Terms of Service
Individual Users agree to adhere to the Terms of Service described below.
1. Definitions
The Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) Compliance Unit Standard Procedure (CUSP) Sharing Site is a resource operated by the FDP CUSP Working Group for the benefit of Participating Institutions and Individual Users.
1.1. The CUSP Working Group oversees the operation of CUSP and derives its membership from FDP member organizations and Federal agencies such as the USDA and NIH. Individual Users are not required to be members of the Working Group.
1.2. A Participating Institution is an FDP member organization or non-FDP member organization that has been approved by the Working Group to participate in the CUSP Sharing Site. Organizations may apply to the Working Group to become a Participating Institution by emailing cusp@thefdp.org. Organizations must sign a participation agreement to join the CUSP Sharing Site.
1.3 An Institutional Representative is a member of a Participating Institution who is responsible for creating and maintaining content and user accounts on behalf of their institution.
1.4. An Individual User is an approved account holder who is affiliated with a Participating Institution.
1.5. A Research Protections Program is an institution-specific oversight body that meets the applicable requirements set forth in federal, state, and local regulations governing use of live animals in research, testing, or training [e.g., Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)].
2. Individual User Participation
2.1. Participation in the CUSP Sharing Site is voluntary, and Individual Users may withdraw at any time.
2.2 Individual Users acknowledge that posting to the CUSP Sharing Site places the information in the public domain.
2.3. Information posted to the CUSP Sharing site will be used for knowledge sharing purposes only. Its accuracy has not been confirmed by the FDP or any regulatory agency. The FDP, regulatory agencies and contributing institutions DISCLAIM AND MAKE NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AS TO ANY MATTER ARISING HEREUNDER, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, PATENTABILITY OR THAT A PARTY’S USE OF THE SITE WILL BE FREE FROM INFRINGEMENT OF PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, OR OTHER RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES. While the information contained within the site is periodically updated, no guarantee is given that the information provided is correct, complete, or up to date.
2.4. The CUSP Sharing Site is intended to operate as a self-regulating community, where Individual Users can flag procedures that require review (e.g., procedures that are incomplete, potentially inaccurate, or appear to violate federal animal research standards). However, all information in CUSP is provided with the sole intent of knowledge sharing, as described in Section 2.3.
2.5. Procedure information added to the CUSP Sharing Site must be reviewed and approved by the appropriate Participating Institution's Research Protections Program prior to posting on the site.
2.6. Procedure information downloaded from the CUSP Sharing Site must be reviewed and approved by the Individual User’s Research Protections Program before being implemented.
2.7. Permission is granted to the FDP to use information, in aggregate, from the CUSP Sharing Site for use within the Working Group and FDP, and with the federal government as it relates to administrative burden reduction.
3. The CUSP Working Group
The Working Group will provide the following support tasks:
3.1. Develop and maintain all necessary user documentation, FAQs, surveys, and reports.
3.2. Provide the FDP CUSP system developers with the necessary functional specifications in order to develop, maintain, and enhance the system.
3.3. Review and resolve issues identified within flagged procedures in a timely manner, including notifying the flagging users of the resolution.
3.4. Monitor the use and ongoing needs of the CUSP Sharing Site; collecting and tracking feedback and enhancement requests from users; and operating as a change management team for ongoing development and maintenance.
3.5. Coordinate the review of CUSP operations on an ongoing basis.
4. Changes to These Terms
4.1. These terms are effective as of 10th of May 2023 and will remain in effect until amended. If modifications to the terms are made in the future, they will be in effect immediately once posted on this page.
4.2. The FDP reserves the right to update or change CUSP at any time. Participants should check these terms periodically. The continued use of the CUSP Sharing Site after any modifications to the services on this page will constitute the Individual User's acknowledgment of the modifications and consent to abide and be bound by the modified terms.
4.3. If the FDP makes any material changes to the terms, the FDP will notify all Participating Institutions by email using the email address managed through each CUSP user account profile.
5. Current Version
5.1. The version reference for this website terms of service is: CUSP_TOS-1.0.0