In March of 2012, the Maryland state legislature charged the Board of Regents with developing a plan for the University of Maryland‘s College Park and Baltimore campuses to expand their collaborative efforts in order to create an even greater impact on the state and the next generation of innovators. MPowering the State is the manifestation of this vision - a partnership that demands a new working relationship between College Park and Baltimore that emphasizes teamwork and collaboration.
To promote this vision, we are establishing the following interim Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). These SOPs reflect current business practices at this time. We ask that PIs, Departments, and Colleges work cooperatively with us through the new challenges this collaboration will bring.
MPowering the State envisions a seamless working relationship – from research lab to administration of the research process. This means that while we maintain our lead/subawardee relationship (due to different DUNS and rate agreements), we will talk about Lead and Partner Institutes, waive Indirect Costs on the 1st $25k of subawards between the campuses, and present a combined budget
justification to the funding agency. Each Institution will continue to charge their federally negotiated rate on their associated direct costs. In addition, instead of a consortium letter, we will include a collaborative letter (on MPowering letterhead) describing the new relationship.
For now, ALL collaborations between College Park and Baltimore are to be MPowering the State proposals (see decision tree) and must follow the interim SOPs outlined in the document below.
Questions regarding this procedure can be directed to:
Dr. Beth Brittan-Powell
Director, MPowering the State
Joint Research Collaborations
ebrittan@umd.edu
MPowering the State Proposal Development – Interim SOPs: