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Grants Process Overview

 

Grants Process At-A-Glance

The following NIH "Grants Process At-A-Glance" chart is provided as a sample of the general time element necessary for a competing application to proceed from Receipt and Referral through the Peer Review process to negotiation and award.

Planning, Writing, Submitting
Planning, Writing, Submission   green line
   

Planning: Applicant should start early, collect preliminary data, and establish internal deadlines.

 

Writing: Applicant often begins writing application several months prior to application due date.


 

Submitting: Applicant organization submits application to NIH/Division of Receipt and Referral (DRR), Center for Scientific Review (CSR) (using Grants.gov and eRA Commons for electronic submissions).

 
arrow arrow arrow
     
               
     
Receipt and Referral    
Receipt/Referral Month 1-3   green line
   

Application arrives at CSR.
(Applications compliant with NIH policies are assigned for review and funding consideration.)

 

CSR assigns application to an NIH Institute/Center (IC) and a Scientific Review Group (SRG).

 

Scientific Review Officer (SRO) assigns applications to reviewers and readers.

 
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Peer Review    
Peer Review Months 4-8   green line
 

Initial Level of Review:
SRG members review and evaluate applications for scientific merit.

 

Priority Scores:
Available to PD/PIs on eRA Commons.

 

Summary Statement: Available to PD/PIs on eRA Commons.

 

Second Level of Review: Advisory council/board reviews applications.

 
  arrow arrow arrow arrow
         
               
     
Award    
Award Months 9-10   green line
   

Pre-Award Process: IC grants management staff conducts final administrative review and negotiates award.*

 

Notification of Award: IC issues and sends Notice of Award (NoA) to applicant institution/organization.

 

Congratulations!
Project period officially begins!

 

 
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*Requests additional information needed just-in-time for award.

     
Post-Award Management    
Post-Award Management   green line
 

Administrative and fiscal monitoring, reporting, and compliance.

 
 

NOTE: Timeline is based on the standard grants process. It does not reflect a shorter timeframe for grants undergoing expedited review (e.g., AIDS) and NIH Pilot Study to Shorten the Review Cycle for New Investigator.

 

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