Re: signing nondisclosure agreements Herbert B. Chermside 05 Aug 1998 13:01 EST
At VCU we have three people who could sign a nondisclosure agreement, depending on its content. 1) If it is preliminary to a proposal (e.g., info on material and desired parameters of a study for a clinical trial) AND is written for an individual recipient to sign, we allow the prospective P.I. to sign. The P.I. then has the responsibility of confidentiality, and for limiting any dissemination on a need-to-know basis. But the scope of the use of the information is basically all in the P.I.'s head and office. 2) If the agreement is written for the insititution to sign AND/OR if OSPA judges that the purposes for which we obtain the information are wider than "just the P.I.", then it is signed by the Director, Sponsored Programs. The Director is authorized in writing to execute on behalf of the insititution all documents related to seeking and agreeing to sponsored awards. 3) In some cases (mostly as backup for the Director, OSP), the Director, Technology Transfer, signs, based on his authorization to sign documents related to intellectual property (and this is an agreement not to reveal others' IP). We are a state insititution. By law, the Conflict of Interests Act is a condition of employment. One of its prohibitions is using information gathered in one's official capacity (e.g., faculty member considering whether or not to propose) "for his own economic benefit or that of another". Private institutions should have some similar condition of employment. Chuck >Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 08:53:40 -0700 >From: "Ross, Stuart" <xxxxxx@EXCHANGE.FULLERTON.EDU> >Subject: signing nondisclosure agreements >Sender: Research Administration List <xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG> >Resent-to: xxxxxx@hsc.vcu.edu >To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG >Reply-to: Research Administration Discussion List <xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG> >X-VMS-To: NET%"xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG" >X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.1960.3) >X-PH: xxxxxx@mercury.vcu.edu > >From time to time we have to execute a nondisclosure agreement with a >commercial firm, and I have always been a bit uncertain about who should >sign. The senior executives can sign for the institution, but in an >academic environment they do not normally have enough day-to-day control >over the handling of the information; the professor does control the >information flow but can't sign for the institution. When the agreement >is not part of a sponsored project, the institution has even less formal >control. I've had it done a few different ways now. Fortunately there >has been no bad incident, but I'd appreciate any advice or tips on how >to make the commitment to such agreements solid and useful. > >Stuart Ross >Director, Grants & Contracts >California State University, Fullerton >xxxxxx@fullerton.edu At 08:53 AM 8/5/98 -0700, you wrote: >From time to time we have to execute a nondisclosure agreement with a >commercial firm, and I have always been a bit uncertain about who should >sign. The senior executives can sign for the institution, but in an >academic environment they do not normally have enough day-to-day control >over the handling of the information; the professor does control the >information flow but can't sign for the institution. When the agreement >is not part of a sponsored project, the institution has even less formal >control. I've had it done a few different ways now. Fortunately there >has been no bad incident, but I'd appreciate any advice or tips on how >to make the commitment to such agreements solid and useful. > >Stuart Ross >Director, Grants & Contracts >California State University, Fullerton >xxxxxx@fullerton.edu > Herbert B. Chermside, CRA Director, Sponsored Programs Administration Virginia Comonwealth University PO BOX 980568 Richmond, VA 23298-0568 Express Delivery Only: Sanger Hall, Rm. 1-073 11th & Marshall Streets Richmond, VA 23219 Voice: 804-828-6772 Fax 804-828-2521 OFFICE e-mail xxxxxx@VCU.EDU Personal e-mail xxxxxx@vcu.edu http://views.vcu.edu/views/ospa/