Overview

The Statement of Work (SOW) is the heart of any subagreement at Harvard University. 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 ta 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.  

Statement of Intent Form (SOI)

A subrecipient's Statement of Work and other institutional information is provided to the Harvard Chan School using a signed Statement of Intent (SOI) form. At the proposal stage, an SOI must be completed and signed by each institution listed as a subrecipient on an Harvard Chan School proposal, prior to submission. If a subagreement is being added to an award after the proposal stage, an SOI must be completed and signed by the institution, at the new subagreement approval stage.

Please note: HSPH's SOI is to be used on all submissions when we are the prime. Changes are rarely allowable. If changes are made to this SOI, or an alternative to our SOI is desired, the assigned AD must be informed, and review/approve these changes.

Sponsor Specific Requirements  

Research Plan 

Source: NIH 

A description of the rationale for your research and your experiments.  Your Research Strategy is the nuts and bolts of your application, where you describe your research rationale and the experiments you will conduct to accomplish each aim. Information you put in the Research Plan affects just about every other application part. This section will vary in length determined by the sponsor and the particular RFA to which you are applying. You'll need to keep everything in sync as your plans evolve during the writing phase. 

Read complete NIH instructions 

Project Description 

Source: NSF  

The Project Description must contain, as a separate section within the narrative, a section labeled “Intellectual Merit”. The Project Description should provide a clear statement of the work to be undertaken and must include the objectives for the period of the proposed work and expected significance; the relationship of this work to the present state of knowledge in the field, as well as to work in progress by the PI under other support.  

The Project Description should outline the general plan of work, including the broad design of activities to be undertaken, and, where appropriate, provide a clear description of experimental methods and procedures. Proposers should address what they want to do, why they want to do it, how they plan to do it, how they will know if they succeed, and what benefits could accrue if the project is successful. The project activities may be based on previously established and/or innovative methods and approaches, but in either case must be well justified. These issues apply to both the technical aspects of the proposal and the way in which the project may make broader contributions.  

 The Project Description also must contain, as a separate section within the narrative, a section labeled “Broader Impacts”. This section should provide a discussion of the broader impacts of the proposed activities. Broader impacts may be accomplished through the research itself, through the activities that are directly related to specific research projects, or through activities that are supported by, but are complementary to the project. NSF values the advancement of scientific knowledge and activities that contribute to the achievement of societally relevant outcomes. Such outcomes include, but are not limited to: full participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); improved STEM education and educator development at any level; increased public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology; improved well-being of individuals in society; development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce; increased partnerships between academia, industry, and others; improved national security; increased economic competitiveness of the U.S.; and enhanced infrastructure for research and education.  

Plans for data management and sharing of the products of research, including preservation, documentation, and sharing of data, samples, physical collections, curriculum materials and other related research and education products should be described in the Special Information and Supplementary Documentation section of the proposal (see Chapter II.C.2.j for additional instructions for preparation of this section). For proposals that include funding to an International Branch Campus of a U.S. IHE or to a foreign organization (including through use of a subaward or consultant arrangement), the proposer must provide the requisite explanation/justification in the project description. See Chapter I.E for additional information on the content requirements. 

Read complete NSF instructions 

GMAS Requirement 

The SOW/ Project Description/ Research Plan must be uploaded to the GMAS request document repository. 

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 organization (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., Purdue University will send de-identified data to Harvard Chan consortium PI and Harvard Chan 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 3^rd party, (be specific about the role of the 3^rd party and under which organization the 3^rd 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 Harvard Chan and Harvard Chan 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 direction 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.”