UTMB Legal Affairs

As an institution of the University of Texas System, UTMB follows contracting requirements of the State of Texas and of the University of Texas System. These rules are summarized in  UTS145. The University of Texas System Office of General Counsel provides valuable contracting resources.

UT System OGC Contract Review Procedures provides detailed information regarding contracting requirements and process for acquiring UT System approval.

UT System OGC General Procedure Contract Checklist This checklist addresses requirements listed in policy  UTS145 Processing of Contracts.

UT System OGC Standard Contracts and Agreements contains templates for a variety of systemwide agreements, including educational affiliation agreements, non-disclosure agreements, interagency agreements.

The legal authority to bind the University resides with the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System in accordance with  Regents Rule 10501. The Board of Regents delegates to the president of each institution the authority to execute and deliver contracts, agreements, and other documents on behalf of the Board of Regents. The president of each institution may further delegate his or her authority to a secondary delegate. Any such delegation of authority must be in writing and copies of the written delegations are submitted to the University of Texas System. Only those individuals who have been delegated the legal authority to execute and deliver contracts, agreements, and other documents by The Board of Regents may sign contracts on behalf of the University. See a list of  UTMB Delegations of Authority.

All student and resident training affiliations between the UTMB and another entity require an affiliation agreement and a program agreement. All educational affiliation agreements are approved by the University of Texas System. Authority to execute the affiliation agreements is delegated by UT System to the president of UTMB. For affiliation agreements other than international agreements, UT System has authorized the president to delegate the authority to execute affiliation agreements to the provost, deans, and CEO of UTMB Health Systems (incoming students). Please see the  list of UTMB delegations of authority.

UT System policy is for institutions to execute one affiliation agreement as a master agreement and execute specific program agreements as subordinate agreements to the master affiliation agreement. All educational agreements require approval from UT System. Approval can be obtained in three ways:

1. Use of UT-System pre-approved standard agreement templates. Agreements not drafted from these templates are considered non-standard. Agreements that substantively change pre-approved standard templates are also considered non-standard. Please see the list of approved OGC templates at right for academic affiliation agreements. Please note that a different template is needed when UTMB receives students from other facilities than the templates used for sending UTMB students to other facilities.

2. Submit non-standard agreements to OGC for review and approval. OGC will likely direct edits to comply with UT System standards. If the other party does not agree to edits, UTMB will not execute the agreement. Submitters should allow at least four weeks for review.

3. Submit agreements to UTMB Legal Department. The Legal Department will revise agreements to meet UT System standards. If the other party will not accept edits, UTMB may revise draft to accommodate party and still meet UT System standards. If the parties cannot reach agreement on language that meets UT System standards, UTMB will not execute the agreement. Submitters should allow at least two weeks for initial review.

All educational agreements should contain a content review stamp of OGC reviewer or person authorized to review on behalf of UT System Office of General Counsel and the UTMB Provost.

HIPAA Compliance is administered by UTMB's Office of Institutional Compliance. Please see the main page for HIPAA information.