Procedure Library

VA Interagency Personnel Agreement

IPAs were authorized in 1970 and included under 5 CFR Part 334. They allow for the temporary assignment of an employee between a federal agency (Most commonly for OSP, the Veteran Affairs Division of Salt Lake City) and institutions of higher education. Utah faculty will frequently work as VA employees and be paid under the IPAs processed through OSP.

Purpose

An Interagency Personnel Agreement (IPA) is a funding mechanism for the VA to reimburse the University of Utah for a portion or all of the salary and fringe benefits of a UU employee (faculty or non-faculty) working on sponsored research projects funded by the VA.

The goal of this type of agreement is to strengthen the relationship between UU and the VA by the temporary assignment of UU skilled employee to work with the VA; the goal being a mutually beneficial outcome for both parties, e.g. the use of new technologies to solve governmental problems and provide experience to the UU employee that will enhance his or her performance in their job at UU.

Applicability

Only UU employees who have been employed for more than 90 days can be named an assignee on a VA IPA. Only certain employee statuses are approved.

• Post Docs and graduate students CANNOT be placed on a VA IPA
• Those residing in the US on a student visa CANNOT be placed on a VA IPA

Additionally:

• Principal Investigators (PI) must be employed by the University for at least 90 days prior to assignment.
• No clinical work can be contracted through an IPA. If clinical personnel are assigned to an IPA, then the scope of work must not include any clinical services.
• Administrative support personnel/duties are also not allowed on IPAs.
• Most often, technical staff are the employees on IPA assignment. Students (undergrad or graduate), teaching assistant and similar temporary positions are not eligible for IPA appointments.
• An assignee cannot be on assignment for more than 4 consecutive years.
• A twelve-month break is required between 4-year assignments with the federal agency.
• If the assignee is on multiple IPA assignments, all assignments will end 4 years from the start of the first assignment (The department should be tracking this to ensure compliance).

Instructions

1. The VA investigator notifies the VA and the UU PI or department of the UU employee ("Assignee") they would like to place on an IPA
   1. The UU PI/department initiates the process with a letter or email to the VA. 
   2. This letter includes the employee's name, salary, fringe, work location and supervisor.
2. The VA generates the agreement and sends it to the PI/department. Note: There are three types of IPAs:
   1. New: brand new IPA for assignee to work on a new scope of work (up to 12 month for initial assignment)
   2. Modification: modifies existing IPA for changes including net fiscal increase or decrease based on effort change or early termination within the current assignment period.
   3. Extension: used for subsequent periods of the same IPA assignment (up to 12 months each) to add the next assignment period and additional associated funding.
3. The department generates a Document Summary Sheet (DSS) for all new incoming IPAs
   1. A new IPA is defined by an assignment to a specific scope of work or a specific VA project. OSP can use the same DSS for an IPA modification or extension not to exceed 4 years.
      
      The PI and department administrator have the option to create a DSS each year of an IPA assignment, but must check the length of total assignment does not exceed 4 years. This is not recommended process, but allowable if PI and department determine this is best management practice.
   2. eProposal helpful information for completing a DS:
      1. Principal Investigator: must match person listed as university supervisor
      2. Sponsor: 11177-VA Salt Lake City Health Care System, 10007 - US Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA site-specific location sponsors like 00016473 - VA Boston Health Care Systsem or 00016825 - VA Seattle Health Care System. OSP does not create VA sponsors for specific programs (i.e. VINCI, HSR&D), only for VA locations.
      3. Short Title: IPA (first name) (last name) IPA Jane Doe. Add a descriptor if the person has more than 1 IPA like IPA John Doe-Brown Merit and IPA John Doe-Smith Career
      4. Purpose: Other Public Service
      5. F&A: University of Utah does not currently collect F&A costs on VA IPAs. See the Research Handbook (a waiver is not necessary).
4. The department reviews and completes the IPA.
   • See FY24 Review Guidance
5. The department routes the IPA, along with the DSS number, to the Office of Sponsored Projects
6. OSP reviews and signs the IPA, returns the partially executed IPA to the VA, and the VA signs and returns the fully executed original back to OSP
7. OSP returns the fully executed copy to the department to initiate a new project setup in eAward

VA IPA Termination

When terminating an IPA, the VA must be notified as soon as possible so that the termination memorandum can be generated and the account closed.

• The PI/department notifies the VA of the request to terminate
• The VA issues a termination memorandum
• The department submits the termination memorandum via eAward to close the account

Resources: 

• OSP Employee Portal > IPAs with the VA