Notice of Change to Budget Instructions in PAR-22-180 "Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (R35 - Clinical Trial Optional)"
Notice Number:
NOT-GM-24-012

Key Dates

Release Date:

December 13, 2023

Related Announcements

  • May 24, 2022 - Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (R35 - Clinical Trial Optional). See NOFO PAR-22-180.

Issued by

National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)

Purpose

The purpose of this Notice is to inform applicants to PAR-22-180 “ Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (R35 - Clinical Trial Optional)” of the updated instructions for the R&R Budget form to include information about requesting Data Management and Sharing (DMS) costs.

The following sections of this funding opportunity have been modified accordingly.

Part 2. Section IV. Application and Submission Information

R&R Budget

Currently reads:

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.

Itemized budget information is not required and will not be accepted. Instead, a total requested direct cost amount for each budget period, including requests for equipment purchase, is required. Other than years when equipment is requested, it is expected that the annual direct costs will remain constant in all years.

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed except as detailed below. While a 10-year R&R Detailed Budget form is provided in the application package, applicants may not request more than 5 years of support.

In order to allow submission of a budget request without filling out detailed yearly budgets, some basic information must be completed in order for NIH to successfully process the budget form. For each budget period:

1. Select the appropriate Budget Type.

2. Provide the Budget Period Start Date and End Date.

3. Section A: Senior/Key Persons Provide an entry for the PD/PI, including the appropriate level of effort, and enter $0 for Requested Salary and $0 for Fringe Benefits. Entering $0 does not imply that the PD/PI will not receive any salary or fringe benefit support from the grant.

4. In Section C: Enter budget request for equipment. Provide complete justification using the Budget Justification.

5. In Section F: Other Direct Costs Add a line item titled ‘Requested Direct Costs’ and provide the total request for that budget period (up to $750,000). If equipment is requested in Section C, do not add the equipment budget in Section F. Other than when equipment is requested it is expected that the total annual direct costs requested will remain constant in future years.

6. In Section H: Enter your institutional "indirect cost type," "indirect cost rate," "indirect cost base" and "funds requested."

Budget Justification: The following budget categories must be justified, where applicable: equipment, and consortium/subaward costs. For MIRA renewal applications, justify any increase in funding requested over the previous project period. For applications for new MIRA grants, justify any requested increase in support relative to NIGMS research support over the previous three years. New Investigators should request a maximum of $250,000 in direct costs, not including equipment costs.

Use the Budget Justification to provide the additional information requested in each budget category identified above only. Equipment quote(s) may be included here.

Consortium Justification: Consortium/Contractual Arrangements are not anticipated in most cases and must be extremely well justified. A letter from the subcontract PD/PI should be included making it clear why he/she cannot participate in collaborative research with the PD/PI without support from the MIRA. NIGMS will accept MIRA applications with foreign collaborations but will only provide funding for a foreign consortium arrangement when the collaboration is essential to the PD's/PI's research program and represents a unique scientific opportunity that cannot be supported by the collaborator without MIRA funds.

Provide an estimate of total consortium/subaward costs (direct costs plus indirect [F&A] costs) for each budget period, rounded to the nearest $1,000.

List the individuals/organizations with whom consortium or contractual arrangements have been made and indicate whether the collaborating institution is foreign or domestic.

F&A base: Also use the Budget Justification to explain any exclusions applied to the F&A base calculation.

If none of the above apply, state “Not Applicable” 

Modified to read (changes shown in bold italics):

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.

Itemized budget information is not required and will not be accepted. Instead, a total requested direct cost amount for each budget period, including requests for equipment purchase, is required. Other than years when equipment is requested, it is expected that the annual total Direct Costs in Section G will remain constant in all years.

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed except as detailed below. While a 10-year R&R Detailed Budget form is provided in the application package, applicants may not request more than 5 years of support.

In order to allow submission of a budget request without filling out detailed yearly budgets, some basic information must be completed in order for NIH to successfully process the budget form. For each budget period:

1. Select the appropriate Budget Type.

2. Provide the Budget Period Start Date and End Date.

3. Section A: Senior/Key Persons Provide an entry for the PD/PI, including the appropriate level of effort, and enter $0 for Requested Salary and $0 for Fringe Benefits. Entering $0 does not imply that the PD/PI will not receive any salary or fringe benefit support from the grant.

4. In Section C: Enter budget request for equipment. Provide complete justification using the Budget Justification.

5. In Section F: Other Direct Costs add a line item titled ‘Requested Direct Costs’ and provide the total request for that budget period  including any costs requested for Data Management and Sharing costs. 

Investigators with existing NIGMS research grants may request up to $750,000 including Equipment. New Investigators may request up to $250,000 excluding Equipment.

If equipment is requested in Section C, do not add the equipment budget in Section F. It is expected that ‘Requested Direct Costs’ will remain constant in all years.

6. In Section H: Enter your institutional "indirect cost type," "indirect cost rate," "indirect cost base" and "funds requested."

NoteSections B, D, and E of the detailed budget page should be left blank.

Budget Justification: The following budget categories must be justified, where applicable: equipment, data management and sharing costs, and consortium/subaward costs. For MIRA renewal applications, justify any increase in funding requested over the previous project period. For applications for new MIRA grants, justify any requested increase in support relative to NIGMS research support over the previous three years. 

Use the Budget Justification to provide the additional information requested in each budget category identified above only. Equipment quote(s) may be included here.

Data Management and Sharing Costs: NIGMS’ expectation is that most NIGMS grantees will not need to significantly change their data management and sharing practices and thus additional costs, if any, will be modest. 

Justification for any requested Data Management and Sharing costs should be clearly labeled as "Data Management and Sharing Justification" and include any requested direct costs dollar amount. If no costs are requested for DMS, state “0” for the requested dollar amount. Follow instructions in the SF424 Application Guide for the Data Management and Sharing Justification

Consortium Justification: Consortium/Contractual Arrangements are not anticipated in most cases and must be extremely well justified. A letter from the subcontract PD/PI should be included making it clear why he/she cannot participate in collaborative research with the PD/PI without support from the MIRA. NIGMS will accept MIRA applications with foreign collaborations but will only provide funding for a foreign consortium arrangement when the collaboration is essential to the PD's/PI's research program and represents a unique scientific opportunity that cannot be supported by the collaborator without MIRA funds.

Provide an estimate of total consortium/subaward costs (direct costs plus indirect [F&A] costs) for each budget period, rounded to the nearest $1,000.

List the individuals/organizations with whom consortium or contractual arrangements have been made and indicate whether the collaborating institution is foreign or domestic.

F&A base: Also use the Budget Justification to explain any exclusions applied to the F&A base calculation.

If none of the above apply, state "Not Applicable."

All other aspects of this Notice of Funding Opportunity remain the same.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Lisa Moeller
Grants Administration Branch
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Email: MIRA2019FINANCIAL@NIGMS.NIH.GOV