Contract and Project Administration

Daniel S. FornahProject Development & Management Officer

SOME PROJECTS IN SLARI

MAFFS Projects

WAAPP

IFAD

ASREP

MoFED Allocations (OCs)

AGRA

CFC

CORAF/WECARD (DONATA)

IAEA

Difference: Project Management and Project Administration

Project Management is the application of skills, knowledge, and tools to achieve the predetermined project objectives.

Project Administration is 1. Supporting the project manager/ principal investigator with the more

administrative parts of the project. 2. A much higher level activity, sometimes called program or portfolio

management, making sure the organization is working on the right projects at the right time with the right resources etc.

Juggling Project Management and Project Administration

For a Project Manager (or Principal Investigator), balancing Project Management and Project Administration is very challenging:

Juggling pressures:

prioritise on the implementation/ research, or

prioritise writing reports, checking spending, reminding partners, nagging team members to submit timesheets etc.?

Project Administration

Project Administration (Office or Unit): Protects (an organization or a project) against unforeseen contract, legal and

financial issues, thereby saving the organization or project from significant losses or breach of contract by providing polite, timely, effective and satisfactory responses to requests and a quick turn-over of quality services to internal and external clients within expected time lines, thereby sustaining relationships with staff, partners and donors;

Serves as a reliable source of data warehousing for internal (and external) clients or for project stakeholders;

Establishes sound operational procedures to guarantee adherence to standard rules, regulations, policies and requirements of both donors and the organization;

Consistently resolves issues related to Project Administration by giving explanation, advice, and interpretation where necessary.

What is Contract Administration?

Coordinating and Monitoring project initiation, implementation and closing.

Initiation: Reviewing, negotiating and signing project agreement.Communicate requirements and budget with Finance Unit/ Office and Project Manager

Implementation: Drafting, negotiating and signing sub-contract agreements and their possible amendments.Requesting No-Cost-Extensions if required/ allowed.Monitor project spending

Closing out:

Project Agreement

Contract types: Cooperation Agreements: Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) or

Cooperative Agreement

Project agreements: Agreement or Letter of Agreement Sub-contract Agreement or Sub-Grant Agreement

IP/ IA Agreements: (Standard) Material Transfer Agreements ((s)MTA)

Licensing agreement

Project Agreement

Important clauses in Agreement between Donor (Grantor) and Recipient (Grantee): Period Key Personnel Reporting (Financial/ Technical); time period and due date; templates Payment Record Maintenance, Inspection and Audit (Reports) Intellectual Property (IP) rights/ Public to Restricted access Publications Assignment (Sub-Contracts) Termination and Amendment Force Majeure Assets (who owns these) Others: Political Campaigning/ lobbying, branding, Anti-Terrorism, etc.

Project Agreement

Agreement between Donor (Grantor) and Recipient (Grantee):

Check if workplan and budget have been included (and if the same as in proposal) Overhead/ Indirect Costs

It is better to negotiate until you are convinced the agreement is such that it is possible for your organisation to adhere to it, because …

Once you sign an agreement, you will have to follow it to the letter, and not doing so might result in loss of funds, damage to name and loss of future projects.

Project Agreement

Intellectual property or assets (IP/ IA) is a legal concept which refers to creations of the mind for which exclusive rights are recognized. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of tangible and intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs, but also reports, data, maps, questionnaires, databases etc.

Global Access: recognize the importance of Intellectual Property as a component of the agricultural research agenda. Both Parties acknowledge that knowledge, data and know-how gained under the Agreement will be made available to the national agricultural research systems, available for humanitarian purposes, and the benefits of any intellectual property created as part of the Agreement will be made accessible to the public throughout the developing countries of the world.

Project Agreement

Sub-Contract Agreements: Agreements with partners under the project.

Why? Clarity on who does what and accountability.

How?

Taking forward clauses of main agreement.Reporting: reporting dates before reporting to donor

Project Agreement

No-Cost-Extensions (NCEs) and Amendments/ Addendums

NCE: Often requested when it is presumed that there will be funds remaining at

the project end date. This is not always possible.Timely!

Amendment: making changes to an agreement. Addendum: adding something additional to an agreement.

Closing out

Communicate with Finance Office/ Unit and Project Manager/ Principle Investigator

Assets (disposal or return)

Contract and Project Administration

In summary:

Providing services to Project Managers/ Principle Investigators and Funders.Providing controls and protection for your organisation.