Chapter 6. Contracts 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts wants you to read the fine print known as the Standard Contract. Your Project Consultant and the Institute of Museum and Library Services want you to read the not so fine print known as the Agreement. Your town officials, however, probably want you to read both -- twice. In both cases,you should have the contracts signed and returned to the agency as soon as possible after you receive them. Delays in getting these back from you will mean delays in our being able to disburse money to you on the start date of your project. This year, contract materials were mailed to agency directors (or school superintendents/principals) in early August. If you are not also the director of your agency, please check with the powers that be to make sure the materials reached them and have been returned to us.

	Important
	Project activities for which grant funds will be obligated may only take place after approval of a contract (Agreement: #7). This approval date will be noted on your Standard Contract when your copy is returned to you. Therefore, until you receive this approval date do not obligate any grant funds.

STANDARD CONTRACT: This is the state's service contract. It is "boilerplate" that is primarily used whenever the state contracts with anyone to provide a service and needs to transfer money to do it. It's a "one size fits all" form and it doesn't fit a federal subgrantee very well. Its purpose is to ensure that the recipient of state money will not violate state laws and regulations and that the work specified will be performed. Your original proposal, or, for Mini-Grants, your application or program description, serves as the guide for the work to be performed. No funds may be disbursed to you until this contract is returned to the MBLC and approved by the Office of the Comptroller.

This contract must be signed in the lower left hand corner by the subgrantee's Director or the cooperating group's president. Be sure to include an original signature date (handwritten, not typed). IT DOES NOT NEED TO BE SIGNED BY THE CHAIR OF THE TRUSTEES. If your grant is over $50,000, additional signature pages are required, and instructions are enclosed in your manual pocket.

AGREEMENT: This contract covers the requirements that must be met according to federal statute and regulation. It is very specific to the requirements of IMLS and the National Foundations on the Arts and for the Humanities (45 CFR Part 1183) and covers all aspects of your project from handling of funds to compliance with numerous federal laws to procurement and reporting. It is the official documentation for most of the activities detailed in this Manual and the regulations it represents are the reasons why we have to ask you to do all these things. You will want to refer to this Agreement frequently throughout the project and as you use this Manual. THIS CONTRACT MUST BE SIGNED BY BOTH THE SUBGRANTEE'S DIRECTOR AND THE CHAIR OF THE GOVERNING BOARD. For school libraries it should be signed by the superintendent if the library's Long-Range Plan is a district-wide plan, or by the principal if the library's Long-Range Plan is an individual school plan, and the library teacher/school library media specialist.

You must return to us three original, signed Standard Contracts and two of the Agreement. After approval, one of each contract will be returned to you for your records, and noted on your copy of the Standard Contract will be the official date after which you may begin to make obligations of funds. You should retain both of these documents in this folder.

Several paragraphs of the Agreement should be particularly noted:

CERTIFICATION REGARDING DEBARMENT: Also enclosed with your contracts is a "Certification Regarding Debarment, Suspension." By signing this document you are assuring us that you as the subgrantee have not been debarred from doing business with the federal government for some heinous offense, nor will you knowingly do business with someone who has. It is required that a copy of this signed certification be on file for your library. You should also keep a copy for your own records.

CIPA CERTIFICATION:: If you are a public library, an elementary or secondary school library in a public school system, or if you are a library consortium that includes one or more such libraries, your contract will include a Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) certification form. By checking off the appropriate boxes and signing this form, you assure us and the IMLS that you are in compliance with CIPA. This means that you will not purchase computers used to access the Internet using LSTA grant funds unless you have met all CIPA requirements. This includes a technology protection measure (e.g.., Internet filtering software) and an Internet Safety Policy. Under the Massachusetts Long Rang Plan, ongoing Internet access, another service covered by CIPA, cannot be funded by LSTA under any circumstances.

Keep a copy of this certification for your own records.

More information about CIPA and LSTA can be found at: mass.gov/mblc/grants/erate/cipa/requirements.php.

To recap, to begin your project, you should send (or make sure someone has sent) to your Project Consultant as soon as possible the following, all with original signatures: