No-Cost Extension

Purpose

To extend a grant's project period without additional funds to give grantees extra time to complete their research aims.

Procedure

Extensions Not Requiring Prior Approval

Grantees can extend a grant's project period one time up to 12 months without additional funds if their award was issued under expanded authorities or the Federal Demonstration Partnership, and the grant meets these criteria:

• The project’s originally approved scope will not change.
• One of the following conditions applies to the project:
  • Additional time is required to complete the project.
  • Continuity of support is required while a renewal application is under review.
  • An extension is needed to permit an orderly phase-out of the project.

Grantees are responsible for appropriately monitoring grant accounts They must be familiar with policy and ensure funds are drawn down from the payment management system and expended in a timely manner.

Grantees

• To request a no-cost extension, use one of the following:
  • If registered with the eRA Commons -- notify NIH electronically of a no-cost extension until the last day of the budget period, if your grant is in its last year and has not had an extension already. NIH's IMPAC database will enter your new budget period and project period end dates and notify your grants management specialist.
  • If you not registered with the eRA Commons -- notify your grants management specialist in writing of the extension 10 days before the project period expires. Include the number of months you'd like to extend your grant.
    • Notifications received after a project period's end date become prior approval requests. If approved, grants staff will issue a revised Notice of Award.
• Update all required certifications and assurances, including approvals for human subjects assurance or animal welfare assurance. Provide updated IRB or IACUC approvals to your grants management specialist.

Grants Management Specialists

• You have 30 days from the time you receive all of the required documents to complete requests for no-cost extensions.
• Review the request to make sure it complies with policy.
• Ensure that a grantee has updated all required certifications and assurances.
• For grantees registered with the Commons, new budget and project period end dates are automatically entered into IMPAC, which emails a notification to you and IC central email. See the Sample No-Cost Extension Notification to IC.
• Upload email notifications into the electronic grant file.

Extensions Requiring Prior Approval: Subsequent Extensions and Late Requests

Grantees

• Read Some Actions Require Our Approval in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
• Request approval of an extension by email or letter if the following apply:
  • Your award was not issued under the expanded authorities or the Federal Demonstration Project (check your Notice of Award for that information).
  • You miss a deadline for extension.
  • You're requesting a subsequent extension.
• Include an estimate of the amount of money remaining, a detailed budget reflecting your proposed plans to use it, and a scientific rationale for continuation.
  • Keep in mind that you must report unexpended funds by September 30 to avoid losing them. Once the funds expire, they go back to the Treasury, and you will no longer be able to access them.
• For no-cost extensions requiring prior approval, submit requests to your grants management specialist at least 30 days before your project period is scheduled to end.
  • If you're requesting a second extension, include the information listed above and a detailed explanation of why your previous extension was not sufficient to conclude your project.
  • We rarely approve a third extension, which requires the approval of the director of our Grants Management Program (GMP).
• Update all required certifications and assurances, including approvals for human subjects assurance or animal welfare assurance.
• The institutional business official signs requests. As PI, you do not have to sign; rather, you must provide your institution with a signature assurance. See Frequently Asked Questions: Replacing PI Signature with Institutional Compliance Requirement for more information.

Program Staff

• Review and document your approval or disapproval of a first no-cost extension request that's submitted late as well as second and subsequent requests.
  • Consider the scientific need for the extension.
• Email your approval or disapproval to the grants management specialist, including the request as an attachment.

Grants Management Specialists

• You have 30 days from the time you receive all of the required documents to complete late or subsequent no-cost extension requests.
• Review late or subsequent requests to make sure they comply with policy.
• Ensure that a grantee has updated all required certifications and assurances for second and subsequent extensions.
• Send a copy of the request to the program officer for review.
• If you and the program officer concur, do the following:
  • For a second extension, issue a revised Notice of Award to extend the project.
• For a third extension, submit a single-case deviation request to the GMP director.
  • Document the reasons you and the program officer think the third no-cost extension should be approved.
  • If approved, revise the Notice of Award and include a term of award stating we will not approve additional no-cost extension requests.
• If you and the program officer do not approve a request, email the institutional business official and the principal investigator with the reason for disapproval. Copy the program officer.

Note: For scientific reasons, there may be a need to extend a grant during the middle, rather than the end, of a project period. We approve mid-project extensions only when they do not cause a break in fiscal year funding.

Contacts

Check your Notice of Award for your grants management specialist's contact information or see GMP Assignments by Geographic Region and Program Code.

If you have knowledge to share or want more information on this topic, email deaweb@niaid.nih.gov with the title of this page or its URL and your question or comment. Thanks for helping us clarify and expand our knowledge base.

Links

December 2, 1994, Guide notice, Change of Procedures for Implementing No-Cost Extensions Approved by Grantees Under Expanded Authorities (Federal Demonstration Project)

Expanded Authorities or Federal Demonstration Partnership SOP

GMP No-Cost Extensions SOP

Grantees Can Take Many Actions Independently in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal

NIH Grants Policy Statement, Administrative Requirements Web site

NIH Grants Policy Statement, Administrative Requirements, Requests for Prior Approval Web page

Prior Approvals for Post-Award Grant Actions SOP