April 05, 2012

NIH Tutorial on Financial Conflict of Interest

Investigators are encouraged to take a new tutorial on financial conflict of interest developed by the National Institutes of Health.

The NIH web-based tutorial addresses the main requirements of the 2011 revised regulation, Responsibility of Applicants for Promoting Objectivity in Research for which PHS Funding is Sought (Title 42, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 50, Subpart F), for grants and cooperative agreements (commonly known together with the revised regulation for contracts, as the Financial Conflict of Interest [FCOI] regulations). The tutorial highlights the key federal requirements for which the investigator (through the institution’s implementation of the regulation), the institution, and the NIH, are accountable under the FCOI regulation. The tutorial is not intended to substitute for the comprehensive review and implementation of all regulatory requirements.

The University of California Office of the President will also be offering a UC training module for the new NIH regulation; details will be available soon.

Resources

NIH Regional Seminars for 2012: Indianapolis, IN and Washington, DC

Each, year the National Institutes of Health Office of Extramural Research sponsors two NIH Regional Seminars on Program Funding and Grants Administration. The seminars are intended for grants administrators and researchers new to NIH. Early registration is highly recommended, as space is limited.
The NIH Notice on the 2012 seminars notes that optional NIH eRA computer workshops are offered the day prior to the two-day seminar. The half-day workshops are designed for administrators and investigators, providing attendees with hands-on experience utilizing the eRA Commons and the overall electronic grants process.

April 02, 2012

NIH Just-In-Time: Electronic Submission, Business Process Change Effective April 20

The National Institutes of Health has issued a Notice of Requirement for Electronic Submission of Just-in-Time Information and Related Business Process Changes Beginning April 20, 2012.

The notices states that to “reduce application confusion and to minimize requests from NIH staff for JIT submissions, NIH is revising its business processes so applicants will have better information on when JIT submissions are required, and to require electronic submission of JIT information through the eRA Commons as of April 20, 2012.”

Electronic Submission
NIH will require applicants “to submit their information using the JIT feature of the eRA Commons at least 60 days before the applicant’s proposed project period start date (or sooner if requested by the IC).”

Revised Business Processes

NIH is also changing the JIT process so “applications receiving an impact score of 40 or less will receive a standard notice and request for submitting JIT information.” NIH will send notices by e-mail from the eRA Commons to the Project Director(s) and/or Principal Investigator(s) two weeks after release of the impact score. See the Notice for additional details.