Overview
  • Sponsored Research at Northwestern
  • Subcontracts in Context
  • Background on Centralizing Subcontract Processing
  • Design of Process Improvement Pilot
  • Framework for Universal Application
  • Dissemination of Deliverables
          Sponsored Research at Northwestern
 • Funding for research, training and public service 
  provided by a variety of external sponsors
 • In FY14, 
   – Proposals -$2.34 billion 
   – Awards - $593.9 million
 • Sponsors include federal, 
  industry, foundation, and foreign
 • Complex regulatory environment
                                      Subcontracts in Context
      •  Northwestern engages in a range of scholarly collaborations, 
         and operates in an environment in which collaborations and 
         large-scale multidisciplinary projects are continually on the 
         rise not only from within, but frequently across institutions 
         and organizations.
      •  A subcontract is the mechanism often used to facilitate 
         external collaborations
             Statistics on Subcontracts
  Weinberg: 
    – 468 awards
    – 54 subcontracts
    – $15.7 million
  Chemistry:  
    – 141 awards
    – 30 subcontracts 
    – $9.7 million
              Background
  Northwestern University’s Office for Research brought 
  in an outside consultant to review sponsored research 
  processes, including the subcontract process. After 
  review, the consultant had the following 
  recommendations:
  Centralize the subcontract process function
  Improve the subcontract process to ensure efficiency 
   in the process