Key Dates

Related Announcements

None

Issued by

Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives, Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP)

Purpose

This Notice describes ORIP’s implementation of the NIH policy on the acceptance for review of applications that request $500,000 or more in direct costs in any one budget year.

Scope

According to the NIH policy, applicants must seek agreement to accept assignment from Institute/Center/Office staff at least 6 weeks prior to the anticipated submission of any application requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs for any one budget year. This policy applies to new, renewal (competing continuation), resubmission (amended), or revision (competing supplement) applications.

Prospective applicants should always refer to Section IV (Application and Submission Information) of the individual Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to which they are responding for detailed information about applications requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs in any one budget year. FOAs that do not have budgetary limits will contain language instructing applicants requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs in any one budget year to contact Institute/Center/Office staff to seek agreement to accept assignment of the application.

The NIH policy does not apply to:

• Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant applications (R43 or R44).
• Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant applications (R41 or R42).
• Applications submitted in response to Requests for Applications (RFAs) or in response to other FOAs that include specific budgetary limits. In these cases, applicants should follow the instructions given in the RFA or FOA.

This Notice describes the process applicants should follow to seek agreement from ORIP to accept assignment for any application requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs for any one budget year.

Process

Prospective applicants must contact and obtain agreement from ORIP to accept assignment of the application at least six weeks in advance of submission.

Typically, prospective applicants will contact the ORIP program staff listed as the scientific contact of the individual FOA to which they are responding.

The request must be submitted in writing (e.g., a letter attached to an e-mail is acceptable) and must include the following information:

• Name(s) and institution(s) of PD/PI or Multiple PDs/PIs, as applicable
• Title of Project
• Anticipated submission date
• Funding Opportunity Announcement Number
• Draft of specific aims and/or a brief description of the proposed project
• Estimated direct and total costs that will be requested for each project year
• Preliminary budget justification for $500K or more in direct costs in any one budget year of the proposed funding period

Notification of ORIP Decision

ORIP aims to notify the applicant in writing about its decision to accept or reject an application for peer review within 10-20 business days of receipt of the request letter. However, failure to supply adequate information will delay the processing of requests.

If your request is approved, the document acknowledging that ORIP will accept this application should be submitted in a cover letter along with the application.

Applicants are forewarned that by accepting a request to submit an application requesting $500K or more in direct costs in any one budget year, ORIP does not guarantee that funds will be available for an award or that it will fund the application at the requested levels, regardless of the outcome of peer review.

NOTE: The approval given for an application is limited to the requested receipt cycle. If the application is submitted or resubmitted during a future receipt cycle, the PI must again contact and obtain agreement from ORIP to accept assignment of the application at least six weeks in advance of submission.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Stephanie Murphy, VMD, PhD
Office of Research Infrastructure Programs
Telephone: 301-451-7818
Email: stephanie.murphy@nih.gov