Sheryl,

The following distinction sounds a little like what is built in to our
PSC argument. Grants aren't purchasing services, grants are assistance
and subgrants are assistance to another institution facilitated by the
prime awardee. However, the federal contracts we receive may not pass
this test.

Tim

> ----------
> From:         Ross, Stuart[SMTP:xxxxxx@EXCHANGE.FULLERTON.EDU]
> Sent:         Wednesday, October 22, 1997 7:25 PM
> To:   Multiple recipients of list RESADM-L
> Subject:      Re: Defining grant vs. contract
>
> The central idea I use is the distinction the feds draw between
> "procurement" and assistance", which is essentially the same as your
> distinction about who benefits.  Is the sponsor buying something from
> youu for its own purposes (even something vague like research) or is
> the
> sponsor seeking to assist the good things you are doing for the world?
>
> However, don't kill yourself trying; getting that elusive distinction
> completely right is not worth the effort.
>
>
>
> For internal tracking purposes, we are looking for clear-cut criteria
> for
> classing new sponsored projects as either grants or contracts.  In
> many
> cases this distinction is obvious; however, it is not always obvious
> in
> the
> mix of large and small, basic and applied sponsored projects that we
> perform.
> Our starting points are:
> 1. What does the award document say?
> 2. Who is the primary beneficiary?
> If the primary beneficiary is the sponsor, we consider the award a
> contract;
> if the primary beneficiary is more the public, we consider the award a
> grant.
>
> We would appreciate any input regarding solutions to this problem used
> at
> other institutions, or resource documents.
>
>
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> Administrative Director                      FAX:    (215) 299-1079
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