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U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs IPA
Veterans Affairs Intergovernmental Personnel Agreements
An Interagency Personnel Agreement (IPA) is a funding mechanism for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to reimburse the university for a portion (or all) of the salary and fringe benefits of an IU employee (faculty or non-faculty) working with the VA. These assignments allow civilian employees of Federal agencies to serve with eligible non-Federal organizations for a limited period without loss of employee rights and benefits.
Assignment agreements can be made for up to two years and may be intermittent, part-time, or full-time. The VA may extend an assignment for an additional two years when the extension will benefit both organizations. Assignees must be employed in a permanent position for at least 90 days to be eligible for an IPA assignment.
5 CFR part 334 states that an employee who has served for four continuous years on a single assignment may not be sent on another assignment without at least a 12-month return to duty with his or her regular employer. Successive assignments without a break of at least 60 calendar days will be regarded as continuous service and counted toward the four continuous years.
Any significant changes in an employee's duties, responsibilities, salary, work assignment location or supervisory relationships should be duly recorded as a modification to the original agreement. The assignment agreement for each employee must always be accurate, complete, and current. Minor changes such as salary increases due to annual pay adjustments, changes in benefits due to revised coverage, and very short-term changes in duties do not require a modification to the original agreement. Please reach out to iuprop@iu.edu with questions on whether a modification will be required.
IPA Initiation Process
Once an assignment is negotiated, work with the VA to complete a draft agreement and submit it to the Office of Research Administration (ORA) through a KC Proposal Development Document. ORA will review, sign the agreement, and send to the VA for final signature. The VA will return the fully executed agreement and ORA will issue a sponsored project account for income/expenses.
The Principal Investigator (PI) noted in KC should be either the assignee or supervisor. Please see IU's Eligibility: Principal Investigator or Project Director Policy for more information on if the assignee is eligible to be PI.
Termination of an IPA
An assignment may be terminated at any time at the option of the Federal or non-Federal organization. Where possible, the party terminating the agreement should give a 30-day notice before the original completion date, to all parties involved. This notification should be in writing and should include the reasons for the termination. Once the termination letter is drafted, send it to ORA for review, signature, and submission. The award/account will be updated accordingly after a counter-signed copy of the termination letter is received from the VA.