Contracting Resources

The Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) provides support to the University in the contracting process. To facilitate the ease of departments entering into contracts for services, OLA and the Purchasing Department have developed several NCCU standard form contract documents. Please find below the standard form contracts as well as instructions for how to complete the standard form contracts:

As a general rule, the OLA does not need to review an NCCU Standard Form Contract or a hotel contract that includes the Hotel Contract Addendum, which has been approved by the Purchasing Department.

If a division or department desires to procure a good or service using a vendor’s forms, terms, and conditions (i.e., a non-standard contract) or if a vendor makes significant changes to the NCCU standard form contract, the Purchasing Department will submit the contract for review by an attorney in the OLA. The amount of time required for the OLA to review a non-standard contract is two weeks. Though the OLA generally provides feedback to campus constituents in less than two weeks, please note that two weeks is the standard period of time for the review of a non-standard contract.

In many cases, a vendor or entity will include provisions in its contract that North Carolina Central University, as a state entity, cannot agree to; these provisions are commonly referred to as “prohibited contract clauses.” The complexity of the contract, the number of prohibited contract clauses in a contract, the number of contracts in the legal review queue, and whether the contract requires complex negotiations over terms and conditions all impact the amount of time that is required for legal review and negotiation of contract terms. It is very important that a department or division includes a sufficient amount of time for the review, negotiation, and execution of a contract when deciding to procure a good or service using a non-standard contract.

Once OLA approves the final version of the contract, OLA will return the contract to Purchasing and the department with instructions to have the contract signed by the vendor first. After a non-standard contract has been executed by a vendor, it will be presented to an individual with signature authority at NCCU. All signed contracts should be sent to [email protected] to be included in the OLA’s contract repository.

If an employee chooses to sign a contract on behalf of NCCU who does not have the authority to enter into an agreement on behalf of NCCU, the individual may be held personally liable for fees that are due as per the contract terms and conditions, as well as for any litigation expenses that may result from the contract. The individual may also be disciplined for entering into a contract without delegated authority, up to and including dismissal from the University.

Although a financial obligation may not be created, Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs), and Affiliation Agreements still create binding, legal obligations for the University. These types of agreements should still be reviewed by the OLA and signed by an NCCU official with authority to bind the University.

The OLA has created a Standard Affiliation Agreement form for use when entering into an agreement with an agency or a hospital to facilitate departments entering into these agreements. The OLA does not need to review a standard Affiliation Agreement that has not been revised by a partner agency. If a department wishes to use a partner's Affiliation Agreement form, the department should complete the Non-standard Affiliation Agreement Checklist and send the completed checklist and the Affiliation Agreement to [email protected] for OLA review. Standard review time for MOUs, MOAs, and Affiliation Agreements is two weeks.