Notice Number: NOT-OD-08-082

Update: The following updates relating to this announcement have been issued:

• July 23, 2010 - See Notice NOT-OD-10-115 Enhancing Peer Review: New NIH Policy on Post-Submission Application Materials.
• May 21, 2010 - See Notice NOT-OD-10-091 Enhancing Peer Review Advance Notice: New NIH Policy on Post-Submission Application Materials.
• March 19, 2010 - Amended NIH Policy on Submission of Late Grant Application Materials Prior to Initial Peer Review. See NOT-OD-10-070.
• July 3, 2008 - See Notice (NOT-HS-08-012) AHRQ Policy on Submission of Additional Grant Application Materials.

Key Dates
Release Date: June 25, 2008 (Rescinded February 2, 2017)

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH), (http://www.nih.gov)

An applicant organization may have the need to submit additional application material to NIH following the submission of the original grant application. This Notice clarifies the existing policy regarding submission of the additional grant application material and offers a set of NIH Best Practice Guidelines (MS Word - 57 KB) for accepting such material as guidance to the research community.

NIH would like to remind researchers that the opportunity to submit additional materials should not be a means of circumventing submission deadlines, page limitations, or content requirements and should not substantially enhance, alter or add to the originally submitted application. Applicants have an obligation to check the submitted version of their grant applications to ensure completeness and correctness. For applications submitted electronically through Grants.gov, NIH continues to provide a two business day application viewing window to allow the Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) and Authorized Organization Representative (AOR)/Signing Official (SO) to check the assembled application image in the eRA Commons.

Additions before the Peer Review Meeting
It is recognized that prior to the initial peer review meeting the applicant organization may have a need to submit additional materials such as revised budget pages, biographical sketches, updated or supplemental pages, letters of support or collaboration and publications (accepted but not yet published, see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-07-018.html).

During the initial peer review phase, acceptance of additional materials is at the discretion of the NIH Scientific Review Officer (SRO). Applicants are instructed to contact the NIH SRO if they wish to submit additional materials before peer review that are in addition to the original submitted application. Additional materials should be sent as a PDF attachment to an e-mail. E-mail communication is preferred. If e-mail is not feasible, please send in a hard copy.

The original application is kept intact; any additional material is sent separately to reviewers. Updated or supplemental grant application materials used in the peer review process will be retained as part of the official grant file and remain part of the permanent record for that application.

The additional materials must be submitted to the NIH SRO with the consent of the applicant organization’s designated AOR/SO. NIH requires that the applicant organization include the AOR in the correspondence; the AOR is not necessarily required to submit the application materials. It is acceptable for the PD/PI or Contact PI for multiple PD/PI applications to send such materials with the concurrence of the AOR (designated institutional signing official). Materials sent without evidence of such concurrence will not be accepted.

The deadline for receipt of additional materials is one month (30 calendar days) prior to the peer review meeting. Published funding opportunity announcements such as RFAs and PARs may provide stricter or more lenient guidance.

Additions after the Peer Review Meeting
After the initial peer review phase is completed, the NIH Chief Grants Management Officer of the NIH Institute/Center (IC) is the NIH official responsible for accepting additional materials. Most of the material submitted after peer review can be submitted as part of the Just-in-Time process.

Inquiries

For general inquiries concerning this policy contact:

Division of Grants Policy
Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration
National Institutes of Health
6705 Rockledge Drive, Suite 350
Bethesda, MD 20892
Telephone: (301) 435-0938
FAX: (301) 435-3059
E-mail: [email protected]

• For application-specific inquiries, contact the assigned SRO if the application is still in the initial peer review phase.
• The assigned IC Program Official is the appropriate scientific/programmatic contact after peer review.
• The assigned Grants Management Specialist is the appropriate administrative contact after peer review.

Name and contact information for these individuals is found on the Status screen in the eRA Commons.