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Agreements

Contract Research Services

ORPI provides operational support for grant, contract research, and license agreements, including drafting, negotiation, and execution, as well as regulatory compliance and risk management to protect the rights of researchers and the University.

Types of Agreements Include (among others)

  • Collaboration Agreement
  • Clinical Trial Agreement
  • Data Sharing Agreement
  • Grant-In-Aid Agreement
  • Indigenous Research Agreement
  • Inter-institutional research funding agreements
  • Intellectual Property Agreement
  • License Agreement
  • Material Transfer Agreement
  • Memorandum of Understanding
  • Mitacs Agreement
  • Non-Disclosure Agreement/Confidentiality Agreements
  • Service Agreement
  • Sponsored Research Agreement
  • Sub-grant agreement

Processes & Procedures

Upon confirmation of research project funding, ORPI’s services are engaged by either the Principal Investigator, Commercialization Officer, or Office of Research Services to draft, negotiate, and execute agreements, as well as to process payment to researchers through financial services.

Project Sponsorship Approval:  Upon confirmation of research project funding, the services of an ORPI Contracts Officer are engaged according to subject matter expertise by either the Principal Investigator (PI), Commercialization Officer, or Office of Research Services (ORS), to initiate the contact creation process.

Input from PI and/or ORS:  Information is obtained by the designated Contracts Officer from the PI and/or ORS research facilitator.  Research security protocol is screened for compliance with Government of Canada regulations and sanctions, as well as the University’s Ethics Policy, especially in the case of projects involving human and animal subjects.

FRAF:  The FRAF (Funded Research Approval Form) captures critical details about a research project and is mandatory for all research applications expected to receive external funding.  A copy of the PI’s draft application and budget must be submitted with this form for review and signing by the Department/Faculty/Research Centre or Institute.

Draft Agreement:  Upon obtaining the required information, the designated Contracts Officer shall tailor a suitable agreement from the basis of templates, pre-approved by University Legal Counsel.

Negotiate Agreement:  The designated Contracts Officer must obtain agreement upon provisions of the contract through discussion with external and internal parties, paying particular attention to critical aspects like the term, total value, overhead and indirect costs, intellectual property rights, publishing rights, insurance and indemnity, confidentiality, and other risk assessments. 

Approval:  The designated Contracts Officer must obtain confirmation from all parties, before issuing a final version of the agreement.  A Memo must be provided along with the final version to the internal signatory, summarizing critical aspects and any risks associated with the agreement.

Executed Agreement:  The designated Contracts Officer must obtain signatures from the representative of the external party, as well as the Director of Research Partnerships and Innovation (for agreements worth $50,000 and less), The Associate Vice-President Research (for agreements worth between $50,000 and $100,000), or the Vice-President Research (for agreements worth over $100,000). 

Converis Database:  The designated Contracts Officer must upload an electronic copy of the executed Agreement to the Converis Database for record keeping purposes, to process any payment to the PI through Financial Services and enable management of any contract of work through Human Resources.

FOPAL:  Research funds are accessed through a FOPAL (Fund, Organization, Account, Program, Activity, Location).  FOPAL is the account structure used by the University’s finance system.   Information about FOPALs. Including a list of common activity codes, are needed for completing reimbursement claim forms.

agreements