents will be uploaded into NuRamp.
- OSP Awards will send out a notification to the PI and all applicable stakeholders on the NuRamp form.
- Upon Nuramp notification, OSP Grants Accounting will review the form/documents and begin their review and account setup.
Amendment to Agreement Negotiated by OSP
An amendment is an agreement signed by both parties to accept changes to an earlier agreement. Changes may pertain to:
- Change in investigator (required for all agreement types)
- Scope of work
- Terms and conditions
- Period dates or extension of project
- Costs (addition or removal of funds)
- Change in payment schedule
For Financial Changes/Requests: assigned grant accountant or grantsaccounting@unomaha.edu
For Non-Financial Changes/Requests: assigned grants coordinator or unosponpro@unomaha.edu