Key Dates

Related Announcements

• July 3, 2024 – Prior Approval Requirement for Changes to Domestic Subawards for the SBIR and STTR Program.  See Notice NOT-OD-24-149.

Issued by

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH)

Purpose

NIH will require that all prior approval requests for SBIR and STTR awards be submitted in eRA Commons Prior Approval Module effective January 27, 2025. This change will continue to support NIH’s efforts to move toward electronic submission of prior approval requests. All prior approval requests must be initiated and submitted by a Signing Official (SO) for the recipient organization. This new prior approval requirement will be incorporated into an upcoming edition of the NIH Grants Policy Statement, section 8.1.3 Requests for Prior Approval.

Below are the prior approval request types that are available at the discretion of the IC in eRA Commons for NIH recipients: 

• Carryover Request
• Change of PD/PI on a Grant
• No Cost Extension
• DMS Request (See NOT-OD-24-176)
• Other Request- Common types of "Other" Prior Approval requests may include the following:
  • Change in Scope or Objectives
  • Change in Key Personnel
  • Adding a new domestic or foreign subaward (See NOT-OD-24-149)

Additional Instructions for “Other” Prior Approval Requests

In the Prior Approval Module, recipients must select "Prior Approval - Other Request" and follow the instructions provided to complete the required entry.

Prior Approval Other Request Instructions

• Description: Enter a brief description of the prior approval request. The entry must be uniquely identifiable and is limited to 160 characters.
• Effective Date: Enter the effective date of the requested change(s).
• Justification Document: Provide the rationale and justification for the requested change(s).
• Budget Document: Provide information regarding any impacts to the budget. Include information for current and future budget periods. Note: This is not a supplement request.
• Other Supporting Documents: Provide supporting documentation relevant to this request, for example, provide the Biosketch and Other Support for any new senior/key personnel. 

REMINDER: Additional requirement for SBIR/STTR awards from competing applications submitted for due dates on or after September 5, 2023:

In addition to submitting the prior approval request, recipients of SBIR/STTR awards resulting from competing applications submitted on or after September 5, 2023 must also submit an updated SBIR/STTR Foreign Disclosure Form for any changes related to disclosures of foreign affiliations or relationships to foreign countries, changes of ownership, entity structure, or other substantial change in circumstance, or changes to subawards and covered individuals. The SBIR/STTR Foreign Disclosure Form must be submitted via the SBIR/STTR Foreign Disclosure Request for Additional Materials (RAM) feature in eRA Commons Learn more: NIH Foreign Disclosure and Risk Management: Post-Award Monitoring and Reporting Requirements.

Note: All uploaded documents must be in PDF format.

Resources

Prior Approval Module

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Please direct NIH systems policy inquiries to:
NIH Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA)
Systems Policy Branch
Email: [email protected]

Please direct all eRA technical inquiries to:
eRA Service Desk
Submit a web ticket: https://grants.nih.gov/support/index.html
Toll-free:1-866-504-9552
Phone:301-402-7469