IPA Agreement Processing Guidance

Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA)

The Intergovernmental Personnel Act Mobility Program provides the temporary assignment of personnel between the Federal Government and state and local governments, Indian tribal governments, federally funded research and development centers, colleges and universities and other eligible organizations. IPAs are not used as an award mechanism in support of a federally funded sponsored project. For more details about IPAs, refer to OPM.gov.

What is an IPA Agreement?

Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) Agreements are contracts between UF and a federal sponsor that allows a UF employee to go on assignment to a federal sponsor and provide research, administrative, or other services to the federal sponsor for a limited period of time. The assignee remains a UF employee and continues to be paid by UF payroll for the duration of the assignment. The Federal sponsor may agree to pay all, some, or none of the costs associated with an assignment. Costs may include salary pay, supplemental pay, fringe benefits, and travel and relocation expenses.

UF IPA Agreement Processing Guidance

• UF employees considering going on assignment need to first coordinate the activity with their Department Chair and in some cases the Dean’s Office.
• All IPA agreements must be routed through UFIRST.
• Follow instructions for UFIRST IPA Setup here. 
• Upon IPA execution the funding is setup in a UFIRST award and established in a project in Fund 201.
• New IPA agreements will be setup using a UFIRST award while amendments or extensions of previously executed agreements will be handled via UFIRST award modifications. If the IPA adds funding not previously approved via the UFIRST proposal module, a new UFIRST proposal will need to be routed before the UFIRST award modification can be processed.
• C&G Accounting will invoice the federal sponsor and collect the payments.

Last updated 8/19/25.