Contract Proposals
The following procedures were developed jointly by the President and Vice-Presidents in January 1975.
1. Types of contracts
In as much as the difference between research, development, study programmes, etc., is not always clear, the procedures given below should be followed for all contract proposals.
2. Procedures for handling the proposals
The Mechanism for handling a contract proposal is the same as grants, that is, it is sent through the Head of Department and the Dean (or directly through the Dean in faculties which do not have departments). The Dean will then send it to the Office of Research for final processing on behalf of the University. In the case of other Units, the proposals should be sent through the Director of the Unit who, after consultation with the appropriate Vice-President, shall forward it to the Office of Research.
The proposal sent out to the agency should, therefore, bear the signatures of the applicant, of the Head of Department, of the Dean (or Director) and of the Director, Office of Research. The final contract, as drawn up by the agency or company, should be sent to the Office of Research for suitable processing. Any changes requested in the terms of the contract during its life should be processed in the same manner as the original contract.
It should be stressed that the principal investigator has the primary responsibility to see that the research is carried out in accordance with the terms of the contract and in doing so is administratively responsible to the Head of the Department (or Dean, or Director, where appropriate). The responsibility of the Director, Office of Research is to ensure that the terms of the contract are in accordance with University policies.
3. Details to be included in the proposal
Most agencies and companies require a contract to contain quite a detailed account of the project terms and budget and, although some do not, it is essential, to avoid any misunderstanding at a later stage, that proposals from this University should include suitable details. Public Works and Government Services Canada, which has a central responsibility for contracts with the Federal Government, has drawn up a proposed budget format. This should be followed for Federal Government contracts and is also a good guide for other contracts. Copies can be obtained from the Office of Research.
One of the major difficulties encountered in contracts is that salaries and other personnel costs are often not defined in sufficient detail. Any such items in a contract budget should be clearly specified.
In addition, payment in accordance with such items must be clarified in an internal memorandum to accompany the contract proposal as to whether they are recovery by the University for time spent by its personnel, an extra payment for overtime or an honorarium. It should be noted in this regard that honoraria paid to members of faculty have to be approved by the Dean of the Faculty and that final approval is not given until after* the contract has been completed. In the case of units not administratively responsible to a Dean, such approval is given by the appropriate Vice-President. In overall terms the contract should include sufficient details to avoid misunderstandings on what work is to be done and what costs are covered under the contract.
* An alternate schedule of payments may be permitted where circumstances warrant.
