All U.S. institutions engaged in cooperative research conducted or supported by a Common Rule (part 45 CFR 46.114) agency are required to rely upon approval by a single Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the portion of the research conducted in the United States.
A Reliance Agreement (also called an Institutional Authorization Agreement, or IAA) is an agreement signed by two or more institutions engaged in the same human subjects research project. The Agreement permits one or more institutions to cede review to another central, or single, Institutional Review Board (IRB). Generally speaking, this means that only one IRB will maintain primary oversight over a single project for several collaborators across institutions.
A Reliance Agreement is needed if one of the following is true:
- You are a Principal Investigator (PI) on a human subjects research project reviewed at Teachers College (TC), and you plan to have non-TC colleagues engaged in the project as well or,
- You are a TC researcher and you will be an investigator on a human subjects research project, but the PI is at another institution.
Institutions vary as to whether and how they will utilize Reliance Agreements. For example, at TC IRB, we use SMART IRB which allows for institutions to collaborate in a systematic way through one platform whereby institutions determine the primary oversight and who will cede review to another external IRB. Other modes of achieving a reliance agreement exist and TC IRB is amenable to those options.
Determinations regarding Reliance Agreements are highly specific to each institution and each research protocol. The goal for a Reliance Agreement is to harmonize standards and procedures between institutions. Researchers should plan for added time if a Reliance Agreement is part of the project.
Not all research projects involving non-Teachers College (TC) researchers need to go through a reliance agreement. To help you determine which agreement is appropriate for your external colleague(s), email IRB@tc.edu with the subject line “Reliance Agreement inquiry.” A TC IRB Administrator will guide you through the initial process of a Reliance Agreement or you can visit Creating a Reliance Agreement (SMART IRB) on TC IRB’s website.