CERES: Complete and Submit an Outgoing Subaward Agreement

Outgoing subcontracts on active awards will require an Outgoing Subaward Agreement. This agreement will be initiated by Sponsored Research (SR), then the Research Administrator (RA) will be notified once the agreement is in their CERES inbox for their completion.

Complete and Submit an Outgoing Subaward Agreement

Note: The attachments contain a job aid related to this article.

Outgoing subcontracts on approved awards will require an Outgoing Subaward Agreement. This agreement will be initiated by Sponsored Research (SR), then the Research Administrator (RA) will receive an email notification once the agreement is in their CERES inbox for their completion. The RA is responsible for either completing and submitting the agreement or discarding it if the subcontract is no longer moving forward. The steps below reflect the RA’s role in this process.

Notes:

• If a subaward is needed to an institution not originally on the proposal, review the CERES Grants Research Community Reference Guide section related to requesting an award modification for more information on requesting a budget revision.

To Complete an Outgoing Subaward Agreement

1. From your CERES inbox, click the Outgoing Subaward Agreement related to the notification you received or click the link directly from the email notification. Outgoing Subaward Agreements are denoted by the SUBK prefix under the ID column.

Notes:

• If you received notification from SR about the subcontract but you'll be reassigning it to a colleague to complete.
• If the subcontract is no longer moving forward, then the Outgoing Subaward Agreement should be discarded.

2. From the Outgoing Subaward Agreement workspace, click Edit Agreement on the left to edit the SmartForm. Review each page and complete all required fields.
3. On the General Information page, RAs should list themselves as an Agreement Collaborator under question 6 (in addition to being listed as the Primary Contact) to ensure they receive notifications related to this agreement.
   • Note: Primary Contacts do not receive notifications from CERES as part of the standard agreement workflow, however Collaborators do. The only email notification that Collaborators will not receive is if clarifications are requested on the agreement. This notification will only send to the PI and Proxy. However, when the agreement is in a Clarification Requested state, it will show in the CERES inbox for the Primary Contact, Collaborators, and PI/Proxy, so you can still take action to address the requested clarification.
4. After completing each page, click Continue to move on to the next page.

• Note: Do not complete the “Negotiation Information” page as this section is only to be filled in by Sponsored Research. Move on to the next page by clicking Continue.
• ☆ Tip: Review the Subcontracts page on the SR website for additional guidance on specific questions or help text. https://sponsoredresearch.northwestern.edu/agreements/subcontracts/index.html  

5. On the last page, follow the completion instructions and then click Finish.

• Important! Failure to fill out correctly and completely will cause delays and the agreement will be routed back to the department​.

 

When you click Finish from the SmartForm:

• You have not yet submitted the agreement. The workspace of the created agreement displays, and the workflow state is Pre-Submission.
• The agreement will stay in your inbox, and you can continue to edit the agreement until you submit it for processing.
• The History tab on the agreement workspace will log who created the agreement.

Note: By default, the person who creates an agreement is assigned as the Primary Contact in the system. The Primary Contact can be changed, and if that happens, the person who creates the agreement will:

• See the agreement in their CERES Inbox only during the Pre-Submission state.
• No longer have read and write permissions on that agreement.
• Not be able to create amendments for the agreement.

 

To Submit an Outgoing Subaward Agreement

1. If it has been determined that the subcontract is moving forward, check if all the information is accurate and complete.

• ☆ Tip: You can verify you’ve completed all required SmartForm fields by clicking Edit Agreement on the workspace and then at the top of the left navigation panel, click Validate. CERES will highlight any required fields that need to be completed with a warning message including a link you can click to jump to that field.

2. To move the subaward agreement forward in the workflow, at the left of the workspace under Next Steps click Submit.
3. Click OK to accept the statement and submit the Outgoing Subaward Agreement.

When this Submit activity is executed:

• The agreement advances to the Unassigned state. The appropriate Sponsored Research team will assign a team member to oversee the agreement through the review, negotiation, and signing process​.
• The activity will be logged under the History tab on the agreement workspace, showing who submitted the agreement.
• The PI and Proxy will be notified throughout the workflow if clarification is needed. The PI, Proxy, and Collaborators will be notified once the agreement language is approved. When the agreement is activated, they will also receive a notification with a link to the fully executed agreement.