INTRODUCTION

The National Institutes of Health Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS) is intended to make available to NIH grantees, in a single document, the policy requirements that serve as the terms and conditions of NIH grant awards. This document also is designed to be useful to those interested in NIH grants by providing information about NIH—its organization, its staff, and its grants process. The NIHGPS is available on-line from the NIH Home Page at http://www.nih.gov (access the link to "Grants and Funding Opportunities," click on the "Grants Page," and then click on "Grants Policy").

To accomplish these objectives, the document is set up in three parts: the first part includes general information about NIH and its grant application and review processes; the second part provides the standard terms and conditions of NIH grant awards as well as terms and conditions that apply to particular types of grants/grantees/activities that differ from or supplement the standard terms and conditions; and the third part includes a listing of pertinent offices and officials with their addresses and telephone numbers. This format allows general information, application information, and other types of reference material to be separated from legally binding terms and conditions.

Part I provides a glossary of commonly used terms; describes NIH and its relationship to other organizations within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); specifies grantee, NIH, and other HHS staff responsibilities; outlines the application and review processes; and explains the various resources available to those interested in the NIH grants process.

Part II serves as the terms and conditions that are incorporated by reference in all NIH grant awards. This Part includes generally applicable requirements, which may be in the form of full text or reference to or highlighting of statutory, regulatory, or Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirements. It also specifies, in separate sections, requirements that pertain to construction grants; training grants and fellowships; conference grants; consortium agreements; grants to foreign and international organizations (and domestic grants with substantial foreign components); grants to Federal institutions and payments to (or on behalf of) Federal employees; grants to for-profit organizations; modular grants; and research patient care activities.

Part III contains general contact information to aid the reader.

Certain conventions are followed throughout this document. The term "grant" is used to mean both "grants and cooperative agreements." The term "grantee" is used to refer to recipients of grants and awardees of cooperative agreements, unless the context requires use of a generic or alternate term, such as "recipient" or "awardee," for clarity. "NIH" may be used in this document to refer to the entire organization or to its component organizations, or else to contrast an action by NIH, including actions by its Institutes or Centers, with an action by a grantee or other organization. A reference to "Part II" or "Part III" without further elaboration means the corresponding part of this policy statement

The NIHGPS was originally published with an effective date of October 1, 1998 for all NIH grants and cooperative agreements (hereafter, "grants") for budget periods beginning on or after that date. This version of the NIHGPS is an update of the 1998 publication.

This revision of the NIHGPS is effective for all NIH grants and cooperative agreements for budget periods beginning on or after March 1, 2001, and supersedes the October 1998 NIHGPS in its entirety. It remains largely unchanged; however, it incorporates several new and modified requirements, clarifies certain policies, and emphasizes policies that require increased attention by grantees on the basis of recent developments. Among the changes are those that have been published since October 1998 as notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts (NIH Guide). An explanation of the major changes from the NIHGPS that has been in effect since October 1, 1998 is included in the NIH Guide notice announcing the re-issuance of the NIHGPS. The NIH Guide is published on the NIH Home Page at http://www.nih.gov (access the link to "Grants and Funding Opportunities," then click on the "NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts").

The Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA) is responsible for developing and maintaining this document. Interim changes will be published in the NIH Guide. Each change will be described, including its applicability and effective date; the affected section(s) of the NIHGPS specified; and the necessary language to implement it as a term or condition of award provided. Concurrently, conforming changes will be made in the electronic version of the NIHGPS (see access information above) with a date indicator showing the change's effective date. Grantees will be responsible for reviewing the NIH Guide for changes and for implementing them, as appropriate.