International Agreements Review Process

Overview

All agreements involving international activity should be reviewed by the Office of International Programs ("OIP").

When determining which review path an international agreement should follow, a helpful resource is Procurement's Contract Process Guide. This guide is intended as a reference to assist university employees in better understanding the processes and procedures associated with contracts and business transactions at the George Washington University ("GW" or "university").  University employees are encouraged to become familiar with the procedures in this guide.

Agreements for goods and services should follow the Procurement review process. International partnership and exchange agreements that do not fall under the Procurement review process should follow an internal review procedure before being signed by the Provost.

If your agreement needs a certified English translation, approved translation services can be found on the iBuy+ Translation Services page. 

Agreements Review Process

Here are some helpful tips when routing an agreement through the GW internal review process and in SharePoint for final approvals and the Provost’s signature. Generally speaking, the process is as follows:

1. GW School and partner communicate directly and agree to a formal relationship. Undergraduate agreements are typically shepherded through the review process by OIP, all others are shepherded by the GW School that is responsible for the partnership.
2. A draft agreement is produced either using GW's template, which is GW’s preferred method, or by using the Partner’s template. The Office of General Counsel ("OGC") maintains a shared Box folder with approved agreement templates. Send a request to OGC (contractsgwu [dot] edu) for access to this folder. These templates are periodically updated. Please download the template from this folder each time an agreement is drafted.
3. Once the GW School and partner have a prepared draft, it must be sent in consecutive order to the following GW offices for review and initial approval:
   1. School’s Finance Director ("FD") – Please receive the GW school’s FD’s approval before moving onto other approvals.
   2. Risk Management Office (riskgwu [dot] edu)
   3. Office of Academic Planning & Assessment (Karen Froslid-Jones, k [dot] froslidjonesgwu [dot] edu (k[dot]froslidjones[at]gwu[dot]edu)) – This step is only necessary if an agreement involves GW degrees and is for a program that combines GW credits with credits from an outside institution. If credits are not involved, you may skip this step.
   4. Office of International Programs (intlagreementsgwu [dot] edu)

   5. Office of General Counsel (contractsgwu [dot] edu) and Privacy (privacygwu [dot] edu) - Please send simultaneously and complete the Privacy Questionnaire.

      Note: If the contract involves personal information (regulated and/or restricted data) processing (collection, use, transmission and storage) the Privacy Office must review the contract. 

4. The initiator is responsible for sending the agreement to the list of reviewers. Include in your review request an overview of the partnership and the agreement specifics. If the agreement is a renewal, list and attach any previous agreements your office has had with the partner. It is also helpful to know which offices have previously seen and approved the agreement.
5. After the agreement has gone through the GW internal review process, the GW School and Partner work to resolve all comments and issues identified. This sometimes requires some back and forth between the GW School, partner, and GW offices.
6. Once comments are resolved to everyone’s satisfaction, the final agreement can be uploaded and routed through SharePoint. SharePoint is used to receive final, official approvals and is used for the pathway to receive the Provost’s signature.

GW Agreements Approval Routing in SharePoint

Should you need access to GW Agreements Approval Routing in SharePoint, send a request to intlagreementsgwu [dot] edu (intlagreements[at]gwu[dot]edu) and we will help get you connected.

Approvals should be received from (at minimum):

• School’s Finance Director
• Office of International Programs
• Risk Management Office
• Cristina Grigore (Privacy office) - Add in “Other Approvers” box
• OGC - Abbey Richards or the specific attorney that reviewed and approved your agreement during the review stage
• Dean / Department head
• Provost’s Office
• You may add any other person who needs to approve the agreement.

In SharePoint routing, the "Initiator", "Owner", and "Department Contact" will all have access to the agreement routing process where they will be able to see its status. The same person can be listed in all three fields.

If the agreement is a renewal, be sure to upload the previous agreements held with the partner.

In the Additional Action Required box, list any instructions such as "please sign on page 12 and page 23 of the data protection addendum."

A note about the Provost's signature: check with your partner regarding their need for a "wet" or "electronic" signature. Some partners require actual ink (wet) and others can accept an electronic signature, which is done with Adobe Sign. If a wet signature is needed you must make note of that in the Additional Action Required box. Select the box next to Provost as normal, and include details in the Additional Action Required box, such as the Provost's wet signature is needed on two copies, where to sign and date, etc.

Please send OIP (intlagreementsgwu [dot] edu) a fully executed copy once your agreement has been signed by all parties.

We are here to help! Reach out to intlagreementsgwu [dot] edu (intlagreements[at]gwu[dot]edu) with any questions.