(a) If the recipient is a consortium that is not formally incorporated and the consortium members prefer to have the agreement signed by all of them individually, you may execute the agreement in that manner.

(b) If they wish to designate one consortium member to sign the agreement on behalf of the consortium as a whole, you should not decide whether to execute the agreement in that way until you review the consortium's articles of collaboration with legal counsel.

(1) The purposes of the review are to:

(i) Determine whether the articles properly authorize one participant to sign on behalf of the other participants and are binding on all consortium members with respect to the research project; and

(ii) Assess the risk that otherwise could exist when entering into an agreement signed by a single member on behalf of a consortium that is not a legal entity. For example, you should assess whether the articles of collaboration adequately address consortium members' future liabilities related to the research project (i.e., whether they will have joint and severable liability).

(2) After the review, in consultation with legal counsel, you should determine whether it is better to have all of the consortium members sign the agreement individually or to allow them to designate one member to sign on all members' behalf.