Procedure for Submitting Business Contracts for Review, Approval, and Execution

  1. Complete and sign the Business Contract Review Checklist.
  • The Review Checklist must be certified by the individual who is responsible for verifying that the contractor will comply with the terms and conditions of the contract.
  • The Review Checklist should contain Department approval signature if required by your department’s contract routing procedures. Electronic signatures using DocuSign are encouraged. 
  • Note (Administrative fee): Any agreement or contract entered into by a department or unit within the University where income will be received as a result of the agreement or contract, may be subject to an assessment of the 5% administrative charge on expenses.  Any budget prepared as a part of the agreement or contract should include a line item for this charge.  It may be referred to as administrative charge or indirect cost and should be calculated as 5% of the total expenses included in the budget.  This charge is assessed to reimburse the University for direct and indirect administrative services.   Additional information regarding this charge can be found online at:  https://utexas.box.com/v/administrative-fee-policy. Certain expenses, such as scholarships, are exempt from this charge.  A detailed list of the exempt expenses can be found on page 2 of the administrative fee policy.   Please note that the administrative charge is assessed per budget group and not per contract.
  1. Develop a contract that contains sufficient information to ensure your department receives the service or deliverable it is anticipating. The use of a Standard Business Agreement Templates and Forms will expedite the review and approval process.

     
  2. Submit items 1 and 2 to the Business Contracts Office with as much lead time as possible. An e-mail confirmation of receipt will be sent to the contact provided on the BCR Form.
  • Electronic – Submit the completed signed BCRC and proposed contract to vpcfo.contracts@austin.utexas.edu
  • Note: If this is an emergency or you are requesting a RUSH review, please contact our office via telephone with the extenuating circumstances. Efforts will be made to accommodate rush requests on a case by case basis.

  1. If the contract is a Standard Agreement with no substantive changes, it usually will be processed and returned to you within one to two weeks. Using a contract drafted by the contractor or permitting substantive changes to University’s Standard Agreement may require additional processing time. Special Handling Contracts requiring UT System Office of General Counsel and/or UT System Board of Regents’ approval will require additional processing time.

    Note: Services may not begin until the contract is fully executed by both parties.

  2. Once our review is complete, and any terms have been negotiated with the contractor by you or your Department, the contract will be signed by an individual in our office who has received Delegated Signature Authority from the president of the University via DocuSign. You will receive additional instructions and information via email notifications from the DocuSign system. 

    Note: Some contracts will require manual signature, including agreements signed by the President of the University. Please advise if the contractor requires a wet signature so that we can coordinate these special circumstances. 

IMPORTANT

If a contract is not signed through a DocuSign envelope created by the BCO, please forward a copy of the fully executed agreement once available to vpcfo.contracts@austin.utexas.edu so that we can update our records manually. Our office does not require originals with wet signatures and scanned PDFs are preferred.