Top Policy Changes
Newest entries appear at the top of the list.
K Awards: New Policy on Part-Time Institutional Appointments, January 23, 2009
Recipients of career development awards may now reduce their appointments to part-time. They must get NIAID approval for their requests, which should include a justification for the reduction. Reasons might include personal or family situations such as childcare and medical conditions. For more information, read the January 21, 2009, Guide notice.
P01 Review Criteria, Multiple PIs, January 22, 2009
NIAID has revised review criteria for program project applications. Read Review Criteria for Cores and Review Criteria for the Overall Application in our Instructions for Preparing a Multiproject Grant Application.
You can have multiple PIs for P01s that are investigator-initiated or funded through any funding opportunity announcements that allow the approach.
Identifying and Extending ESI Status, January 14, 2009
New investigators must update their eRA Commons profile with the dates they received their degree and completed discipline-specific training. NIH uses those fields to identify early-stage investigators.
New investigators can use the Form for Requesting an Extension to ask NIH to extend the ten-year ESI period if they have a special circumstance to justify leaving research during that time.
For details and examples of factors NIH considers when evaluating requests, read the December 31, 2008, Guide notice and the January 21, 2009, Funding News article, "Can You Get More Time as an ESI?"
New Registration Process to Reimburse Reviewers for Participating in NIH Peer Review Meetings, January 5, 2009
NIH is using a new, simplified registration process to reimburse peer reviewers for their service at peer review meetings.
The new system requires reviewers to log in to eRA Commons to update their residential address and link to the Secure Payee Reimbursement System to enter their banking information.
For details, see the January 5, 2009, Guide notice and the January 21, 2009, Funding News article, "Peer Reviewers: New Payment System Is Ready to Roll."
Transition of Career Development Awards to Electronic Forms, December 12, 2008
NIH released electronic submission forms for career development awards. Applicants must use these forms to apply for any receipt date after February 12, 2009. See the December 12, 2008, Guide notice.
Applicants should follow the supplemental instructions for K awards in part 7 of the Application Guide SF424 (R&R) – Adobe Forms Version A.
Clarification of Registration in ClinicalTrials.gov, December 11, 2008
Investigators must register applicable clinical trials in ClinicalTrials.gov. NIH issued a Guide notice clarifying the criteria of when a clinical trial must be registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. See the December 11, 2008, Guide notice for clarification.
For more information, read the November 16, 2007 and December 21, 2007, Guide notices. We also wrote about this in our December 5, 2007, Funding News article, "New Law Affects ClinicalTrials.gov," and our January 16, 2008, Funding News article, "Certify That You've Registered with ClinicalTrials.gov."
Adobe-Based Grant Application Forms, December 9, 2008
Investigators must use Adobe-based grant application packages after December 5, 2008, except when applying for small business or conference awards, grants that require paper applications, and opportunities with non-standard submission dates expiring by January 31, 2009.
Applicants should look for forms labeled "ADOBE-FORMS-A" and check their funding opportunity announcement up to the last minute. See the December 5, 2008, Guide notice and read Onward to Adobe Forms.
Study section members have to use the forms even if they apply under the continuous submission process. See the December 9, 2008, Guide notice.
NIH plans to put more information into the forms and publish a new batch in April for receipt dates in May 2009 and after. Applicants will have to download revised forms at that time. See the November 21, 2008, Guide notice, and read the December 17, 2008, Funding News article, "New Adobe-Based Forms . . . With an Asterisk".
Revised List of Grant Types Affecting New Investigator Status, December 4, 2008
Now all types of career development awards (K) allow PIs to keep their new status. However, phase II of small business awards (SBIR and STTR) or the R33 phase of a R21/R33 causes PIs to lose their new status.
See the latest list of exceptions at Are You "New"?, and read our December 17, 2008, Funding News article, "New Investigators: Line Redrawn Again, New Interim Payline."
NIH Recasts Peer Review, December 2, 2008
NIH issued three Guide notices on December 2, 2008:
- New Scoring Procedures.
- Reviewers will use a 9-point rating scale.
- This starts with applications for FY 2010 funding; the first standard due date affected is January 25, 2009. Some RFA and PAR applications for FY 2010 funding are due earlier.
- Enhanced Review Criteria.
- NIH will continue to use the same core review criteria: significance, investigator, innovation, approach and environment. But some of the descriptions have changed.
- Enhancing Peer Review: Updated Implementation Timeline
- In January 2010, R01 and other applications will require a shorter Research Plan. NIH will restructure the application to align with the review criteria.
Early-Stage Investigator Status, November 24, 2008
NIH created ESI as a subset of its new investigator status. See the definitions at Are You "New"? and read more in the November 21, 2008, Funding News article, "NIH Sets New Targets for New Investigators" for a summary. Also, see the November 21, 2008, Guide notice for details.
NIAID Sets Financial Management Plan, November 24, 2008
NIAID set its new FY 2008 Financial Management Plan for competing awards, noncompeting awards, and set-aside fund pools for selective pay and R56-Bridge awards; go to Financial Management Plan.
Clarification on Resubmission Application Limit, November 7, 2008
NIH allows investigators who have not succeeded in getting funded to resubmit an unsolicited application. Applicants may resubmit applications submitted on January 25, 2009, and later only once with no time limit. Applicants may resubmit applications sent before that date twice and must do so by January 7, 2011.
See the October 8, 2008, Guide notice for the new policy and the November 7, 2008, Guide notice for clarification. Also, see our November 5, 2008, Funding News article, "Just One Resubmission, Please."
Changes to Fellowship Forms, October 14, 2008
NIH released a series of revised fellowship forms. Applicants, grantees, and institutions must use the revised forms posted in the Training Forms section of NIH Forms and Applications for activation, termination, and payback activities.
They may use either the new PHS 416-1 (Rev. 9/08) and PHS 416-9 (Rev. 9/08) or the old PHS 416-1 (Rev. 10/05) and PHS 416-9 (Rev. 10/05) for applications and progress reports submitted by November 30, 2008. After that date, they must use new forms.
Signatures are no longer required on fellowship applications, progress reports, and prior approval requests. Institutions have to keep a signature assurance on file for all fellows and their sponsors.
See the following October 14, 2008, Guide notices for details on the changes:
A&R Costs for Foreign Grant Budgets, October 9, 2008
NIH now allows alterations and renovations (A&R) costs under $500,000 for grants made to foreign organizations or to domestic institutions with foreign components. Read more in the October 8, 2008, Guide notice.
Noncompeting Grants During the Continuing Resolution, October 9, 2008
NIH will issue noncompeting research grant awards at a lower level than that shown on the most recent Notice of Award, typically up to 90 percent of the previously committed level. Read more in the October 2, 2008, Guide notice. We previously posted this information at Financial Management Plan in our Budget and Funding portal.
Compliance With Public Access Policy, September 23, 2008
NIAID program officers are monitoring grantee compliance with public access policy. See the September 23, 2008, Guide notice.
Grantees, contractors, and NIH staff must submit final peer-reviewed manuscripts to a public archive of research publications and cite papers from NIH-funded research in applications, proposals, progress reports, and contracts. Go to our Public Access of Publications SOP.
For more information, read the January 11, 2008, Guide notice and the October 1, 2008, NIAID Funding News article.
NIH Policy on Submission of Additional Grant Application Materials, June 25, 2008
NIH issued NIH Best Practice Guidelines that define what application materials investigators can submit after the deadline as well as instructions for sending them in. See the June 25, 2008, Guide notice and the July 16, 2008, Funding News article, "When Can You Send More Application Materials?"
NIH Will Password Protect Data Sent to Reviewers, May 14, 2008
Starting on May 15, 2008, NIH will use a password to protect the following kinds of data sent to peer reviewers on compact disc: grant application information, previous summary statements, appendices, and additional materials from the grant folder. See the May 14, 2008, Guide notice as well as our May 21, 2008, Funding News article, "Protect Your Sensitive Data."
Mentored K Awards May Receive Concurrent Support From Any Federal Agency, April 10, 2008
Investigators with mentored career development awards may now receive concurrent salary support from a peer-reviewed grant from any federal agency during the last two years of their award.
Previously, the grant had to be from NIH. See the April 10, 2008, Guide notice, and review the May 7, 2008, Funding News article, "Mentored Ks and Concurrent Support: Revised Policy Kicks In."
NIAID's Category C Pathogen List for Antimicrobial Resistance, March 19, 2008
NIAID clarified the Category C entries on antimicrobial resistance. See the changes at NIAID Category A, B, and C Priority Pathogens, and check out the March 19 newsletter article on "Antimicrobial Resistance Clarified in Category C."
Only NIH Awards Affect New PI Status, February 25, 2008
NIH revised the definition of a new principal investigator (PI). Now, only NIH awards affect new investigator status for future grants. See NIAID's explanation at Are You "New"?
Previously, PHS-level awards outside of NIH could also affect new investigator status.
Animal Welfare Assurance Format and Process Updates, February 15, 2008
Institutions must use the new sample animal welfare assurance format starting April 15, 2008. The institutional
official for animal welfare can now submit the signed assurance to olawdoa@mail.nih.gov as a PDF attachment. Institutions should not send documents as attachments. See a list in the February 15, 2008, Guide notice.
FY 2008 NIH Director’s Bridge Awards, January 31, 2008
Under this program, eligible investigators
will receive a year of support while they strengthen their revised
applications. For more information, read the January 31, 2008, Guide notice.
Policy on Sharing Data Obtained from Genome-Wide Association Studies, January 25, 2008
Investigators must submit Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) data to NIH’s GWAS data repository, now called the Database of Genotype and Phenotype (dbGaP). Find additional information and resources, including frequently asked questions and a data sharing plan, at NIH's GWAS Web site.
For more information, read the November 16, 2007, Guide notice.
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