Modular Grants

Purpose

To streamline budgets for R01, R03, R15, R21, and R34 applications requesting $250,000 or less in annual direct costs.

Procedure

In a modular budget, applicants request funding in increments of $25,000, provide few budget details, and budget for the entire funding period. For any of the awards listed above, NIH will return applications that do not use a modular budget. Read Develop a Modular Budget in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal for more information.

Applications responding to request for applications and program announcements also follow modular grant procedures, unless stated otherwise.

If requesting more than $250,000 or applying from a foreign institution, applicants must use a detailed budget. Go to Detailed Budgets in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal for more information.

Applicants

• Use a modular budget when applying for an R01, small grant (R03), academic research enhancement award (R15), exploratory or developmental grant phase I (R21), or a clinical trial planning grant (R34) requesting $250,000 or less in annual direct costs.
• Fill out the PHS 398 Modular Budget form in the Grant Application Package. See the Grant Application Guide for instructions.
• Request total direct costs in $25,000 increments. There will be no future year escalations.
• Provide information in block format for all personnel, including consultants, collaborators, subcontractors, and any future positions.
  • List all personnel (not just key personnel), their roles, and number of person months to be devoted to the project.
  • Briefly describe responsibilities in enough detail to justify a person's level of effort. Regular research projects (e.g., R01s) do not have effort requirements, but career development, training, and small business awards often do.
  • Do not give salary information. Use the NIH salary limit for the PI and graduate students to estimate costs. Go to Salaries and Stipends questions and answers.
  • Include key personnel even if you know they will be gone by the time the application is funded.
• If you have a consortium or contractual agreement, include this in the Consortium Justification Attachment. Read the Special Instructions for Preparing Applications with a Subaward/Consortium section of the Grant Application Guide for details.
• If the number of modules requested varies from year to year, fill out the Additional Narrative Budget Justification attachment of the PHS 398 Modular Budget form.
• Do not list individual budget items.
• For help and advice, see Strategy for Planning a Budget and Create Your Budget in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Contacts

See Grants Management Program Contacts for the appropriate GMP specialist.

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Links

NIAID's Grant Application portal

Grant Application, Electronic SOP

Grant Application, Paper SOP

Modular Research Grants page, Grants Management Infonet

NIAID Funding Policy and Process SOP

NIH Modular Research Grants page