Office of Research - Sponsored and Collaborative Research Agreements

Sponsored Research Agreement (SRA) describes the terms under which a company can sponsor research at a Penn laboratory. Collaborative Research Agreement (CRA) is very similar to an SRA, and is applied to a situation when company researchers collaborate with researchers at Penn. All research agreements are handled by the University Office of Research Services (ORS).

The process of entering into a research agreement with a company consists of several sequential steps: (Click here for a flow chart.)

1. The company and Penn researcher agree on the research project and identify the resources (and direct costs) necessary for the project.

2. The business administrator (BA) of the researcher’s department and the researcher prepare the budget for the project. The cost of the project should include the indirect costs (overhead), which are currently equal to 58.5% of the direct costs. The BA also prepares the Transmittal Form that has to be signed by the principal investigator, the business administrator, the department chair and the school dean.

3. The research project proposal, the budget and the Transmittal Form are forwarded to the ORS, which negotiates an appropriate research agreement with the company. If there are complications involving intellectual property agreement, the PI should contact the Deputy Dean.

All forms and agreements may be found here. If there are extenuating circumstances that necessitate changes in the baseline documents, faculty should contact the Deputy Dean.

Note: The Center for Technology Transfer (CTT) is no longer involved in negotiating research agreements, except for very special cases.

For more information on research agreements see the following links:

• Faculty Handbook for Managing Sponsored Research Projects
• Quick Faculty Guide for Sponsored Research
• Relevant Forms and Agreements