Contract Review
All contracts received by any college employee or official must be reviewed by the Office of the General Counsel or the Director of Purchasing and Auxiliary Services before being duly executed by the appropriate signature authority. Unless the below process has been completed AND you have been given delegated signature authority by the Board of Trustees (e.g. Director of Purchasing and Auxiliary Services, Provost, or VP for Advancement), please do NOT sign any agreements, contracts, memoranda of understanding, binding letters, or the like. The process for having a contract reviewed by our office is as follows:
Step 1: Review the contract for programmatic accuracy
You know the needs of your program better than we do. Therefore, as an initial matter, please make sure that the contract meets your needs and reflects the substantive terms that you discussed with the vendor. If you are unsure, you can include those details in your legal review form discussed in Step 2.
Step 2: Complete the legal review request form and submit to the Office of the General Counsel
Fill out the online form here. Upon submitting the form, the Vice President over your area will receive an email requesting approval of your legal review request.
After the Office of the General Counsel receives Vice President approval, we will review the contract and return it to you with proposed changes. This initial review may take up to two weeks.
Step 3: Return the contract with proposed changes to the outside agency
If the outside entity does not approve of the changes, they will likely propose alternatives. Please report this to the Office of the General Counsel so that negotiations can be properly discussed. The General Counsel’s Office generally will assist directly with negotiations if an attorney for the other party is involved. Assuming that an agreement is reached between the parties, continue to Step 4.
Step 4: Submit the agreed-upon contract for board approval
Step 5: After the contract has been signed by the board chair
After the Board of Trustees meeting, the Office of the General Counsel will return two original copies of the contract signed by the board chair to your office. If both originals have not already been signed by the other party, they must be sent to the party with whom the contract is being made for signature. The department must request one of the fully executed originals to be returned to the college. Upon receipt, return the fully executed original to the Office of the General Counsel.
Standard Contract Forms
The Board of Trustees of Santa Fe College has approved standard form agreements for a variety of programs. If an outside institution signs a standard form, it generally must be reported to the Board of Trustees as an information item on the following board meeting agenda. See Board Meeting Agenda Item Submission. Information items do not generally require legal review although the Office of the General Counsel does assist in assuring that the other party is an appropriate legal entity by reviewing the Florida Division of Corporations records.
Rule and Procedure Review and Legal Questions
For a proposed Rule or Procedure change or to ask a general legal question, please use the legal review request form discussed in Step 2. Rule changes generally require review by the Office of the General Counsel before they will be considered by the President’s Cabinet and ultimately the Board of Trustees. Once the legal office has approved the proposed change for form and legality, it can be presented to the Cabinet for two readings, followed by an additional two readings by the Board of Trustees. Procedure changes generally require two readings at Cabinet and approval by the President.