Why are there three versions of the SMART IRB Agreement?

SMART IRB Agreement v1.0 is the original SMART IRB Agreement that was open for sign-on from September 5, 2016 until September 30, 2020. SMART IRB Agreement v2.0 incorporates certain revisions to the Agreement’s provisions on insurance, conflict of interest, congruency review, and non-interference with requirements of law that enable the NIH Intramural Research Program to participate in the Agreement. As of October 1, 2020, all new institutions will sign v2.0. In addition, any current Participating Institution that wishes to enact a reliance with NIH must sign v2.0 in order to do so. All other current Participating Institutions may continue to use v1.0; it is not necessary to sign v2.0 in order to enact a reliance with a non-NIH Participating Institution. To learn more, see the SMART IRB Agreement v2.0 Cover Memo and the SMART IRB Agreement v2.0 FAQS.