Contract Negotiation

The contract negotiation team is responsible for the review and negotiation of all agreements including, but not limited to, non-disclosure agreements, memoranda of agreement, cooperative agreements, and grants. The contract negotiation team ensures that applicable federal and state laws, TAMUS guidelines, and TEES rules are followed in the contracting process. The contract negotiator acts as a liaison between the PI, sponsor, TAMUS Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC), Office of General Counsel (OGC), and collaborators to achieve the best terms for the PI and TEES.

Contract Negotiation/Review Process

The types of contracts reviewed/negotiated include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Research (Agreement with a sponsor for compensation to perform research)
  • Non-Disclosure (Agreement not to disclose proprietary or confidential information identified by the disclosing party)
  • Hotel (Agreement with a hotel or other event location)
  • Short Courses (Agreement with a sponsor for TEES to perform a short course)
  • Lease/Loan (The lease or loan of TEES property or the leasing of third party property by TEES)
  • Memo of Understanding/Agreement (Agreement that formalizes an understanding between two parties)
  • Teaming (Teaming Agreement is used when two parties wish to work together on a proposal and the project, if the proposal is successful)
  • Visitation (Agreement between TEES and visitors to TEES [e.g., visitors to a TEES lab])

A contract negotiator will contact the PI when an award document is received from a sponsor to discuss:

  • Intellectual property
  • Changes to the statement of work or budget
  • Publication rights
  • Length of confidentiality obligations
  • Ownership of equipment
  • Financial liability
  • Institutional approvals (IRB, IACUC, IBC, PSA)
  • Collaborations under the project (e.g., subrecipients)
Contract Negotiator Roles