Module 6: Grant and Contract Administration

2.2 Managing a research contract

2.2.2 Milestones and money

Unlike research grants, the payment of project funds for research contracts is usually linked to the achievement of stated milestones. Milestone dates will be scheduled in the research contract or its appendices. Generally you will receive an up-front payment on execution of the contract, but future payments are, as stated above, dependent on progress.

It is important to familiarise yourself with the internal administrative procedures that match milestone reporting to the generation of invoices for payment. Failure to do so leads to cash-flow issues and potential frustration.

Timelines, focus and targets. You know from the commencement when you need to achieve your first target, and you will build this into your research plan. You need to focus on achieving and reporting on your targets within the agreed timeline or risk being in breach of contract. Milestone occurrences sometimes represent ‘go’ gates or ‘no-go’ gates. In this scenario, if the milestone target is not achieved you cannot proceed with the project, i.e., you have reached a no-go gate and the agreement will be terminated. It is important, therefore, not to ‘oversell’ yourself: be realistic about what you can achieve and don’t set yourself impossible targets.

Flexibility. When negotiating your contract you should aim to build in as much flexibility as possible where both milestones and money are concerned. In the first instance, set yourself practical targets: think about what can be achieved, realistically, within a given period and even allow for some additional leeway. Your progress can be affected by circumstances beyond your control and an allowance for such circumstances should be built into the contract. Similarly, make sure that where costs unavoidably run over-budget (for example when the price of consumables rises beyond reasonable expectations), that you have the ability to recover the additional costs.