Key Dates

Related Announcements

• March 13, 2024 - Notice to Rescind NOT-NS-22-115 "Notice of Change to the NINDS' Policy on Special Council Review of Research Applications". See Notice NOT-NS-24-067
• September 12, 2022 - Notice of Change to the NINDS' Policy on Special Council Review of Research Applications (Rescinded). See Notice NOT-NS-22-115. 
• February 17, 2022 - Notice of Change to NIH’s Policy on Special Council Review of Research Applications. See Notice  NOT-OD-22-049.
• April 27, 2018 - NINDS Announces Modifications to Special Council Review Policy (Rescinded). See Notice  NOT-NS-18-060.
• August 20, 2012 - Notice of NIH Special Council Review of Research Applications from PDs/PIs with More than $1.0 Million Direct Costs in Annual NIH Support. See Notice NOT-OD-12-140.

Issued by

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Purpose

This Notice announces an update to the NINDS’ Special Council Review (SCR) policy to exclude the pending application and set the threshold at $1.5 million in total costs per year (inclusive of direct and indirect costs). This change brings NINDS into closer alignment with NIH’s implementations of SCR NOT-OD-22-049. This policy does not represent a cap on NINDS funding.

Background

In September 2022, NINDS issued a Notice of Change to the NINDS' Policy on Special Council Review of Research Applications indicating that 1) a well-funded investigator is defined as an individual with NIH research support exceeding $2M in total costs at the time of the Council meeting, including the pending application and 2) all competing applications from well-funded investigators with primary assignment to NINDS will be subject to a percentile payline that is ½ of the NINDS payline for the Council round in question.

The main change from NINDS’ existing policy NOT-NS-22-115 is that it no longer includes the pending application. Therefore, the threshold for SCR will be decreased from $2 million in total costs to $1.5 million in total costs per year for all active NIH research grant awards.

Policy

Effective for the FY 2024 May/June Council round, Advisory Council members will continue to provide additional consideration of new and renewal applications from well-supported investigators who currently receive $1.5 million or more in total costs, per year in active NIH research funding (e.g. grants and cooperative agreements). All other elements of the policy remain unchanged from NOT-NS-22-115, including the types of support that contribute to the threshold, and applications excluded from this requirement.

Under the NINDS SCR policy, a well-funded investigator is defined as an individual with NIH research support exceeding $1.5 million in total costs, at the time of the Council meeting. For the purposes of this policy, only research support for which the investigator is the PI/PD, subproject lead, or MPI will be considered.

All competing research applications from well-funded investigators with primary assignment to NINDS (with exceptions noted below) will be subject to a percentile payline that is ½ of the NINDS payline for the Council round in question (https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Funding/About-Funding/NINDS-Funding-Strategy); if the general payline is an odd number, the SCR payline will be rounded down to the next integer. Exceptions to this policy will be rare, and will be determined after review by NINDS staff, the NANDS Council, and NINDS leadership.  In addition, competing applications for P01s, Centers, and other Multi-Component RPGs are subject to this policy, as are Multi-PD/PI projects if one or more of the PD/PIs has active NIH research support in excess of $1.5 million total costs. 

In identifying well-funded investigators, active NIH research support will be considered except awards that support training, conferences, core facilities, research resources, and SBIR/STTR activities. An individual PD/PI’s financial allocation on Multi-PD/PI and multi-component projects will be used to determine that individual’s level of support. Grants that are in a no-cost extension and single year competitive revisions and administrative supplements will not be included in this determination. Factors that may contribute to a funding recommendation beyond the SCR payline include support for research that is inherently costly, the PD/PI’s available bandwidth to commit time and effort commensurate with the application’s complexity and scope, and the type, and end dates of the PD/PI’s other NIH support. PDs/PIs will be permitted to temporarily exceed the $1.5 million total cost threshold for a period of no more than 90 days from the earliest start date for the Council round of the pending application to ensure continuity of funding support. PDs/PIs may also discontinue previously funded grants to begin work on the new project.

NINDS recognizes that this policy may change the research plans for some laboratories, but the intent is to advance the mission of the Institute by supporting a larger, more diverse group of investigators. Please visit the NINDS website for answers to many Frequently Asked Questions.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

NINDS SCR Policy
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Email: NINDSSCRPolicy@ninds.nih.gov