Post Award Issues for Foreign Grantees 

Information for New Grantee Organizations (known as the NIH “Welcome Wagon” Letter) outlines basic policies and procedures for all NIH grantees. If you are the recipient of a grant from the NIH, there is a great deal of information that your organization will need in order to be a successful steward of federal funds.

When NIH awards a grant, it is formalizing its partnership with the grantee to ensure compliance with federal laws, regulations and policies. This protects the integrity of the overall scientific endeavor. Acceptance of a grant award from NIH carries with it the responsibility to be aware of and comply with the terms and conditions of the Notice of Award (NoA). By drawing funds from the appropriate payment system, the grantee agrees to the terms and conditions of an award.

Additional information on the post-award process is found at /grants/managing_awards.htm#post. Further information about the topics covered in the “Welcome Wagon” Letter, specifically for foreign grantees, is described below.

Payment

Historically, NIH pays foreign grantees with U.S. Treasury checks (in U.S. dollars) issued by the NIH Office of Financial Management (OFM) and mailed on a the basis of a fixed quarterly advance, usually in four equal installments. Most currently, the NIH recommends foreign grantees receive payments via wire transfer (for increased security and timely receipt of funds). In order to do so, foreign grantees must ensure that the name of the account to which the funds will be transferred is identical to the name of the grantee institution as it appears on the Notice of Award. Foreign grantees must also submit banking information as requested by the Grants Management Specialist during the Just-in-Time process. Foreign grantees are encouraged to use U.S. banks or banks with U.S. branches. Grantees are required to maintain grant funds in an interest bearing account; however, interest earned in excess of $250 per year in the aggregate on advances of Federal funds must be returned in U.S. dollars by reimbursement check to the NIH Office of Financial Management at the address below, or reflected on the annual Financial Status Report.

National Institutes of Health
Office of Financial Management
Government Accounting Branch
Attention: Joyce Lee
2115 East Jefferson Street, Suite 4B432
Rockville, Maryland 20852  U.S.A.

See sample payment letter for wire transfers. (MS Word - 30 KB)

Specific questions from foreign grantees regarding payment may be directed to Joyce Lee (Joyce.Lee@nih.gov).

When a foreign component participates in a consortium arrangement, the funding and payment information should be reflected in the formal written agreement.

Expanded Authorities

NIH has waived cost-related and other prior-approval requirements for many grantee activities and expenditures, as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement at: /grants/policy/nihgps_2003/NIHGPS_Part7.htm. Foreign grants are included in expanded authorities.

Activities and/or expenditures that require NIH prior approval are summarized in the NIH Grants Policy Statement at /grants/policy/nihgps_2003/NIHGPS_Part7.htm#_Toc54600129. All requests for NIH awarding office prior approval must be made in writing (which includes submission by e-mail) to the Grants Management Officer (GMO) no later than 30 days before the proposed change. The request must be signed by both the PD/PI and the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR).

Change of Grantee Organization

Any change of grantee organization requires NIH prior approval.  The transfer of a grant to a foreign organization or between foreign organizations requires the additional approval of the National Advisory Council/Board of the awarding NIH IC. Grantees adding or changing a foreign performance site within a funded grant award must obtain approval from the Grants Management Officer before work can be performed at the added or changed foreign site.

Progress Reports/SNAP

All grantees are required to submit annual progress reports in the form of a non-competing continuation application (Form PHS 2590). NIH has created an abbreviated progress report format called SNAP (Streamlined Non-competing Award Process). Inclusion in SNAP is at the discretion of the NIH awarding office, and will be specified on the NoA, but a grantee will not be disqualified from SNAP solely based on their international or foreign status. More information on the progress report process can be found in the Grants Policy Statement at: /grants/policy/nihgps_2003/NIHGPS_Part8.htm#_Toc54600141.

Also note this guidance on reporting race and ethnicity data in research involving a foreign population:
http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/funding/women_min/race_ethnicity_qa.htm#a8.

Financial Status Reports (FSRs)

Foreign grantees must submit annual FSRs electronically within 90 days after the end of the budget period through the eRA Commons (https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons/), whether or not they are included in SNAP. (See NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-07-078).  This is due to the fact that foreign grantees are not paid through PMS and, therefore, do not submit the SF 272 (which NIH uses in lieu of the annual FSR for domestic awards under SNAP). FSRs must be submitted in U.S. dollars and in English. The currency rate in effect at the time the FSR is prepared should be used in preparing the report. For the final FSR, NIH requires grantees to reimburse the U.S. government for funds not spent. Mail reimbursement checks in U.S. dollars to the OFM at the address noted below. The OFM will process the final FSR along with the final reimbursement check.

National Institutes of Health
Office of Financial Management
Government Accounting Branch
Attention: Joyce Lee
2115 East Jefferson Street MSC 8500, Suite 4B432
Rockville, MD 20852 U.S.A.

Audit Requirements

Foreign grantees are subject to the same audit requirements as for-profit organizations specified in 45 CFR 74.26(d) regardless of whether they are a hospital, non-profit, or academic institution. A foreign organization is required to have a non-Federal audit if, during its fiscal year, it expended a total of $500,000 or more under one or more awards from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (as a direct grantee and/or under a consortium participant). Foreign organizations are provided with two options to satisfy the audit requirements: either (1) a financial-related audit of all HHS awards as defined in, and in accordance with, the Government Auditing Standards (commonly known as the Yellow Book); or (2) an audit that meets the requirements of OMB Circular A-133. Whether you choose to use the Government Accounting Standards (Yellow Book) form or the OMB Circular A-133 audit form, your audit will be done by an independent auditor. NIH does not perform the audits directly. The cost of hiring an independent auditor may be recovered as part of the 8% Facilities & Administrative (F&A) costs.

Audit reports of foreign organizations should be submitted to:
National External Audit Review Center
HHS Office of Inspector General
HHS Office of Audit Services
1100 Walnut Street, Suite 850
Kansas City, Missouri 64106-2197   U.S.A.

It is imperative that grantees submit required audit within the specified time limits.
The National External Audit Review Center (NEARC) provides HHS with alerts called “NEAR listings” that contain information on HHS grantees with negative or potentially negative audit findings.

Program Income

Program income is gross income earned by a grantee, a consortium participant, or a contractor under a grant that was directly generated by the grant-supported activity or earned as a result of the award. Program income includes, but is not limited to, income from fees for services performed, the use or rental of real or personal property acquired under the grant, the sale of commodities or items fabricated under an award, and license fees and royalties on patents and copyrights.

Accountability refers to whether NIH will specify how the income is to be used and whether the income needs to be reported to NIH and for what length of time. Unless otherwise specified in the terms and conditions of the award, NIH grantees are not accountable for program income accrued after the period of grant support.

Program income earned during the period of grant support (other than income earned as a result of copyrights, patents, or inventions or as a result of the sale of real property, equipment, or supplies) shall be retained by the grantee and may be used in one or a combination of the alternatives indicated below. Most foreign grantees will use the Addition Alternative (add the $ of program income to the amount awarded).

Addition Alternative - Added to funds committed to the project or program and used to further eligible project or program objectives.

Deduction Alternative - Deducted from total allowable costs of the project or program to determine the net allowable costs on which the Federal share of costs will be based.

Combination Alternative - Uses all program income up to (and including) $25,000 as specified under the addition alternative and any amount of program income exceeding $25,000 under the deduction alternative.

Intellectual Property / Inventions

NIH allows foreign grantees to have the same rights and obligations regarding invention ownership as U.S. grantees. NIH allows foreign entities to retain rights in intellectual property developed under NIH funding agreements (grants, cooperative agreements, contracts and subcontracts), consistent with current NIH policies and any other terms and conditions of the specific funding agreement awarded. NIH believes that the current policy protects the U.S. public's interest while not unduly compromising productive research and intellectual property relationships. (See NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-06-005).

All foreign grantees, contractors, consortium participants, and/or subcontractors are reminded that they must comply with Bayh-Dole invention reporting requirements. Information on reporting requirements and policy, as well as electronic systems to fulfill reporting requirements may be found at Interagency Edison http://www.iedison.gov, as well as at http://inventions.nih.gov.

Closeout

NIH grantees must submit a Final Financial Status Report, a Final Progress Report, and a Final Invention Statement and Certification (where applicable) within 90 calendar days after the last day of the final budget period. Failure to submit timely and accurate final reports may adversely affect future funding for the organization and the investigator. (For more information on Closeout, see NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-08-061).

Financial Management Systems

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