DEVELOPING AND IMPROVING INSTITUTIONAL ANIMAL RESOURCES

NIH GUIDE, Volume 22, Number 27, July 30, 1993



PAR NUMBER:  PAR-93-102



P.T. 34



Keywords:

  Animal Breed. & Facil., Scientific 

  Animal Research Policy 



National Center for Research Resources



Application Receipt Date:  October 1, 1993



PURPOSE



The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) encourages the

submission of individual animal resource improvement grant applications

from biomedical research institutions.  Any domestic public or private

institution, organization, or association is eligible to apply for this

grant if the institution has one or more research projects supported by

the Public Health Service (PHS) that involve the use of laboratory

animals.  The major objectives of this program are to upgrade animal

facilities, develop administratively centralized programs of animal

care, and enable institutions to comply with the USDA Animal Welfare

Act and DHHS policies related to the care and use of laboratory

animals.  These awards require matching funds from the awardee

institution.  Support is limited to alterations and renovations (A&R)

to improve laboratory animal facilities, and the purchase of major

equipment items for animal resource, diagnostic laboratory, transgenic

animal resources, or similar associated activities.



ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS



Any domestic public or private institution, organization, or

association is eligible to apply for this grant if it meets the above

requirement.  Institutions and commercial firms providing only services

or products and without a clearly defined animal related research

component are not eligible to apply.  Also, this program will not

support requests for equipment used for teaching purposes and for

housing non-research animals.  Applications from other Federal agencies

or institutions (e.g., Department of Veterans Affairs) are limited to

requests for equipment only.  Applicants may not submit more than one

application or apply for other NCRR support for developing and

improving institutional animal resources in the same Federal fiscal

year.



For purposes of these guidelines, an "institution" is defined as the

organizational component identified in item 14, form PHS 398 (rev.

9/91) page 1, for which descriptive information is provided on page 15

in the grant application form PHS 398 kit.  Separate applications may

be submitted from different colleges or schools on the same campus of

a university within the same Federal fiscal year if they have different

organizational component codes.  If this is done, documentation from an

appropriate institutional official, stating that the applications are

part of a coordinated, campus-wide plan to improve the animal

facilities, must be provided.  The applicant institution is strongly

encouraged to develop a single application for a campus-wide program

with a single, centralized animal care program whenever possible or

feasible.



A separate grant program for animal facility improvement is available

for research institutions receiving less than $1,500,000 (direct costs)

of PHS support for research projects during the most recently completed

Federal fiscal year.  These institutions may, if they desire, compete

for funding under either program, but not both in a single fiscal year.



MECHANISM OF SUPPORT



The mechanism available for the support of improvement projects is the

Grant for Repair, Renovation, and Modernization of Existing Research

Facilities (G20).  Requests are limited to A&R to improve existing

laboratory animal facilities, allowable fees associated with the A&R

project, and major resource equipment related to the improvement

project, such as animal cage systems and cage washers.  Requests for

new construction, including the completion of shell space, and

equipment intended for teaching or non-research purposes are not

allowable.  Requests for basic general purpose equipment items for

centralized surgeries, diagnostic laboratories, transgenic animal

facilities, and other similar associated activities are allowable when

well justified and integral to the proposed project.  However, a single

item of equipment or an aggregate of identical equipment items must

have a total cost of at least $1,000.  The total budget request for the

improvement grant application and award is limited to $700,000 (direct

costs), of which not more than $500,000 may be used for alterations and

renovations.  Matching funds from non-Federal sources are required,

equal to or exceeding one-third of the total allowable costs (equipment

and A&R) of the requested project ($2 Federal to $1 non-Federal).

These matching funds must be applied to the specific project described

in the application and cannot be met by citing other expenditures.



Improvement grants are not intended to provide general operational

support for the resource (e.g., funding for personnel, consumable

supplies for routine animal care, or small equipment items) or to

provide specialized research equipment or facilities for use by only a

few investigators.  Because the nature and scope of the proposed

projects submitted in response to this announcement will vary, it is

anticipated that the size of the awards will vary also.



RESEARCH OBJECTIVES



Animal resource improvement grants are awarded to assist biomedical

research institutions in upgrading animal facilities and developing

administratively centralized and uniformly effective programs of

research animal care.  Another major objective is to assist

institutions in complying, and maintaining compliance, with provisions

of the Animal Welfare Act and PHS policies related to the care and use

of laboratory animals.



APPLICATION PROCEDURES



Applications are to be submitted on form PHS 398 (rev. 9/91).  The

single annual receipt date for these applications is October 1.

Application forms may be obtained from the institutions office of

sponsored research and from the Office of Grants Information, Division

of Research Grants, National Institutes of Health, Westwood Building,

Room 449, Bethesda, MD 20892, telephone (301) 710-0267.  Applications

received by this deadline will receive February/March initial peer

review, May/June review by the National Advisory Research Resources

Council, and will have an earliest possible award date of July 1.

Applications received after the October 1 deadline will be returned to

the applicant without review.



Current guidelines for this program may be requested from the

Laboratory Animal Sciences Program, CMP.  These guidelines must be

followed in detail.  Applications not adhering to these guidelines will

be considered non-responsive to this program and will be returned to

the applicant without review.



The completed original application (signed original including

appendices, if any) and three copies must be sent or delivered to:



Division of Research Grants

National Institutes of Health

Westwood Building, Room 240

Bethesda, MD  20892-4500**



Simultaneously, two additional copies (with appendices, if any) must be

sent under separate cover to:



Scientific Review Administrator

Comparative Medicine Review Committee

National Center for Research Resources

Westwood Building, Room 10A16

Bethesda, MD  20892-4500



REVIEW CONSIDERATIONS



All applications will be reviewed for scientific and technical merit by

an appropriate review committee managed by the Office of Review, NCRR.

Second level review will be provided by the National Advisory Research

Resources Council (NARRC).  Review of the applications will be based on

scientific merit, technical soundness, and cost effectiveness.  Review

criteria are listed in the supplemental program guidelines.



AWARD CRITERIA



Applications will compete with all other applications assigned to the

Comparative Medicine Program, NCRR.   An institution must have current

PHS funding for research involving laboratory animals to be eligible

for an award.  The following will also be considered when making

funding decisions:



o  Quality of the proposed project as determined by peer review

o  Institutional assurance of non-federal matching funds

o  Availability of funds



INQUIRIES



Inquiries about specific improvement program guidelines and detailed

instructions for application are encouraged and may be directed to:



Dr. Cynthia L. Pond

Comparative Medicine Program

National Center for Research Resources

Westwood Building, Room 857

Bethesda, MD  20892

Telephone:  (301) 594-7933

FAX:  (301) 594-9149



Requests for guidelines must include two self-addressed mailing labels.



Questions regarding fiscal matters may be directed to:



Mr. Paul Karadbil

Office of Grants and Contracts Management

National Center for Research Resources

Westwood Building, Room 849

Bethesda, MD  20892

Telephone:  (301) 594-7955



AUTHORITY AND REGULATIONS



This program is described in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

No. 93.306, Laboratory Animal Sciences and Primate Research.  Awards

will be made under the authority of the Public Health Service Act,

Title III, Section 301 (Public Law 78.410, as amended; 42 USC 241) and

administered under PHS grants policies and Federal Regulations 42 CFR

Part 52 and 45 CFR Part 74.  This program is not subject to the

intergovernmental review requirements of Executive Order 12372 or

Health Systems Agency review.



.

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