Product · supports FDP templates
In designFrom notice of award to signed subaward, without re-keying.
Subawards prepares, negotiates and records subaward agreements built on the FDP templates, for the contracts office that issues and receives them. Your eRA system and FDP’s own systems stay where they are.
Nothing is built yet. This page describes the design.
- Federal award numberNoA p.1 §I5R01XX000000-03 (sample)From notice of award
- Subrecipient PIIntake form Q4Dr. Sample InvestigatorFrom department intake
- Amount funded this actionBudget p.2$148,500From subrecipient budget
- Invoice frequencyNeeds a personTwo sources disagreeContracts manager decides
The problem
Most of the work is re-keying, checking and chasing.
A subaward is usually negotiated by email, in Word and PDF, over two or three rounds. Staff time goes on three things.
Re-keying award data
Typing the same award numbers, dates and amounts from the notice of award into the agreement.
Checking for quiet changes
Reading every round to see whether the counterparty changed text that the template locks.
Chasing the packet
Moving the agreement through departments, reviewers and signatories, and knowing where it is.
subawards issued and received a year at one large research institution
of them use an FDP template, at the same institution
of faculty time on federally funded research goes to administrative work
Source: FDP 2012 Faculty Workload Survey
The packet
Built around the FDP packet you already know.
An agreement, its numbered attachments, and the amendments that follow. Subawards treats each part for what it is: fields to fill from the award, text the template locks, and documents a party supplies.
Research Subaward Agreement
FDP template face page and terms.
- ATT 1Certifications and assurancesLocked
- ATT 2Federal award terms and conditionsFields
- ATT 3APass-through entity contactsFields
- ATT 3BSubrecipient contactsFields
- ATT 4Reporting and prior approval termsFields
- ATT 5Statement of work and budgetSupplied
- ATT 6Award documents: notice of award, multiple-PI and data sharing plansSupplied
- ATT 7Data transfer and use agreement, optionalNot in v1
Three workflows
Who does what, step by step.
Adduce prepares, negotiates and records. Roles, units and signing authority are set by each institution. Steps a person takes are shaded.
Outgoing subaward
In design- DepartmentSubmits the intake form and required documents.
- AdducePopulates the FDP agreement and shows the source of every field.
- Contracts managerReviews; asks specialists to review case by case.
- Both partiesNegotiate in Word rounds, each round sealed.
- DepartmentConcurs with the final terms.
- SignatoriesSign, in your institution’s order.
- AdduceEmails the executed agreement to the right people.
Incoming subaward
In design- CounterpartySends a packet by email or upload.
- AdduceSplits the packet into its parts.
- AdduceCompares it to the FDP template and your playbook, and highlights every departure.
- Contracts managerDecides on each departure and negotiates.
- SignatoriesSign, before or after negotiation closes, as you choose.
Unilateral modification
In design- AdduceRecords the modification, effective on its listed date.
- DepartmentAcknowledges with one click.
- Contracts managerAcknowledges with one click.
Locked-text conformance
In designChanges to locked text, found exactly.
Text the template locks is compared word for word with the template, not guessed at by a model. Every departure is shown, with what was removed and what was added. A semantic match never resolves anything on its own; a person decides.
Invoices shall be submitted no more frequently than monthly and no less frequently than removed: quarterly added: annually.
Outbound sanitisation
In designInternal notes stay internal.
Every comment is marked internal, external or restricted. Before anything goes to a counterparty, internal and restricted material is removed, so a note to a colleague can’t leak in a tracked-changes file.
- ExternalPlease confirm the revised budget period.Sent
- InternalPI says they’ll accept annual invoicing if pushed.Removed
- RestrictedRate exception approved by the AVP.Removed
Your systems stay put
In designYour eRA stays where it is.
Subawards sits beside your eRA system and FDP’s own systems rather than replacing them. It does the preparing, negotiating and recording in between.
Principles
Deterministic first. AI second. A person last.
- Exact checks run before any model is involved.
- Every AI output cites the exact passage and never pre-selects the answer.
- No document content leaves the platform.
- Internal and external are separate by construction.
- Assignment and signing authority are your settings, not our code.
- Cases flagged as controlled unclassified information are never processed.
Deliberately not in the first version
What we’re leaving out, on purpose.
- LaterObligations and deadline tracking
- LaterRisk scoring
- LaterWriting back to your eRA system
- LaterFDP Clearinghouse profile preparation
- LaterExternal connectors, such as SAM.gov
- LaterE-signature provider integration
- LaterData transfer and use agreements
- LaterSharing across institutions; flow-down generation
For subaward offices
Run a subaward office? Tell us how it works today.
We are building a working demonstration on public FDP templates and artificial data. Hearing how your office handles subawards helps us get it right.
FDP is the Federal Demonstration Partnership. Subawards supports FDP templates; Adduce is not a member of, affiliated with, or endorsed by FDP.