Contracting Evaluation Services
Effective September 1, 2013, principal investigators (PIs) are expected to follow the policy/guidelines outlined below for contracting services for all externally funded projects requiring an independent or external evaluation.
- Principal Investigator (PI) is responsible for seeking, negotiating, and securing evaluation services as required by the funding agency.
- PI is responsible for obtaining a Contractor’s Statement of Work from an evaluation services “Contractor,” which includes: 1) an itemized list of services to be provided, 2) an itemized list of any institutional data that may be required for completing the evaluation (e.g., student data, faculty/staff data, etc.), 3) a timeline for services to be provided, 4) associated costs, and 5) signatures of parties agreeing to services.
- An Independent Evaluation Consultant/Services Agreement must be signed by both the project/program PI and the Contractor providing the evaluation services. The agreement should, at a minimum, include information pertinent to: 1) Services, 2) Compensation, 3) Terms and Termination, 4) Ownership of Work Product(s) and Intellectual Property, 5) Data Confidentiality and Storage, and 6) any additional terms and conditions necessary to insure the complete understanding of the parties *.
- PI is responsible for describing data collection and evaluation activities in the IRB proposal/protocol.
- PI is responsible for ensuring that data used in evaluation reports are accurate and reliable. Official institutional data may be requested from the UTEP Center for Institutional Evaluation, Research and Planning (CIERP). Note that there may be a charge for extensive data requests made to CIERP, and the PI is responsible for including the cost of these requests in the project’s evaluation budget.
- In accordance with federal guidelines for data sharing (e.g., funding agencies such as NSF), the agreement must include a provision for the return of all data files used in the evaluation analysis to the PI. The PI is responsible for ensuring that all data used in the analyses are available for data-sharing and replication.
- PI is responsible for ensuring that the services/products rendered by the Contractor meet criteria agreed upon in the Statement of Work.
- PI is responsible for notifying the UTEP Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (ORSP) within five (5) business days of any changes to, or termination of, the Independent Evaluation Consultant/Services Agreement between the PI and the Contractor.
- PI is responsible to initiate and control appropriate scheduled payments to the consultant based on receipt of deliverables.
Policy for Contracting Evaluation Services PDF document
The following Independent Evaluation Consultant/Services Agreement template may be used when securing evaluation/consulting services.
Please note that each project is unique and may merit special consideration(s) in the Independent Evaluation Consultant/Services Agreement.