Grants and Contracts Defined
What is the difference between a grant and a contract?
GRANT
When an investigator has submitted a "grant application" to the funding source asking them to fund his/her research they are applying for a grant. The funding source always has a format the investigator has to follow. Ninety-nine percent of grants funded by the NIH are in the form of a grant, so if they tell you the money is coming from the NIH, you can be almost assured it involves a grant. The only exception to this is situations where an investigator from another site (e.g.: the University of Michigan) is the PI on the grant application to the NIH and they then subcontract some of the work to UVA. In that case our part of the work is done under a contract. However, the main site will likely still need supporting documents from UVA when they submit the grant proposal. Other examples of grants are funding sources such as foundations (American Cancer Society), etc.
CONTRACT
Contracts are required whenever there will be obligations between the parties. One party may supply funding, information, devices, or materials, for example, and the other party might provide services, research data, or even recognition for the provider in publications. Both parties obligations will include the duty to obey applicable state and federal law. Contracts may take many forms and be called by many different names, including but not limited to Clinical Trial Agreement, Research Funding Agreement, Material Transfer Agreement, Memorandum of Agreement, and Confidential Disclosure Agreement.
If you have any questions regarding the need for a contract, please contact your department's grants and contracts office. Most biomedical research grants and contracts are handled through the UVA School of Medicine Grants and Contracts Office. Grants and contracts for all other research are handled through the UVA Office of Sponsored Programs.