Service Agreements for School of Medicine

What is a Service Agreement?

A Service Agreement is a formal contract between Stanford and an outside party establishing the terms and conditions for using Stanford resources to provide assistance to the other party. Sometimes referred to as “fee for services” arrangements, Stanford receives a fixed fee or reimbursement of costs for providing the services to the outside party. Providing such services must support Stanford’s mission of excellence in research, teaching and medical care and should not be undertaken solely for financial gain.

Service agreements do not meet the definition of a sponsored project and are governed by a specific policy.  Types of Service Agreements may include Technical Services, Training Services, Community Outreach, or Research Support Services.

See: Research Policy Handbook 13.7.


Service Agreement Types

Examples of Service Agreement Types (click image to enlarge).

On This Page:

RMG Service Agreements Team

Nico Mendoza

Deputy Director

Glennia Campbell

Senior Contracts Officer

 

When to Contact Other Offices

If you need an agreement for a formally-recognized Stanford Service Center:

Please reach out to the Industrial Contracts Office for guidance. More information about Stanford Service Centers can be found on the DoResearch website.

If Stanford is paying an outside party to provide services to Stanford:

Please reach out to the Procurement Office for guidance. (More information here).


School of Medicine Service Agreement Intake Process

Service agreements for the School of Medicine are processed by the Research Management Group's Service Agreements team (Nico Mendoza and Glennia Campbell). Other schools are handled by their respective school representatives and not by central administration (OSR or ICO).

(IMPORTANT) Please note that there is no way to initiate an early PTA for service agreements so please factor this in to the timeline and management of the activities.

Simplified: How to Initiate a Service Agreement (click on image to enlarge).

For School of Medicine requests, send an e-mail to Nico Mendoza and Glennia Campbell with the following information and documents:

1. Statement of Work: A brief description of the work being performed and the Stanford team’s roles and responsibilities. List any deliverables expected by the other party, including reports, training materials, workshops, etc.

2. Party Details: Name, address, and primary contact information for the other party, and the source of funding they will be using. If they are using funding from a grant or contract, please let us know who the primary sponsor is.  Also include the type of organization (non-profit, government or corporate), where the services/activities will be taking place, and if we are providing support services or Stanford technology.

3. Internal Budget: Internal budget that includes personnel costs, supplies, materials, travel and other expenses that might be incurred. Do not submit the budget to the other party without having it reviewed by the RMG Service Agreements team first.

4. Timeline: When you expect the services to begin and end (start and end dates). Documents: Any documents provided to you by the other party, including a draft agreement, proposed budget/costs, and their proposed scope of work.

Important Additional Considerations to inform us about:

  • Will the performance of services require any Research Compliance Office oversight (IRB, APLAC/IACUC, APB, SCRO)?
  • Will there be any exchange of data? If yes, will there be any exchange of Protected Health Information (PHI)?
  • Will there be any exchange of materials?
  • Is any Stanford-owned intellectual property being used in the performance of the services? If so, have you filed an invention disclosure with the Office of Technology Licensing?
  • Is any Intellectual Property of the other party or any third party being used? If so, do we need a license to use it for the services?
  • Do you expect to develop any new Intellectual Property (patentable, copyrightable, or trademarked) as part of the services?
  • Does the faculty member have any financial interest in the other party?
  • Do you know of any Institutional Conflict of Interest with the other party?

Service Agreement Policy Applications

Stanford Personnel

  • All Service Agreements must have a faculty member listed as the primary faculty contact. The faculty must have a full-time appointment and be eligible to be a Principal Investigator or have a PI Waiver in place prior to the start of the service.
  • Faculty members must identify a specific percentage of time being used in performing the services which should be charged to the contract.
  • A PI Waiver is required for Clinician Educators who will serve as the lead Faculty Contact on service agreements. The services must be related to their clinical duties and responsibilities and may be subject to further review and approvals.
  • Students or Postdocs must not be involved in providing services.

 

Service Agreement Conditions

  • The service provided must be unique or not easily otherwise available to the other party.
  • The work performed must not interfere with research, teaching, and clinical activities.
  • The work should constitute only an incidental amount of the total activity of a Stanford resource or lab at any given time, unless performance is mandated by a grant or condition of a sponsored project. For example, a faculty member has an NIH grant that supports the underlying research and development of materials, and requires dissemination of the materials to a broad audience (other than through publication). The faculty member may provide services to an outside party to present or customize the materials into a training program for the other party.
  • Service agreements are limited to a duration of 2 years or less.
  • Stanford does not provide warranties or guarantees for  the work product provided.
  • Faculty and staff are not permitted to sign Service Agreements on behalf of the School or University. These agreements require institutional signatures from a person with specifically delegated authority from the School of Medicine.

 

Budgets

  • Budgets are developed by the departments, not RMG. Nico Mendoza can assist you in identifying missing information, but the initial budget should come from the department administrators.
  • Budgets should include all costs associated with performing the services, including personnel, materials, supplies, travel and both direct and indirect costs.
  • Service agreements incur the full indirect cost rate, without regard to where the work is being performed (on or off-campus).
  • A reduction from the Non-sponsored Receivables Rate may only be considered for non-profits customers when the Stanford work meets the definition of public service and community outreach.
  • There is no opportunity to initiate an early PTA for service agreements.

Last modified: August 1, 2024.


Need further assistance? Have questions and/or feedback?
 Please submit questions and/or feedback by e-mailing Nico and Glennia and we will get back to you.