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INTRODUCTION
The National Institutes of Health Grants Policy Statement
(NIHGPS) is intended to make available to NIH grantees, in a single
document, up-to-date policy guidance that will serve as the terms
and conditions of NIH awards. This document is also 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 in hard copy format from the office specified
in "Maintenance"
below and on-line from the NIH Home
Page at
http://www.nih.gov (access the "Grants"
link under "Funding Opportunities," then click on the
"Grants Policy" page).
To accomplish these objectives, the document is set up in four
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 awards; the third part
consists of terms and conditions that apply to particular types
of grants/grantees/activities that differ from or supplement those
in Part II; and the fourth 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
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
Part II serves as the overall set of terms and conditions that
will be incorporated by reference in all NIH grant awards. This
Part includes generally applicable requirements, which may be
either in the form of full text or reference to or highlighting
of statutory, regulatory, or Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
requirements.
Part III
Part III 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; and research
patient care activities.
Part IV
Part IV contains general information such as names, telephone
numbers, and Web site addresses 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.
References to "Part II," "Part III," or "Part
IV" without further elaboration mean the corresponding part
of this policy statement
BACKGROUND AND SUPERSESSION
Applicants for NIH grants and grantees have historically relied
on a variety of sources for information about NIH's grants process
and requirements. While many of these sources were developed
and maintained by NIH, the primary source of information for grantees
was the Public Health Service (PHS) Grants Policy Statement.
That document was issued by the Office of the Assistant Secretary
for Health, an organizational level that has been eliminated as
part of HHS' streamlining efforts. The NIH decision to publish
its own policy statement is based on the need to provide its grantees
with updated information as well as its desire to enhance its
method of communicating about its grants policies and process.
Although much of the content of the NIHGPS may be applicable
to grants awarded by other PHS or HHS components, NIH has developed
this document for its own purposes.
The NIHGPS is effective for all NIH grants and cooperative
agreements (hereafter, "grants") for budget periods
beginning on or after October 1, 1998, and will supersede, in
its entirety, the PHS Grants Policy Statement, dated April
1, 1994, and addendum, dated January 24, 1995. While the NIHGPS
has been reformatted as described above, most of the actual changes
to the content of the prior PHS Grants Policy Statement
are technical amendments to reflect current requirements rather
than substantive changes in policy. An explanation of the major
changes from the PHS Grants Policy Statement is included
in the NIH Guide
for Grants and Contracts (NIH Guide) notice
announcing the issuance of the NIHGPS.
MAINTENANCE
The Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA)
is responsible for developing and maintaining this document, which
will be reissued periodically in hard-copy format. 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.
The OPERA staff welcomes comments and suggestions for future versions
of the NIHGPS (see Part IV for address and telephone and fax numbers).
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