Early Grant Awards

Questions and Answers Table of Contents

What are early grant awards?

Early awards enable you to get a grant sooner from NIAID. For example, if your application receives a fundable percentile in September, NIH could approve it for funding in the fall so we can award it before the traditional funding timeframe (after January or February Council).

How can NIAID make grant awards early?

NIAID can make awards earlier because of expedited second-level review.

How early can NIAID fund an award?

For the first two Councils -- January or February and April or May -- we can fund qualifying applications as early as a few weeks after initial peer review through expedited second-level review.

What is expedited Council review?

With the expedited approach, we do not wait for a Council meeting. Instead, some Council members perform second-level review about eight weeks before Council meets. For more information, see the Expedited Council Review and Award SOP.

Can I get an award for a September Council application before the next fiscal year?

Usually, we fund applications slated for September Council in the next fiscal year, which starts on October 1. Funding is often delayed further while we wait for our annual appropriation from Congress.

Occasionally it's important that we award a September Council application before the next fiscal year. We can do it if the application is high-priority and within the projected payline for the next fiscal year.

For a new grant, if my application is approved by Council after a September peer review with a start date of April 1, can I start getting funds before April?

Yes. NIAID's grants management staff may contact you, asking if you want an earlier start date. You will need to provide the requested information and any other items required by NIAID staff. The grant could then start as early as January 1 and be renewed on that date every year.

How does early NIAID funding differ from using institutional monies to start early?

Your institution, completely at its own risk, can allow you to use a three-month pre-award authority to support the grant before the official start date. You use institutional monies beginning in January to cover costs of personnel, supplies, or equipment incurred before the award is made at some point during the next three months.

To do so, you must get approval from your institution. The grant does not start early for NIAID, and the renewal date stays the same.

If I start as soon as possible, what drawbacks may there be?

There are no drawbacks. As always, you could consider applying for your renewal award one cycle early. If you send in the application one cycle before the usual submission date, you have more time to revise it should you not receive a fundable score. Read more in Part 12. Renewal Application in our NIH Grant Cycle.

The advantage is small because you could still be funded early under expedited second-level review, or you can extend your existing grant with a no-cost extension to maintain continuity in your research.

Can I get funding for a renewal before my existing grant ends?

See Can NIH fund a renewal before the existing grant ends? in our Renewal Applications question and answer page.

If my renewal application gets a fundable score, but the existing grant doesn't end until the next fiscal year, what happens to the application?

See What happens to a fundable renewal application for a grant that ends the next fiscal year? in our Renewal Applications question and answer page.

What if my question wasn't answered here, or I'd like to suggest a question?

Email deaweb@niaid.nih.gov with the title of this page or its URL and your question or comment. We answer questions by email and post them here. Thanks for helping us clarify and expand our knowledge base.