The following tips are provided to help applicants prepare their applications for the Partnerships in Implementing Patient Safety (PIPS) grant.
1. Submitting complete budgets and justifications for the parent applicant and all consortium/contractual costs
Be sure that when you submit your budgets that all categories have been itemized and are covered clearly in your justification. If you have consortium costs in the application, be sure that for each consortium you have included Form Pages 4 and 5 with narrative justification.
If you have contractual costs in your application and the contractual costs entail personnel, supplies, travel and other expenses, submit Form Pages 4 and 5. Alternatively, if you have established a rate for the contractor, provide a breakdown and justification for how you arrived at the rate.
2. Distinction between consortium agreement, contractual costs and consultant costs
A consortium agreement is appropriate when the collaborating party performs substantive programmatic work. The investigator at the consortium institution provides scientific input which could affect the direction of the project. Under this arrangement the parent applicant organization must obtain and include separate budgets (Form Pages 4 and 5) for each consortium involved, in the application.
A contractual arrangement is a process whereby a grantee enters into a written agreement with a third party for the acquisition of property or services or the conduct of prescribed activities or functions under the grant. Please include detailed budget information and justification (Go to 1.)
A consultant is defined as an individual hired to give professional advice or services for a fee. Generally, the consultant does not carry out programmatic activities. The consultant's role is limited to being advisory and consultative or carrying out a service such as writing a report, for a fee. Describe the services to be performed by the consultant(s) on Form Page 5 under "Justification." Please include the number of days of anticipated consultation, the expected rate of compensation, travel, per diem, and other related costs for each.
3. Institutional Base Salary column does not contain current total salary
AHRQ is currently subject to a legislatively imposed limit on the rate of salary to be paid to an individual under a grant (currently at Executive Level I). Applicants should fill in the institutional base salary columns with the actual annual compensation that the applicant organization pays for an employee's appointment. At the time of award AHRQ grants management staff will adjust the requested budget to ensure that the maximum allowable salary is included in the award.
4. Human Subjects (HS)/IRB Pending
No Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) award for nonexempt research involving human subjects will be made to an applicant organization unless that organization is operating in accordance with approved assurance of compliance and provides certification that an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) has reviewed and approved the proposed activity in accordance with the HHS regulations. If you know that you are going to have HS involvement in your proposal, please plan accordingly to have your IRB review your protocol as soon as possible.
5. DUNS number
Applications must have DUN and Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number as the Universal Identifier when applying for Federal grants or cooperative agreements. The DUNS number can be obtained by calling (866) 705-5711, or via the DUN and Bradstreet Web site: www.dunandbradstreet.com.
6. Center for Scientific Review (CSR)
Be sure that you submit your signed, typewritten original of the application, including the checklist, and three signed photocopies to CSR and not to AHRQ. AHRQ should just receive 2 copies of the application.
7. Travel Costs
Please justify on Form Page 5 all travel costs. Include a breakdown of destination and purpose of each trip, number of individuals for whom funds are requested, per diem rates if applicable, and costs for each trip.
8. Meal costs in grants
Costs for meals are only allowable for subjects and patients under study provided that such charges are not duplicated in the participant's per diem or subsistence allowances, if any. Guest meals are not allowable and will be removed from the grant if included.
9. Assurance of compliance (civil rights, handicapped individuals, sex discrimination, age discrimination)
Before a grant award can be made, a domestic applicant organization must certify that it has filed with the HHS Office for Civil Rights: an Assurance of Compliance (Form HHS 690) with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (P.L. 88352, as amended), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-112, as amended), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of handicaps; Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (P.L. 92-318, as amended), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex; and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-135), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of age. The Assurance of Compliance Form HHS 690 is available from GrantsInfo: GrantsInfo@nih.gov. (301) 435-0714.
This requirement is applicable to all first time grantees or grantees who have never submitted the Form HHS 690.
10. Modular Grants
AHRQ does not accept Modular Grant applications. Applications submitted in the modular format will be returned without review.
Current as of October 2004
Internet Citation:
Partnerships in Implementing Patient Safety: Hot Tips from Grants Management. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/pips/pipstips.htm
Return to PIPS Technical Assistance Conference Call Summary
Medical Errors & Patient Safety
AHRQ Home Page
Department of Health and Human Services