Key Dates

Related Announcements

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Issued by

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH)

Purpose

NIH will require that all prior approval requests be submitted in eRA Commons Prior Approval Module for all grant and cooperative agreement awards. This requirement is effective 30-days from the date of this Notice.

This change will support NIH’s efforts to move toward electronic submission for all prior approval requests and streamline the submission and review process. All prior approval requests must be initiated and submitted by a Signing Official (SO) for the recipient organization. This new prior approval requirement will be incorporated into an upcoming edition of the NIH Grants Policy Statement, section 8.1.3 Requests for Prior Approval.

Below are the prior approval request types that are available in eRA Commons for NIH applicants and recipients:

• Withdrawal Request
• Carryover Request
• Change of PD/PI on a Grant
  • Note: Change of PD/PI requests for multi-component/multi-project awards must use the “Other Request” type.
• No Cost Extension
• DMS Request (See NOT-OD-24-176)
• Other Request- Common types of "Other" Prior Approval requests may include the following:
  • Change in Scope or Objectives
  • Change in Key Personnel
  • Adding a new subaward (See NOT-OD-24-149)

Additional Instructions for “Other” Prior Approval Requests

In the Prior Approval Module, recipients must select "Prior Approval - Other Request" and follow the instructions provided to complete the required entry.

Prior Approval Other Request Instructions

• Description: Enter a brief description of the prior approval request. The entry must be uniquely identifiable and is limited to 160 characters.
• Effective Date: Enter the effective date of the requested change(s).
• Justification Document: Provide the rationale and justification for the requested change(s).
• Budget Document: If applicable, provide information regarding any impacts to the budget. Include information for current and future budget periods. Note: This is not in lieu of a supplement request. Supplement requests must be submitted through an administrative supplement Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).
• Other Supporting Documents: Provide supporting documentation relevant to this request, for example, provide the Biosketch and Other Support for any new senior/key personnel. Note that after January 25, 2026, recipients must use the Common Form versions of the Biosketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support documents (See NOT-OD-26-018).  

Note: All uploaded documents must be in PDF format.

Resources

eRA Commons Online Help: Prior Approval Module

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

NIH Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA)
Systems Policy Branch
Email: [email protected]

Please direct all eRA technical inquiries to:
eRA Service Desk
Submit a web ticket: https://www.era.nih.gov/need-help
Toll-free:1-866-504-9552
Phone:301-402-7469