OPERA

Current and Upcoming Funding Opportunities at NIH

Governor’s Grants Office Higher Education Conference May 22, 2012

Michelle G. Bulls, Deputy Director

Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration

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NIH Basics: The Funding Opportunity Announcement

• What is a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)?– Publicly available;– Federal Agency publishes its intent to award discretionary

grants or cooperative agreements, usually as a result of competition;

– Federal-wide terminology for what NIH refers to as Program Announcement (PA), Request for Application (RFA), Program Announcement with special receipt, referral and/or review consideration (PAR) and Program Announcement with a set aside (PAS).

– Can be found at Grants.gov/FIND and in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts.

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NIH Basics: The Funding Opportunity Announcement (cont.)

• What is a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)?– NIH has developed omnibus Parent Announcements for common

grant mechanisms;

– For use by applicants who wish to submit what were formerly termed “unsolicited” or "investigator-initiated" applications;

– Responding to a Parent FOA ensures that the correct application package is used and enables NIH to receive the application through Grants.gov;

– Parent announcements are NIH-wide and offer broad eligibility;

– Some NIH institutes may limit their participation. So check the announcement's statement of interest;

– All applications must be submitted in response to a FOA regardless whether the submission is electronic or paper.

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NIH Basics: The NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts

• What is the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts?– Official publication for NIH medical and behavioral research grant policies,

guidelines and funding opportunities; – NIH Guide announcements (PAs, RFAs and Notices) are published daily;– NIH transmits a weekly e-mail to the NIH Guide LISTSERV with a

Current Weekly Table of Contents (TOC)– The NIH Guide serves in lieu of the Federal Register, in compliance with the

Administrative Procedures Act.

• For more information see: – Grant Application Basics, http://grants.nih.gov/grants/grant_basics.htm;– Grants Process Overview, http://grants.nih.gov/grants/grants_process.htm; – Types of Grant Programs, http://

grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/funding_program.htm;– NIH Guide LISTSERV, http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/listserv.htm; – Funding Opportunities and Notices, http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html.

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NIH Basics: Interacting with NIH

• Questions about a particular Funding Opportunity Announcement: Contact the referenced Program Official for scientific issues; the referenced Grants Management Official for administrative issues

• Questions about a funded grant: Each Notice of Award includes contact information for the assigned Program Official and Grants Management Specialist; contact information also in the eRA Commons Status Module

• Questions about NIH Grants Process: OER Grants Website: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm

• Interested in the mission of a particular Institute/Center: http://www.nih.gov/icd/

• See Slide 12 for other general contact information

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Selected Programs for Specific Populations

• Most NIH FOAs offer broad applicant eligibility but encourage application submissions from underserved and unrepresented communities;

• Some programs target specific populations:• Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA) (R15) (PA-12-006);

• New and Early Stage Investigator Initiatives: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/new_investigators/index.htm

• Pathway to Independence Award, K99/R00 (PA-11-197);

• Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (PA-12-149).

• Some NIH Institutes and Centers (IC) support programs that foster research training and the development of a highly trained and diverse biomedical and behavioral research workforce:

• National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)• Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) Program;

• Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program.

• The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)• Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program.

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Electronic Post-Award Administration - Pilots Underway

• Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)• Initial pilot, with limited institutions, April 2012;• Mandated use of the new RPPR module is tentatively scheduled for Fall 2012--all

SNAP and all Fellowship awards made in Calendar Year 2013; • More information: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/rppr/index.htm and NOT-OD-12-083

• Administrative Supplements (T-3)• Electronic submission pilot began February 1, 2012; • Optional for all single project grantees;• Can submit through the eRA Commons or, through Grants.gov for schools that

have systems to interact directly with Grants.gov;• Contact IC or review IC web site before submitting;• More information: PA-12-100 and NOT-OD-12-024

• Organization Changes (T-6 & T-7) • An electronic submission of Change of Grantee Institution (T-7s) and Successor-in-

Interest (T-6) applications;• Contact IC or review IC web site before submitting.• More information coming soon—check the NIH Guide

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Looking Ahead • Council on Financial Assistance Reform (CoFAR)

– Created by OMB;– Interagency group of Executive Branch officials;– Replaces the Grants Policy Council and the Grants Executive Board;– Intended to foster more efficient and effective Federal financial

management;– February 28, 2012 - OMB published an Advanced Notice of

Proposed Guidance. Outlines potential reform ideas for federal policies on cost principles and administrative requirements for grants and cooperative agreements;

– Ideas include: reforms to audit requirements (Circulars A-133 & A-50); reforms to cost principles (Circulars A-21, A-87, and A-122, and the Cost Principles for Hospitals); reforms to administrative requirements (Circulars A-102, A-110, & A-89);

– Comments were due April 30, 2012.

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Recent Policy Notices

Effective Date

Policy Change and Guide Notice

4/18/2012 NIH Announces the Posting of a Checklist for Policy Development related to the 2011 revised regulation on Promoting Objectivity in Research (Financial Conflict of Interest) (NOT-OD-12-103)

3/30/2012 Notice of Requirement for Electronic Submission of Just-in-Time Information and Related Business Process Changes Beginning April 20, 2012 (NOT-OD-12-101)

3/21/2012 NIH Announces the Posting of New and Updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) applicable to the 2011 revised regulation on Promoting Objectivity in Research for All NIH-Supported Institutions (NOT-OD-12-079)

3/9/2012 NIH Announces the Posting of a Web-based Tutorial applicable to the 2011 revised regulation on Promoting Objectivity in Research for All NIH-Supported Institutions (NOT-OD-12-080)

1/27/2012 New NIH Policy on Efficient Spending Related to Grants Supporting Conferences and Meetings (NOT-OD-12-041)

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2012 NIH Regional Seminar

• Last chance to attend a 2012 Regional Seminar for administrators and researchers new to NIH.

• June 20-22, 2012 – Washington, DC (REGISTRATION IS OPEN)

* Optional NIH eRA computer workshops are offered the day before the two-day seminar.  These half-day workshops are designed for administrators and investigators, and provide attendees with hands-on experience utilizing the eRA Commons and the overall electronic grants process.  

More at: NOT-OD-12-040 & http://grants.nih.gov/grants/regionalseminars/WashingtonDC_2012/index.html

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Summary of Helpful NIH Web Pages

• Office of Extramural Research (OER) Web Pagehttp://grants.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm

• NIH Grants Policy Statement (Rev. 10/11) http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2011/index.htm

• eRA Commons Web pages http://era.nih.gov/

• Applying Electronically http://grants.nih.gov/grants/ElectronicReceipt/index.htm

• Self Help Resources page:http://era.nih.gov/help/self_help.cfm

• Intellectual Property Policy http://grants.nih.gov/grants/intell-property.htm

• NIH Extramural Response to Natural Disasters http://grants.nih.gov/grants/natural_disasters.htm

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NIH Grants Information:Contacts!

• General Application Questions:– E-Mail: GrantsInfo@nih.gov– Phone: 301-435-0714

• Grants.gov Customer Support: – E-Mail: support@grants.gov– Webpage: http://grants.gov/ – Phone: 800-518-4726

• eRA Commons Helpdesk:– Webpage: http://ithelpdesk.nih.gov/era/ – Phone: 301-402-7469 or 800-504-9552

• Division of Grants Policy:– E-Mail: GrantsPolicy@mail.nih.gov– Phone: 301-435-0949

• Division of Grants Compliance & Oversight:– E-Mail: GrantsCompliance@mail.nih.gov– Phone: 301-435-0949

OPERA

? Office of Policy for Extramural Research

Administration,Office of Extramural Research

GrantsPolicy@mail.nih.gov / GrantsCompliance@mail.nih.gov

301-435-0949 / 301-435-0938