Subawards (Consortium Agreements) for Grants

Purpose

To enable grantees to collaborate with other organizations on grant-supported research.

Procedure

Grantees must establish a subaward, or consortium agreement, with any outside organization that performs any of their grant-supported research activities. They must document their agreements in writing, and submit all required reports to NIH.

Grantees are accountable to NIH for their subawardees' research, spending, and reporting requirements. Normal grant purchases and fee-for-service arrangements are not considered subawards.

Each consortium agreement must address the negotiated arrangements for meeting the scientific, administrative, financial, and reporting requirements of a grant. In any agreement, the grantee must always have a substantive role in the project.

Agreements must comply with all federal rules and regulations. To review those rules and regulations in detail, go to Consortium Agreements in NIH's Policy Statement (12/03).

Subaward actions and expenditures must conform to all terms and conditions of a grant award. For each grant award, subaward organizations may receive funds only from the grantee. Subaward organizations cannot form their own subaward agreements with other organizations.

Subaward organizations must also have all required assurances, certifications, and approvals for any work involving human subjects or animals.

When grantees and subaward organizations put together animal welfare assurances, they may allow one institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) to review research protocols and another to manage the animal research. However, both IACUCs must retain documentation of these activities.

Principal Investigators

• Ensure that subaward organizations file all required assurances, certifications, and approvals with NIH. See the following Web pages for more information:
  • Is Your Institution Assured by OLAW?
  • Animals in Research SOP
  • Human Subjects SOPs
    • Human Subjects Certifications: IRB or IEC SOP
    • Human Subjects Certifications: Training SOP
  • Will Your Research Have Special Requirements? in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

• Document all consortium agreements and commitments of resources as part of your application. This will assure peer reviewers you are ready to conduct the proposed research. Read Where to Add Consortium and Contractual Agreements in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
• If applying with a modular budget, list the subaward organizations and the total costs (direct plus facilities and administrative) for each organization for each year, rounded to the nearest $1,000. Include this information in the Budget Justification section of your Research and Related Budget component (for electronic applications) or the budget justification page (for paper applications).
• For a non-modular grant, complete budget pages for each proposed subaward organization, and submit a list of performance sites.
• If you plan to add a subaward after an award is made, determine whether this would cause a change in scope of your research under the criteria in What Constitutes a Change in Scope? in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal. If a new subaward would change the scope of your research, you must first get approval from your grants management specialist.
• If you want to add a foreign subaward, first get prior approval from NIAID. See the Prior Approvals for Post-Award Grant Actions SOP and read Some Actions Require Our Approval in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Authorized Organizational Representatives and Institutional Business Officials

• Sign a formal written agreement with each subaward organization. The agreement must describe how you will meet the scientific, administrative, financial, and reporting requirements of the grant.
  • When you submit an application, you automatically signify that your organization and subaward organizations will form subaward agreements consistent with the NIH Grants Policy Statement (12/03).
• If a subaward organization works with human subjects, usually both its institutional review board (IRB) and the grantee institution's IRB must review and approve the research protocols.
• If a subaward organization works with animals, make sure that its IACUC reviews and approves the research protocols. If your institution does no animal work, its IACUC does not have to make a review of the application.
• Make sure the grantee approves only subawardee actions that are consistent with the terms and conditions of the grant.

Program Officers

• After NIH makes an award, review any actions that might create a change in scope, such as when a grantee wants to do the following:
  • Establish a new subaward in way that might change the scope of research.
  • Change an existing subaward in way that might change the scope of research.
  • Establish a foreign subaward.
• Send your approval or disapproval of those actions, in writing, to the grants management specialist.
• If you contact a subaward organization directly, inform the grantee of your communication.

Grants Management Specialists

• If you learn that a grantee does not have a signed consortium agreement with a subaward organization, do the following:
  • Inform the grantee in writing that it must immediately enter into a signed agreement. Set a deadline.
  • Request written confirmation from the grantee that the agreement has been signed. Don't request a copy of the consortium agreement, but if the grantee sends one anyway, make sure it includes all consortium requirements.
• Confirm that a program officer has approved any proposed consortium arrangement that would cause a change in scope. Notify the grantee of approvals and disapprovals in writing.
• Verify that grantees have signed agreements with foreign subawardees. Adding a foreign subaward always requires NIAID prior approval. See the Prior Approvals for Post-Award Grant Actions SOP.
• Read GMP's Consortia and Subcontracts SOP for more staff responsibilities.

Scientific Review Officers

• Remind peer reviewers that applicants must must create written agreements of collaboration and commitments of resources with subaward organizations. You may set a pre-review deadline for this documentation.

Contacts

Grantees with questions should contact the appropriate program officer or grants management specialist listed on their Notice of Award. For more information, see Contact Staff for Help.

If you have knowledge to share or want more information on this topic, email deaweb@niaid.nih.gov with the title of this page or its URL and your question or comment. Thanks for helping us clarify and expand our knowledge base.

Links

• Special Instructions for Preparing Applications with a Subaward/Consortium in the Grant Application Guide