Foundation Documents

There are three key foundation documents for the CRC that will be implemented at the commencement of the CRC. It is important for these three documents be developed together as they interact and will need to be consistent in how they carry across obligations noted in a number of clauses within the Commonwealth Grant Agreement.

The Commonwealth Grant Agreement

This document outlines the terms and conditions of the grant including reporting requirements, payment schedules and the agreed milestones that must be met in order to receive payments.

The Grant Agreement will include the schedule of cash and in-kind contributions made by partners of the CRC. Core partners of the CRC are named individually based on the partner declarations submitted during bid stage. Other third party and ancillary partners of the CRC are not listed individually but as a consolidated number.

During the establishment stage it can take time to finalise partner agreements. The CRC will report progress each quarter to the CRC Program team and variations to the grant agreement can be proposed to the CRC Program annually to add or remove partners, update contributions and milestones subject to their approval.

The Constitution 

As mentioned earlier the Constitution states the primary objectives of the CRC and defines the rules related to corporate governance, business activities, behaviours of directors and members and rights and obligations of its directors and members. The interim constitution may need to be updated to reflect the planned ‘business as usual’ state of the CRC and obligations required under the Commonwealth Grant and Partner Agreement. 

It is usual to circulate a draft of changes in the Constitution to members for their comment.

The Partner (or Member or Participants) Agreement 

The partner agreement outlines the terms and conditions for how partners will interact with the CRC. CRCs can establish a single Partner Agreement that binds all the partners collectively or some CRCs have chosen to establish separate bilateral agreements based on an agreed template. 

The CRC Program team provide templates for the Partner Agreement which is a good starting point.
Other agreements that may be required by the CRC are listed in sections:  Intellectual Property, List of Contracts and HR Models.