Notice Number: NOT-ES-09-003

Key Dates
Release Date: March 3, 2009

Issued by
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) (http://www.niehs.nih.gov)
National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) (http://www.epa.gov/ncer)

On January 21, 2009, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued two funding opportunity announcements, RFA-ES-08-002, entitled “Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers (P01),” and RFA-ES-08-004, entitled “Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers: Formative Centers (P20).”  This Notice is to inform the scientific community that the NIH and the EPA are revising both funding opportunity announcements as follows:

Insert in Section IV. Application and Submission Information

2. Content and Form of Application Submission

Applications with Multiple PDs/PIs (optional)

More than one Principal Investigator, or multiple PDs/PIs, may be appropriate for “team science” approaches (see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/multi%5Fpi/overview.htm). Multiple PDs/PIs may be designated for the application as a whole for P01s submitted for the March 30, 2009 receipt date or later. If this option is used, it is expected that one of the PDs/PIs will be identified as the “lead” PD/PI who will be responsible for coordinating the entire program project.  However, each project should still have a single designated Project Leader and each shared resource core should still have a single designated Core Director.

When multiple PD/PIs are proposed, use the Face Page-Continued page to provide items 3a – 3h for all PD/PIs. NIH requires one PD/PI be designated as the “contact PD/PI” for all communications between the PD/PIs and the agency.  The contact PD/PI must meet all eligibility requirements for PD/PI status in the same way as other PD/PIs, but has no special roles or responsibilities within the project team beyond those mentioned above. The contact PD/PI may be changed during the project period.  The contact PD/PI should be listed in block 3 of Form Page 1 (the Face Page), with all additional PD/PIs listed on Form Page 1-Continued. When inserting the name of the PD/PI in the header of each application page, use the name of the “Contact PD/PI, et. al.”  The contact PD/PI must be from the applicant organization if PD/PIs are from more than one institution.  Within the multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan applicants, should retain the use of Project Leader and Core Director as the titles for individuals responsible for project or core leadership in order to be consistent across all P01/P20 applications.

All individuals designated as PD/PI must be registered in the eRA Commons and must be assigned the PD/PI role in that system (other roles such as SO or IAR will not give the PD/PI the appropriate access to the application records). Each PD/PI must include their respective eRA Commons ID in the eRA Commons User Name field.
All projects proposing Multiple PDs/PIs will be required to include a new section describing the leadership plan approach for the proposed project.

Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan: For applications designating multiple PDs/PIs, a new section of the research plan, entitled “Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan” must be included.  A rationale for choosing a multiple PD/PI approach should be described.  The governance and organizational structure of the leadership team and the research project should be described, and should include communication plans, process for making decisions on scientific direction, and procedures for resolving conflicts. The roles and administrative, technical, and scientific responsibilities for the project or program should be delineated for the PDs/PIs and other collaborators. 

If budget allocation is planned, the distribution of resources to specific components of the project or the individual PDs/PIs should be delineated in the Leadership Plan. In the event of an award, the requested allocations may be reflected in a footnote on the Notice of Award.
Additional information is available in the PHS 398 grant application instructions.

Clarification to Section IV. Application and Submission Information

2. Content and Form of Application Submission

Clarification of Application Package, including revised page lengths.

Program Project (P01) applications:

• For new and competing continuation applications, the Program Overview Section must not exceed 10 pages total.  This section should concisely present the proposed research strategy, including background information leading to the request for support, a description of the aims and objectives of the Program Project, benefits to be achieved by funding as a Program Project grant, special program resources, and overview descriptions of activities and functions of each core unit and subunit, emphasizing areas of coordination.

• Competing continuation applications must include a general Progress Report that describes achievements under the grant since the last competitive review. The sections of the individual projects will provide the details as requested in the PHS 398 instructions for competing/new applications. The PI should carefully prepare this section and it should not be a copy of the material included for the individual projects. This is the section where the benefits of the Program Project can be demonstrated.  The Progress Report is limited to 15 pages and should be located after the Introduction section.  This section should include: 1) A list of all publications and completed manuscripts that are a direct result of the support provided by the Program Project grant.  With an asterisk, denote each publication that is a result of formal collaborations between different projects within the program.  2) A brief summary of major accomplishments that can be attributed to the Program Project grant, and a brief explanation of how they have contributed to the goals of the grant. 3) Detailed reports on projects that are not being continued, and the reason for deleting them from the Program Project.

• The individual Research Projects must not exceed the 25-page limitation for items a-d as noted under "Research Plan," PHS 398 instructions. The title page of individual the Research Projects should use a continuation page and clearly denote the project number, the title of the Project and project leader.

• All core component(s), including the Administrative Core and Community Outreach and Translation Core (if applicable) must not exceed 15 pages.

• The Essential Elements of the Center (Community Engagement, Pediatric Health Specialist, and Career Development) should have their own sections within the application.  These sections should follow the Administrative Core.  Each section must not exceed 3 pages. 

• Program Integration should be described within each Research Project as well as a separate section following the Essential Characteristics.  This section must not exceed 5 pages.

• A discussion of the Principal Investigator of the Program Project/Principal Investigator should be included in a separate section and must not exceed 2 pages.  If multiple Program Directors/Principal Investigators are named, then each must not exceed 2 pages.

• If using Multiple PI, then a leadership plan must be included and should not exceed 2 pages.  Details of plan are described above.

For Formative Centers (P20) applications:

• The Program Overview Section must not exceed 10 pages total.  This section should concisely present the proposed research strategy, including background information leading to the request for support, a description of the aims and objectives of the Formative Center, benefits to be achieved by funding as a Center grant, special program resources, and overview descriptions of activities and functions of each core unit and subunit, emphasizing areas of coordination.

• The individual small Research Projects and Pilot Projects must not exceed 10 and 5 pages (respectively. The title page of individual the projects should use a continuation page and clearly denote the project number, the title of the Project and project leader.

• All core component(s), including the Administrative Core and Community Outreach and Translation Core (if applicable) must not exceed 15 pages.

• The Essential Elements of the Center (Community Engagement, Pediatric Health Specialist, and Career Development) should have their own sections within the application.  These sections should follow the Administrative Core.  Each section must not exceed 3 pages. 

• Program Integration should be described within each Research component as well as a separate section following the Essential Characteristics.  This section must not exceed 5 pages.

• A discussion of the Program Director/Principal Investigator of the Formative Center should be included in a separate section and must not exceed 2 pages.   If multiple Program Directors/Principal Investigators are named, then each must not exceed 2 pages.

• If using Multiple PI, then a leadership plan must be included and should not exceed 2 pages.  Details of plan are described above.

Inquiries

Direct inquiries regarding this Notice to:

Linda Bass, Ph.D.
Division of Extramural Training and Science
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
PO Box 12233, K3-03
111 T.W. Alexander Drive
Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709
Telephone: (919) 541-1307
FAX: (919) 541-2503
Email: bass@niehs.nih.gov

Or

Kimberly A. Gray, PhD
Division of Extramural Training and Science
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
PO Box 12233, K3-12
111 T.W. Alexander Drive
Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709
Telephone: (919) 541-0293
FAX: (919) 316-4606
Email: gray6@niehs.nih.gov

Weekly TOC for this Announcement
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices

	Office of Extramural Research (OER)			National Institutes of Health (NIH) 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20892			Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
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