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Service Agreements

What is a Service Agreement?

In addition to collaborating with industry on academic research, the College of the Environment also provides routine services to industry on a fee-for-service basis. Units may undertake such activities as long as they are consistent with the policies of the University of Washington and the College of the Environment.

A service agreement is a formal contract in which the University of Washington (UW) agrees to provide specific services to an external party. These services include scientific research and testing, educational training, program evaluation, art performances, and technical consultancy. Such agreements outline the services’ terms, conditions, and scope between UW and the third party. They are required for non-sponsored activities without direct funding or sponsorship.

Service Indicators

  • The primary benefit is to the customer.
  • The UW activity is ancillary to a program or project, and the UW is not responsible for meeting program objectives or overall program progress.
  • Billing for activity is typically based on a fee schedule, pricing list, per diem, or per unit basis.
  • Cost is expressed on an hourly or per-unit basis
  • A request is for a bid or quote, not a proposal
  • When Federal, the government intends to own all rights in data
  • The agency refers to the winning bidder as “vendor” and not “contractor”, “awardee” or “grantee.”
  • Activity is not carried out with the intent to further disseminate knowledge, including publication

The following activities are considered Service Activities. Review the Service Activity Contacts for information on who to contact.

  • Lab testing services
  • Clinical services, examples: Physical Therapy (PT)/Occupational Therapy (OT), radiology, imaging, radiation therapy, etc.
  • Non-lab testing services
  • Curation services
  • Hosting conference site (e.g. providing facilities, catering, printing, and other support)
  • Hosting a panel of experts or members of the community
  • Performing arts, art installations requiring entry fee, other art displays, performances, or activities in which entrants pay a fee
  • Consultant (such as supplying software, providing technical assistance, setting up equipment, etc.)
  • Field testing (such as acoustic testing, equipment testing, etc.)

Units may engage in the direct sale of services to individuals, groups, or external agencies for fees only when those services are directly and substantially related to the educational mission of the University.  Units may not engage in sales activities solely to raise revenue to support an academic or research activity if the services sold are not directly and substantially related to the educational or research activity.

What a Service Agreement is NOT

Service Agreements are often confused with Sponsored Programs (aka “a grant”) as there can be similarities. Specific Guidance on distinguishing between a sponsored program and a service agreement may be found here

Service Agreements are often confused with procurement contracts. In a procurement contract, the University of Washington is the customer and asks for a good or service from a supplier. The University of Washington supplies a good or service to an outside customer in a service agreement.

How to Process a Service Agreement

The Dean’s Office is working on a streamlined process and working to develop standard templates where possible. For now, send all service agreements to the efast@uw.edu with the title: [service agreement] [unit] [Customer Name] and include a contract template should the customer have a required template and a budget with pricing. If you have questions on how to budget a service agreement, you can contact the Director of Finance in the Dean’s Office (Erika Hargadine ehargad@uw.edu)

All service contracts will be signed by the Dean’s Office. Once the contracts are signed, the unit will be assigned an activity worktag to use with the contract. The unit will then attach the fully executed contract to a “Create Customer Contract” request in Workday. Service contracts will generally fall under the special operations cost center of each unit and the unit will use the activity worktag to track revenues and expenses. Units may assign optional program and/or assignee worktags as appropriate. The unit will generate a billing schedule and invoicing of the customer will generate from Workday.