Commercialisation

Contracts

The Commercialisation Unit within the Innovation and Knowledge Transfer Division can help you prepare and establish agreements with other organisations. We work with you throughout all stages of the process, from contract proposal and negotiation, to the establishment and subsequent management of your contract.

We provide these services in the following areas:

• Research contracts
• Consultancy agreements
• Co-Operation agreements
• Agreements for teaching and training services
• Non-disclosure agreements
• Material transfer agreement

For funding with any competitive research grant funding bodies please contact the University’s Research and Graduate Studies Office (RGSO).

The steps to a successful agreement

Step 1 – Preparing the contract proposal

Researchers should contact the Commercialisation Unit in the first instance to receive advice on the proposed tender application, research project or consultancy project. We will then determine what type of contractual agreement is suitable.

The researcher will be required to complete a coversheet, approved by their Head of School, before progressing. The researcher will also be asked to provide a draft contract, request for tender documents, and any other relevant documentation as supplied by the proposed sponsor.

Useful information

• Coversheet for contract proposals
• Easy steps to contract research
• Consultancy agreement form

Step 2 – Negotiating the contract

Contracts supplied by the researcher will be submitted to the University’s Legal Services department for review. We can then negotiate directly with the sponsor in question or through the researcher, whichever is preferred.

We will advise of any non-compliance issues, and then negotiate on these issues to reach a satisfactory outcome for all parties. We are also required to check proposed budgets to ensure that costing is in line with University policy.  We will also determine the University’s central infrastructure charge

Useful information

• Contractual issues to consider
• Interactive costing/pricing spreadsheet (and instructions for use)
• Costing/pricing guidelines
• La Trobe University central infrastructure charge

Step 3 – Establishing the contract

Once the contract has been negotiated, we will arrange for an authorised University representative to sign the agreement and forward to the sponsor for execution. On its return to us, we will arrange for a SAP fund to be established and the researcher to be provided with the relevant details. Copies of the contract will be provided to the relevant University staff members, and the initial invoice will be forwarded to the sponsor.

Step 4 – Managing the contract

Once the contract has been established, we will provide the researcher with the following services for the ongoing management of the contract:

• Monitoring income
• Monitoring expenditure to ensure that it is within budget
• Quarterly deduction of infrastructure
• Addressing any variations/extensions of the original agreement
• Novation of agreements - managing staff departures
• Finalising the project and excess funds which can be dispersed according to the contract specifications
• Providing reports to PVC (Research) on income received to the University

Further information

Please contact Christine Newman on 9479 1058 for further information.