NIH News and Updates
CRISP Retired; Start Using RePORTER Today (Oct 27, 2009): An eRA Advisory announces that the CRISP searchable database of biomedical research projects funded by NIH was retired Oct. 31, 2009. It is replaced by RePORTER, which offers all of the CRISP features and more. RePORTER now is available and provides:
- A description of the award (abstract) and NIH funding for each project;
- Publications and patents that have resulted from NIH-funded research;
- Links to PubMed Central, PubMed, and the US Patent & Trademark Office Patent Full Text and Image Database for more detailed information on research results.
For many years, CRISP was one of the most common ways for the public to find information on NIH research programs, returning extensive results on scientific topics. CRISP played an important role in its lifetime and won several awards.
Major changes are happening to NIH applications for due dates on or after January 25, 2010 (Oct 13, 2009): Due to changes resulting from the Enhancing Peer Review initiative, applications for due dates on or after January 25, 2010 require:
- Restructured application forms, and follow
- New instructions including shorter page limits.
These changes affect all new, renewal, resubmission, and revision applications. [R01, R21, and R34 AIDS applicants who are appointed members of NIH Advisory Groups whose applications normally would have been due on January 7, 2010 may continue to use current forms and instructions through February 7, 2010.] Applications that use incorrect forms or following old instructions will be delayed and may not be reviewed! Please take the time to learn about the upcoming changes.
Steps for Success:
- Read now about the changes in order to write the revised Research Strategy section of the application.
- In December, go back to the updated FOA or reissued Parent Announcement and download the new application package and instructions (both electronic SF 424 R&R and paper PHS 398). Make sure to choose the correct application package: for SF 424 R&R: ADOBE_FORMS_B and for PHS 398: Revision date “June 2009”
- Read the new application instructions carefully.
- For due dates on or after January 25, submit applications using the new forms and instructions.
Get Informed!
To better understand the new requirements, the Enhancing Peer Review Website has a page dedicated to the application changes and has made available a number of resources, continually updated, including:
- A flyer
- A one page update
- PowerPoint presentations describing the changes
- FAQs
- List of policy notices
- Timeline of changes
- A video overview of the changes available mid-November on the web site under Training and Communication Resources
- Ability to sign up on the Enhancing Peer Review LISTSERV (or look out for an announcement in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts).
Restructured paper PHS398 and electronic SF424 applications announced by NIH (Sept 16, 2009):
The new versions of the PHS398 and electronic SF424 (R&R) application packages and instructions will be available by December 2009. Applicants must download and use the new application packages for submissions targeting due dates on or after January 25, 2010 (funding for FY 2011 and beyond). Applications that mix old and new paper application forms will be delayed and may not be reviewed. Please closely follow the instructions detailed in the application package. Contact OSP-MED if you have any questions about this announcement, NOT-OD-09-149. NIH guidance on the application changes and the new forms.
ARRA quarterly reporting requirements (July 31, 2009): Recovery Act of 2009: Information on Quarterly Reporting Requirements for NIH Award Recipients
F-series (fellowship) applications have moved to electronic submission and some reminders have been posted (Aug 2009). The deadline shifts to Monday, August 10, 2009 for NIH’s Individual National Research Award as the first time that NIH requires electronic submission for these awards through Grants.gov. Please note:
- Grants.gov downtime Saturday, August 8 to Sunday, August 9 to make system enhancements. Applicants will not be able to search for funding opportunity announcements; download grant application packages; submit applications; or track Grants.gov application status. However, Grants.gov will continue to process applications already in the queue prior to the downtime.
- Corrections to instructions in SF424 Individual Fellowship Application Guide for NIH and AHRQ.
- Diversity Fellowship Application Requirement for Eligibility Certification Letter.
- Reference Letter resources are posted online regarding reference letter submission. Instructions must be followed and are available in the SF424 Individual Fellowship Application Guide (Part 1, Section 5.4).
- Fellowship applications submitted without cover letters are currently receiving the following error: “A cover letter must be attached for this application on the PHS Cover Letter File.” The error must be corrected in order to complete the submission process and allow the application to move on for further consideration. Since the current Fellowship application guide and announcements do not address the requirement for a cover letter, a temporary fix in eRA Commons now is in place to change the existing error to a warning with the following text: “A cover letter was not included with this application. If submitting after the deadline for any reason, a Cover Letter must be attached in the PHS Cover Letter form. Although not required prior to the deadline, applicants are encouraged to include a cover letter with any submission. See application guide for details.” Following the deadline, NIH staff will follow-up with any necessary system changes.
- Reminder to check application image in Commons. If you are not able to view your assembled application image, NIH will not be able to move it forward.
Questions? eRA Helpdesk: 301-402-7469; eRA Helpdesk.
Don’t have duplicate applications in eRA Commons! read more on deleting unwanted submissions.
NIH Alert! (5/1/09): Under NOT-OD-09-091 the error-correction window has been extended to May 8 for RC1 applications and any application with a deadline Apr 27 through May 1, 2009. Despite the extension, please complete the submission process as soon as possible, since it is much preferred to have applications in processing than not having started them in the process at all; not only will you be relieved but eRA Commons will be able to assign it more rapidly and you will gain time over the next cycle. (The additional time to correct errors does not apply to Competitive Revision applications (NOT-OD-09-058), see below.)
Competitive Revisions: If you were affected by a system issue (as outlined in April 21 Items of Interest) and followed the correct ticketing process to document your inability to meet the deadline due to that issue, then Commons assures us that it is tracking those tickets and continues to investigate each ticket individually. Continue to respond quickly to help desk contacts and complete your submissions within two business days from receiving help desk guidance, and your application will not be considered late. Applicants who have already documented their issues should expect to hear back by close of business on Tuesday, May 5.
Calls to the eRA Commons Help Desk and backlog of Help Desk Tickets: Email, web and call volume is almost five times the normal. Not to worry if you have not heard from the Help Desk. They have a record of your contact and there is no need to submit a duplicate request. The backlog is expected to clear over the next week.
Tips from recent experience on use of Adobe-based forms for NIH submissions (Feb 2009)
- Fatal error messages ensue if applicants use PureEdge forms for grant mechanisms that already have transitioned to Adobe. As long as the closing date has not occurred, applicants should re-enter their application onto the proper Adobe-based forms; this includes those applicants who have served on Study Section, who have an extended period to submit, who may receive a fatal error message stating that their funding opportunity closing date has expired although it has not.
- During the transition time, Grants.gov is sorting through system issues (stalled applications, erroneous rejections). Especially now it is important to view your applications in eRA Commons once they have been submitted to ensure that the assembled application is the way it should be. NIH warns that tracking them all the way through to Commons is really the only way to know if they have reached NIH and can go on to peer review. Further, if you can’t identify a legitimate reason for an error, call the Grants.gov Contact Center for advice and to document your issue. And, notify the eRA Commons Help Desk if your issues threaten on-time submission. Application help. Help Desk Contact Information. Avoiding Common Errors.
- As long as all of their versions of Adobe are compatible with the Grants.gov versions, applicants may use any of their Adobe versions, even though there may be several versions located on different computers. For purposes of Grants.gov submissions, Adobe compatibility is a must.
- Most grant application mechanisms now have transitioned to the Adobe forms. See exceptions.
- Adobe transition notices: Availability of forms (Dec 2008); Transition clarification (Nov 2008); and Transition schedule (Sept 2008).
Salary Limitation on Grants, Cooperative Agreements and Contracts Under the Current Continuing Resolution (Salary Cap, Jan 2009)
NIH is focussing ever more strongly on its policy to encourage independent research careers (Oct 2008). Investigators within 10 years of their terminal degree may classify themselves not only as new investigators not having received primary research funding but as Early Stage Investigators whose grant applications will be clustered among other like applications and whose classification will be taken into account during peer review. NIH aims to establish parity between the success fate of research funding to new investigators as to established ones.
eRA Alert: E-mail addresses not appearing on NIH Notices of Award (Oct 2008). eRA Commons announced a bug on the NIH Notice of Award that doesn’t print the institutional email address associated with the application and consequently, prevents the award announcement from going out to that address. Not to worry: investigators still receive an email announcement of their award. All emails are still being sent on the Issue Date to the investigator’s email as well as to the institution’s policy email. And, NoAs continue to be posted on the eRA Commons. A query is available in the Commons that will retrieve a list of Notices of Award by institution. The Commons expects to have the bug fixed by January 16, 2009. For further information, the best way to contact the Commons is by email to helpdesk@od.nih.gov, or call eRA Helpdesk at 301-402-7469.
The NIH Loan Repayment Program application cycle opened Sept 1, 2008 for extramural (due Dec 3) and intramural (due May 1, 2009) for new repayment applications. These awards can have a positive impact on the careers of biomedical and behavioral researchers, often making the difference in pursuing a research career. BENEFITS: New extramural LRP contracts for Clinical Research, Pediatric Research, Health Disparities Research, Contraception and Infertility Research, and Clinical Research for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds are awarded for two-year periods and repay up to $35,000 of qualified educational debt annually. An NIH grant or other NIH funding is not required to apply for or participate in the LRP. ELIGIBILITY: Applicants must possess a doctoral-level degree (except for the Contraception and Infertility Research LRP); be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident; devote 20 hours or more per week to conducting qualified research funded by a university, domestic nonprofit organization, or federal, state, or local government entity; and have qualified educational loan debt equal to or exceeding 20 percent of their institutional base salary.
Revised NIH Policy on Resubmissions (Oct 2008)….Attempts to resubmit a grant application that has been unsuccessful on its first try and first resubmission will no longer be allowed, according to new policy.
As NIH gears up to convert all electronic applications to Adobe format, it has provided a test page where investigators may check whether their current versions of Adobe meet the requirements. Note that it is NOT recommended to obtain Adobe from the Adobe website in the usual way. Go to Grants.gov Adobe version test to check your file formats and to download the proper Adobe version configured for NIH purposes.
DHHS continues to operate on a continuing resolution (Oct 2008) [Public Law 110-329 Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009] that extends through March 6, 2009. The CR applies the terms of the FY 2008 appropriations for the period covered by the CR. Until the final FY 2009 appropriation is enacted, NIH will issue non-competing research grant awards at a level below that indicated on the most recent Notice of Award (generally up to 90% of the previously committed level). This is consistent with previous three years’ practice. Resources for FY 2009.
Exceptionally innovative, high risk, original and/or unconventional (Sept 2008) research projects that have the potential to profoundly impact a broad area of biomedical or behavioral research are supported under the Transformative R01 Program, a new program of the NIH Roadmap. According to the funding announcement, the broad topics to be highlighted include: Understanding and Incenting Behavior Change; 3-D Tissue Models; Functional Variation in Mitochondria;Transition from Acute to Chronic Pain; Formulation of Novel Protein Capture Reagents; and Evidence for Pharmacogenomics Clinical Studies.
Notice of Legislative Mandates in Effect for FY 2008 (Feb 2008)
Salary Limitation on Grants, Cooperative Agreements, and Contracts (Jan 2008)
NIH Public Access Policy and related clarifications of policy (Jan, Sept 2008)
Revised PHS 2271, PHS 3734, and HHS 568 Forms Now Available (Jan 2008)
Revised PHS 398 (DHHS Public Health Service Grant Application) Now Available (Jan 2008)
Modified Application Submission, Referral and Review for Appointed NIH Study Section Members (Jan 2008)
NIH Policy on Late Submission of Grant Applications (Jan 2008)
