Resources for Grants Administrators

NLM Grants Management Staff is responsible for the issuance of grant awards, post-award business and the financial management of awards. Your Grants Management Specialist is listed on your Notice of Grant Award.

General Information

Policies

Frequently Asked Questions

General Information

Welcome Wagon Letter for New Grantees
The NIH Welcome Wagon Letter is an important resource to new recipients and their grants administrators. It provides highlights of key requirements, referrals to important sources of information, and identifies NIH and other Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) offices that have responsibility for certain administrative functions.

The NIH Welcome Wagon Letter for New Grantees can be found at //grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/welcomewagon.htm.

Electronic Research Administration (eRA) Commons
Developed, managed and supported by NIH's Office of Extramural Research, the eRA systems provide information technology solutions and support for the full life cycle of grants administration functions for the NIH as well as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).
The eRA Commons provides recipients with the ability to conduct extramural research business electronically with the NIH. All recipient institutions, Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD/PIs), and individuals in a postdoctoral role who participate in a project for at least one person month or more, must be registered in the eRA Commons. The Commons is the only place where PD/PIs can review assignment information, peer review outcomes, Summary Statements, and other grant documents such as submitted applications and NoAs.

For more information, please visit //era.nih.gov/.
Login is available at https://public.era.nih.gov/commons.
For user support, please contact the eRA Service Desk at https://grants.nih.gov/support/index.html.

Division of Payment Management
All payments for grants awarded by NIH are made through the Division of Payment Management with the exception of awards to agencies of the Federal Government, which are paid by the NIH Office of Financial Management. Applicant organizations are assigned a 12-digit Entity Identification Number for payment and accounting purposes. That number is an expansion of the 9-digit Employer Identification Number assigned to an organization by the Internal Revenue Services.

For more information, please visit www.pms.psc.gov/.
For user support, please contact the PMS Help Desk at https://pms.psc.gov/support/help-desk.html.

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Policies

Grants Policy
The NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) is the hub for grants policy and operations, grants administration, and the coordination of NIH's extramural programs and activities. The OER Grants & Funding website provides updates on NIH extramural policies and activities, links to grants notices and grants policy guidance documents including the NIH Grants Policy Statement. For more information, please visit //grants.nih.gov. The NIH Grants Policy Statement is avaliable at: //grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/introduction.htm

Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI)
Information on the NIH policies regarding objectivity in research and financial conflict of interest can be obtained by visiting https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/coi/index.htm.

System for Award Management (SAM)
In order to receive NLM Grants, all grantee organizations are required to maintain an active registration with SAM, a General Service Administration (GSA) managed system. NLM will not extend application deadlines due to noncompliance of SAM requirements.

For more information on SAM, please visit https://sam.gov.
Sam User Guide is available at https://sam.gov/content/help.
For SAM Service Desk, please visit //www.FSD.gov.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Forms and Deadlines
NIH requires that grantees periodically submit financial and progress reports. Other required reports may include annual invention utilization reports, lobbying disclosures, conflict of interest reports, audit reports, reports to the appropriate payment points (in accordance with instructions received from the payment office), and specialized programmatic reports.

Failure to comply with reporting requirements and to submit the required forms in a timely manner may result in an expenditure disallowance or a delay in any continuation funding.

All grants are required to submit annual progress reports using the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR). SNAP RPPRs are due 45 days prior to the budget period end date. Non-SNAP progress reports are due 60 days prior to the budget period end date. Further information and instructions for the RPPR may be found at: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/rppr/index.htm.

The requirement for timely closeout of grant awards is the recipients responsibility. The Final or Interim Research Performance Progress Report and the Final Invention Statement (HHS 568) must be submitted to NLM via eRA Commons no later than 120 days after the project period end date. A final Federal Financial Report (FFR) is required for any grant that is terminated, transferred to a new grantee, or any award which will not be extended through award of a new competitive segment. Recipients are required to electronically submit the final FFR no later than 120 calendar days after the project period end through the eRA Commons (https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons). Recipients much also report grant disbursements data in the Payment Management System and ensure that all financial reporting is complete and consistent.

Please see your Notice of Grant Award and the NIH Grants Policy Statement for specific reporting requirements.

NIH also provides a central forms library that holds all forms & applications needed to apply for, administer, relinquish or terminate a grant or fellowship. For more information, please visit //grants.nih.gov/grants/forms.htm.

Just-in-Time Information (JIT)
JIT information is additional competing application information that is requested after review, when the application is under consideration for fuding. However, a JIT request is NOT a Notice of Award, nor should it be constructed as an indicator of possible award. JIT information is requested by NLM and submitted through the JIT link available in eRA Commons. The most common JIT information requested by NLM includes, but is not limited to updated Other Support information for key personnel, Human Subjects and Vertebrate Animal related Assurances, Training and Certifications.

Budgets
NLM grants use two budget models, categorical and modular.
For modular applications direct cost are requested in modules of $25,000, with a maxium of 10 modules totaling up to $250,000 each year, plus subaward F&A costs. The number of modules requested should reflect an estimate of reasonable, allocable, consistent and conformant costs for the proposed project. For additional information, please visit the NIH Grants Policy Statement at //grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_13/13_modular_applications_and_awards.htm.

For grants that do not fall under modular budget requirements a categorical budget is required. A categorical budget is a detailed line item budget accompanied by a budget justification narrative which contains detailed calculations for each of the line items requested.

A justification for all applicable consortia/subaward costs, including details such as key personnel and calendar month commitment should be included as a part of your budget. All foreign consortia require the prior approval of NLM. See Foreign Involvement Section for more details.

In general, NIH recipients are allowed a certain degree of latitude to rebudget within and between budget categories after award to meet unanticipated needs and to make other types of postaward changes, as long as the change does not represent a change in scope. Please see https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_8/8.1.2_prior_approval_requirements.htm#Change4 for more information about Change in Scope. NIH recipients may also be allowed carryover authority for unobligated balances. The NoA, Section III terms will indicate whether automatic carryover is allowed under your award. If your award does not have automactic carryover, you must request NLM prior approval in order to use an unobligated balance from a priorbudget period. In addition, the NIH Standard Terms of Award provide the recipient the authority to extend the final budget period of a previously approved project period one time for a period of up to 12 months beyond the original completion date (first time No Cost Extension) via the eRA Commons. NLM requires recipients to provide an interim progress report via email to the Program Officer when enacting a first No-Cost Extension. Other post-award changes may require prior approval from NLM, please see Prior Approval Section for details.

In order to request facilities and administrative costs (sometimes called indirect costs) on a research grant, your organization must have an established, negotiated rate that is accepted by your cognizant agency for indirect costs. A default small business indirect cost rate of 40% is only applicable to SBIR and STTR applications. General information about indirect costs rates, including examples of what can be included and an FAQ, can be found at the web site of the DHHS Division of Cost Allocation, https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asa/psc/indirect-cost-negotiations/index.html. Please also refer to the NIH Grants Policy Statement Chapter 7: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_7/7.4_reimbursement_of_facilities_and_administrative_costs.htm

Current Information on the NIH Salary Cap policy can be found at //grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/salcap_summary.htm.

Notice of Grant Award

The Notice of Award (NoA) is the legal document issued to notify the recipient that an award has been made and that funds may be requested from the designated HHS payment system or office. A NoA is issued for each budget period in the approved project period. The NoA reflects any planned future-year commitments. A revised NoA may be issued during a budget period to effect an action resulting in a change in the period or amount of support or other change in the terms and conditions of award. NIH generally will not issue a revised NoA to reflect a recipient's post-award rebudgeting. Until an IC has issued the NoA for the initial award, any costs incurred for the project are incurred at the applicant's own risk. A recipient indicates acceptance of an NIH award and its associated terms and conditions by drawing or requesting funds from the designated HHS payment system or office.

Each NoA sets forth the amount of funds awarded. The amount may be shown either as a categorical (line item) budget or as an amount for total direct costs (not broken down by category) and an amount for F&A costs, if applicable. The NoA also provides specific NLM terms and conditions applicable to your award in Section IV. Please read the entire NoA carefully and if any questions arise, please do not hesitate to contact the grants management specialist listed on your NoA.

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program
Please see //sbir.nih.gov to learn more about NIH's SBIR and STTR programs.

NLM's SBIR/STTR grant programs are focused on areas of particular interest from small business. See: /ep/grantsbir.html.

NLM may request additional Just-In-Time information specific to new SBIR/STTR recipients such as: SBIR/STTR Verification Statement, Financial Management System Questionnaire, audited financial statements, etc.

Foreign Involvement (Grantee/Consortium)
All applications from foreign organizations and domestic grants with foreign involvement require NIH prior approval. Foreign involvement may include foreign collaborators, performance sites outside of the United States and its territories, as well as foreign travel. Your Grants Management Specialist and/ or Program Official will request additional information related to foreign involvement as deemed necessary. Please see Prior Approval Section for more details.

Prior Approval
NIH Prior Approval requirements can be found at //grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps/HTML5/section_8/8.1_changes_in_project_and_budget.htm#Requests

In order to submit a prior approval request, please submit the request in writing from an authorized organizational representative to your NLM Grants Management Specialist, with a copy to your NLM Program Officer.

Program and Grants Management contacts are listed on your Notice of Award.

Some types of prior approval requests may be submitted via the eRA Commons:

Change of PD/PI
No-Cost Extension (2^nd NCE or late 1^st NCE)
Carryover

For more information about submitting prior approval requests electronically, please see: https://era.nih.gov/erahelp/Commons/default.htm#Commons/Prior_Approval%20Module/Prior_Approval.htm

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Last Reviewed: October 20, 2023