The website of the National Association of Veterans' Research and Education Foundations is a great source of information. It can be found at www.navref.org.

Yes. PAVIR administers government grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements both as prime and sub awardee.

The statute authorizing the establishment of nonprofit corporations at VA facilities prohibits us from administering funds for anything other than VA approved research or education activities.

All Investigators submitting a proposal must have PI eligibility authorized by the Research office. Once PI eligibility has been confirmed your project must be initiated on the Research and Development website: go to www.rdispaloalto.net and follow the instructions.

They can all be in process at the same time to optimize review and approval.

All funds accepted by PAVIR must be accompanied (or preceded) by correspondence in the form of an executed grant, contract, agreement or donor letter.

Checks must be made payable to the Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research, Inc. The federal tax identification number is 77-0207331. Neither checks payable to other entities nor cash can be accepted by PAVIR. Please see our Contact Us page for mailing and courier addresses.

You need VA approval and Funding:

VA approval—In order to have a PAVIR account you must have one of the following:

a) an R & D Committee approved research project

• How do I get R & D Committee approval?

or

b) an education activity that’s been approved by the Education Committee

• How do I get Education Committee approval?

a) a donation accompanied by a letter on company letterhead (if the donation is from a company) stating the purpose of the donation and any restrictions imposed. (See Sample Donor Letter);

b) a research agreement signed by a PAVIR official (PIs cannot sign for PAVIR);

c) a grant from a governmental agency, private foundation or company.

The assigned Post-Award CGA will send email notification.

No. However, each VA-approved research project may have more than one sponsorship source that PAVIR administers in a discrete account.

For gifts or donations there must be a letter from the donor indicating that the funding is a gift to be used by the designated beneficiary in support of various research or education activities. Further, the letter should indicate that the gift is irrevocable and imposes no contractual requirement of PAVIR beyond reporting of research results. Alternatively, if the gift or donation is unrestricted as to use, there must be a letter stating this.

Letters accompanying donations from companies must be on company letterhead. A Sample Donor Letter may be downloaded and edited as needed.

No. Congress has given the VA nonprofits the authority to administer funds for employee or patient education, activities designed to promote the exchange of information, and continuing medical education activities, provided that such activities are consistent with the VA health care mission.

Fill out the Education Activity Request form, sign it, get your Service (not Section) Chief’s signature and send it (along with a check, letter, and/or other pertinent information) to PAVIR at 151P for routing to the Education Committee.

Funds donated for education may be used for some of the same general expenses that researchers have such as travel for educational purposes, to purchase books or journals or to pay memberships to organizations in furtherance of your research, as long as they are not in conflict with the purpose stated on your Education Activity Request or the donor’s letter. Some expenditures that are not appropriate for educational funds are subject fees and lab supplies.

Most grants are required to be spent down or have any remaining balances returned to the sponsor. If the investigator is allowed to keep any balance at the end of an award, these funds are transferred to an "RE" account to be used towards general research and educational activities. Check with your Post-Award CGA if you have any questions about this process.

You can review these rates on the Fast Facts page.  For detailed information regarding Indirect Cost rates see the policy on Acceptance of Funds and Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Cost Rates.

Review PAVIR Fast Facts for information to assist in completing your grant application. If you require additional information contact your PAVIR Pre-Award CGA.

Yes, if such participation has been approved by the IRB and the employees participate on their own time and outside their VA or PAVIR tour-of-duty.

Due to our close relationship with Stanford University, we do not engage in consulting agreements with Stanford employees.

No. If you have a collaborator who is duly appointed at a VA facility and its affiliated University, it may be permissible to budget payment via a subcontract.  Check with your Post-Award CGA prior to making any arrangements or commitments. 

PAVIR is established to support research and education projects. Any VA Investigators wishing to pursue consulting agreements must do so on their own time and may contact the Chief of Staff at ext. 65555 for submission of a request for Regional Counsel opinion.

No. PAVIR is established to support research and education projects, and can administer funds donated to support research or education.

1. Get started on human/animal approval and R & D approval (www.rdispaloalto.net).
2. Give the PAVIR office a copy of the instructions (or a website on which to find them) for grant submission.
3. Submit a complete copy of your application packet and any correspondence you’ve had with the grantor to the PAVIR office.
4. We’ll review the budget and check the application for inaccuracies and discuss remedies with you.

If funding is not involved, please speak with Kristin Frazier, Human Protections Administrator in the Research Office at 67953 or email her at Kristin.frazier@va.gov. If there is funding involved such as payment for collaborative research or a grant transfer, please contact your CGA.

Contracts and Grants staff will work with the PI or study coordinator to review what should be invoiced and will notify PAVIR Accounts Receivable department.  Under no circumstances should a PI or their staff bill a sponsor directly.  Review the Billing and Collections policy for detailed information.

Payments should be mailed to:

PAVIR Accounts Receivable
P. O. Box V-38
Palo Alto, CA  90034-0038

Generally, Postdoc fellowships are processed through Stanford.  By the master agreement between PAVIR and Stanford University, postdoctoral fellowships are submitted through the Stanford University Research Management Group (RMG) Fellowship Office.  In some cases, Stanford will determine the application should be submitted by PAVIR, but when considering a fellowship application, please note the extra time needed for this determination to be made.

For information regarding applying for postdoctoral fellowships, please go to:http://med.stanford.edu/rmg/fellowships.html to review the information or contact Debra Porzio at dporzio@stanford.edu.

The current mileage rate for reimbursement is located on the Subject Payment Request form.

No. We do not allow concurrent PAVIR employment of a full-time VA employee.

This is determined on a case by case basis. PAVIR pays a 30% fee to Stanford for any Stanford employee working on a PAVIR project. If the employee has a long-standing Stanford employment a Joint Personnel Agreement can be initiated to allow the employee to work on a PAVIR administered project. Check with your Post-Award CGA before making any personnel commitments.

Generally, office supplies cannot be charged to a grant; instead, these items are charged to an ADM account. However, in some cases this may be allowed depending on source of sponsorship. Check with your Post-Award CGA.

Generally, food is not an allowable charge to a grant; however, review the PAVIR policy regarding food at meetings. Any questions on this matter should be addressed to your Post-Award CGA.

Contact your Pre-Award CGA for assistance with this process.

Collaborative research with other entities such as universities and pharmaceutical companies requires a contract or research agreement, signed by PAVIR's Executive Director. Because PAVIR administers VA Research our contracts and agreements are sent to VA attorneys for review and negotiation. Please send a draft agreement, preferably electronically, before sending originals for execution.

For more information about research agreements with nonprofit corporations affiliated with VA facilities please see http://www.navref.org/sponsors/ on the website of the National Association of Veterans' Research and Education Foundations (NAVREF).

The obstacles to completing the clinical trial negotiation and approval process are varied, but a few of the delays can be attributed to:

• Budget negotiations
• Contract negotiation between PAVIR and Sponsor
• IRB approval of protocol

In most instances, payments are made by the study sponsor in accordance with the clinical trial agreement as the study proceeds.  However, if invoicing is required it should be done by PAVIR.

Please send notification to CRADAs@pavir.org.