Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS)
and Human Services (HHS)
July 22, 2020
None
AGENCY FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH AND QUALITY (AHRQ)
Effective on August 1, 2020, AHRQ grant recipients may, and effective October 1, 2020, AHRQ grant recipients MUST, use the No-Cost Extension feature in the eRA Commons to notify AHRQ when they exercise their one-time authority to extend, without additional funds, the final budget period end date of a grant award that is included under expanded authorities.
The terms and conditions of award included in a grant's Notice of Award (NOA) indicate whether or not a particular grant is included under expanded authorities. In general, the following AHRQ grant activity codes are included under expanded authorities: F31, F32, K01, K02, K08, K18, K99, P20, R00, R01, R03, R13, R18, R21, R24, R25, R33, R36. Grantees are advised to refer to their terms of award, which take precedence over this Notice, to determine if a particular grant is included under expanded authorities.
Using the No-Cost Extension (NCE) feature in the eRA Commons, the grant recipient must take action to extend a grant that is under expanded authorities before the final budget period expires.Accessible from the eRA Commons "Status" screen, the link for the No-Cost Extension feature appears 90 days before the final budget period end date and closes at 11:59 p.m. on the final budget period end date. To give grantees maximum flexibility for this notification, this feature allows grantees to process a one-time NCE for a duration of as little as one month or in monthly increments for up to a maximum of 12 months.
The grant recipient will receive an email notification from eRA after the grant has been successfully extended.
Once the eRA Commons link is closed, a NCE becomes a prior approval request and must be submitted for consideration to the AHRQ Grants Management Specialist (GMS) named on the most recent NOA.
In extending the final budget period end date of the grant through this process, the grantee agrees to update all required certifications, including human subjects and animal welfare, in accordance with applicable regulations and policies. An interim progress report and an interim FFR, reflecting programmatic progress and financial expenditures, respectively, through the original final budget period end date, will be required to be submitted to the AHRQ GMS named on the most recent NOA no later than 90 days from the original final budget period end date.
A grant recipient may not extend a final budget period end date that was previously extended either by AHRQ or itself. Any additional extension beyond the one-time extension of up to 12 months allowed under expanded authorities requires AHRQ prior approval, even if the original extension was less than 12 months.
AHRQ grants and cooperative agreements that are NOT included under expanded authorities (e.g. K12, P01, P30, P50, T32, U01, U13, U18, U19, and UC1, or any award for which the terms and conditions indicate that the award is not under expanded authorities or that the award may not use the no-cost extension option under expanded authorities), will continue to require AHRQ prior approval for any extension beyond the original final budget period end date. If approved, AHRQ will issue a revised Notice of Award reflecting the extension.
Please refer to the No-Cost Extensions page on the AHRQ website (https://www.ahrq.gov/funding/grant-mgmt/nces.html) for the most up-to-date information regarding no-cost extensions, including details regarding what must be provided in a prior approval request.