ACCEPTANCE FOR REVIEW OF UNSOLICITED APPLICATIONS THAT REQUEST MORETHAN $500,000 DIRECT COSTS FOR ANY ONE YEAR --- POLICY UPDATE

 

NIH GUIDE, Volume 25, Number 14, May 3, 1996

 

P.T. 34



Keywords:

  Grants Administration/Policy+ 

 

National Institutes of Health

 

Effective Date:  June 1, 1996

 

The NIH is updating the policy about the acceptance of applications

requesting direct costs of $500,000 or more for any one year.

 

BACKGROUND

 

Unanticipated requests for unusually high amounts of direct costs,

despite the merit of the application and the justification of the

budget, are difficult to manage by NIH staff.  It is in the best

interest of all parties for anyone planning an application that

requests unusually high direct costs to contact the appropriate NIH

program staff as early as possible to ensure that an IC would be

willing and able to accept the application.  The NIH will continue to

support research projects with large budgets, but needs to consider

the possibility of such awards as early as possible in the budget and

program planning process.

 

This notice clarifies and revises the policy published in the NIH

Guide, Vol. 22, No. 45, December 17, 1993.

 

NEW POLICY.  An applicant planning to submit a new (Type 1)

investigator - initiated grant application requesting $500,000 or

more in direct costs for any year (see Applicability below) is

advised that he or she must contact Institute or Center program staff

before submitting the application, i.e, as plans for the study are

being developed.  Furthermore, the applicant must obtain agreement

from Institute/Center staff that the Institute or Center will accept

the application for consideration for award.  Finally, the applicant

must identify, in the cover letter that is sent with the application,

the staff member and Institute or Center who agreed to accept

assignment of the application.

 

Any application subject to this policy that does not contain the

required information in the cover letter sent with the application

will be returned to the applicant without review.  Applicants who are

uncertain regarding which Institute or Center to contact should call

the Referral Office, Division of Research Grants (see INQUIRIES).

 

APPLICABILITY.  This policy applies to any unsolicited new (Type

1)research or research training grant application for any mechanism

(e.g., R01, P01, R18, T32) that requests $500,000 or more in direct

costs for any one year.  This policy applies also to any group of

unsolicited applications (e.g., clinical trial networks,

epidemiologic studies) that requests $500,000 or more direct costs

for any one year, even if none of the individual applications request

that much.

 

This policy does not apply to applications submitted in response to

RFAs.  However, an application submitted in response to an RFA must

be responsive to any budgetary limits specified in the RFA or will be

returned to the applicant without review.

 

This policy does not apply to competing renewal (Type 2)

applications.  However, a Type 2 application must still comply to the

budgetary limitations set by the awarding Institute or Center.

 

This policy does not apply to amended (revised, e.g., -01A1, -01A2)

applications.

 

PROCEDURES.  An applicant planning to submit a grant application to

which this policy applies is required to contact, in writing or by

telephone, Institute or Center program staff when the application

development process begins.  If the Institute or Center is willing to

accept assignment of the application for consideration of funding,

the staff will notify the Division of Research Grants before the

application is submitted.

 

The applicant Principal Investigator must identify, in the cover

letter sent with the application, the program staff member and

Institute or Center who have agreed to accept assignment of the

application.

 

An application received without indication of prior staff concurrence

and identification of that contact will be returned to the applicant

without review.

 

EFFECTIVE DATE.  This policy becomes effective on June 1, 1996.

Applicants are encouraged, however, to contact Institute or Center

staff at any time about the preparation of applications to which this

policy will apply.

 

INQUIRIES

 

For additional information about the policy, the program staff at any

IC may be contacted.  Applicants who are uncertain about which IC may

have the greatest interest in the research for which support may be

sought, should contact:

 

Referral Office

Division of Research Grants

National Institutes of Health

Telephone:  (301) 435-0715

FAX:  (301) 480-1987

 

.

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