Office of Contracts Management

How to Submit a Contract to OCM

• Submit Electronically via PEER
• Submitting a research contract
• Submitting a non-research contract
• OCM Response to Your Submission
• Submitting a grant subcontract
• OCM Response to Your Contract Submission
• Confidential Disclosure Agreements

If you are not sure what kind of contract you have or how to best submit it for review, please call OCM at 2-2281.

Beginning July 1, 2010, electronic submission via PEER will be mandatory. Except for Confidentiality/Non-Disclosure Agreements and Data Use Agreements, paper and email submissions will no longer be accepted.

Electronic Submission via PEER

Electronic submission via PEER is available. Click here to log into PEER and begin your submission. An online help document is available here. Please review the type-specific information below to be sure you include the appropriate attachments with your electronic submission.

Submitting a research contract

All new submissions for OCM contract review will require a "complete package," which includes the following:

1. The contract or agreement itself (if incoming, e.g. Vanderbilt is the recipient of funds or the provider of services. If outgoing, OCM will typically draft the agreement.) An electronic (MS Word) version is preferred, if available.
2. Other party/Sponsor contact information: name, telephone and email address.
3. Protocol or research plan.
4. Transmittal form signed by the Principal Investigator and the Department Chair. (Not required for submissions through PEER)
5. If contract is not part of a Coeus-submitted grant, a fully completed Proposal Transmittal Form, signed by the Principal Investigator and Department Chair. (Not required for submissions through PEER)
6. Initial Budget (this can be a draft if necessary).

For information regarding documentation required for Hospital Finance Review, click here.

The complete package may be sent to OCM via courier or by email research.contract@vanderbilt.edu.

Notice: For clinical studies, if your protocol has already been submitted to the IRB, OCM can retrieve a copy from the IRB's database. When submitting your contract request to OCM, please include the study's IRB number and indicate that you would like us to pull the protocol from the IRB if you prefer not to re-submit the protocol.

Submitting a non-research contract

Non-research contracts should be submitted electronically via PEER. Please include sufficient documentation (detailed budget, scope of services, faculty effort detail).

Initial Submission

Initial submissions should be made with all available electronic documents (contract, transmittal, protocol, etc) via PEER.

NOTICE: To avoid delays and incorrect processing, incomplete submissions will be returned for completion.

Submitting a grant subcontract

To request that OCM draft or review a grant subcontract, please submit the request through COEUS and PEER. For all grant subcontracts, use COEUS to submit the following required documentation:

• letter of intent or face page
• scope of work
• budget
• budget justification

Federal subcontracts: For incoming dollars, create and complete a 'subaward' grant log in PEER. For outgoing dollars, create an 'Add-On' grant log in PEER. You will then be able to create a contract submission which is linked to the grant log. (instructions)

Each PEER log must include:
• the PI assurance
• COIs for all VUMC Investigators and Faculty
• consortium institution's contact information including primary contact, email address and telephone number

OCM Response to Your Contract Submission

The PI and departmental contact will receive email confirmation once an assignment has been made to a specific Contract Analyst. Once the contract is assigned, the Contract Analyst may request an electronic version of the contract if it was not already provided with the initial submission.

Confidential Disclosure Agreements

Because Confidential Disclosure Agreements (CDAs) or Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) do not involve actual work be performed at Vanderbilt, the usual internal documentation to submit a contract to OCM for review does not apply. These agreement types do NOT require submission via PEER.

New CDAs may be submitted electronically as a Word file (or PDF if unavailable) by the PI or the administrator to research.contract@vanderbilt.edu along with the name of the PI and, if you wish OCM to negotiate with the Sponsor directly, Sponsor contact information.

If an electronic document is unavailable, CDAs may be faxed for review with a coversheet identifying it as a 'New CDA for Review' along with the contact information referenced above.

CDAs are reviewed within one business day. After reviewing the document, the assigned Contract Analyst will contact the Sponsor with requested revisions if the contact information is provided or return a revised document to the department, depending on the department's request. The PI or administrator that submitted the CDA to our office will be copied for their records.

For many reasons, including the need to accomplish a speedy review to meet the needs of our internal customers, OCM does not set up a file on each CDA and our Contract Analysts do not do any further follow up after they have submitted their revisions to the Sponsor or department. Therefore, the PI or administrator may wish to contact the Sponsor directly for updates if neither they or the CA has received a response from the Sponsor within a reasonable time.

Click here for more information regarding OCM's handling of CDAs including how to determine if you need to submit your CDA to OCM for review.