Statement of Work (SOW)

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Statement of Work (SOW)

Overview

The Statement of Work (SOW) is the heart of any subaward agreement at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Similar to the Project Description/Research Plan, it describes the proposed work to be performed on a research project or sponsored activity. It is designed to provide a full and detailed explanation of the proposed activity, typically including project goals, specific aims, methodology, and Investigator responsibilities for an agreement, including pricing information and a schedule of deliverables, if applicable. The SOW should be no shorter than a paragraph in length. 

*The SOW/ Project Description/ Research Plan must be uploaded to Cayuse Sponsored Projects (SP)*

The following elements are typically included under "statement of work," however these are not all-inclusive:

  1. Project title

  2. Principal Investigator name at each institution

  3. Timetable or schedule of work to be performed/start & end dates,

  4. Project description

    1. Describe whether or not the UMMC PI is actively involved in the development and/or design of the research project or sponsored activity.

    2. Purpose or objective(s) of the work to be performed;

  • An explanation of the work to be performed inclusive of special personnel, supplies, materials, equipment, or travel needed;
  1. Specification of how the work’s progress or results are to be measured;
  2. Identification of deliverables, products, or expected outcomes.
  3. Explain the intellectual expertise that the sub-awardee will provide to the research project that distinguishes this work from a bid for services or a purchase order.

Statement of Work (SOW) with Data Exchange

When a PI is writing a Statement of Work (SOW) that involves data exchange, it's helpful if the PI includes the following clarifying information in the SOW:

  1. State all of the direction(s) of data between organizations (one way or two ways? How will you provide access to your data by other researchers? How will others discover your data?)
    1. e.g., the University of Southern MS will send de-identified data to UMMC consortium PI and UMMC consortium PI will ____ (do what with the data?)
  2. List the type of data: (What is the source of your data? In what formats are your data? Will your data be fixed or will it change over time? How much data will your project produce?)
    1. De-Identified Data: De-identified data stripped of all person's "direct identifiers", (e.g., stripped of HIPAA's 16 categories of direct identifiers)
    2. Limited Data Set: stripped of all person's "direct identifiers" but can include geographic data, dates, and other unique identifier, characteristic, or code other than those specified in the list of 16 identifiers that are expressly disallowed.
    3. Fully Identifiable: information with any personal identifiers, as well as information about an individual, or his or her relatives, household members, or employer that alone or in combination could identify the individual, including full-on HIPAA covered under Protected Health Information.
  3. If the data exchange is with a 3rd party, (be specific about the role of the 3rd party and under which organization the 3rd party directly falls. Then, follow bullet points 1, 2, and 4
    1. e.g., BWH, sub under Purdue University, will provide a limited data set to UMMC and UMMC will___ (do what with the data?)
  4. Include DUA and MTA info in SOW
    1. Data Use Agreement (DUA)
      1. Add to SOW: "If necessary, a data-use agreement (DUA) will be executed between the parties."
    2. Material Exchange Agreement (MTA)
      1. Identify the materials and state all of the directions of the materials exchange -> from which organization to which organization?
      2. Add to SOW: "If necessary, a material transfer agreement (MTA) will be executed between the parties.

Statement of Work (SOW) Template