Types of Contracts and Programs

Cooperative Research and Implementation Agreement (CRIA)
 — A CRIA contains a set of standard provisions either required by state or federal law, or agreed to during negotiations between TxDOT, Universities and Federal agency. Each University or Federal agency wishing to perform a TxDOT research and implementation project must first execute a CRIA with TxDOT.
The standard provisions in each CRIA are incorporated by reference into each Project Agreement executed under that CRIA.
Project Agreements (PAs)
 — Each research or implementation project conducted by a university is represented by a Project Agreement executed between the Research and Technology Implementation Division (RTI) and a Texas state-supported university. Each Project Agreement includes, but is not limited to:
  • an itemized project budget, by fiscal year, for each institution involved,
  • the termination date of the project,
  • a detailed work plan,
  • a deliverables table,
  • a schedule of activities, and
  • identification of
     the project as part of an annual program, or an independent project.
Annual Programs
 — provides for both an Annual Program of Research and an Annual Program of Implementation between each University, Federal agency, and TxDOT.
Each annual program is composed of one or more projects with similar sources of funding. Combining these projects under a single program gives the University or Federal agency some flexibility for sharing funds between projects.
The sum of the contracted budget amounts for all the projects in a university’s annual program sets that program’s total funding. Although billings may exceed the contracted budget amounts on individual projects, as described in Article 9A of the CRIA, total billings for all projects in a university’s annual program may not exceed that program’s total funding.
Independent Projects
 — Article 9B of the CRIA provides for research and implementation projects which are independent of an annual program. These projects are funded from sources different from the funding sources for an annual program, or from multiple funding sources. Consequently, these projects cannot share funding with other projects and must be contracted independently.