Grants Negotiation

Purpose

To set the scope, specific aims, funding level, and duration for a competing grant award after it has been approved by Council and selected for funding by NIAID.

Procedure

Principal Investigators

• A grants management specialist will contact you to discuss your award's level of support after NIAID has selected your grant for funding.
• Your support level will depend partly on NIAID's financial management plan for the current fiscal year, which is posted on Paylines and Budget once we have a budget.
• To see the budget that your reviewers recommended, check your summary statement through the eRA Commons.
• If funding is reduced by more than 25 percent and the reduction was not due to a scientific review group recommendation, you must submit revised specific aims, timeline, and budget after consulting with your program officer or grants management specialist.
• If a specific aim has not been approved and you feel it is vital to your project, contact your program officer regarding submitting an appeal. Any restoration of specific aims must be approved by Council and stated on the Notice of Award.
• Be aware NIAID may reduce your award if we identify overlap in your other support information. For example, if you list Howard Hughes Medical Institute as other support, we will adjust your funding level since HHMI pays 100 percent of salary and fringe benefits.
• If you don't believe you can accomplish your project with the level of support, address your concerns with your grants management specialist and program officer.

Program Officers

• Note concerns on other support received by a PI or a grantee organization in a program officer checklist. Overlap issues identified in other support may justify reducing a research project's level of support.
• Advise a PI on adjusting a research project if funding is reduced.
• Consult with a PI who wishes to appeal the removal of a specific aim.
• Resolve any bars to award with the PI.

Grants Management Specialists

• Set the level of support in a Notice of Award.
  • Base funding level on the budget recommendation made during the application's initial peer review and Council's second level review. View the scientific review group's budget recommendation in the summary statement.
  • Adjust funding when necessary, based on the current NIAID financial management plan.
  • Reset grant start date when this policy is in effect, as part of the financial management plan, to more evenly distribute grant funding throughout the fiscal year. See the Resetting Grant Start Dates questions and answers for more information.
  • Reduce funding if you or a program officer identify overlap.
• Resolve any bars to award with the PI, Office of Extramural Research, and Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare.
• Review the electronically signed program officer checklist and ensure all questions have been answered completely before issuing an award.

Contacts

Grantees with questions should contact the appropriate program officer or grants management specialist listed on their Notice of Award. For more information, see Contact Staff for Help.

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

Appeals of Scientific Review of Grant Applications SOP

Bars to Grant Awards SOP

Financial Management Plan SOP

Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare Web site

Program Officer Checklist SOP

Negotiation Determines Your Terms of Award in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal

Read Your Notice of Award, Know Your Terms in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal