Notice of Special Interest: Administrative Supplements to Promote Research Continuity and Retention of NIH Mentored Career Development (K) Award Recipients and Scholars NOT-OD-20-054

Key Dates

Related Announcements

NOT-HD-21-049
PA-18-591
RFA-AG-21-020
RFA-AG-21-021

Issued by

Office of The Director, National Institutes of Health (OD)

National Eye Institute (NEI)
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Fogarty International Center (FIC)
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives, Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP)
National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Purpose

The overarching goal of this program is to support the transition and retention of investigators from mentored career development to research independence and to minimize departures from biomedical research workforce at this critical juncture. This supplement program is intended to ensure continuity of research among recipients of mentored career development (K) awards by providing supplemental research support to help sustain the investigator’s research during critical life events.

The supplement may be used to support additional personnel, computational services, supplies, and equipment that will promote the continuity of the career development research project during a period in which the PD/PI experiences critical life events which have the potential to impact research progress or potential productivity. Administrative supplements must support work within the scope of the original project.

For the purposes of this program, childbirth, adoption, and primary caregiving responsibilities of an ailing spouse, child, partner, or a member of the immediate family during the project period are critical life events that would qualify for consideration. Evidence that the circumstance may affect advancement of the mentored career development award or productivity must be provided. In circumstances in which the critical life event is pending and is expected to occur during the project period, the supplement request may be submitted in advance of the event.

K awardees who are late stage postdoctoral scientists, instructors, early stage faculty and recipients of the K awards referenced above are encouraged to apply.

For retention supplements to support first-time NIH R01-Equivalent Awards, see companion FOA

Budget

To be eligible, the parent award must be able to receive funds at the time of the award. The administrative supplement budget is limited to 1 year. The application budget cannot exceed a maximum direct cost of $50,000, applicable F & A (indirect) cost can also be requested.

Flexible use of supplemental funds is highly encouraged to support successful research within the scope of the parent project, including supported effort of additional personnel, computational services, supplies and equipment to sustain the research of the PD/PI of the individual K award during a critical life event.

Eligible Individuals (Program Director/Principal Investigator)

PD/PIs of the following activity codes are eligible for the award: K01, K07, K08, K22, K23, K25, K38, K43, K76, and K99/R00 (on the mentored K99 portion of the K99/R00).

Individual(s) must hold an active grant, and the research proposed in the supplement must be accomplished within the competitive segment of the active award. Individuals are encouraged to work with their organizations to develop applications for support.

Application and Submission Information

Supplement requests must be submitted in accordance with the parent program announcement: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional) PA-18-591or its subsequent reissued equivalent.

Supplement requests should be submitted electronically. The process for Streamlined Submissions using the eRA Commons cannot be used for this initiative.

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and PA-18-591 must be followed, with the following additions:

• Application Due Date(s) Submission dates vary by awarding IC. See Table of IC-Specific Information and Requirements for more details.
• For funding consideration, applicants must include NOT-OD-20-054 (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4b) of the SF424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4bwill not be considered for this initiative.
• PHS 398 Career Development Award Supplemental Form
  • Candidate Information and Goals for Career Development attachment: Personal Statement of the applicant, including long-term research objectives and career goals, a justification for the supplemental support, and a plan to return to full productivity at the end of the supplement period.
  • Institutional Commitment to Candidate’s Research Career Development attachment: Institutional letter of commitment that includes details of resources and mentoring to be made available to the applicant to ensure strong productivity on the parent grant. The letter should also detail the institutional commitment to the applicant’s return to full productivity and research career trajectory at the end of the supplement period.

It is strongly recommended that the applicants contact their respective program officers at the NIH Institute/Center (IC) supporting the parent award to confirm ahead of time that the supplement falls within scope of the parent award. Further, applicants are strongly encouraged to notify the program contact at the IC supporting the parent award (See Table of IC-Specific Information and Requirements)that a request has been submitted in response to this FOA in order to facilitate efficient processing of the request.

Administrative Review Process:

Each IC will conduct administrative reviews of applications submitted to their IC separately, and will support the most meritorious applications submitted for consideration, based upon availability of funds.

Criteria:

1. Is the work proposed within the scope of the parent mentored career development award?
2. What is the progress to date on the parent mentored career development award?
3. Will the administrative supplement increase or preserve the likelihood for the project to succeed and assist the K awardee or appointee in completing their research project, and transitioning to the next career stage?
4. Is there a plan for the PD/PI to return to full productivity at the end of the supplement period?
5. Is there strong institutional commitment (e.g., protected time, policies, programs, and other strategies) to ensure that the PD/PI maintains his/her research project and independent research trajectory?

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Division of Biomedical Research Workforce
Office of Extramural Research
Website: https://researchtraining.nih.gov
Email: NIHTrain@mail.nih.gov