Miscellaneous

10.11.3 Policy

The College is usually the proper party to Consulting or Commercial Research whether or not the documentation refers to any individual employee as the principal consultant. A Consultancy is usually conducted using College reputation, employee time, resources and infrastructure. It will be conducted on a fee for service basis, with the fee based on full cost recovery and profit. All consultancies must be formalized by appropriate contract documentation and be administered according to this Policy. Approved consultancies cannot be in conflict with the core businesses of CMI: teaching, research, or service.

The policy covers consulting and commercial research conducted by CMI employees (including contingency and two year to four year contracts) whether in normal work time, between weekends or periods of leave.

1. Objectives
   • Supportive of the mission of the college.
   • Provides a mechanism to recover direct and indirect costs and profit sharing.
   • Provides clear procedures for undertaking consultancies.
   • Provides clear procedures for attaining approval for consultancy activities.
   • Groups consultancies into different types of activities.
   • Consistent with the RMI laws, CMI Act, CMI Copyright policy, College policies and procedures and employment contracts.
2. Scope
   
   1. The Consulting Policy (‘the Policy’) acknowledges that employees may only undertake consultancy:
      • Through the College as a College Consultancy
      • Through the College as Community Service Consultancy
      • Through Private Consultancy
   2. The Policy defines each of these types of Activity and outlines the requirements for them so that both the College and its employees may understand what is required in the conduct of all forms of consultancy. Within the framework that the Policy offers, the College:
      • Seeks to encourage employee participation in consultancies that bring opportunities and benefits to the College, its employees and its clients;
      • Wishes to provide a flexible and clear management framework in which Consultancy can be carried out within the rules and regulations of the College;
      • Desires to facilitate the negotiation and determination of contracts for Consultancy and to ensure that they fully cover all costs and make a profit for the College;
      • Provides guidance to persons inside and outside the College as to the range of Consultancy and other outside work that can be undertaken using the College’s name, services and resources, either directly or by implication;
      • Seeks to ensure that the undertaking of Consultancy or other outside work does not interfere with other functions of the Academic or Administrative unit to which the employee belongs;
      • Indicates to all employees and managers of the College their obligations to the College in regard to Consulting or other outside work, and identifies approval procedures that must be followed;
      • Seeks to provide proper protection to the College and its employees in consultancy undertakings.
   3. The Consultancy Policy applies to all full time administrators, faculty, management and professional employees. Adjunct faculty may negotiate appropriate terms and conditions for consultancy services that utilize College facilities on a case by case basis with the endorsement of the Department Chair and Dean of Academic Affairs and approval of the Vice-President, Academic and Student Affairs while taking care that the activity does not conflict with the core business of the College: teaching and service to the community.
   4. General Conditions for Consulting and Commercial Research
      • Employees who are adequately carrying out their assigned duties may consult up to the maximum number of days specified in this policy.
      • Employees should normally contract consultancies through the College with the exception of Community and Private Consultancies as outlined below.
   5. This Policy defines Consultancy as being of three types:
      • College Consulting
      • Community Consulting
      • Private Consulting
      1. College Consulting
         College consulting is consultancy work undertaken on behalf of the College for all units that fall within reporting lines under the relevant Administrator whether faculty or non-faculty.
         College consulting agreements must be approved by the President.
         College consultancies are professional activities in which employees undertake work for outside organizations as part of an agreement between the College and the client organization. Legal responsibility for the work will rest with the College, and its internal conduct will be subject to such conditions of service as may be agreed by the College.
         College Consultancy includes all professional activity performed in the College’s name, whether or not it involves the use of College resources and infrastructure. College consultancy may include activities performed under contract and classified as commercial research, but they should not compete with the core businesses of CMI: teaching, research and community service.
         College consultancy may also include commissions for the preparation of subject and course material suitable for use in flexible delivery programs where the preparation is able to be done without affecting the workload expected of the employee and is commissioned by a third party. College Consultancy includes the provision of professional services to external agencies for a fee. This would include, but not be limited to:
         • Analysis of data collected either by the consultant, the College or an external agency
         • Surveys, including market and opinion surveys
         • Quality control
         • Field trials
         • The provision of professional advice
         • Expert witness advice
         • The provision of professional services such as management, technological, design, legal, health or technical advice or implementation.

         These activities will be characterized by the existence of a manageable risk to the College under the terms of the contract. Standard non‐disclosure agreements should be signed by all parties prior to the commencement of contract negotiations.

      2. Community Consulting
         Community consulting is an agreement where no moneys other than direct expenses are paid. The line Administrator must agree that this does not impinge on the employee’s work as part of the approval process. Community consulting agreements must not conflict with the core businesses of CMI: teaching, research and service.
      3. Private Consulting
         Private consultancy agreements relate to the giving of personal advice or assistance to be provided by the consultant to an external organization outside the College, over and above the consultant’s mainstream academic and administrative duties. Private Consulting agreements must not conflict with the core businesses of CMI: teaching, research and service.
         Where an outside organization wishes to fund a specific piece of research or ask for a service to be performed with the use of College employees, facilities or premises, then the agreement should be in the form of a College Consulting agreement.
         For outside appointments which take the form of Private Consulting, the College’s pro‐forma Consultancy Agreement may be provided to an external organization as a sample agreement whose form is acceptable to the College. Regardless of form, all Private Consulting agreements need to be referred to the line Administrator for final scrutiny and approval. The President will be the final approver for Line Administrators.
         While the content of individual agreements covering Private Consulting will differ, the following general guidelines highlight some of the issues which arise most commonly in negotiations between an individual and an external organization in connection with Private Consulting:
         • Definition of the area of work: the description of the work covered by the agreement always needs to be defined precisely, restricting the ‘field’ of work to be undertaken as narrowly as possible. Given that a company might request ownership of results of consultancy work, it is important that there be overlap between the description of the consultant’s duties within the agreement and the individual’s College activities (or other consultancies held by the individual).
         • Deliverables: if the outside organization expects specific deliverables under the agreement, such as written reports, these should be clearly set out in the agreement along with a timetable for the production of the deliverables.
         • Time Commitment: the agreement should state the time (i.e., number of days per year) which the consultant is to spend on the outside appointment ensuring it does not conflict with their normal duties.
         • Intellectual Property: the agreement must conform to the College’s policies on Intellectual Property.
         • Publications: most personal consultancy is undertaken in connection with commercially sensitive business interests, and the majority of Private Consulting agreements prohibit the publication of the outcomes of the work undertaken under the agreement.
         • Liability: agreements governing Private Consulting appointments are personal to the individual and are not indemnified by CMI.
3. The criteria used in establishing this Policy
   • Compliance with the laws of RMI
   • Fairness to both CMI and its employees
   • Flexible to accommodate various situations
   • Transparency
   • Enforceability
   1. Compliance
      RMI tax laws must be observed at all times.
   2. Fairness
      • CMI must recover all direct and indirect costs of employees undertaking consultancies.
      • CMI must recover business development and project management costs.
      • Employees should gain tangible benefits for working above their agreed workload.
      • Rates should be on par with market and regional benchmarks.
   3. Transparency
      The policy will be made available and accessible to all employees.
   4. Enforceability
      The Academic Department Chairs/Heads of Business units, in conjunction with the relevant Administrator will be responsible for ensuring that the policy is complied with and should recommend disciplinary action where appropriate for breaches of this policy.
      In the cases where an Administrator requests permission to consult, the President will make such rulings.
4. Conditions applying to the carrying out of Consulting Activities
   In cases of Community Consulting or Private Consulting agreements, the employee must not use CMI stationery, letterhead etc, and must ensure that the client is aware that the work is not being done by CMI. The employee must fully reimburse CMI for any use of CMI facilities.
   Faculty and Administrative employees may work on College, Community or Private consultancies with the approval of their supervisor as long it does not conflict with their normal duties and the College is properly compensated for the use of CMI facilities, direct costs and appropriate indirect costs are recovered.
5. Intellectual Property
   
   1. In Consulting and Commercial Research the ownership of IP is usually retained by the client, however it is the policy of the College that the product of consultancies carried out through or on behalf of the College is of value and every attempt must be made to negotiate right of use for the College for the general good of the whole College community. Any right to the IP for CMI or the consulting employees must be either: negotiated in the contract; or by a letter of release from the client following the completion of the assignment.
   2. The arrangements for publication of the results of work carried out on College Consultancies are normally set out in the contract between the client and the College. Employees working on externally funded contracts must ensure that any publication does not contravene the terms of that contract. If an employee has ensured that s/he has the unrestricted right to publish, s/he may publish or speak in his/her own name without seeking the permission of any College authority, whether or not the work leading to publication formed part of the member’s normal College duties.
   3. The College will assert copyright in any material published by an employee, as a result of undertaking a College Consultancy. Where publication arises from an externally funded research contract, however, it may be that the sponsoring body has rights to copyright, and it is the duty of the employees concerned to establish this prior to publication.
   4. The College will provide insurance cover, including professional indemnity insurance, for approved Community Consultancy and for College Consultancy. Personal Consulting will not be eligible for College insurance cover, including professional indemnity.
6. Authority
   Consultancy Agreements and MOUs will be signed as follows:
   • College Consulting- Relevant Line Administrator, CFO and President.
   • Private Consultancy- Relevant Line Administrator and CFO, where the consultant is an Administrator, the President is the approving authority.
   • Community Consulting- Relevant Line Administrator and CFO
7. General
   Individual employees may refuse to undertake a particular consultancy. Any situation which may not appear to be covered by this policy should be referred to the President for a ruling.
8. Guidelines for consultancy cost sharing and profit distribution- College and Community consulting.
   All contracts will provide for a 30% cost to CMI.
   All consultancy income will be subject to RMI Tax laws.