Research Related Agreements
What are Research Related Agreements?
How Research Related Agreements are different from sponsored projects
How to request a Research Related Agreement
How to modify an existing Research Related Agreement
What are Research Related Agreements?
A Research Related Agreement (“RRA”) is a contract between Stanford and one or more non-Stanford entities that governs the conduct of a non-sponsored research project or set of non-sponsored research activities. Collaboration agreements, consortium agreements, material transfer agreements (MTAs), $0 Intergovernmental Personnel Acts (IPAs), and non-sponsored subawards all fall into the RRA category, whereas sponsored research agreements do not.
One of the more prevalent RRAs that most are familiar with are Data Use Agreements (“DUAs”).
How Research Related Agreements are different from sponsored projects
Sponsored Research Agreement (SRA): a written agreement – grant, contract, subcontract, subaward – entered between an external organization (e.g., federal, state, or private or public organization or agency, the “Sponsor”) and Stanford whereby the Sponsor provides funding to Stanford in order to perform a specified statement of work (SOW).
In addition to recording the rights and obligations related to the SOW, an SRA also details financial accountability and reporting for the conduct of the work and details the delivery of tangible or intangible deliverables at the conclusion of the sponsored project
Research Related Agreement (RRA): a written agreement between Stanford and one or more external organizations detailing the conduct of a specified SOW and any accompanying research-related activities, including any reporting requirements and the delivery of tangible or intangible deliverables. Unlike SRAs, RRAs are not externally funded by a Sponsor!
How to request a Research Related Agreement
Effective February 15, 2023 investigators and administrators that support investigators can request new Research Related Agreements (RRAs) from within SeRA. The SeRA RRA Request Form serves as a single point of intake for non-sponsored agreements such as Data Use Agreements, $0 collaboration agreements, or Material Transfer Agreements across all three contract offices: ORA, the Industrial Contracts Office, and the Clinical Trials team in the Research Management Group.
The SeRA RRA Request Form has been built with conditionality features so that only applicable questions will be asked based on the nature of the agreement being requested and is intended to facilitate the collection of important details up front to kick-start the process of agreement drafting, review, negotiation and completion.
Follow the below steps to initiate and complete a SeRA Research Related Agreement (RRA) Request Form:
1. Log into SeRA
2. From your SeRA landing page click the teal Start RRA Request button.
3. A Start Transaction dialog box will open:
- If you are an investigator, the Principal Investigator field will populate with YOUR name. You can amend this as needed.
- If you are an administrator, the Principal Investigator field will be blank. Input the relevant Principal Investigator. Searching and selecting by SU Net ID is recommended.
- Select all the options for what will be exchanged under this new RRA that apply. The selections made here will determine the subsequent questions that will be displayed in the RRA Request Form.
- Click Start
4. Based on the selections made in Step 3 you will be navigated to the first page of a customized RRA Request Form.
- Answer the questions on this and all subsequent pages.
- Questions and fields with a red asterisk (*) require a response.
- From the right-hand Actions menu you can Reassign the RRA Request Form at any point during its preparation to another individual, such as the PI or another team member, to assist with completing the form.
Adding a new external contact to an existing party/entity within an RRA
- If you find when adding a party/entity on your RRA Request Form's Administration & Party page that your contact person for the given party/entity is not already available for selection, you can enter a new external contact. To begin, click +Add Party button to add the party/entity.
- Type in the party/entity code, if known, or the entity name and select your party/entity.
- Click +Add Contact
- If you do NOT see your contact person in the Contact drop-down list, click the Create New Contact button.
- Enter the new contact information as required.
- Click Add
- The newly created contact for the party/entity will display.
5. Attach supporting and relevant documents on the Attachments page of the RRA Request Form.
6. Submitting an RRA Request Form
After completing all required fields in an RRA Request Form, click Submit for Review at the bottom right of the Complete & Submit page.
- If you are the listed investigator, the page will refresh to the Certification of Responsibilities page. Read the Certification Statement and click Approve & Submit for Review to route the form for central office intake.
If you are an administrator preparing an RRA Request Form, when you click Submit for Review at the bottom right of the Complete & Submit page the form will route to the listed PI. The PI will receive an email from the SeRA system informing them that an RRA Request Form is pending their approval with a direct link to the form in the SeRA email. Alternatively, if the PI logs into SeRA they will see under Open SERA Tasks the RRA Request Form pending their approval and its transaction link that can be clicked on to navigate to the above Certification of Responsibilities page where they can indicate their approval and submit the RRA for review.
How to modify an existing Research Related Agreement
Submit a RRA Central Office Request Form
Additional Resources
Research Related Agreements/Data Use Agreements Webinar Recording Feb 2023
Research Related Agreements/Data Use Agreements Webinar Slides Feb 2023
SeRA Research Related Agreements (RRA) Access Webpage
Data Use Agreements (DUAs) Webpage
Agreement Types Webpage
Agreement Assignment Matrix Webpage
Who Does What? Webpage
Need further assistance? Have questions and/or feedback? Please submit questions about the RRA Request and/or feedback here and we will respond to you shortly.