Partnerships

Getting Started

Access to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) user facilities is a two-fold process:

  1. The review and approval of the user's proposal
  2. An executed agreement between the user institution and UT-Battelle. Prospective users should submit a proposal directly to the user facility of interest.

[Details for proposal submission are contained on the individual facilities website.] Acceptance of proposals depends on scientific merit, suitability of ORNL facilities for the proposed project, selection of an ORNL point of contact, and appropriateness of the work to DOE objectives. Once a proposal is approved, the specific operating procedures, time allotted for work, user costs (if any), and collaborative arrangements will be determined. Prior to the initiation of work at our User Facilities, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) requires that we have in place standard agreements governing the use of the facility.

Upon proposal approval, the ORNL Partnerships Directorate begins the process to execute a user agreement with the user institution. This agreement, which can be proprietary or nonproprietary, stipulates terms and conditions, including disposition of intellectual property.

The User Agreement, is a “master” agreement establishes the general terms and conditions including disposition of intellectual property for work at any of our user facilities. Work at a particular facility for a particular project is accomplished by execution of an Appendix A which references the “master” agreement, delineates the scope of work, period of performance and costs if any.

Additional Appendix As may be executed for other ORNL User Facilities, if your Institution’s scientists have proposals approved in the future.

All agreement documents must be signed by an official who is legally authorized to commit your organization to contracts. Typically an authorized individual may be found in the User Institution’s Sponsored or Research Administration, Legal, or Contracts organizations.

The Appendix B will be delivered directly to and signed by individuals who plan to either visit our site or have remote access. Appendix B informs the individual researcher of his/her obligations under the master agreements invention disclosure, adherence to environmental, safety and health requirements.

Types of Agreements: ORNL uses either a non-proprietary or proprietary agreement depending on the work output.

  • A non-proprietary agreement is used where the work is non-proprietary and the user agrees to publish results of the work accomplished in the open literature. Note that the user can use proprietary data or software as part of the work as long as the output is non-proprietary.
  • A proprietary agreement is used (and requires full cost recovery) where the output or end result is considered proprietary by the user and does not want the result disseminated to the public.