Purpose

Accelerate the tempo of scientific research on active grants.

► IMPORTANT: Administrative supplement applications must be for costs to support work within the general scope of the peer-reviewed activities and aims approved within the parent grant.

Significantly expand the scope or research protocol of approved and funded projects (formerly called a competitive supplement).

► IMPORTANT: Revision applications must be for costs to support new research objectives and aims that are outside of the scope of the approved parent grant.

Deadline

Varies, see individual Institute and Center Web sites (http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/ic_supp.html)

April 21, 2009

Eligibility

·         Parent grant must be active* when application is submitted

·         Research proposed in revision must be accomplished within current project period end date of parent grant, including projects on a no-cost extension

·         No-cost extension must be in place before revision application is submitted

*Active NIH Research Grants and Research Program and Center Grants (Ps), Career Development Awards (Ks), Institutional Training Grants (Ts), Cooperative Agreements (Us) and Educational Development Awards.

►Individual NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) have more detailed eligibility information on their own Web sites. See http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/ic_supp.html

*Active NIH Research Grants, including, but not limited to, R01, R03, R15, R21, R25, R33, R34, R37, R21/R33, R41, R42, R43, R44, SC1, SC2, SC3 grants, and Program Project grants, Center grants, Cooperative Agreements, Training Grants, and Institutional Career Development Awards.

►Fellowships (Fs) and Conference Grants (R13s) will not be considered for revisions.

Potential applicants should review the instructions for Revision Applications issued by their funding Institute/Center; see http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/ic_supp.html

Uses of Funding

Administrative supplements can be used to cover cost increases associated with

·         increasing tempo of research under parent grant and/or

·         achieving certain new research objectives as long as they are within the scope of the parent project.

Examples (including but not limited to):

·         hiring additional personnel or

·         funding investments in equipment and technology to leverage project goals or enhance energy efficiency

Any cost increases need to result from making modifications to the parent project in order to

·         take advantage of opportunities that would increase project’s value consistent with its originally approved objectives and purposes or

·         accelerate tempo of scientific research/scientific activities.

Any cost increases need to result from making modifications to the project in order to

·         take advantage of opportunities that would increase the value of the project goals and objectives or

·         accelerate the rate of discovery of scientific research.

Examples (including but not limited to):

·         hiring students, postdocs or other personnel to accomplish new scientific objectives or to generate novel resources

·         making investments in technology essential to expand the project’s goals or enhance energy efficiency in the expansion of the project

·         requesting that a single PD/PI grant be changed to a multiple PD/PI grant or otherwise modifying the multiple PD/PI team in order to add and pursue new scientific goals. (NOTE: a Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan will be required as part of the application.)

·         making other appropriate revisions consistent with the goals of the Recovery Act

►NIH will not consider requests

·         solely to restore previously applied budget adjustments to a project or

·         to supplant institutional commitments supporting individuals and other costs previously committed to projects.

Areas of Emphasis

·         Equipment purchases (costing under $100,000)

·         Enhancing the activities of clinical trials, including increasing enrollment and the capacity for data analysis

·         Providing additional funded time under K99/R00 and other awards

·         Research employment opportunities for

o        predoctoral students, including medical students in “off years” (e.g., medical, dental, veterinary, clinical psychology, nursing students) seeking extended time off for research experience) or on shorter term breaks

o        postdoctoral students, including extending support for senior postdocs

o        recent college and master’s degree graduates

·         Comparative effectiveness research

►NOTE: Institutes and Centers may not have an interest in issuing administrative supplements to research project grants in all scientific areas and may have their own specific areas of emphasis. See individual Institute and Center Web sites (http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/ic_supp.html)

Institutes and Centers may have their own specific areas of emphasis. See individual Institute and Center Web sites (http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/ic_supp.html)

Additionally, NIH is prepared to make awards with Recovery Act funding under other existing programs that provide administrative supplements. For more information, see PA-08-190 Research Supplements to  Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research and PA-08-091 Research Supplements to Promote Re-Entry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers).

Request/ Application Preparation

Request/ Application Preparation

Request/ Application Preparation

Use PHS 398 forms (rev. 11/2007)

Font size and margin restrictions apply as designated in PHS 398 instructions.

Include the following elements in the request packet:

1) Cover letter: Citing NOT-OD-09-056, specify a request for a Recovery Act Administrative Supplement, including the following information:

·         Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) name

·         Parent grant number and title

·         Amount of the requested supplement

·         Name and title of the authorized institutional official, and

·         Phone, email, and address information for both the PD/PI and the institutional official.

Cover letter must be signed by the authorized organizational representative.

2) PHS 398 Form Page 1 (Face page)

·         Box 1: Enter title of parent award

·         Box 2: Check “yes” box; enter notice number NOT-OD-09-056 and title “Notice of Availability of Recovery Act Funds for Administrative Supplements”

·         Box 3a: PD/PI must be the same as PD/PI on parent award

·         Fill out remaining items on the face page in accordance with the PHS 398 application instructions.

3) PHS 398 Form Page 2: provide a project “summary” of the administrative supplement, not the parent grant; provide all other information requested

4) A brief description of project proposal, including:

a) Scope of overall project and anticipated contribution of requested supplement

►NOTE: this section is not to exceed five pages

·         Summarize activities included in parent grant that encompass those proposed in supplemental request.

·         Include a description of supplement's purpose, including research design/proposed scientific activities and methods and data analysis.

·         Describe relationship of supplement request to parent grant.

b) The research project plan should discuss how the supplement will accelerate the tempo of scientific research and/or allow for job creation and retention.

·         Address justifications for Recovery Act funding, including how supplement is expected to stimulate economy by:

1) Enabling hiring of additional staff;

2) Enabling increased hours of current part-time staff;

3) Procuring additional needed equipment (costing <$100,000); and/or

4) Recruiting for additional needed skills.

c) Budget for supplement with justification detailing items requested, including Facilities and Administrative costs and a justification for all personnel and their role(s) in project.

►NOTE: Budget should be appropriate for work proposed in supplement request.

·         Discuss budgets with NIH Program Officer.

·         All applications under this notice must include detailed budgets on the PHS 398 Form Pages 4 and 5. Modular budget pages will not be accepted. See Budget and Funding Information in notice.

d) Biographical Sketch for all new Senior/Key Personnel.

·         No need to repeat information previously provided for other Senior/Key Personnel.

e) Human Subjects/Vertebrate Animal documentation (if applicable).

·         Include a current Human Subjects/IRB or Vertebrate Animals/IACUC approval letter, if applicable. Otherwise, this letter will be required at time of funding.

·         All appropriate IRB and IACUC approvals must be in place prior to a supplement award being made.

·         No significant changes in approved use of human subjects or vertebrate animals will be considered for administrative supplements (if significant, consider applying for a competitive revision; see Notice NOT-OD-09-058.

f) PHS 398 Checklist Form

►NOTE: Paper applications will not be accepted for activity codes that have transitioned to electronic submission.

·         For electronic applications (R01, R03, R15, R21, R25, R33, R21/R33, R41, R42, R43, R44, SCs), use the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide available at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/SF424_RR_Guide_General_Adobe_VerA.doc

·         or http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/SF424_RR_Guide_General_Adobe_VerA.pdf.

·         For paper Program Project (P01), Center grants (e.g., P20, P30, P50), and Cooperative Agreement (e.g., U01) applications: use PHS 398 forms (rev. 11/2007; available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html.

·         Note: Revision applications for conference grants (R13s) are not permitted.

·         Applicants must submit the revision application through Grants.gov, using the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) used for the parent grant. If this FOA is no longer active, use the Parent FOA that matches the program (activity code) of the award.

·         For revisions to Program Project grants, Center grants, Cooperative Agreements, Training Grants, and Institutional Career Development Awards submitted in paper, an FOA is not required. (For more information, see “How to Apply” in Notice NOT-OD-09-058.)

Font size and margin restrictions apply as designated in SF424 (R&R) and PHS 398 application instructions

Page limitations noted in original FOA under which current grant was funded (or if using a Parent FOA because the original FOA expired) should be followed.

1) Cover Letter: cite Notice NOT-OD-09-058 in first sentence.

2) In Project Summary/Abstract, explicitly cite Notice NOT-OD-09-058 and Notice Title “NIH Announces the Availability of Recovery Act Funds for Competitive Revision Applications.”

3) Provide a 1-page “Introduction” describing

·         nature of revision

·         how it will expand scope of the specific aims, research design, and methods of current grant.

4) In body of application, provide sufficient information from original grant application to allow evaluation of the proposed revision in relation to goals of original application.

5) Submit a budget using the same budget format as was used for the current award.

6) In Budget Justification, discuss any budgetary changes for the remainder of the project period of the current grant.

►NOTE: If revision application relates to a specific line of investigation presented in original application that was not recommended for approval by the SRG, respond to the criticisms in the prior Summary Statement, and clearly indicate and summarize substantial revisions in “Introduction.”

Include the following additional information in revision application:

a) Scope of overall project and anticipated contribution of the requested revision.

·         Summarize activities included in parent grant that encompass those proposed in revision request.

·         Include a description of revision’s specific aims, including research design and methods and data analysis.

·         Describe relationship of revision request to parent grant.

b) The research project plan should discuss how the revision will accelerate the tempo of scientific research and/or allow for job creation and retention.

·         Address justifications for Recovery Act funding, including how the revision is expected to stimulate the economy by:

1) Enabling hiring of additional staff;

2) Enabling increased hours of current part-time staff;

3) Procuring additional needed equipment (costing under $100,000); and/or

4) Contracting for additional needed skills.

c) Budget for the revision with justification that details items requested, including Facilities and Administrative costs and a justification for all personnel and their role(s) in project.

►NOTE: Budget provided for the revision application must match the budget provided in the parent application (i.e., if parent application used the Modular Budget component, then so must the revision application.

d) Biographical Sketch for PD/PI and all new Senior/Key Personnel

·         Provide an updated Biographical Sketch for the PD/PI and new Senior/Key Personnel (those added on the revision project).

·         No need to repeat information previously provided for other Senior/Key Personnel.

e) Human Subjects/ Vertebrate Animal documentation (if applicable).

·         Include a current Human Subjects/IRB or Vertebrate Animals/IACUC approval letter, if available. Otherwise, this will be required at the time of funding.

·         All appropriate IRB and IACUC approvals must be in place prior to a revision award being made.

·         Note any differences in involvement or use of human subjects or specimens, or use of vertebrate animals, between the administrative revision activity and the parent grant. When appropriate, details should be provided on the protection of human subjects and inclusion of women, children, and minorities. Additional guidance on Human Subjects Research and Vertebrate Animals is provided under Part II of the PHS 398 instructions (http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html)

Selection Factors/

Review

NIH Program and Grants Management staff with expertise relevant to the supplement request will review the request administratively.

Awards will be determined on the basis of

·         Merit of the supplement request,

·         Applicability to the goals of the Recovery Act, and

·         Availability of funds.

Awards will be determined by each Institute/Center according to the priorities listed on their Recovery Act supplements Web sites.

Selection factors will include the following:

·         Relevance of proposed activities to parent grant and determination that proposed activities are within the existing peer-reviewed and approved scope of the project.

·         Adequate progress of parent grant appropriate to current stage of project.

·         Appropriate and well-described plan to accomplish the goals within the timeframe proposed.

·         Expertise of team proposed to conduct and achieve the goals of the supplemental study or accelerate tempo of scientific research.

·         Appropriateness of request to achieve Recovery Act goals in promoting job creation, economic development, and accelerating the pace and achievement of scientific research.

·         Relevance to target areas/priorities by the funding Institute/Center

·         While geographic variation will be considered in awarding Recovery Act funding, a proposal’s scientific merit will always be the prevailing criterion.

Revisions applications

·         will be evaluated for scientific and technical merit by appropriate scientific review group(s) in accordance with NIH peer review procedures (http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/peer/), using the review criteria stated below.

·         will be assigned to the Institute/Center through which the parent grant was funded. To extent possible, locus of initial peer review will be that used for the evaluation of the parent application.

As part of scientific peer review, all applications will

·         Undergo a selection process in which only those applications deemed to have the highest scientific and technical merit, generally the top half of applications under review, will be discussed and assigned an overall impact/priority score;

·         Receive a written critique; and

·         Receive a second level of review by appropriate national advisory council or board.

Overall Impact

·         Reviewers will provide an overall impact/priority score to reflect their assessment of likelihood for project to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research field(s) involved, in consideration of the standard review criteria, and additional review criteria (as applicable for the project proposed).

·         Revision group will consider the scientific merit of the new work proposed and the appropriateness of the proposed expansion of the scope of the project.

►NOTE: If revision application relates to a specific line of investigation presented in original application that was not recommended for approval by the committee, committee will consider whether responses to comments from previous scientific review group are adequate and whether substantial changes are clearly evident.

Revision applications will be evaluated according to the criteria appropriate for that type of application (see NOT-0D-09-025).

Additional Review Criteria

·         As applicable, reviewers will consider additional items (not separately scored) to determine scientific and technical merit: Protections for Human Subjects; Inclusion of Women, Minorities, and Children; Vertebrate Animals; and Biohazards.

Additional Review Considerations

·         As applicable, reviewers will address each of the following items (not separately scored and not to be considered in determining an overall impact/priority score):

Budget and Period Support; Select Agent Research; and Resource Sharing Plans.

·         A Summary Statement (written critique) will be made available to PD/PI his or her via the NIH eRA Commons account.

Applications submitted in response to this funding opportunity will compete for available Recovery Act funds with all other recommended applications. The following will be considered in making funding decisions:

·         Scientific and technical merit of proposed project as determined by scientific peer review.

·         Availability of funds.

·         Relevance of proposed project to program priorities.

Budget

Funding will be available from Recovery Act funds in FY2009 and FY2010.

Applicants requesting multiple-year funding in FY2009 may only request funding for FY2009 and FY2010. Requests selected for funding in FY2010 will be limited to 1 year for budget and project period.

For supplements to

·         Research Grants: No maximum dollar limit on budget request; however, requested budget must be in line with work proposed.

►NOTE: In general NIH expects to award supplements of <50% of the amount of parent grant.

·         Research Career Development Awards: Requests will generally be limited to $50,000 for Research Development Support costs (individual Institute/Center policies may vary; for more information see http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/ic_supp.html).

·         Career Development Awards (K99 and K22): Requests for an additional year of support may also be submitted.

·         Institutional Training Awards: Requests for support for additional trainees within current Council-approved level will be considered.

Funding for revisions to existing grants will be available from Recovery Act funds in FYs 2009 and 2010.

Funding for revision applications may only be requested for up to 2 years; scope and budget of requested revision must reflect aims and goals that can be accomplished within that timeframe.

Requests selected for funding in FY2010 will be limited to 1 year for the project and budget period.

For a revision application

·         No maximum dollar limit on budget request; however, requested budget must be reasonable and appropriate for work proposed.

►NOTE: Equipment purchases cannot exceed $100,000.

►NOTE: No need for prior approval from the Institute/Center staff to submit application with budget >$500,000 direct costs in any year. (Applicants should ignore the e-submission validation warning regarding the NIH $500,000 per year limit on direct costs.)

·         Requested funding for any foreign components should not exceed 10% of the total requested direct costs or $25,000 per year (per subcontract/subaward or in aggregate for multiple subcontracts/subawards), whichever is less.

How to Apply

·         Submit request in writing to the appropriate Institute/Center Grants Management Specialist (referenced in the “Inquiries” section in Notice), not to the Division of Receipt and Referral, NIH Center for Scientific Review.

·         Applications must be signed by the authorized institutional official.

·         Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit applications electronically as an e-mail attachment in PDF format; however the signature of the institutional official must be clearly visible. Applicants may also submit applications in paper format to the appropriate Institute/Center Grants Management contact.

·         Submit one original, hard copy of the request packet (with original signatures of the authorized business official) to the addresses listed on the Web site of the funding Institute/Center: http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/ic_supp.html.

·         Applications may be submitted throughout FY2009 and FY2010. However, note that some NIH Institutes/Centers may have specific deadlines for submission of administrative supplements as listed on their own Web sites: http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/ic_supp.html.

See “Request/Application Preparation” above.