1 Introduction

The National Institutes of Health Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS) is intended to make available to NIH recipients, in a single document, the policy requirements that serve as the terms and conditions of NIH grant awards. These terms and conditions apply not only to the prime recipients, but also flow down to any subawards as well as to subrecipients unless specified otherwise in the regulation or the terms and conditions of the specific NIH award (see Consortium Agreements).

This document also is designed to be useful to those interested in NIH grants by providing information about NIH-its organization, its staff, and its grants process. The NIHGPS is available online. This version includes many links within the document as well as links to some web resources outside of this document. Users are strongly encouraged to use the on-line version of this document to benefit from these links.

nihgps organization

The NIHGPS has three parts, which allows general information, application information, and other types of reference material to be separated from legally binding terms and conditions:

conventions

Certain conventions are followed throughout this document. The term "grant" is used to mean both grants and cooperative agreements; however, for clarity, certain sections mention both grants and cooperative agreements. The term "recipient" generally is used to refer to recipients of grants and cooperative agreements. "NIH" may be used in this document to refer to the entire organization or to its component organizations, or else to contrast an action by NIH, including actions by its ICs, with an action by a recipient or other organization. A reference to "Part II (IIA or IIB)" or "Part III" without further elaboration means the corresponding part of the NIH GPS.

supersession

The NIH GPS was originally published with an effective date of October 1, 1998. It was subsequently revised several years thereafter with the turn of each new fiscal year (October). This revision of the NIH GPS is an update of the December, 2021 publication. It applies to all NIH grants and cooperative agreements for budget periods beginning on or after October 1, 2021. This version incorporates new and modified requirements, clarifies certain policies, and implements changes in statutes, regulations, and policies that have been implemented through appropriate legal and/or policy processes since the previous version of the GPS from December, 2021. An explanation of the major changes to the NIHGPS since the previous edition is included in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts notice announcing the reissuance of the NIH GPS.

additional information

The Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA) develops and maintains this document. Changes in statutes, regulations, or policies that take effect before the next revision of the NIHGPS will be published separately in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts. Recipients are responsible for reviewing the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts for changes and for implementing them, as appropriate. Subscribe to the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts Listserv at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/listserv.htm.