Procedure Library

VA Interagency Personnel Agreement

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 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

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
   • The VA will not pay indirect costs on an IPA. See the Research Handbook.
3. The department generates a Document Summary Sheet for the incoming IPA
4. The department routes the IPA, and references the DSS number, to the Office of Sponsored Projects
5. 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
6. 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