Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer

Authority

• 15 U.S.C. 3710A

Description

• Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) are broad agreements that require a mutual interest in objectives by both parties. These agreements do not require mutual contributions of personal or financial resources by either party. An MOU is essentially an agreement to coordinate activities and to outline mutually acceptable goals and procedures, leading to mutual decisions.

  Agricultural Research Service (ARS): An agreement between ARS and another party that sets out, in very broad, general terms, a plan for the parties to coordinate their efforts on projects of mutual interest.

  Forest Service (FS): An agreement with a U.S. entity, defining how future efforts will be accomplished.

Features/Characteristics

• Five types of MOUs exist at ARS:
  

  • A Master MOU is an agreement between ARS and another party or parties covering a broad area of cooperative work.
  • A Supplement to the Master MOU is describing in more detail a particular program or project.
  • An Individual MOU can be used with an individual, public or private organization, federal agency, or other single or multiple parties. It is typically used when there is not a Master MOU to supplement.
  • A Standard MOU is an agreement between ARS and another party similar to an Individual MOU.
  • A Cooperative Research and Development MOU is an agreement between ARS and another party to conduct cooperative technology transfer activities pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 3710A.
  These agreements are non-binding. No specific research project is destribed, and no specific duties and responsibilities are defined. Only general terms that identify how the parties intend to cooperate are described. Requires Programmatic Authority.
  MOUs with the FS contain no legally binding terms, strictly addressing how future agreements may be accomplished.

I.P. and Resource Commitment

• ARS: These agreements do not require mutual contributions of personal or financial resources by either party. Transfer of resources (money, people etc.) is NOT done with an MOU. There is no commitment of resources by ARS and no transfer of funding from one party to the other.

  FS: No resources are associated with this type of agreement.

Other Agencies/Laboratories That Use This Mechanism