Updated Procedures for Requesting Fixed Price Clinical Trial Milestone Invoices

Contracts and Grants Accounting (CGA) is implementing a new step in the process to submit fixed price billing requests for clinical trial milestone invoices.

Departments submit requests to generate invoices for Fixed Price Clinical Trial awards using the CGA Request page in the Research Administration System (RAS). In order for the CGA Service Team to recognize that clinical trial fixed price invoices pertain to milestones, we are requesting that departments explicitly state the purpose of the Fixed Price Bill request. Departments should enter the following standardized language in the Additional Comments field for all fixed price clinical trial milestone invoice requests:

“This invoice request is for a Clinical Trial Milestone Invoice, which does not require payment/collection follow-up.”

The CGA Service Team will use a new feature in RAS to log these invoices and determine if they pertain to clinical milestone billing. CGA will implement a monitoring process for these clinical trial milestone invoices to ensure proper review.

CGA can also retroactively associate previously processed prepaid lines associated with clinical trial milestones. If you have any such invoices, please submit a list to the CGA Service Team by January 31, 2025, for review and assessment.

More about clinical trial milestones

A clinical trial milestone is a key achievement or activity specified in a contract, such as patient enrollment, site activation, data submission, or subject visit completion, that triggers payment or signifies progress in a clinical trial.

A clinical trial milestone invoice is an internal document used to record revenue earned per contract terms in the general ledger as subject visits are completed. Unlike traditional invoices, these are not sent to sponsors, as payments are typically issued automatically by sponsors or clinical research organizations based on specified intervals or milestone completions.

As a reminder, the CGA Accounts Receivable team will not take any collection actions for clinical trial milestone invoices. It is the department’s responsibility to work with the sponsor to ensure payment of these invoices.

Step-by-step instructions on how to submit fixed prices invoices are available on the Controller’s Office website. Please contact [email protected] for any questions about clinical trial invoicing.