Revised Guidance on Resumption of NIH Extramural Activities Following the Recent Lapse in Appropriations

Notice Number: NOT-OD-14-007

Update: The following update relating to this announcement has been issued:

  • November 7, 2013 - Status of Peer Review Meetings Scheduled to Take Place During the Recent Lapse in Appropriations. See Notice NOT-OD-14-019.
  • October 29, 2013 - See Notice NOT-OD-14-014. Additional Clarification on Resumption of NIH Extramural Activities Following the Recent Lapse in Appropriations.
  • October 25, 2013 - See Notice NOT-OD-14-012. NIH Operates Under a Continuing Resolution.
  • October 24, 2013 - See Related Notice NOT-HS-14-001. Guidance on Resumption of AHRQ Extramural Activities Following the Recent Lapse in Appropriations .
  • October 22, 2013 - See Related Notice NOT-OD-14-006. Updated Timeline for Late Resubmission (-A1) Applications to PA-11-197 "NIH Pathway to Independence Award (Parent K99/R00)".

Key Dates
Release Date: October 22, 2013

Related Announcements
NOT-OD-14-002
NOT-OD-14-003
NOT-OD-14-006

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose

This Notice is to inform the community that NIH has revised its approach to resuming operations after the government shutdown. This Notice supersedes NOT-OD-14-003.

Responding to input from applicants and reviewers, NIH has reevaluated the plans for rescheduling initial peer review meetings that were cancelled due to the government shutdown. NIH will now reschedule most of the 200+ missed peer review meetings so that most applications are able to be considered at January 2014 Council meetings.

Rescheduling Peer Review Meetings
Most NIH peer review meetings that occurred during or immediately following the government shutdown will be rescheduled so that as many applications as possible are able to be considered at January 2014 Council meetings.

Opportunity to "Refresh" Applications that are Reassigned to May 2014 Advisory Council
As this is an unprecedented situation where the review meetings are being rescheduled under tight time frames, scheduling complexities may prevent the evaluation of the full complement of applications for this round. Thus, while it is thought to be a small number, there may be some applications that cannot be reviewed in time for the January 2014 Advisory Council. These applications will be reassigned to the May 2014 Advisory Council and both the principal investigator and the signing official listed on the grant application will receive an email notification alerting them to the change during the week of November 4, 2013. NIH will also adjust the meeting dates listed in the eRA Commons for these refresh-eligible applications to 09/09/9999 so the applications can be easily identified.

Applications reassigned to the May 2014 Advisory Council will proceed to initial peer review in February/March 2014 without any action from the applicant. However, NIH is giving these applicants the option of withdrawing and submitting a refreshed application. If you choose to refresh your application, follow the steps below carefully:

  • Withdraw the existing application by November 15.

  • Submit the refreshed application to the original funding opportunity announcement (FOA), if possible. If that FOA has closed, submit to the appropriate parent announcement. If there is no parent announcement for that activity code, send an e-mail to grantsinfo@od.nih.gov with the previous FOA number and we will work with you to get the application submitted.

  • Submit a cover letter with the refreshed application. Indicate that you are refreshing your application for the May 2014 council round, include the previous application number, and provide the previous study section assignment. Applicants are welcome to use the email notification they received from NIH as the cover letter.

  • Make the refreshed application a "new", "resubmission" or "renewal" to match the withdrawn application.

  • All refreshed applications are due by December 11, 2013. No late applications will be accepted for this special receipt date.

  • Only applicants who are reassigned to May 2014 Advisory Council round, and who are notified by NIH of their eligibility to refresh an application, may submit for the December 11 deadline. Any other applications for this deadline will not be reviewed. As always, other applications that are rescheduled for review this round may be withdrawn for any reason, as per our usual process, and submitted for the next standard deadline.

Rescheduling October Application Due Dates

  • All October grant application submission deadlines have been rescheduled as follows (this information has not changed from the previous Notice):

Standard Due Dates:

Activity Code

Original Due Date

New Due Date

R01s, U01s (New)

October 5

November 12

Ks (New)

October 12

November 12

R03s, R21s, R34s, R36s (New)

October 16

November 18

R15s (All)

October 25

November 18


Special Due Dates:

Funding Opportunity

Original Due Date

New Due Date

RFAs, PARs, PAs

Due dates not listed above

November 1*


*Exceptions:

Funding Opportunity

Original Due Date

New Due Date

PAR-13-277

October 1

November 14

PAR-13-351

October 23

November 14

RFA-AI-13-043

October 23

November 14

PAR-13-086

October 24

November 14

PAR-13-087

October 24

November 14


  • The NIH Loan Repayment Program application deadline has been extended from November 15 to December 2.

  • Grants.gov will continue to accept applications for funding opportunity announcements with October closing dates, even if those dates have passed.

November Application Due Dates
November grant application deadlines will not change (with the exception of the Loan Repayment program deadline listed above).

Refreshing an Application that was Submitted for an October Due Date
Since October 2013 application due dates are moving to November, NIH is giving applicants who have already submitted an application for an October due date the opportunity to replace the submission with a "refreshed" application. These applications should be submitted according to the rescheduled receipt date table, above. Follow the guidance below if you choose to submit a "refreshed" refreshed application for the rescheduled due dates:

  • If an application has an image in the eRA Commons and is within the two day viewing window the institutional Signing Official should first reject the application in the Commons to keep it from further processing, then submit the refreshed application.

  • If there is no option to reject the application in the Commons (meaning the application has moved beyond the viewing window for further processing by NIH), applicants should withdraw the application before submitting a refreshed application.

  • Applications that have been submitted but have errors (thus have no application image), can submit a changed/corrected application.

    Note: Replacing the application submission with a "refreshed" application does not count as a resubmission (A1), meaning that an application submitted for an October due date as a "new" application should be submitted as a "new" application. A "resubmission" should be submitted again as "resubmission". A "renewal" should continue to be a "renewal".

Processing of Applications Submitted During the Shutdown
Applications submitted since October 1 that were held at Grants.gov during the period of the shutdown have been processed by NIH's eRA systems.

  • Please proactively check the Commons for the status of any application submission.

  • All error free applications submitted during or in the two days prior to the shutdown will be held for viewing in the Commons on Tuesday and Wednesday Oct 22 and 23 to ensure applicants have 2 full business days to check their application image before it moves on to NIH's Center of Scientific Review (CSR) for processing.

Rescheduled Research Performance Progress Report Due Dates
Due dates for Research Performance Progress Reports that were due between October 1and October 21 have been extended to November 4, 2013. If you have issues being able to submit on time, contact staff at the NIH funding Institute or Center.

eRA Systems Availability
eRA systems are now fully available.

Early Stage Investigator Eligibility
NIH will automatically adjust the Early Stage Investigator (ESI) status for applicants whose status has changed during the period of delay caused by the shutdown.

K99/R00 Eligibility
Information on the late resubmission due date for the K99/R00 NIH Pathway to Independence Award program (see NOT-OD-13-050) will be issued in a separate Notice (NOT-OD-14-006). All other K99/R00 application due dates follow the due dates for career development awards (Ks) in the table above.

Payment Management System
Payments through the Payment Management System (PMS) should be processing as usual. If grantees received a communication during the shutdown that a drawdown request was on hold, please contact PMS directly to determine the status of that pending request.

Award Actions
NIH anticipates beginning to release awards sometime after November 1.

Financial Operations under a Continuing Resolution
NIH soon will publish a Notice on our financial operations under a continuing resolution.

NIH will continue to provide the community with guidance on resumption of extramural activities after the shutdown as necessary.

FAQs will continue to be developed as NIH gets questions. NIH has established a web page to consolidate information on resuming operations after the shutdown.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

NIH Grants Information
Telephone: 301-945-7573
Email: grantsinfo@od.nih.gov