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 awarded to 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 employees 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 job performance.

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:

• No clinical work can be contracted through an IPA. If clinical personnel are assigned to an IPA, 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.
• Research assignments are now managed in up to a 2 year period, with each new period requiring a new IPA to be finalized.
• All research assignments of an employee are managed under a single, multi-assignment IPA.
  
  For questions about eligibility of an employee to participate on an IPA assignment, please discuss with the VA team funding the anticipated IPA or the VA IPA point of contact: Lisa O'Hara.

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.
2. The VA or UU department generates the agreement, and obtains Assignee signature.
    icon   VA SLC Templates (U Box)
   
   There are three types of IPAs:
   
   1. New: new IPA for assignee to work on a new assignment for up to 2 year period, dependent on the funding period of the associated VA awards.
   2. Modification: modifies existing IPA for changes including additional assignment(s) or changes to existing assignment(s) net fiscal increase or decrease based on effort change or early termination within the current assignment period.
   3. Extension: to be determined under the new structure of 2 year period.
3. The department generates a Document Summary Sheet (DSS) for all new incoming IPAs
   1. Each period of assignment(s), up to 2 years, requires a new DSS. The department may choose to also create a new DSS for each specific assignment on the new IPA, (i.e. if an Assignee has 4 assignments on the IPA, the department may choose to manage each assignment with a separate DSS for each.) Alternatively, if only one DSS is used for the multi-assignment IPA then each assignment will be managed under companion projects. The department may use the same DSS for up to two consecutive periods of assignment(s) or through two consecutive two-year period IPAs. The DSS cannot be active for more than 4 consecutive years.
   2. eProposal helpful information for completing a DSS:
      1. Sponsor:
         Local VA: 11177-VA Salt Lake City Health Care System
         National VA Offices: 10007 - US Department of Veterans Affairs
         Other VA Locations: VA site-specific location sponsors like 00016473 - VA Boston Health Care System or 00016825 - VA Seattle Health Care System, or enter free text if not a current selection. All VA locations, aside from national, begin with "VA".
         OSP does not create VA sponsors for specific programs (i.e. VINCI, HSR&D), only for VA locations.
      2. Short Title: IPA (first name) (last name) IPA Jane Doe. Add an additional descriptor if helpful for department management
      3. Purpose: Other Public Service
      4. F&A: University of Utah does not currently collect F&A costs on SLC VA IPAs. Per the Research Handbook, a waiver is not necessary.
4. The department reviews and completes the IPA.
   • For single assignments: FY24 Review Guidance
   • For multiple assignments: FY24 Multiple Assignment Guidance
5. The department routes the IPA, which lists the DSS number, to Ailee Hoffmann in OSP. Ailee is the Contract Administrator (CA) IPA Lead. The CA team will process all VA IPAs as routed by Ailee. Departments will likely receive review comments or the signed IPA from another member of the CA team.
6. OSP reviews and signs the IPA, returns the partially executed IPA to the department contact.
7. The department routes the IPA to the VA c/o Lisa O'Hara
8. The VA signs and returns the fully executed original back to the department.
9. The department initiates a new project setup in eAward.
   • Note: system assignment constraints require the SPO be listed on the DSS and in eAward. The SPO will route to Ailee and the CA team for processing.

VA IPA Modifications

Modifications should be finalized and processed through eAward timely. At the latest, within 60 days of the IPA end date to ensure time for proper invoicing.

Pending modifications to inactive projects should be communicated by departments to Grants & Contracts Accounting (GCA) as soon as they become aware of the modification.

Modification IPAs should clearly list the original and modified obligations and the total amount of the increase or decrease. For multiple assignment IPAs, the assignment being modified or added/removed must be clearly identified.

VA IPA Termination

When terminating an IPA, the VA must be notified as soon as possible so that the termination IPA can be generated and the project closed in a timely manner.

• The PI/department notifies the VA of the request to terminate
• A termination IPA is created and processed
• The department submits the termination IPA via eAward to de-obligate funds and close the project

Resources: 

• OSP Employee Portal > IPAs with the VA