National Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Advisory Council: Advisory Council Operating Procedures
January 2008
Expiration: February 2009
A. Purpose
This documents operating procedures established annually by the National Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Advisory Council (NDDKAC) for use of council-delegated authorities. These authorities establish program management and council review procedures for the Institute’s extramural programs and establish authorities for management actions undertaken by staff.
In general, the Council makes three types of recommendations relating to second level review of scientific review group (SRG) actions: (1) the Council can concur with the SRG critique; (2) it can suggest a different budget and/or a different length of the grant period; and (3) it can advise deferral of an application for re-review. Specific procedures are given below for each of these types of actions. These procedures are meant to ensure a level of uniformity and comparability across the Council’s three subcommittees, which are aligned with the Institute’s programmatic divisions. Those subcommittees of Council are free to develop and utilize their own procedures with the understanding that they be consistent with the operating procedures.
B. Background
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and other National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarding Institutes are required by policy to establish procedures for interactions between Advisory Councils and the staff responsible for the day-to-day management of extramural portfolios. These procedures, referred to as Council-delegated authorities, govern staff and NDDKAC responsibilities with regard to grant portfolio management.
C. Definitions
1) Council Delegated Authorities: Those actions negotiated between the NDDKAC and the Director, NIDDK that govern management of the Institute’s extramural program portfolio.
2) En Bloc Action: An action taken by Council on a group of applications under review rather than on specific individual applications being presented to NDDKAC for review.
3) Staff Actions: Actions that, based on policy and procedures, do not require a specific action on
4) the part of the NDDKAC but are simply reported for their information. These actions include, but may not necessarily be limited to: (a) change of grantee institution, (b) change of principal investigator, (c) administrative supplements, (d) staff restoration of funds for time and amount, (e) no-cost extensions, and (f) phase-out or interim support.
5) Communication Letter: A communication between an applicant and Institute staff that is included for NDDKAC information purposes. Communication letters may or may not be acted upon by Council and need not be brought up for special discussion.
D. Policy and Implementation Procedures
The NDDKAC by approval has delegated authority to the Director, NIDDK for staff to negotiate adjustments in dollars and/or the terms and conditions of grant and cooperative agreement awards recommended by the Council. In general, these operational guidelines for administrative actions are developed to provide a day-to-day framework for the smooth and effective operations necessary after review of grant applications by the Council. They are principally intended to enhance the administration of the federal assistance portfolio by the NIDDK.
NIDDK program and grants management staff analyze and review applications, i.e., noncompeting continuation applications and competing applications (new, renewal, or supplemental) before issuing a grant award. NIDDK staff negotiates appropriate adjustments, when applicable, for such changes as the base used for recovery of facilities and administrative costs and/or legislatively imposed salary or other limits. Also, staff can make adjustments to reconcile inconsistencies between SRG recommended budgets and approved activities.
Administrative requests for increases in direct costs, which are the result of marked expansion or significant change in scientific content after formal peer review, will be referred to the Council for advice and recommendation. The NIDDK Director will determine whether the urgency is sufficient to warrant interim consultation with the Council by mail, e-mail, facsimile or telephone, instead of delaying action until the next Council meeting, or by mutual agreement, the Chairpersons of the Advisory Council may act on behalf of the Council as a whole.
Actions not requiring NDDKAC review or advice are: (1) change of institution, (2) change of principal investigator, (3) phase-out or interim support, or (4) additional support either to meet the increased cost of maintaining the level of research previously recommended, or to accommodate activities or to meet needs judged by staff to be within the scope of the previously peer reviewed project. The Council will be provided with notice of general solicitations for administrative supplements if they apply to an entire class of applications.
In addition, NIDDK staff may restore requested time and support which were deleted by the initial review group when the principal investigator has provided justification in a communication letter, and the restoration is in the best interest of the Institute and the project is of high programmatic relevance. Staff will record the action taken and its justification in a memo to the file. In addition, this will be summarized for Council information at the next regular scheduled meeting.
All grant and cooperative agreement applications, excluding those from foreign organizations, which have no concerns noted that would represent an administrative bar to award (e.g., for human subjects, animal welfare, biohazards or inclusion of women, children and appropriate minority distribution), will follow a process of expedited concurrence whereby the power to review applications is delegated by the Chairman of the Advisory Council to specifically designated Council members acting on behalf of the Advisory Council as a whole. The concurrence committee shall consist of the Council Executive Secretary and six members of the NDDK Advisory Council. Two members will be selected from each subcommittee of the NDDK Advisory Council.
The NDDKAC also advises the Institute on: The adequacy of the initial review process, including appeals to grant application review; nominations for and extensions of, Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) awards; and, funding of applications with Special Emphasis dollars.
E. Exceptional Situations
As circumstances require, based on programmatic considerations, the Director, NIDDK after consultation with Council, may make exceptions to these guidelines.
Exceptions to these procedures should be extremely rare because there needs to be consistent application of these procedures across extramural divisions. Nonetheless, circumstances may require the deviation from the prescribed procedure in order to achieve the mission of the NIDDK. By NDDKAC delegated procedures, the Director, NIDDK has authority to act upon unusual or extenuating circumstances. These actions are usually discussed by a subset of Council members selected by the Director and Executive Secretary of NDDKAC. Any actions of this exceptional nature must be appropriately documented as necessary for the official record, and should be reported to Council at its next scheduled meeting.
F. References
1) Public Health Service Act as amended, 42 USC 241, 42 USC 284a
2) NIH Manual Chapter 1805, Use of Advisors in Program and Project Review and Management
3) NIH Manual Chapter 1810-1, Procedures for Avoiding Conflict of Interest for NIH Special Government Employee SGE Advisory Committee Members
4) NIH Manual Chapter 3005, Review and Evaluation of Intramural Programs
5) NIH Manual Chapter 54104, NIH Research Grants Involving Foreign Institutions and International Organizations
6) NIH Manual Chapter 54107, Review of Applications and Award of Grants Involving Human Subjects
7) NIH Manual Chapter 54206, Responsibility for Care and Use of Animals
8) NIH Manual Chapter 54513, Management and Procedures of National Advisory Councils and Boards in Their Review of Extramural Activities
9) NIH Manual Chapter 4204-204B, Peer Review Process
10) NIH Manual Chapter 7110, Inclusion of Minorities and Women as Subjects in Research (in preparation)
