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. IPA’s are not used as an award mechanism in support of a federally funded sponsored project. For more details about the IPA’s you may refer to the government website at OPM.gov.

What is an IPA Agreement?

The Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) Agreement is the contract 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 Dept Chair and in some cases the Dean’s Office.
• All IPA agreements must be routed through UFIRST.
• Upon IPA full execution the funding is established in a project in Fund 201 using UFIRST Awards.
• New IPA agreements will be setup using UFIRST Awards 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 modification can be processed.
• C&G Accounting will invoice the federal sponsor and collect the payments.

UFIRST Instructions

If the assignee is PI eligible:

• In the Proposal and Award SmartForms the assignee is entered as the Principal Investigator.
• The PI will be the Project Manager and their effort commitment will be entered into the Award commitment page.
• No effort commitment is required of the immediate supervisor identified in the IPA Agreement.

If the assignee is not PI eligible:

• In the Proposal and Award SmartForms the assignee is entered as the Principal Investigator, with the assignee’s supervisor, who is PI eligible, entered as the Responsible Faculty Mentor.
• The Responsible Faculty Mentor will be the Project Manager and no effort commitment is required.
• The assignee’s effort commitment will be entered into the Award commitment page.
• No effort commitment is required of the immediate supervisor identified in the IPA document.