Notice Number: NOT-OH-06-002

Key Dates
Release Date: February 1, 2006

Issued by
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/homepage.html)

The purpose of this notice is to provide clarification on seven items in PAR-06-057.

NIOSH has received several inquiries about Announcement No PAR-06-057: Centers for Agricultural Disease and Injury Research, Education, and Prevention. Below are responses to these inquires.  

1. The PAR announcement contains an out-of-date link for information on R21 grants. This incorrect link refers to an old announcement with a budget limit of $75,000. The current announcement is PA-04-030, located at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-04-030.html. Within the PA-04-030 announcement is the following instruction for R21 applications: The applicant may request a project period of up to two years with a combined budget for direct costs of up $275,000 for the two year period. Applications exceeding $275,000 for the two year period will be considered unresponsive and returned without further consideration. For example, the applicant may request $100,000 direct costs in the first year and $175,000 direct costs in the second year. The request should be tailored to the needs of the project. Normally, no more than $200,000 may be requested in any single year. However, in the context of PAR-06-057 which has a limit of $1.2 million in direct costs, applicants may consider requesting less than the maximum amount for R21 projects. Also, applicants should use a detailed rather than a modular budget format because the budget for applications under PAR-06-057 must be detailed.

2. The link provided for R01 grants is also incorrect. The correct link is:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-04-038.html

3. Discussion of Past Performance and Accomplishments for Centers is not formally limited to four pages, but NIOSH recommends this limit as a target, keeping this material concise, synoptic, and focused on the current application. It is recommended that additional supporting material be place in an appendix.

4. Discussion of sources of other financial support for the proposed Center is to be provided for the overall Center application, rather than for individual projects, unless reference to individual projects is needed to clarify the source of support. The usual Other Support information for individual projects is not required at this time, but it will be requested later for applications that are in the competitive range for funding.

5. Discussion of Data Sharing for the overall application should be described in a separate section of the application that should be located immediately after the Human Subjects Summary Table. This Data Sharing section should be listed in the Table of Contents. Individual projects may be referenced, but the detailed data sharing plan for each project should normally be provided in a Data Sharing Section inserted following Section E in each project component of the application.

6. Appendices will be scanned and provided with the application to reviewers on a CD-ROM. However, critical information should be in the body of the application. Late supplementary information (not revisions to the application) may be accepted if the appropriate number of copies and format are provided and if the information is received in time for adequate consideration by the reviewers, as determined by the Scientific Review Administrator for the review panel. If the information is accepted, it will be included separately rather than integrated into the application. Normally, only the assigned reviewers will receive these supplementary materials.

7. In Part II, Section I, 1. Research Objectives, Overall Characteristics, Four Essential Components , the percentages of the overall direct cost budget apportioned to the major application components are intended as a guideline for a balance of activities in the Center (Administrative, Planning and Outreach Core; Research Projects; Prevention/Intervention Projects; and Education/Translation Projects). As guidelines, the percentages do not have to be met exactly for any year of the budget proposal, and they are primarily a guide for the first year's budget. However, these percentages are intended to ensure the inclusion of a substantive program component in each area.