POLICY DOCUMENT

FOR

 CONSULTANCIES

Background :

Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College nurtures a strong research culture which the institution has nurtured mainly through faculty driven research programs and industry sponsored projects. The College encourages and nurtures a very strong interaction with the industry for industrial research activities. The College offers industrial services in R&D by virtue of its well qualified members in Science and Art faculties, The College is recognised as a Scientific & Industrial Research Organization by the Department of Scientific & Technology, Government of India. This document is a policy guidance for offering consultancy services by the College. 

The College recognises the value of its staff undertaking consultancy for outside bodies.  This is an important channel through which Institutional knowledge and expertise can flow to and from businesses and other external agencies. This contributes to the development of growing and productive relationships with various stake holders, communities and nation at large. Consultancy work by the college not only encourages knowledge empowerment of its faculty but it becomes an effective way of the College contributing to nation building. It is therefore, the policy of College Management, to encourage faculty and staff to engage in consultancy wherever appropriate and in a manner that is consistent with their academic and other professional responsibilities.

SCOPE OF THIS POLICY DOCUMENT FOR CONSULTANCIES

This policy shall be applicable to all consultancy activities carried out at S. P. Mandali’s Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College. This policy is also applicable to all collaborative consultancy services rendered by the College. The policy shall be binding on all members of the faculty, staff, research students, research fellows and alumni who are involved in consultancy activities at the College. All research consultancies provided by the College / its faculty shall be rendered as per the policies enlisted in this document. 

Consultancy, in the context of this document, is work of a professional nature, undertaken by College staff in their field of expertise, for clients outside the institution, for which some financial return is provided. It is characterised by following features;

• Consultancy, unlike research, does not have the prime purpose as generation of new knowledge.
• Consultancy, will produce some form of contracted output which may be partly or wholly owned by the client / sponsor.
• The College normally does not have freedom of publication over the results of consultancy.
• Consultancy, is governed by short-term contracts, uses resources of the College, involves extra work for existing staff with minimal employment of new staff.
  1. Exclusions:

Consultancy, in the context of this document, excludes;

• Authorship of, or royalties from, publication of books.
• Research projects undertaken with sponsorship from University of Mumbai, UGC, and other funding agencies of Government of India.
• Service rendered as member of charitable committees.
• Duties as external examiner / referee.
• Presentations or attendance at Lecture, conference, conference, seminars, workshops etc. 
• Editorship of academic journals or the publication of academic articles.
• Professional performances in the field of Art and Culture.

The College shall encourage and support consultancies that uses the expertise and core competencies of its faculty and the infrastructure available at the College. Consultancies involving collaborating partners shall be encouraged and supported if it uses the expertise and core competencies of its faculty and the infrastructure available at the College.  Consultancies undertaken by the faculty and staff should not hinder the academic and other professional responsibilities of the faculty.

Faculty members shall be free to carry out their consultancy work after the mandatory academic duties per day and during the semester breaks.   In case, the consultancy work is carried out during the period of academic duties, such consultancy work shall be permitted to up to a maximum of 30 working days of consultancy activity per academic year with the approval of the respective Head of the Department, Dean of Research and Consultancy and the Principal. In some circumstances College may authorise staff to undertake consultancy work outside this limit, but such permissions shall be discussed and approved on case to case basis by the Head of College. The Dean, Research and Consultancy will provide advice wherever necessary to Head of College in reaching a decision about the consultancy work, but the final decision will be made by the Principal.  

Staff members shall seek advice from the Dean, Research and Consultancy and / or the Principal, if they are unclear about whether their proposed work constitutes consultancy. The Dean, Research and Consultancy will provide advice wherever necessary to Head of College in reaching a decision about the classification of a particular piece of work, but the final decision will be made by the Principal.  

Faculty member shall be permitted to undertake consultancy work of routine nature like tests, assays etc. with the permission of the Head of the Department. Conduct of such consultancy work shall not hinder the regular academic duties of the faculty involved in the consultancy work. Consultancy work that is of the nature of a research project and those that involves surveys, field work and long hours outside the College shall be conducted only after the approval of the Principal. The proposal shall be submitted by the proposer to the Dean, Research and Consultancy through the Head of the respective Department. The proposal shall be forwarded to the Principal through the Dean, Research and Consultancy. The Dean, Research and Consultancy will provide advice wherever necessary to The Principal of College in reaching a decision about the consultancy work. The decision process for whether an individual is permitted to undertake a piece of consultancy shall be made by the Principal in consultation with the respective Head of the Department and the Dean, Research and Consultancy. The Head of College will make the decision to accept or decline the proposal.  

The income for the consultancy work shall be shared with the respective faculty members involved in the consultancy work. The faculty member who is the Principal investigator shall decide the share of faculty and staff members involved in the consultancy work. 

The income from consultancy work will be shared as per the following ratio:

Type A : Project Based Consultancy

Type B : Knowledge Based Consultancy

The faculty shall prepare the consultancy budget and raise invoices to the client / sponsor in accordance to the above mentioned ratios. The income share due to the faculty for consultancy shall be paid half-yearly (October & April) and the Principal Investigator of each consultancy project shall submit a short financial report to the concerned financial official of the College.

In case the consultancy work exceeds Rupees Ten Lakhs (Rs. 10,00,000.00) or a single consultancy work exceeds a period of more than twelve months, the College shall decide on an alternative distribution arrangement that shall be implemented and managed under a service contract. A separate Memorandum of Understanding shall be made on mutually agreeable terms and signed as an agreement between the faculty member(s) and the Principal of the College. 

The faculty and Staff members involved in consultancy, if needed, shall enter into a Confidentiality and Non-disclosure agreement with the client / sponsor. The agreement will be prepared in consultation with the client / sponsor on a case to case basis. Such an agreement will also be signed by the Principal of the College. All efforts shall be taken by the faculty and the College administration to honour such an agreement. 

Unless specified otherwise and agreed upon, all Intellectual Property Rights (including patents, copyrights etc.) shall be shared equally between the College and the client / sponsor. Faculty member (Principal Investigator) and other faculty member(s) (as designated by the Principal Investigator) shall be the inventors / co-inventors. The financials arising out of the intellectual property shall be shared between the College and the Inventor(s) as per mutually agreed terms and conditions. Expenses of managing the Intellectual Property shall be borne by the College and this contribution shall be considered, as and when, the Intellectual Property is transferred / sold for commercial considerations.

All financial transactions of the consultancy shall be through a designated bank account operated by the Principal of the College. The accounts of the consultancy will be managed under a separate account head by the College Office and will be audited along with the accounts of the College. 

The member of faculty who is the Principal Investigator of consultancy work will be responsible for submission of periodic financial reports and report of utilization of the funds. The assistance of the College office shall be made available to the faculty member for this work. 

The support staff and other staff of the College administrative office who render services for the management and administration of the consultancy work shall not receive direct compensation from the consultancy income, unless otherwise provided for, in the consultancy budget. The Principal and the Management may provide compensation, as an annual bonus, from the total Institutional share of the Consultancy income received by the College, in the year. This decision shall be a discretionary one, made by the Principal and the College Management on a case to case basis. The Accounts Office of the College will facilitate this decision by providing the College administration with quarterly reports of the consultancy income (per financial year) generated by the faculty and staff.

1. Contractual Requirements:
   1. The College is liable for the actions of its employees during work-related consultancy even if the actions or activities are not covered by an agreement involving the College.   
   2. The College, therefore, strictly prohibits its staff from entering into work-related consultancy arrangements with outside agencies without approval from their Head of Department and the Principal.   
   3. Staff involved in non-work related consultancy shall NOT use the “Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College” name to endorse their activity without prior written approval from the Dean of Research and Consultancy and the Principal.  
   4. Consultancy work, especially where college resources are being used (technician time, equipment or Intellectual Property etc.), such consultancies shall be more appropriately managed under a service contract.   This is at the discretion of the Principal of College and shall be discussed with the Dean, Research and Consultancy and the faculty involved at an early stage in proposal development. Where the consultancy activity is to be managed under a service contract, the activity shall be costed, priced and recorded using a standard service contract agreement with appropriate time lines.

A copy of the finalised contract / agreement document of consultancy shall be forwarded to the Dean, Research and consultancy, together with the signed copy of agreement submitted to the Registrar of the College. The Registrar shall record the information of the consultancy and arrange for the appropriate information to be sent to finance office to enable invoice(s) to be raised and payments to be made.

The Dean, Research and Consultancy shall be involved in the contract negotiations and will advise the Head of College on key issues arising from the terms of the contract.  Where these issues are considered problematic, approval of the Head of College shall be sought prior to the signing of the agreement.