You have a key responsibility in the research application and awards process and there will be a level of engagement which is required from you.

UoB Professional Services (Finance Services and RED) will advise you, as required, and will undertake the review/negotiation of your contract. We are likely to require help from you, and it is important that you follow your contract’s progress through to a conclusion, to ensure it reflects your requirements as well as your ability to deliver the contracted work plan.

Your Account Manager within your Faculty Finance Team is your first point of contact. They are generally responsible for logging the contract and issuing you with an ORCA reference number.

A fEC is required wherever money is involved. Your Account Manager will assist or offer guidance; however, this is your costing and you are responsible for preparing and finalising it. Finance Services staff might query your costing as they need to be confident that the resources included are sufficient to deliver what you are proposing. They are also responsible for ensuring there is an acceptable level of overhead recovery dependant on the funder and/or scheme. You might need to consult with your HoS to ensure that the facilities and resources you require will be available.

Please ensure your Account Manager has access to the following full set of information and documentation:

• Application form/description of work/programme of work 
• Details of funders/collaborators/subcontractors 
• Draft contract or applicable terms and conditions, including any annexes or other documents referred to within these (note if a contract needs to be drafted by the UoB please make this clear) 
• The primary contract is usually needed if funding is coming via another organisation 
• Award letter (if available)

Once all of the above has been provided, your Faculty Finance Team will pass the contract file across to RED Contracts for review and, if necessary, negotiation with the funder/external parties. Contract review/drafting/negotiation will almost certainly be delayed if any of the above is missing.

On receipt of a contracts file a RED Contracts Manager will be assigned and noted on the ORCA record, and they will review the documentation. Where further information or clarification is required, the Contracts Manager may contact you, otherwise they will proceed to negotiate your contract. You can track the progress of this negotiation directly on ORCA via the Progress Log. If you are concerned about progress or have further information to add, you should contact RED Contracts directly.

Please note that negotiations can typically take a number of weeks, sometimes months, depending on the complexity of the contract but more often on the time to obtain a response from external parties. It is often helpful for PIs to be in close contact with their technical counterparts in external party organisations to help move contract negotiations along.

On completion of negotiations, RED Contracts will issue a recommendation (‘approval note’) to Finance Services and they will also inform you directly of any conditions you particularly need to take note of.

On receiving Contracts ‘approval’, your Account Manager will seek the approval of your HoS (on the academic case, resources, price vs fEC) to proceed. As institutional/administrative authority, Finance Services are responsible for signing contracts for the UoB. Assuming they are content to do so, they will procure signatures from other parties as required and send you a copy of the contract once fully signed. Finance Services will also then provide you with a Budget Code / EL2. Please keep the contract to hand as you will need to refer to it throughout your delivery of the work and possibly for some time afterwards, to ensure delivery in line with any milestones and compliance with the conditions. You should take particular note of conditions highlighted by RED Contracts.

As HoS you have overall responsibility for the research strategy for the School as well as responsibility for ensuring the strategy is in line with wider UoB strategy.

The actual sign-off process for any particular contract happens through:

1. The fEC tool, with costings prepared and submitted by the PI, checked and authorised by the Account Manager, authorised by the HoS, with the final sign-off within Finance Services (DFFC or FFC). 
2. The joint Finance Services / RED Research Contracts Process, which starts within Finance Services, is handed over to RED for the contract review/drafting/negotiation stage, followed by a recommendation from RED to Finance Services, with the DFFC or FFC responsible for the final contract signature.

The HoS is not generally involved in the Research Contracts Process. The Contracts Manager may contact you, for guidance, in the case of significant concerns regarding a contract but only then. There is an assumption that the PI will consult you, as appropriate, regarding eg use of space or major facilities. There is an assumption that in authorising the fEC, you confirm that both the resources and facilities will be made available to conduct the proposed activity, AS WELL AS that the activity fits with the School strategy.
If your approval is given subject to any particular condition/s, please ensure that your Account Manager and/or Contracts Manager are fully aware of these.