Notice Number: NOT-GM-18-045
Key Dates
Release Date: August 8, 2018
PAR-16-437
Issued by
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Purpose
The purpose of this Notice is to clarify the eligibility of Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PDs/PIs) in PAR-16-437 "Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) Research Continuance Award (SC3) and collection information required to assess eligibility. The following sections of the FOA are revised accordingly:
Part 2. Section III.1 Eligible Applicants
Current Language
Eligible Individuals (Program Director/Principal Investigator)
Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as the Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) (PD(s)/PI(s)) is invited to work with his/her organization to develop an application for support. Individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as well as individuals with disabilities are always encouraged to apply for NIH support.
Since the SC3 is a research enhancement award for an individual PD/PI, multiple PD(s)/PI(s) are not allowed.
An SC3 PD/PI must have a full-time regular faculty appointment at the applicant institution and be eligible to apply for a NIH R01 research grant. Postdoctoral fellows, research or teaching instructors, research assistant professors, research scientists, other research appointments or appointments contingent on an individual securing his/her salary from grants, and part-time or adjunct faculty and faculty who have joint appointments in which one is at a research intensive institution are not eligible to apply for SCORE individual awards. Emeritus or distinguished/retired investigators/professors as well as individuals with a track record of research support, e.g. R01, R15, or other research grant awards from federal or non-federal sources are considered to be fully developed and may not apply for this award. Current PD/PIs of R01 or of other federal or non-federal investigator initiated research awards or of program projects, center grants, cooperative agreements or other institutional research awards are ineligible to apply for/receive any of the SCORE awards. PD/PIs who transition to non-SCORE support while holding an active SC3 award are expected to complete this award, except when there is overlap with the other funded project. In this case, the SC3 award will be terminated. Once this SC3 award is completed, the PD/PI will no longer be eligible to apply to SCORE.
Investigators who have other developmental/enhancement grant support are ineligible to apply for SCORE individual awards until the completion of these awards, i.e., SCORE awards are not intended to duplicate other individual or institutional developmental awards; these include K awards and research support provided as part of institutional centers, program projects, cooperative agreements such as from COBRE, INBRE, RCMI, BUILD, etc. An applicant may not be the PD/PI of any other SCORE or any other investigator-initiated research grant in excess of $75,000 total costs at the time an SC3 award is made. Concurrent or duplicate application to any of the SCORE mechanisms (SC1, SC2, or SC3) by a single PD/PI is not allowed. A PD/PI may only apply for/receive one SC award at a time.
SC3 awards may not be transferred from one PD/PI to another or from one institution to another.
Revised Language
Eligible Individuals (Program Director/Principal Investigator)
Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as the Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) (PD(s)/PI(s)) is invited to work with his/her organization to develop an application for support. Individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as well as individuals with disabilities are always encouraged to apply for NIH support.
Since the SC3 is a research enhancement award for an individual PD/PI, multiple PD(s)/PI(s) are not allowed.
An SC3 PD/PI must have a full-time regular faculty appointment at the applicant institution and be eligible to apply for a NIH R01 research grant. Postdoctoral fellows, research instructors, research assistant professors, research scientists, other research appointments or appointments contingent on an individual securing his/her salary from grants, and part-time or adjunct faculty are not eligible to apply for SCORE individual awards. Emeritus or distinguished/retired investigators/professors are also not eligible for SCORE awards.
Eligibility is limited to PDs/PIs who have not been or are not the PD/PI of an NIH research grant or other federal or non-federal research award in excess of $50,000 direct costs per year with the following exception:
- Investigators with other research development/enhancement grant support with goals similar to SCORE
- These include K or equivalent awards and/or research support provided as part of institutional centers, program projects, or cooperative agreements such as from COBRE, INBRE, RCMI, BUILD, CRECD, CTSA, IDeA CTR, etc.
- Such investigators are eligible to apply in the last year of these awards.
- An SC3 award cannot be held concurrently with other developmental support.
Research grants that name the SC3 PD/PI as a co-investigator, collaborator, consultant, or to a position other than PD/PI do not disqualify the SC3 PD/PI from applying or receiving SCORE support.
Concurrent or duplicate application to any of the SCORE mechanisms (SC1, SC2, or SC3) by a single PD/PI is not allowed. A PD/PI may only apply for/receive one SC award at a time.
PD/PIs who transition to other non-SCORE research support while holding an active SC3 award are expected to complete this award, except when there is overlap with the other funded project. Once this SC3 award is completed, the PD/PI is no longer eligible to apply for any of the SCORE awards.
SC3 awards may not be transferred from one PD/PI to another or from one institution to another.
Part 2. Section IV.2 Content and Form of Application Submission
SF424(R&R) Senior/Key Person Profile
The following instruction is added to this form.
Current & Pending Support: The application must include the following information about the PDs/PIs previous, current, and pending peer-reviewed support, including federal and non-federal grants, cooperative agreements and contracts that support an individual’s research endeavors:
- Project Number
- Source Title of Project (or Subproject)
- Role on the Project
- Dates of Approved/Proposed Project
- Annual Direct Costs
- Person Months (Cal/Academic/Summer
- Project Goals
- Overlap
All other aspects of this FOA remain unchanged.
Inquiries
Please direct all inquiries to:
Hinda Zlotnik, Ph.D.
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Telephone: 301-594-2651
Email: zlotnikh@nigms.nih.gov
and Human Services (HHS)
