A subaward is a formal written agreement made between Stanford University and another institution or organization to perform an intellectually significant portion of the SOW (Statement of Work) under a Stanford sponsored project.

A subaward must include a clearly defined, intellectually significant SOW to be performed by the subrecipient's personnel, using its own facilities and resources. The subrecipient takes full responsibility for adhering to the terms and conditions of the subaward including those flowed down from Stanford's sponsor, and assumes creative and intellectual responsibility and leadership as well as financial management for performing and fulfilling the subrecipient's SOW within the subrecipient's approved budget. 

A subaward SOW may include fabrication of specialized equipment to be used for the Stanford sponsored research project as a project related asset or as a deliverable to the sponsor. 


Subawards differ from procurement contracts used to acquire goods or services from vendors.

View  RPH 16

The pass-through entity is defined as a non-federal entity that provides an award to a subrecipient to carry out a program (Statement of Work on a sponsored project). The pass-through entity assumes responsibility for negotiation, issuance, oversight, and management of a subaward. The pass-through entity assumes many of the responsibilities typically assigned to a prime sponsor in issuance and oversight of an award to a grantee or contractor, including verification of the financial viability, adequacy of compliance controls and audit status of its subrecipients as well as oversight and verification of the subrecipient's fulfillment of its portion of the programmatic effort. Stanford serves as the pass-through entity for subawards issued under its sponsored projects. 

Stanford's sponsor may be a prime sponsor, or may be a higher-level tier subrecipient who, in turn, acts as a pass-through entity.

A subrecipient is a non-Stanford entity that expends awards received from Stanford to carry out a portion of Stanford's programmatic effort under a sponsored project. There must be an arms-length relationship between Stanford and its subrecipients. In keeping with this requirement, the subrecipient may not involve an individual who is also a direct beneficiary of such a program at Stanford, the sponsor, or a higher-tier subrecipient. The subrecipient may be another educational institution, an independent laboratory, a foundation, a for-profit corporation, a non-profit corporation or other organization, and may be a domestic or foreign entity. Generally, Stanford does not issue subawards to individuals. 


For both federal and non-federal sponsored projects, Stanford adheres to the federal government’s definition of a subrecipient as defined in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance), Section 200.93.

Subawards are issued under sponsored projects, including grants, contracts and cooperative agreements funded by extramural sources (see Research Policy Handbook, section 13.1). On rare occasions, subawards may be funded under University Research awards. In this case, approval from the university research funding source must be obtained before the subaward is processed through the Office of Sponsored Research (OSR). When subawards are funded under gifts, they are issued in accordance with the specific gift terms. Please consult with OSR in each such instance. 

The institutional representative (IR) is an individual named by Stanford University, who is authorized to act for the university, and to assume the obligations imposed by federal, state and local laws, regulations, requirements and conditions, as well as university policy that applies to the proposal and award.  In signing a proposal application and in accepting a corresponding award, this individual certifies that Stanford will comply with the assurances and certifications referenced in the application. This individual's signature on the proposal application further certifies that Stanford will be accountable both for appropriate use of funds awarded and performance of the sponsored project activities resulting from the application. Your institutional representative for your subawards is your designated officer in the Office of Sponsored Research (OSR).

A statement of work (SOW) describes the work to be performed and includes a timeframe necessary for the completion of the work. A well written SOW allows the subrecipient to provide a detailed response, with a realistic cost estimate. The goal is to allow the subrecipient to understand what is expected of them and what should be included in the finished product. A good statement of work contains the following elements.

1.  A detailed description of the work to be performed

2.  The period of performance - the start and end dates

3.  Deliverable requirements, including as applicable:

• A  timeline of the major deliverable due dates (both fixed and flexible; e.g. two weeks after some event occurs),

• Milestones as necessary so that the work can be monitored to ensure the quality of the work is as expected,

• A definition of completion 

• The criteria that constitute acceptance

• Special requirements such as travel, special skills or knowledge, special resources