Agreements with Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC)

Agreements with Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC) including, the DOE National Labs

Federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) are public-private partnerships that conduct research and development for the United States Government. Under Federal Acquisition Regulation § 35.017, FFRDCs are operated by universities and corporations to fulfill certain long-term needs of the government that cannot be met as effectively by existing in-house or contractor resources.

The Regents of the University of California manage or co-manage three FFRDCs, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and Los Alamos National Lab.

Agreements with the National Labs and other FFRDCs may be processed like other subawards. 

Required Documents

The UCSF Subconctracts team will use the National Lab templates. 

  1. FFRDC templates, if provided. 
  2. Statement/Scope of Work (SOW): Describes the work to be conducted by the subreicipient, defines the deliverables, if applicable, and outlines the time frame in which they are to be delivered. The SOW may also define all personnel and their responsibilities. It should be accurate and concise as to what, when, and if appropriate, how your organization will accomplish the work to be performed.
  3. Budget and Budget Justification: Prepared in accordance with applicable sponsor guidelines and forms. Total costs will include the subrecipient’s direct costs for the project and indirect costs (if applicable). 

Alert

 

While similar to UCSF subaward templates, agreemets with FFDRCs may include unchangeable terms (language) deviating from the standard UCSF outgoing sub process. 

  1. The of performance may not be tied to the prime award funding period. This is a big deviation from the Subcontracts Team standard operating procedures. 

  2. The FFRDC may require an advance payment. For example, at the DOE Labs, they may not be able to use available funds to cover work under an NIH or other non-DOE grant. Therefore, they require an advance payment so that they have non-DOE funds on hand to perform the work. The PI and Department are responsible for working with the FFRDC to provide the advance. 

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