At the University of Central Florida, the Division of Sponsored
Research negotiats subcontracts with subcontractors.  Generally,
payments are not tied to the prime funding receipt since some
times, the contract dates are not concurrent UNLESS the
subcontractor is responsible for the submission of a deliverable
which is a deliverable for our prime contract.  Payment terms in
number of days until receipt of payment is fixed by the State
Comptroller's Office and all State of Florida contracts MUST have
the clause detailing this and including the information about and
phone number of the State Vendor Ombudsman's Office in order to
be considered a contract in the state.  Generally, because of
compliance with State payment regulations(i.e, State travel
policies about meal costs and transportation allowances may
differ from private enterprise), I have found it easiest to make
a subcontract fixed price with payment upon receipt of certain
deliverables. The invoice is approved by the Principal
Investigator and DSR and a copy of the report is attached for
payment.  This provides quicker payment to the subcontractor when
possible since then we avoid the denial of the invoice by the
State comptroller's office for documentation of travel costs, or
meal costs that are not within the State guidelines(($21/day for
three meals), etc.  When it is necessary to do a cost
reimbursement subcontract (generally when the PI is not sure of
the costs that may be involved with the work), it is wise to send
a copy of the University's travel policies (and meal allowances)
to the subcontractor at the time of negotiating the subcontract.
Another tip for subcontracts is to include an article with points
of contact right in the contract, inserting both a technical
point of contact/the PI and a contractual point of contact/DSR
rep and phone number and complete address for any contractual
questions and changes and if necessary, a financial person
responsible for the invoices/address to mail the invoices to,
etc.  and state that any changes must be made in writing by both
parties.  This avoids the technical people at the subcontractor
working on a change authoirized by the Univ.'s technical rep/PI
or his project director without authorization and potential
payment changes to the contract... another pitfall to be avoided
is to state up front who has vesting rights to any equipment
purchased by the Subcontractor and whether you want approval of
any equipment purchases or budget transfers...hope this helps...

Lynn Tacher
Contract Administrator
University of Central Florida
xxxxxx@DSRT.UCF.EDU