| Individuals With Whom SFA Can/Cannot Contract (& other things you need to know)
Index
Current SFA Employees
Former SFA Employees
Newly Hired SFA Employees
Non-US Citizens
Travel Regulations
Texas Vendor Holds and Federal Excluded Parties
Timelines for Payment
For General information, refer to General Counsel's Web site on Professional/Consulting Services Agreements (with another state agency).
To determine whether an individual should be hired as a consultant or an employee, answer the questions in the IRS 20 Questions test.
Current SFA Employees
SFA cannot contract with a current employee; however, SFA employees may perform services for grants and contracts in addition to their regular assignments. For these services, SFA employees may be eligible to receive payment as additional compensation (Policy E-9).
Former SFA Employees
State-Funded Contracts - Former SFA employees must be separated from SFA for at least twelve (12) months before they can enter into a contract with SFA. After they become eligible, If employed by SFA within the past 24 months, a disclosure must be made in the professional and consultant services contract.
Non-State Funded Contracts - If a former employee of SFA within the past 24 months, a disclosure must be made in the professional and consultant services contract.
Newly Hired SFA Employees
If an individual becomes an employee of SFA while under contract with SFA, the contract dates must be amended to end the contract before the effective date of hire. If the services of the individual are still needed, the individual may be eligible to receive payment as additional compensation (Policy E-9).
Non-US Citizens
SFA may contract with citizens of other countries; however, special forms may be required before payment can be made to these non-resident aliens. Some forms require 3-4 months to process so check with Human Resources as soon as possible.
It is the responsibility of non-US citizens to obtain, and provide to SFA, any required travel documents or other pertinent documentation (visas, passports, etc.). This information needs to be sent to Accounts Payable by the PI/PD. Accounts Payable will not pay a contract until they have copies of these documents.Also, if a foreign contractor is doing work while in the U.S., there is a tax form that needs to be completed.
Travel Regulations
To reimburse travel costs to an individual who is not an SFA employee, a signed contract is required. See Sample contract and travel reimbursement request form.
How travel is reimbursed and tax consequences for the individual contractor depend on the language of the contract.
An individual may be paid for actual expenses incurred or follow travel reimbursement guidelines for SFA or the state of Texas.
If travel is included as part of a single contract fee, it will be reported on the IRS form 1099-Misc. If travel is paid separately on a cost-reimbursement basis and accompanied by actual receipts, it will not be included in the total amount reported to the IRS. If reimbursement for meals is on a per diem basis, it is always reported. To avoid this possibility, request receipts for all meals. To be reported to the IRS, total reimbursements in a calendar year must exceed $600.
Non-resident aliens (non-US citizens) are required to obtain their own travel documents (passport, visa, etc.) and to provide SFA with a copy.
Texas Vendor Holds and Federal Excluded Parties
SFA cannot contract with individuals or companies that appear on the Texas Vendor Warrant Hold list at the time that the contract is executed or on the Federal Excluded Parties List. Vendor holds include defaulting on student loans. [It is the responsibility of the account holder to verify the vendor hold status.] At the present time, SFA's Purchasing department searches for federally excluded parties.
Timelines for Payment
Be sure that the contractor is aware of any deadlines for submission of invoices for payment. Once an award has been closed out by SFA, payments on that contract can no longer be made.
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