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Standard Operating Procedure Table of Contents
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Purpose
To provide one year of funding for investigators whose high-priority applications score
beyond the payline, with the expectation that they will resubmit their applications.
Procedure
NIAID staff members nominate programmatically important new or renewal R01 applications that missed the payline for a High-Priority, Short-Term
Project Award (R56), called an R56-Bridge
award. Investigators
cannot apply for these awards.
In choosing applications, we consider the relevance
of the project to our mission in addition to its scientific merit. We also
give some
special consideration to new investigators.
The following awards are ineligible for an R56-Bridge:
R56-Bridge awards always receive one year
of funding. However, if we fund a resubmitted R01, the R56-Bridge award ends, and we deduct its remaining funds from the R01.
Most often, we fund R56-Bridge
awards at study
section-recommended
dollars and follow our financial
management plan at
the time of award. See Budget and Funding for details.
As
with any grant, we may reduce an R56-Bridge award from a study
section-recommended
level if recommended by the program officer.
Every year, divisions report their R56-Bridge awards to Council.
NIH has a separate program, called NIH Director’s Bridge Awards, that it announces in the NIH Guide.
Applicants and PIs
- Do the following if we recommend you for an R56-Bridge award that is reduced by at least two modules or 25
percent from the study section-recommended level:
- Inform your program officer how
this level would change the scope of
your application and how you will use the funds.
- Send revised Specific Aims, a timeline,
and a budget to your program officer for review
and approval. We must approve those documents before we can make an award.
- After you receive an R56-Bridge award, resubmit an R01
using data resulting from the R56 funding.
- The R56 counts as other support if the R01 is fundable.
- You may carry over funds from the R56 to the R01.
Program Officers
- Recommend applicants and grantees for R56-Bridge funding using the GrayZone module under the CAAP tab in the NIAID Planning and Reporting System (NPARS).
- Your division director ranks nominees in the R56-Bridge Awards module under the CAAP tab in NPARS, limiting the number of awards to funds available.
- For details, see the CAAP and NPARS SOP.
- Bridge justifications:
- PI may obtain new data to support the feasibility of the research.
- PI may delete objectives or revise approaches to research.
- Read the Council Guidance for more information.
- Present R56-Bridge candidates for discussion at the NIAID pre-Council meeting.
- For grants to be funded at less than the study section-recommended level, do the following:
- Email your scientific justification to the grants management specialist for the electronic grant file. If it is acceptable, the specialist uses your email as the basis for the award.
- Email the PI's revised Specific Aims, timeline, and budget and your approval to grants management.
- To fund a normally ineligible application as an R56-Bridge, initiate a deviation. The Grants Management Program director and the DEA director must approve the deviation through the formal process. See the Deviations and Waivers to Grant Policies SOP.
Grants Management Staff
- When an R56-Bridge award is released for funding, create an R56
record in IMPAC. (Note: If the institution changes, make the change in the R01 record and wait for CSR to process the change before creating the R56 record.)
- Email a PDF of the application to the program officer, and ask him or her to review the application and complete the R56 program officer checklist.
- Before funding, inform the PI of the documentation he or she needs to submit to the program officer if budget cuts are greater than two modules
or 25 percent.
- Apply the renewal cap of 20 percent more than the direct cost of the last noncompeting grant
year plus equipment and alterations and renovations.
- Award facilities and administrative costs at the current F&A
rate.
Read GMP's Bridge Awards (R56) SOP and Changing a Bridge Award (R56) to an R01 for more information.
Contacts
Applicants with questions should Contact Staff for Help.
Staff Only Contact
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
Deviations and Waivers to Grant Policies SOP
End-of-Year Funding Timelines and Processes SOP
NIAID Funding Policy and Process SOP
NIH Office of
Extramural Research -- High Priority, Short-Term Project Award (R56) Web
site
Release of Funds for Solicited, Opportunity Pool, and Career Awards SOP |