Business Mechanisms
The Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR), a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), has a range of contractual agreement options available which offer flexibility to facilitate the formation of partnerships. The appropriate business mechanism is considered based on the scope and objectives of the partnership, from basic Material Transfer Agreements (MTA) for exchange of materials, to more complex Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), which may include multiple parties and in-depth, multi-year research plans.
The following table summarizes the various agreement types available and general attributes for consideration:
| Agreement Type | Appropriate For | Key Attributes |
| Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) | Exchange of materials into or out of NCI for research or testing purposes, with no collaborative research by parties involving the materials. |
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| Beta-Testing Agreement | Limited term evaluation and applications development of new technology or equipment platforms by NCI in collaboration with an external commercial partner. May involve placement of instrumentation and/or materials in ATRF partnership laboratory space. |
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| Collaboration Agreement | Research collaboration involving intellectual and material contributions by NCI and external partner(s). Useful for proof-of-concept studies. |
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| SAIC-Frederick Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (Contractor CRADA; cCRADA) | Research collaboration involving intellectual and material contributions by SAIC-Frederick scientists and external partner(s), with no participation in the joint work statement by government personnel. Useful for projects of significant scope and duration, especially translational research and technology development, with defined resource commitments and future intellectual property (IP) considerations. |
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| NCI Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) | Research collaboration involving intellectual and material contributions by NCI and external partner(s), which may include funding to NCI. Useful for projects of significant scope and duration with defined resource commitments and future intellectual property (IP) considerations. |
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| NCI Materials-Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (M-CRADA) | Research collaboration generally involving material contributions by partner to NCI for the purposes of evaluation or testing, which may require limited intellectual collaboration by the parties. May include limited funding to NCI. Useful for projects where external party is not required to be intimately involved in the project but wishes to retain future intellectual property (IP) rights to inventions involving their materials. |
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| NCI Umbrella-Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (U-CRADA) | Research collaboration involving intellectual and material contributions by NCI and external partner(s), which may include funding to NCI. Most appropriate for cancer therapeutics R&D where partner compound(s) will be studied by multiple labs at NCI. Useful for projects of significant scope and duration with defined resource commitments and future intellectual property (IP) considerations. |
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| For additional information on FNLCR business mechanisms, please contact:
Bruce Crise Ph.D. Director Business Development 301-846-5739 |
For additional information on NCI Technology Transfer via http://web.ncifcrf.gov/About/Ttc.aspx or please contact:
Jeff Thomas, Ph.D. Frederick Unit Supervisor 301-846-5465 |
