Unfortunately, no. The Department of Energy (DOE) views these NPUAs as “non-negotiable,” especially those provisions marked by a triple asterisk. With 17 national laboratories and hundreds of research partners using the facilities that have been funded by the U.S. Government, changes to the standard provisions need to be considered in the context of the rights of all user institutions. DOE is very reluctant to approve a change for one user institution, as it may have unintended consequences for other user institutions at a facility.
DOE’s instructions indicate: “The Department of Energy has opted to utilize the following agreement for Designated Non-Proprietary User Facilities transactions. Because these transactions are widespread across Departmental facilities, uniformity in agreement terms is desirable. Except for the *** provisions, minor modifications to the terms of this agreement may be made by CONTRACTOR, but any changes to the *** provisions or substantive changes to the non *** provisions will require approval by the DOE Contracting Officer, WHICH WILL LIKELY DELAY YOUR ACCESS TO THE USER FACILITY.”