Subawards

It may be difficult to determine whether an entity is a subawardee or a vendor. The following checklist will assist you with classification. The Office of Research Administration will make the final determination.

An institution that receives a subaward from IU. A subawardee is accountable to IU for the use of funds in carrying out a portion of the programmatic effort under an IU award. Characteristics of a subawardee include:

• responsibility for the design, conduct or reporting of the project
• performance measured against the objectives of the sponsored program
• responsibility for programmatic decision making
• responsible for adherence to applicable sponsor compliance requirements
• use of federal funds to carry out a program for a public purpose specified in authorizing statute, as opposed to providing goods or services for the program for the benefit of the pass through entity
• publications are anticipated from the lower-tier entity and individuals at the lower-tier organization will be co-authors on articles
• potential for patentable or copyrightable technology created or reduced to practice from the activities of the lower-tier entity
• usually another higher education institution, hospital, or other non-profit organization
• must be able to provide supporting documentation for federal and federal flow through expenditures on cost reimbursable awards

A dealer, distributor, merchant, or other seller providing goods or services during normal business operations that are required for the conduct/completion of a sponsored project. Characteristics include:

• provides goods and services within normal business operations
• provides similar goods or services to many different purchasers
• operates in a competitive environment
• provides goods or services ancillary to the sponsored program
• has no responsibility for the design, conduct, or reporting of research
• is not subject to the compliance requirements of the sponsored program
• is usually a company but may be an individual