NIH Issues Legislative Mandates FY 2016, Including Salary Cap Increase

The National Institutes of Health has issued the Notice of Legislative Mandates in Effect for FY 2016 (NOT-OD-16-044). The notice provides information on statutory provisions that limit the use of funds on NIH grant, cooperative agreement, and contract awards for FY 2016.

The notice includes an increase to the salary limitation, or salary cap, with further information available in the Notice on Salary Limitation on Grants, Cooperative Agreements, and Contracts (NOT-OD-16-045). NOT-OD-16-145 states that for “FY 2016, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (Public Law 114-113), signed into law on December 18, 2015, restricts the amount of direct salary to Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale. The Executive Level II salary is currently set at $183,300, increasing to $185,100 effective January 10, 2016.”

January 20, 2016 update:

• NIH Fiscal Policy for Grant Awards - FY 2016 (NOT-OD-16-046)
• Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Stipends, Tuition/Fees and Other Budgetary Levels Effective for Fiscal Year 2016 (NOT-OD-16-047)

January 26, 2016 update:

• Revised: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Stipends, Tuition/Fees and Other Budgetary Levels Effective for Fiscal Year 2016 (NOT-OD-16-062)

January 28, 2016 update:

• Notice of Correction to Salary Limitation on NIH Grants, and Cooperative Agreements (NOT-OD-16-059)

NIH ASSIST Available for All Competing Grant Applications and Some Post-award Actions

ASSIST is the National Institutes of Health system for the preparation, submission and tracking of grant applications through Grants.gov to NIH. Throughout 2015, ASSIST support expanded to a variety of grant programs according to a timeline which is now complete.

ASSIST is now an option for:

• all single and multi-project, competing grant applications;
• single-project administrative supplements;
• single-project, post-award successor-in-interest (type 6) requests; and
• single-project, post-award change of institution (type 7) requests.

For more information, see ASSIST Now an Option for All NIH Competing Grant Applications and Some Post-award Administrative Actions (NOT-OD-16-042), as well as SPO’s NIH Proposals and Awards at Berkeley.

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November 20, 2015 Research Advocate: NIH ASSIST Now an Option for Fellowship Grant Applications
July 20, 2015 Research Advocate: NIH ASSIST Available for Ts, K12, and Other Training and Research Programs
May 1, 2015 Research Advocate: NIH ASSIST Now an Option for R01, Most K, and U01 Applications
January 30, 2015 Research Advocate: An ASSIST for NIH R03 and R21

NIH Issues Strategic Plan for FY 2016-2020

The National Institutes of Health has published a new NIH-Wide Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2016–2020: Turning Discovery Into Health.

The plan focuses on four objectives, to:

1. advance opportunities in biomedical research in fundamental science, treatment and cures, and health promotion and disease prevention;
2. foster innovation by setting NIH priorities to enhance nimbleness, consider burden of disease and value of permanently eradicating a disease, and advance research opportunities presented by rare diseases;
3. enhance scientific stewardship by recruiting and retaining an outstanding biomedical research workforce, enhancing workforce diversity and impact through partnerships, ensuring rigor and reproducibility, optimizing approaches to inform funding decisions, encouraging innovation, and engaging in proactive risk management practices; and
4. excel as a federal science agency by managing for results by developing the “science of science,” balancing outputs with outcomes, conducting workforce analyses, continually reviewing peer review, evaluating steps to enhance rigor and reproducibility, reducing administrative burden, and tracking effectiveness of risk management in decision making.

See the NIH press release, NIH Unveils FY2016–2020 Strategic Plan, for more information.

New Version of the Subrecipient Commitment Form

The Sponsored Projects Office has made some necessary changes to the Subrecipient Commitment Form under “Section F: Certifications 6. Conflict of Interest.”

This change was needed because subrecipients without an active and enforced conflict of interest policy consistent with the provisions of the National Science Foundation or the Public Health Service are no longer going to be allowed to rely on Berkeley’s Conflict of Interest policy.

All subrecipients now will have to have an appropriate COI policy in place prior to Berkeley issuing a subagreement under a prime award from NSF/PHS or any organization that has adopted the PHS or NSF Conflict of Interest requirements.

This is explained under Section F: Certifications 6. Conflict of Interest.

Important: Before a proposal is submitted to the NSF or the PHS or any organization that that has adopted PHS or NSF COI requirements, subrecipient investigators (as defined by applicable regulations) from entities without an active an enforced conflict of interest policy must complete the PHS Financial Disclosure (Form 5) or the NSF Financial Disclosure Form (as appropriate) and attach it to the Subrecipient Commitment Form before it is submitted to SPO. Failure to do this will prevent the submission of the proposal.

The new Subrecipient Commitment Form dated (12/2015) must be used by January 15, 2016. All other versions of the Subrecipient Commitment Form submitted to SPO after this date will be returned.

During the interim period, the previous version of the form will be accepted by SPO as long as a new Section F: Certifications 6. Conflict of Interest also is provided with appropriate disclosure forms.

2015 Sponsored Projects Annual Report Published

The Sponsored Projects Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2015 is now available on the SPO website. The report provides information on campus proposals and awards during the past year; in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, the Berkeley campus received $690.8 million in contract and grant awards.

NIH ASSIST Now an Option for Fellowship Grant Applications

ASSIST is the National Institutes of Health system for the preparation, submission and tracking of grant applications through Grants.gov to NIH.

ASSIST can now be used for NIH fellowship grant applications (F05, F30, F31, F32, F33, and FI2). By the end of 2015, ASSIST will be a submission option for all NIH competing grant applications.

For more information, see the NIH Guide Notice ASSIST Now an Option for Fellowship Grant Applications (NOT-OD-16-023), as well as SPO’s NIH Proposals and Awards at Berkeley.

Request for Comments on New Federal Research Terms and Conditions

The National Science Foundation is requesting public comment on the updated federal Research Terms and Conditions (RTC) to address and implement the Uniform Guidance. Comments must be received by December 14, 2015.

For details, see the Federal Register Notice - Research Terms and Conditions to address and implement the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance), 2 CFR § 200, along with the Draft Research Terms and Conditions Overlay to the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance), 2 CFR § 200 on the Federal-Wide Research Terms and Conditions page hosted by NSF.

The agencies participating include the: U. S. Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Institute of Standards and Technology; U.S. Department of Energy; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; National Science Foundation; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/National Institutes of Health; U.S. Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture; U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Aviation Administration; and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

NIH Changes in November

The National Institutes of Health will be making significant changes to the FY 2016 NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS). The FY 2016 NIHGPS will be available in November. However, NIH has provided a document describing these changes.

Among the changes are the following:

1. To reduce administrative burden, NIH will allow our recipients to reduce effort during a NCE without prior approval.
2. Applications containing one or more biosketches that do not conform to the required format may be withdrawn (NOT-OD-15-032).
3. Applications that do not conform to the page limit requirements because inappropriate materials have been included in other parts of the application may be withdrawn (NOT-OD-11-080).
4. Applications submitted as new but containing elements of a resubmission or renewal application are noncompliant with the resubmission policy and may be withdrawn (NOT-OD-15-059).
5. Applications submitted after 5 PM local (applicant organization) time on the application due date may be withdrawn (NOT-OD-15-039).
6. Any change in research procedures in an active award that would result in an increased risk to human subjects will require prior NIH approval before implementation.

For more information, see the NIH Summary of Upcoming Significant Changes to the NIH Grants Policy Statement and the NIH Guide Notice, Significant Changes: FY 2016 NIH Grants Policy Statement (NOT-OD-16-017).

Update: On November 25, NIH issued:

• Publication of the Revised NIH Grants Policy Statement (Rev. 11/2015) for FY 2016 (NOT-OD-16-030), and
• Revised SF424 (R&R) Application Guides and Supplemental Instructions Available for Application Due Dates On and Between January 25, 2016 and May 24, 2016 (NOT-OD-16-029).

For NSF PIs: NSF Public Access Repository

The following message is from Jean Feldman at the NSF Policy Office. The intent of the message is to get NSF PIs of any active or closed awards to begin to voluntarily deposit publications in NSF’s Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) starting in December/January 2015.

This will enable NSF to make copies of articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and juried conference papers resulting from NSF awards available to the public free of charge no more than 12 months after initial publication. The Repository will enable NSF-funded investigators to meet this deposit requirement for publications and to include the relevant information in their project reports. The Repository also will provide search mechanisms to enable the public to find and use these articles and papers.

The complete announcement from NSF follows.

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Dear Colleagues:

With the release of the Public Access plan, Today’s Data, Tomorrow’s Discoveries, the National Science Foundation (NSF) continues its commitment to expand public access to the results of its funded research. In accordance with its stated plan, NSF will make the published results of federally funded research freely available to the public within one year of publication. This NSF requirement will apply to new awards resulting from proposals submitted, or due, on or after January 25, 2016, which will be the effective date of the updated Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG).

More information is provided below on NSF’s Public Access solution, the planned pilot of the publications repository and how you can help.

About Public Access

NSF’s Public Access plan (NSF 15-52) describes a set of steps that meet the policy objectives set forth in the February 22, 2013 memorandum issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research. These include making copies of articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and juried conference papers resulting from NSF awards available to the public free of charge no more than 12 months after initial publication. The NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) provides mechanisms that enable NSF-funded investigators to meet this deposit requirement for publications and to include the relevant information in their project reports. NSF-PAR also provides search mechanisms to enable the public to find and use these articles and papers. (Note: the existing NSF Data Management requirement specified in the Grant Proposal Guide Chapter II.C.2.j remains unchanged.)

About the Pilot

In order to gain early feedback on NSF’s Public Access solution for publications, NSF will begin a pilot following release of the “Beta” version of the NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) in December/January 2015. The pilot will provide NSF with early feedback from the research community to evaluate the NSF Public Access solution from both the public’s perspective and from that of the Principal Investigator (PIs) and co-PI(s).

Who can participate in the Pilot?

PIs or co-PIs from any active or closed awards from NSF are encouraged to participate in the pilot provided they know their Research.gov/FastLane credentials and have a copy of the published journal or juried conference paper. Additionally, NSF will reach out to select PIs/co-PIs with recent awards to elicit volunteers for an enhanced pilot. These PIs/co-PIs will be asked to use NSF-PAR and several new project reporting features during the period of the pilot.

How you can help

As we approach the “Beta” launch, we would appreciate your assistance in encouraging PIs/co-PIs to begin voluntarily depositing publications in NSF-PAR starting in December/January 2015. Detailed instructions on how to deposit publications in NSF-PAR will be available on Research.gov.

For more information on Public Access, please see the Public Access Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). If you have any questions about the upcoming Public Access pilot, please feel free to reach out by emailing nsf-par@nsf.gov.

NSF Issues Revised PAPPG for 2016

The National Science Foundation has issued a revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), (NSF 16-1).

The new PAPPG will be effective for proposals submitted, or due, on or after January 25, 2016. Significant changes include:

• Enforcement of 5 p.m. submitter’s local time across all NSF funding opportunities;
• Implementation of NSF’s Public Access Policy;
• Submission of proposal certifications by the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) concurrently with proposal submission;
• NSF’s implementation of the US Government Policy for Institutional Oversight of Life Sciences on Dual Use Research of Concern;
• Provision of Collaborators and Other Affiliations information as a new single-copy document, instead of as part of the Biographical Sketch;
• Submission of Biographical Sketches and Current and Pending Support separately for each senior personnel;
• Electronic signature and submission of notifications and requests by the AOR only;
• Revision of timeframe for submission of final project reports, project outcomes reports and financial closure of awards to 120 days after the award end date; and
• Numerous clarifications throughout the document.

Given the number of important revisions, NSF strongly encourages the community to review the by-chapter summary of changes provided in the Introduction section of the PAPPG.

NSF will host a webinar to brief the community on the new PAPPG will on October 29  at 11:00 am Pacific Time. Registration is required.

While this version of the PAPPG becomes effective on January 25, 2016, in the interim, the guidelines contained in the current PAPPG (NSF 15-1) continue to apply.

NIH and AHRQ Announce Changes for Policies, Instructions, and Forms in 2016

The National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality have published notices informing the biomedical and health services research communities of planned changes to policies, forms, and instructions for grant applications submitted in 2016.

The planned changes focus on the following areas: rigor and transparency in research, vertebrate animals, inclusion reporting, data safety monitoring, research training, appendices, font requirements, and biosketch clarifications.

Announced changes will occur in two phases.

Phase 1: Effective for NIH/AHRQ applications submitted for due dates on or after January 25, 2016.

• Use of a new “Authentication of Key Biological and/or Chemical Resources” attachment (uploaded in Other Attachments section of R&R Other Project Information form)
• Vertebrate Animals (applies to NIH but not AHRQ)
  
  • Updated guidance on criteria to be addressed (description of procedures; justifications; minimization of pain and distress; and euthanasia)
  • A description of veterinary care is no longer required
  • Justification for the number of animals has been eliminated
  • A description and justification of the method of euthanasia is required only if the method is not consistent with AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals
• Definition of “child” (applies to NIH but not AHRQ) The age of a “child” for the purposes of NIH’s inclusion policy will apply to individuals who are 18 years old instead of under 21 years old.
• Updated requirements and instructions for several attachments on the PHS 398 Research Training Program Plan form:
  
  • “Recruitment and Retention Plan to Enhance Diversity” - applicants will be asked to focus on recruitment
  • “Human Subjects” - applicants must describe how the institution will ensure that trainees only participate in exempt human subjects research or non-exempt human subjects research that has IRB approval; no longer necessary to provide a list of potential grants trainees may work on and associated IRB information
  • “Vertebrate Animals” - applicants must describe how the institution will ensure that trainees only participate in vertebrate animal research that has IACUC approval; no longer necessary to provide a list of potential grants trainees may work on and associated IACUC information
  • “Progress Report” - requirement to report on publications that arose from work conducted by the trainee while supported by the training grant will be moved to the Just-in-Time process
    

Phase 2: Completes the implementation with the introduction of new (FORMS-D) forms and instructions and will impact due dates on or after May 25, 2016.

More information on this phase will be provided in 2016.

See NIH & AHRQ Announce Upcoming Changes to Policies, Instructions and Forms for 2016 Grant Applications (NOT-OD-16-004) for additional details.

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In a related notice, NIH & AHRQ Announce Upcoming Changes to Post-Award Forms and Instructions (NOT-OD-16-005), NIH and AHRQ plan to change policies, forms, and instructions for interim and final progress reports, and other post-award documents associated the monitoring, oversight, and closeout of an award. This also applies to revised Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) forms.

• Changes to Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPR)
  
  • As of 12/1/2015: New training data tables. See NOT-OD-15-112 and NOT-OD-16-007.
  • As of 1/22/2016: Updates Coming to the Screens in the Inclusion Management System (IMS). More information will be posted in a separate Guide Notice just prior to when the changes will be implemented.
  • As of 1/25/2016: Addition of clarifying rigor language. See NOT-OD-16-011 and NOT-OD-15-012.
• Changes to the following forms also are anticipated:
  
  • PHS 2271— Statement of Appointment—as of 1/22/2016
  • PHS 416-7— NRSA Termination Notice—as of 1/22/2016
  • PHS 2590— Noncompeting Continuation Progress Report—as of 3/25/2016
  • Final Progress Report Instructions—as of 3/25/2016

Curious About UC Berkeley’s External Funding?

Are you curious about the external funding coming to UC Berkeley? RAC Information Systems has created two new interactive dashboards to provide data on the source of Berkeley’s external funding and award processing time.

The Sponsored Projects Funding dashboard provides access to external funding data summarized by sponsoring agency and department. The data can be further sorted by sponsor type, control unit, and fiscal year using the check boxes on the right hand side of the page.

Award Processing Time shows the turnaround time it takes to process awards received. The data can be sorted by sponsor class and year received using the check boxes on the right hand side. Note that as of October 2015, 63.38% of awards received at Berkeley are processed in under 14 days, and 84.23% of awards are processed in under 30 days.

Data will be refreshed quarterly at the beginning of the quarter.

NIH Hosting Webinars for Applicants and Grant Administrators

The National Institutes of Health is offering two webinars in November 2015 for new NIH applicants, their mentors, and grant administrators.

The University Research Administrators webinar is on November 5, 2015 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time. The Research Project Grants (R01) webinar is November 6, 2015 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time. NIH is asking participants to register by October 29, 2015.

For more information, see the NIH Guide notice Webinars for Applicants and Grant Administrators: What You Need to Know About NIH Application Submission and Review (NOT-OD-15-154). The NIH webinar page includes both registration and links to archived webinars and presentation slides.

New Report on Regulation of Federally Funded Research

In response to concerns that regulation of federally funded research has become overly burdensome to the nation’s scientific enterprise, Congress asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study of federal regulations and reporting requirements directed at research universities and to develop a new framework for regulation.

The National Academy of Sciences Committee on Federal Research Regulations and Reporting Requirements released Part 1 of a two-part report, Optimizing The Nation’s Investment in Academic Research: A New Regulatory Framework for the 21st Century. The report identifies specific actions Congress, the White House, federal agencies, and research institutions should take to reduce the regulatory burden.

The report is available online. For more information, see the press release and Committee on Federal Research Regulations and Reporting Requirements: A New Framework for Research Universities in the 21st Century.

HHS Announces Proposal to Improve Rules Protecting Human Research Subjects

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced proposed revisions to the regulations that govern research on individuals who participate in research, often referred to as the Common Rule.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) requests comments for HHS to consider as it drafts the final rule. HHS will take public comment on this NPRM for 90 days, beginning September 8, 2015.

For more information, see the HHS press release.

NIH Asks for Help to Improve Grant Application Instructions

The National Institutes of Health is asking for input on restructuring NIH grant application instructions. NIH encourages comments and feedback from principal investigators, research administrators, and any other parties that rely on NIH application submission information.

For more information, see Request for Information (RFI): Strategies for Simplifying NIH’s Grant Application Instructions (NOT-OD-15-134).

Responses to the RFI must be submitted electronically on the submission website by September 25, 2015.

NIH Researchers: Changes That Involve Human Subjects in Active Awards

Current National Institutes of Health policy requires prior approval from the NIH awarding Institute/Center (IC) for a change in scope. One of the potential indicators of a change in scope is a change from the approved involvement of human subjects.

Such changes include:

1. An addition or change to the study design/protocol that would result in the need to change the overall human subjects’ designation or clinical trial designation of the grant:

• From non-human subjects research to human subjects research (exempt or non-exempt);
• From exempt to non-exempt human subjects research; or
• From “No Clinical Trial” to “Includes a Clinical Trial”; see revised NIH definition of clinical trial

2. The new inclusion of subject populations that are covered by additional regulatory protections under 45 CFR 46 subparts B, C or D (pregnant women, human fetuses, and neonates; prisoners; or children)

3. Any change to the study protocol that would result in an overall increase in risk level for subjects, including physical, psychological, financial, legal or other risks.

4. New information that comes to light after a study is underway which indicates a higher level of risk to participants than previously recognized for a study intervention, procedure, or pharmacological treatment.

Process for Submitting Prior Approval Requests

Individuals designated as an award’s Program Director/Principal Investigator are strongly encouraged to discuss any potential changes in human subjects’ research under consideration with the Grants Management Officer (GMO) and Program Official at the funding IC to determine if the proposed changes will require prior approval as a change from the approved involvement of human subjects.

Prior approval requests must be submitted in writing (including submission by email) by the Authorized Organization Representative to the GMO of the funding IC no later than 30 days before the proposed change.

Although proposed changes may be addressed in the annual progress report, the formal prior approval request must be submitted as a separate request to the funding IC, prior to initiating the new human subjects’ activities.

For more information, including what required documentation should be included in the Prior Approval Request, see Guidance on Changes That Involve Human Subjects in Active Awards and That Will Require Prior NIH Approval: Updated Notice (NOT-OD-15-128).

NIH Seeks Suggestions on NIH-wide Strategic Plan

In response to a request from the Congress, the National Institutes of Health is developing a five-year NIH-wide Strategic Plan. The goal is not to outline the important research opportunities for specific disease applications, but to highlight major trans-NIH themes. NIH is inviting comments and suggestions regarding the proposed framework from the scientific research community and the general public. Responses are due by August 16, 2015.

For more information, see Request for Information (RFI): Inviting Comments and Suggestions on a Framework for the NIH-wide Strategic Plan (NOT-OD-15-118).

Comments Invited on Draft RPPR Revision

The National Science Foundation has published a “request for public comment on an updated standardized Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) format to be used for both interim and final performance progress reporting” in the July 23 Federal Register. Comments are due September 21.

The RPPR was originally developed for use in preparation and submission of annual and other interim performance progress reports, resulting from an initiative of the Research Business Models (RBM) federal interagency working group. A revised draft of the format has been developed to incorporate lessons learned by agencies during the initial implementation. On behalf of the RBM, NSF will continue to serve as the sponsor of the updated version of the federal-wide performance progress reporting format.

The draft format, a summary of significant changes, and the Federal Register notice are available on the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) page hosted by NSF.

NIH ASSIST Available for Ts, K12, and Other Training and Research Programs

The National Institutes of Health has announced that ASSIST is now a submission option for NIH Institutional Training and Career Development applications (Ts and K12), other training applications (Ds), and additional research applications.

ASSIST is an optional online system to help with the preparation and submission of certain types of NIH grant applications through Grants.gov. Please note that all ASSIST users working on an application must have eRA Commons accounts and all standard registration requirements apply.

As of July 2015, ASSIST support is now available for the following programs:

• All multi-project grant programs (May 2013: NOT-OD-13-075)
• Small Research Grant (R03) and Exploratory/Developmental Grant (R21) programs (January 2015: NOT-OD-15-062)
• Research Grant (R01), Research Project Cooperative Agreements and Individual Career Development Award (K, excluding K12) programs (April 2015: NOT-OD-15-098, NOT-OD-15-099)
• Institutional Training and Career Development programs (Ts and K12), other training programs (Ds), and additional research applications (DP7, R13, R15, R18, R21/R33, R24, R25, R33, R34, R35, R36, R61/R33, RF1, RM1, SI2/R00, U13, U18, U24, U2R, U34, UA5, UF1, UG3/UH3, UH1, UH2, UH2/UH3, UH3, UH4, UM1)

For more information, see ASSIST Now an Option for Institutional Training and Career Development (Ts and K12), Other Training Grants (Ds) and Various Research Applications (NOT-OD-15-126).

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May 1, 2015 Research Advocate: NIH ASSIST Now an Option for R01, Most K, and U01 Applications
January 30, 2015 Research Advocate: An ASSIST for NIH R03 and R21

DoD Seeks Proposals for the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) and Defense University Instrumentation Program (DURIP)

The U.S. Department of Defense is soliciting proposals for two funding programs, the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) and the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP).

The MURI program supports basic research in science and engineering at U.S. institutions of higher education that is of potential interest to DoD. The program is focused on multidisciplinary research efforts where more than one traditional discipline interacts to provide rapid advances in scientific areas of interest to the DoD. The program addresses high risk basic research and attempts to understand or achieve something that has never been done before. Awards are $1,000,000 to $2,500,000 per year, for a three year-base period with one two-year option period to bring the total maximum term of the award to five years. The program deadlines are September 8, 2015 for white papers, and December 7, 2015 for proposals. For more information, see the Grants.gov listings: Office of Naval Research, Army Research Office, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

DURIP is designed to improve the capabilities of U.S. institutions of higher education to conduct research and to educate scientists and engineers in areas important to national defense, by providing funds for the acquisition of research equipment. Grants will be for the purchase of research equipment costing $50,000 or more, which typically cannot be purchased within the budgets of single-investigator awards. DoD estimates that 180 awards will be made across the administering agencies, ranging from $50,000 to $1,500,000, with an approximate average award of $290,000. The deadline for proposals is September 25, 2015. For more information, see the Grants.gov listings: Office of Naval Research, Army Research Office, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Also see the Interim Vice Chancellor for Research Calmessages notice for these programs: DoD Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) and Defense University Instrumentation Program (DURIP).

New Method: Proposal and Award Status Updates in Phoebe Search

According to Sponsored Project Office FY 2015 metric data, nearly 60% of awards received by SPO are processed within 14 calendar days, and approximately 75% of awards received in SPO are processed within 30 days. These data, while noteworthy, do not meet the needs of a PI who is interested in obtaining a status update on one particular proposal or individual award being processed through SPO.

Unfortunately it is impossible for SPO Contract and Grant Officers to respond to every inquiry about the individual status of the over 3,000 proposals and 4,500 award transactions processed through SPO each year. To do so would divert SPO’s Contract and Grant Officers from the essential task of actually processing these transactions.

However, Phoebe Search now offers another way for the campus to obtain basic status information about a particular proposal or award transaction without contacting a SPO Contract and Grant Officer. These are the steps:

1. Log in to Phoebe Search using your CalNet ID: https://phoebe.rac.berkeley.edu/search/
2. Enter the four digit Phoebe proposal number in the Phoebe Search Box.
3. If the proposal has been submitted to the sponsor, the status of the proposal will be listed as, “Approval Pending - Submitted.”
4. If the proposal has been submitted but the award document related to the proposal has not yet been received by SPO the status line will read, “Awaiting sponsor decision.”
5. If the award document related to the proposal has been received by SPO but the award has not yet been released by SPO the status line will read, “Award Received - in process.”
6. To check on the status of a fund advance:
   
   1. On the left hand side of the Phoebe Search page choose “award.”
   2. Enter the four digit Phoebe proposal number in the Phoebe Search Box.
   3. If a fund advance request has been received and processed the status will read “Fund advance.”

Please note: Since the vast majority of awards are processed by SPO within 30 days, PIs are encouraged to wait to contact SPO about an award with the status “Award Received – in process” until after 30 calendar days have passed. Award terms are being negotiated during this time, and when complex awards and contracts are being negotiated it may take time to reach agreement on these terms.

SPO is working on ways to make all SPO actions more transparent to the campus, and our efforts to provide an increasing number of status displays in Phoebe Search during the award negotiation process is a work in progress. With that in mind, campus PIs and Department/CSS RAs are asked to check Phoebe Search before initiating a “status call” to SPO so that work on these important campus transactions can take place.

New NIH Grant Instructions Effective January 2016

The National Institutes of Health will be revising grant application instructions and review criteria to enhance reproducibility of research findings through increased scientific rigor and transparency. Revisions will focus on four areas: 1) the scientific premise of the proposed research, 2) rigorous experimental design for robust and unbiased results, 3) consideration of relevant biological variables, and 4) authentication of key biological and/or chemical resources.

Pending OMB approval, NIH will incorporate the revisions into the SF424 (Research and Related) Application Guide and funding opportunity announcements in fall of 2015, for applications submitted for the January 25, 2016 due date and beyond.

New Expectations:

1. NIH will expect applicants to describe the general strengths and weaknesses of the prior research being cited by the investigator as crucial to support the application. Failure to identify these weaknesses and propose ways to improve going forward will be considered a proposal weakness.
2. Applicants will be expected to describe how they will achieve robust and unbiased results when describing the experimental design and proposed methods. Researchers will be expected to use methods designed to avoid bias and which can be reproduced under well-controlled and reported experimental conditions.
3. NIH expects that gender as a biological variable will be factored into research designs, analyses, and reporting in vertebrate animal and human studies. Strong justification from the scientific literature, preliminary data or other relevant considerations must be provided for applications proposing to study only one gender.
4. Research plans and findings are expected to clearly indicate which biological variables are tested or controlled. Clear justification will need to be provided for exclusion of variables that may be relevant but are not considered in the research plan.
5. Even though there are not clear consensus guidelines on authenticating different types of resources, NIH expects that key biological and/or chemical resources will be regularly authenticated to ensure their identity and validity for use in the proposed studies. These include, but are not limited to, cell lines, specialty chemicals, antibodies and other biologics. In the absence of clear guidelines, researchers should transparently report on what they have done to authenticate key resources, so that consensus can emerge.

Application Preparation/Review Changes:

1. Applicants will be instructed to include their consideration of scientific premise, rigorous experimental design, and consideration of sex and other relevant biological variables in the Research Strategy section. Page limits for this section will not change.
2. Reviewers will be asked to evaluate scientific premise as part of Significance, and rigorous experimental design and consideration of sex and other biological variables as part of the Approach criteria. As such, evaluation of these three areas will be included in the assessment of overall impact.
3. Authentication of Key Resources will be incorporated as a new attachment under the Other Research Plan Sections and reviewers will be asked to comment on the plan but not consider it when scoring overall impact.

NIH will provide more detailed information about the specifics of implementation this fall.

NIH has created a new site to assist applicants and grantees, Rigor and Reproducibility, including a Frequently Asked Questions page.

For more information, see Enhancing Reproducibility through Rigor and Transparency (NOT-OD-15-103), Consideration of Sex as a Biological Variable in NIH-funded Research (NOT-OD-15-102), and Rock Talk article Enhancing Reproducibility in NIH-supported Research through Rigor and Transparency.

SPO aTwitter

The Sponsored Projects Office has initiated a new communication strategy for the Berkeley campus community. SPO is now posting updates and news related to contracts and grants on Twitter. Follow SPO at @BerkeleySPO.

Education Department Hosting Webcast on Uniform Guidance

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) invites grantees and constituents to participate in a live webcast discussion of the Department’s implementation of the interim final rule on the Uniform Guidance (2 C.F.R. § 200). The webcast is scheduled for Wednesday, May 27, 2015, from 10:30 to noon, Pacific Time, on Edstream. ED invites questions before and during the presentation, submitted to uniformgrantsguidanceimplementation@ed.gov.

More information on the agency’s implementation of the Uniform Guidance is available on the Technical Assistance for ED Grantees site.

NSF Seeks Comments on Draft PAPPG

The National Science Foundation Policy Office has published a draft Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) to be effective January 2016.

NSF is inviting comments on the draft by July 20, 2015. To facilitate review, NSF has highlighted revised text in yellow and provided brief comments explaining the changes.

New UC Berkeley Guide to Contracting

The University of California, Berkeley Guide to Contracting is now available on the Business Contracts and Brand Protection website.

The guide, developed over two years by a campus working group, presents a thorough overview of all of the contracting offices at Berkeley and is designed to assist campus personnel (administrators, staff, faculty, and researchers) understand the general process of creating, managing, and terminating legally binding contracts.

For a quick decision on where a particular type of transaction belongs, click the “Start Here” link on the BCBP Who Does What Guide and use the decision tree (series of questions) to determine where to start.

NIH ASSIST Now an Option for R01, Most K, and U01 Applications

The National Institutes of Health has announced that ASSIST is now a submission option for Research Grant (R01) and Individual Career Development Award (K, excluding KM1 and K12) programs and for Research Project Cooperative Agreements (U01s). ASSIST is the NIH online system for preparation and submission of grant applications through Grants.gov to NIH.

ASSIST support is now available for the following NIH programs:

• All multi-project grant programs (NOT-OD-13-075)
• Small Research Grant (R03) and Exploratory/Developmental Grant (R21) programs (NOT-OD-15-062)
• Research Grant (R01) and Individual Career Development Award (K, excluding KM1 and K12) programs (NOT-OD-15-098)
• NIH Research Project Cooperative Agreements (U01s) (NOT-OD-15-099)

ASSIST will become an option for additional grant programs throughout 2015.

For more information, see ASSIST Now an Option for R01 and Individual Career Development Award Applications (NOT-OD-15-098) and ASSIST Now an Option for Research Project Cooperative Agreements (U01s) (NOT-OD-15-099). Also see the NIH Rock Talk article, More ASSISTance Options for Submitting Your Application to NIH.

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January 30, 2015 Research Advocate: An ASSIST for NIH R03 and R21

UC President's Research Catalyst Award

University of California President Janet Napolitano and UC Research Initiatives have issued a Request for Proposals for the 2016 President’s Research Catalyst Awards. This president’s initiative aims to advance innovative research in areas of strategic importance to UC that has the potential to benefit California, the nation and the world, and to stimulate public support for UC research that fulfills the following programmatic goals:

• Catalyze innovative scholarship that makes significant contributions to knowledge and science in areas of strategic importance to UC, and that has the potential to improve human lives, society, the environment, or the economy, enhance culture and community, or provide other public benefit
• Catalyze multicampus and systemwide collaboration that positions UC as a national leader
• Catalyze faculty collaboration across career stages to provide mentorship, support professional advancement, and position UC faculty as leaders in key fields
• Catalyze graduate student training opportunities in cutting-edge interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary research
• Catalyze public engagement in the UC research mission through opportunities for community collaborative research, citizen science, or other community outreach, education and engagement
• Catalyze undergraduate participation in research through educational, curricular or training/internship components (as appropriate to the fields and disciplines)

The competition is open to all fields of research and interdisciplinary or thematic collaboration. All proposals must be submitted by academic appointees with Principal Investigator status at a UC campus, and must include participation of at least three UC campuses.

Key Dates:

• Applicant Teleconferences: May 1-8, 2015 (Pre-registration is required.)
• Required Letters of Intent Due: Thursday, June 4, 2015
• Notification of LOI Decision: by Friday, July 10, 2015
• Invited Full Proposals Due: Wednesday, August 26, 2015

NSF FastLane Automated Compliance Checking Effective April 24, 2015

The message below was issued on April 20, 2015, by Jean Feldman, Head, Policy Office, Division of Institution and Award Support, National Science Foundation. For more information, see Automated Compliance Checking of NSF Proposals.

Dear Colleagues:

Beginning April, 24, 2015, proposals submitted in response to Program Solicitations in FastLane will undergo a series of  automated proposal compliance validation checks to ensure they comply with requirements outlined in the Proposal & Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (Chapter II.C.2. of the Grants Proposal Guide (GPG)). These checks will automatically validate a proposal for compliance against proposal sections per type of funding mechanism. For example, an error message will appear if a project description or budget are not provided in proposals submitted in response to a Program Solicitation.

Checks will be triggered when proposers select the “Check Proposal,” “Forward to SPO,” or “Submit Proposal” functions. Depending on the rule being checked, a warning or error message will display when a proposal is found to be non-compliant. If an error message appears, the proposal cannot be submitted until it is compliant.
Please note that these automated compliance checks will not be conducted on proposals submitted to NSF via Grants.gov.

To view a detailed list of all compliance checks, click here

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January 16, 2015 Research Advocate: NSF Updates to FastLane and Research.gov on January 26
February 20, 2013 Research Advocate: NSF FastLane Begins Automated Proposal Compliance Checking on March 18

NIH Seeks Input on Strategies to Optimize Impact and Sustainability of Biomedical Research

The National Institutes of Health is requesting input regarding the possible development of new policies and other strategies to improve the impact and sustainability of the NIH-funded biomedical research enterprise.

NIH seeks input from researchers, academic institutions, professional societies, and other stakeholders on any or all of these areas:

1. Key issues that currently limit the impact of NIH’s funding for biomedical research and challenge the sustainability of the biomedical research enterprise. We welcome responses that explain why these issues are of high importance.
2. Ideas about adjusting current funding policies to ensure both continued impact and sustainability of the NIH-supported research enterprise. We welcome responses that point to specific strengths or weaknesses in current policies and suggest how we can build on or improve them.
3. Ideas for new policies, strategies, and other approaches that would increase the impact and sustainability of NIH-funded biomedical research.
4. Any other issues that respondents feel are relevant.

NIH will accept responses through May 17, 2015. Responses must be submitted electronically.

For more information, see the April 2 NIH Guide Notice, Request for Information (RFI): Optimizing Funding Policies and Other Strategies to Improve the Impact and Sustainability of Biomedical Research (NOT-OD-15-084), as well as a Rock Talk article by Jon Lorsch and Sally Rockey, Give Input on Strategies for Optimizing the Impact and Sustainability of Biomedical Research.

NSF Issues Uniform Guidance FAQs

The National Science Foundation has issued Frequently Asked Questions on the National Science Foundation’s Implementation of 2 CFR § 200 (Uniform Guidance). The new FAQs are available on the NSF Policy Office page.

The following is the text of the FAQs:

1. Which awards incorporate the new Uniform Guidance requirements?

The Uniform Guidance is effective for awards and funding increments on existing awards made on or after December 26, 2014. The Uniform Guidance will not be incorporated in the following circumstances:

• If the award is a standard grant made prior to December 26, 2014; or
• If the award is a continuing grant that has received all of its funding increments prior to December 26, 2014.

2. With the implementation of the new Uniform Guidance, how does an awardee know which terms and conditions apply an award?

For existing awards made prior to December 26, 2014, the terms and conditions referenced in the award notice will continue to apply. If an existing award receives a funding increment on or after December 26, 2014, then the Grant General Conditions (GC-1) will be incorporated by reference into that funding amendment.

3. If an existing award receives a non-funding amendment (i.e., an amendment that does not provide any additional funding, such as a change of PI), is the amendment subject to the Grant General Conditions (GC-1) dated December 26, 2014?

No. The GC-1 is effective for new NSF awards and funding amendments to existing awards made on or after December 26, 2014. Non-funding amendments do not change the terms and conditions of the current award, except as noted in the administrative change.

4. If an existing award receives an amendment and the new GC-1 is incorporated, is it necessary to request a retroactive approval for items that normally require prior approvals?

Once an existing award receives a funding amendment that incorporates the GC-1, dated 12/26/14, preparation and submission of notifications and requests will follow the requirements specified in the new award conditions. Article 2 of the GC-1 outlines the 2 items that require approval from the National Science Foundation. (See also Award & Administration Guide, Exhibit II-1 for additional information.)

5. In regards to NSF’s recent change in the grant conditions that authorize grantees up to 120 days to submit final disbursement requests, will ACM$ allow for disbursement requests up to 120 days on awards not subject to the GC-1 dated, 12/26/15?

The 120 day standard will apply to all awards. The Award Cash Management System (ACM$) will not differentiate between awards and amendments made prior to December 26, 2014 and those made after December 26, 2014.

Indirect Costs

6. It states in the Grant Proposal Guide: "No supporting documentation is required for proposed rates of 10% or less of modified total direct costs." Is it therefore acceptable to allow less than 10% of modified total direct costs? If so, is 0% acceptable?

Submission of proposal budgets that reflect indirect cost rates below the de minimus 10% are not acceptable. NSF’s expectation with respect to indirect costs is made clear in NSF Grant Proposal Guide Chapter II.C.3.g(vi)(e): “It is NSF’s expectation that, consistent with 2 CFR § 200.414, NSF awardees will use the domestic subrecipient’s applicable U.S. federally negotiated indirect cost rate(s). If no such rate exists, the NSF awardee may either negotiate a rate or use a de minimus indirect cost rate recovery of 10% of modified total direct costs.”

7. The University has, on occasion, experienced receipt of budgets from subcontractors who elect not to charge F&A at all. Is a 0% F&A rate acceptable in these cases?

Indirect cost rates of 0% are not acceptable as this would represent a form of voluntary committed cost sharing which is prohibited under NSF’s Cost Sharing Policy.

Travel

8. Listed as a "Significant Change to the Grant Proposal Guide to Implement the Uniform Guidance" is all travel must now be justified in Line E of the budget. How detailed must this request be to meet this requirement? For instance, if the name of a conference is available but not the exact date or location, is this sufficient?

The NSF Grant Proposal Guide Chapter II.C.2.g(iv) outlines what is required to justify travel costs: “Travel and its relation to the proposed activities must be specified, itemized and justified by destination and cost.” Therefore, proposers should provide as much information that is available to ensure that the travel is specified, itemized and justified. NSF realizes that all details may not be available at the time of proposal submission and, thus, proposers will be unable to provide such information.

9. When might temporary dependent care costs be allowable?

(Note: UC’s policy does not currently allow for dependent costs related to travel; therefore such costs would not be an allowable charge to NSF.)

New Biosketch Format for NIH and AHRQ

The National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Health Research and Quality are requiring a new biosketch format (NOT-OD-15-032) for all competing and non-competing applications submitted for due dates on or after May 25, 2015. Biosketch format pages, instructions, samples and FAQs are available on the SF 424 (R&R) Forms and Applications page.

Applicants can use Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) to generate their biosketches faster and in the right format.

The Berkeley Research Development Office (BRDO) provides additional guidance:

For proposals with a due date on or after May 25, 2015, you must use NIH’s new format for biosketches, which is a major departure from the previous format. The biggest change is that instead of listing your publications in section C, you now are asked to describe your five most significant contributions to science placed in historical context, each of which may be supported by up to four of your publications or other products. To accommodate this change, the page limit has been increased from four to five pages.

NIH Publishes Revised NIH Grants Policy Statement

The National Institutes of Health has published the revised NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS, rev. 3/31/2015).

NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-15-087, Publication of the Revised NIH Grants Policy Statement (Rev. 3/31/2015), states:

“This revision is applicable to all NIH grants and cooperative agreements with budget periods beginning on or after December 26, 2014 and awards that received supplemental funding on or after December 26, 2014. This revision supersedes, in its entirety, the NIH Grants Policy Statement (10/2013) as a standard term and condition of award. It also supersedes the NIH Interim Grant General Conditions (published 2/5/2015). However, the October 2013 NIHGPS continues to be the standard term and condition for all NIH grants and cooperative agreements with budget periods that began between October 1, 2013 and December 25, 2014.”

Along with the revised NIH GPS, NIH has provided a document summarizing the significant changes.

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February 5, 2015 Research Advocate: NIH Issues Interim General Grant Conditions and FAQs - Uniform Guidance

CPHS and OPHS Announce New UCB Exempt Category 7 for Certain Minimal-Risk Human Research Activities

The Committee for Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS) and the Office for Protection of Human Subjects (OPHS) are pleased to announce a new category for exempt review. This category, which we have added to the six categories of exemption described in federal regulations, is allowed within the flexibility available under UC Berkeley’s Federalwide Assurance (FWA) and was created to reduce researcher burden.

To qualify for exemption under UCB Category 7, a human subjects research project must be non-federally funded or regulated and comprised only of minimal-risk activities that will not induce distress beyond that of daily life and that could not reasonably place the subject at risk of criminal or civil liability, be damaging to the subject’s financial standing, employability, insurability, or reputation, or be stigmatizing in any other way.

These activities may include (but are not limited to) non-physically invasive interventions or performance of tasks such as: reading/writing/drawing tasks; physical activities such as walking, sitting, or manipulating an object; computer tasks and/or Internet searches; talking and/or listening to words, then making selections, or “think-aloud” exercises; viewing media; role-playing; completing a specific physical or mental action (“imagining”); passive monitoring of space (environment) with sensors; playing a game; and height/weight measurements.

To qualify, the research must not involve any exclusions listed in the CPHS Policy Determination of Exemption.

For more detailed information, please see the CPHS Determination of Exemption Policy and CPHS Exempt Research Guidelines.

If you have questions about Category 7 exempt research, please call the OPHS Analyst of the Day at (510) 642-7461 or email us at: ophs@berkeley.edu.

NSF Publishes Public Access Plan

The National Science Foundation has announced a plan to increase public access to scientific publications and digital scientific data resulting from research the foundation funds.

According to the press release, “NSF will require that articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and papers in juried conference proceedings or transactions be deposited in a public access compliant repository and be available for download, reading and analysis within one year of publication.”

The NSF Public Access site states that the “NSF requirement will apply to new awards resulting from proposals submitted, or due, on or after the effective date of the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that will be issued in January 2016. This recommended change to the PAPPG will be announced in the Federal Register no later than April 2015 and will follow government-wide procedures for public notice and comment.”

The Association of Research Libraries maintains a list of federal agency public access plans and policies complying with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy memorandum, Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research, issued in 2013.

NIH iEdison Invention Disclosure Requirement

The National Institutes of Health has issued a new requirement that all invention disclosures, related reports and documents must be submitted electronically using iEdison: Notice Regarding Requirement of Grantees and Contractors to Submit Invention Disclosures, Related Reports and Documents Via iEdison (NOT-OD-15-080).

Previously, NIH only “strongly supported” its use. Please note that all required iEdison submissions that are submitted via fax, mail, drop offs, etc. will not be accepted and will be returned to the submitter by NIH.

Information about how to use Interagency Edison and information about the iEdison system which is managed by NIH and used by more than 30 federal agency offices is available at NIH iEdison Invention Reporting.

Federal Budget Analyses from AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) R&D Budget and Policy Program is publishing Notes on the President’s Budget, “a series of online in-depth analyses of the President’s FY 2016 budget request to Congress, prepared by AAAS staff and the Intersociety Working Group.” This marks the 40th edition of these AAAS analyses, published annually since 1976.

Another recent AAAS publication for those interested in federal funding is A Primer on Recent Trends in Federal R&D Budgets, “a short summary of some of the big trends in federal R&D budgets over the past several years.”

To find out more about how the federal budget process works, from the President’s budget through Congressional appropriations, see the AAAS Federal Budget Process 101.

NIH Issues Interim General Grant Conditions and FAQs - Uniform Guidance

On February 5, 2015, the National Institutes of Health issued Interim General Grant Conditions of NIH grant awards aligned with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulations implementing OMB Uniform Guidance at 45 CFR Part 75.

The document highlights Uniform Guidance grants-related changes to previous NIH grant policies that went into effect December 26, 2014. This guidance is not designed to be a full delineation of the comprehensive terms contained in the annual NIH Grants Policy Statement (GPS). NIH will release a revised version of the NIH GPS after the comment period on Interim Final Regulation is over and final revisions have been made to the regulation.

NIH has also published new Frequently Asked Questions: Uniform Guidance and NIH Interim Grant Conditions that will be of interest to UC Berkeley’s NIH researchers and campus research administrators.

NIH announced the news in an NIH Guide notice NIH Interim General Grant Conditions Implementing New HHS Grants Regulations (Uniform Guidance) (NOT-OD-15-065).

See the Sponsored Projects Office OMB Uniform Guidance page for more information on the federal Uniform Guidance.

An ASSIST for NIH R03 and R21

The National Institutes of Health has developed an optional online system known as “ASSIST” to help principal investigators with the preparation and submission of certain types of grant applications through Grants.gov.

Key features of ASSIST:

• Online data entry
• Multiple user access
• Verification of application against agency business rules prior to submission
• Pre-submission preview of assembled application image in agency format
• Submission to agency through Grants.gov
• Tracking application status within single system

Available for some time for NIH’s complex, multi-project grant programs, NIH has just announced that ASSIST is now available for two additional programs:

• NIH's Small Research Grant (R03)
• NIH’s Exploratory/Developmental Grant (R21) programs

NIH provide the following resources are available to help applicants prepare their applications using ASSIST:

• Getting Started: Preparing Your Single-project Application Using ASSIST
• ASSIST Online Help System
• ASSIST User Guide

Throughout 2015, ASSIST will become an option for additional grant programs. The NIH hopes to open up ASSIST as an option for the NIH Research Project Grant Program (R01) by May 2015.

Note: All ASSIST users working on an application must have eRA Commons accounts (all standard registration requirements apply).

For additional information, see ASSIST Now an Option for Submission of R03 and R21 Applications (NOT-OD-15-062).

Adjustments to NIH and AHRQ Application Due Dates in February

The National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality are adjusting grant application due dates between February 13 and 18, 2015 to accommodate a scheduled Grants.gov downtime. See NOT-OD-15-057 for more details.

Grants.gov has a planned system outage from Saturday, February 14, 2015 at 12:01 AM ET to Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 6:00 AM ET.

NSF Updates to FastLane and Research.gov on January 26

The National Science Foundation NSF Business Applications Team forwarded the following notice on January 16, 2015.

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Colleagues,

On January 26, 2015, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will release updates to FastLane and Research.gov that may impact the way you work. This update will implement revised policy and incorporate feedback received from NSF staff and the research community.

Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 15-1)

A revised version of the PAPPG was issued on November 20, 2014, which incorporates OMB’s Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance), as well as other policy updates. On January 26, 2015, the following changes will be made to FastLane to support the revised PAPPG:

• Budget Form Update: The budget form will be updated so that the “Residual Funds” line (Line K) will not be editable for all programs except Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR). As this field is currently used for the purpose of collecting fees, “Residual Funds” will be renamed to “Small Business Fee.”
• Budget Justification Upload: Budget justification can no longer be entered as text. Awardees will be required to upload a budget justification for each organization added to the budget via an upload screen. Already, 95% of proposers take advantage of the upload option.
• Cost Sharing Notifications Requirement: The existing requirement that only awards with cost sharing of $500,000 or more must submit a cost sharing certificate will be modified to support the revised policy which specifies that cost sharing notifications must be submitted by all awardees with awards that include cost sharing.
• New Funding Mechanism: The FastLane proposal cover sheet will be updated to include the new funding mechanism type, Ideas Lab. Ideas Lab is designed to support the development and implementation of creative and innovative project ideas. These projects will typically be high-risk/high-impact as they represent new and unproven ideas, approaches, and/or technologies.

Automated Compliance Checks

Beginning January 26, 2015, FastLane will run an additional 24 automated checks on proposals to ensure they comply with requirements outlined in the PAPPG, Chapter II.C.2 of the Grants Proposal Guide (GPG). Detailed below, these checks will validate a proposal for compliance with page count, proposal sections per type of funding mechanism and budget-related rules for proposals submitted in response to the GPG, Program Announcements, and Program Descriptions. At this time, these checks will not be enforced for proposals submitted in response to Program Solicitations.

• Page Count: Page count rules will be enforced on the following proposal sections:
  
  • Project Description: 15-page limit [exceptions: 8-page limit for Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER), and 5-page limit for Rapid Response Research (RAPID)]
  • Budget Justification: 3-page limit for the proposing institution and a separate, 3-page limit for each sub-recipient organization
  • Mentoring Plan: 1-page limit
  • Data Management Plan: 2-page limit
• Budget: Budget-related checks will focus primarily on proposal duration and requested amount. For example, the system will enforce a maximum requested amount of $200,000 for a RAPID proposal and $300,000 for an EAGER proposal.
• Proposal Section: Proposal sections will be enforced by their funding mechanism for Program Announcement, Program Description and other GPG-type funding opportunities. For example, an error message will appear if a Project Description was not provided for an EAGER proposal.

The checks detailed above will be triggered when the “Check Proposal,” “Forward to SPO,” or “Submit Proposal” functions are selected by a proposer or proposing organization. Depending on the rule being checked, a warning or error message will display when a proposal is found to be non-compliant. If an error message appears, the organization will not be able to submit the proposal until it is compliant. To view a detailed list of all compliance checks, click here.

Research.gov User Experience Enhancements

On January 26, 2015, NSF will complete another round of enhancements to Research.gov based on feedback received from the community and recommendations from usability experts. These changes will begin to prepare the research community for the Research.gov/FastLane integration while improving the awardee experience. The following enhancements will be implemented:

• Updated Branding: An update to the logo, header, footer and background to make it consistent with current NSF branding
• Improved Look & Feel: A modification to page widths and font size in project reports and the Award Cash Management $ervice (ACM$) in order to optimize layout for each visitor’s screen resolution and make it easier to read
• Streamlined Navigation: A streamlining of the site by removing the left navigation bar and adding top-level navigation across Research.gov
• Simplified Login: A consolidation of login options onto one page in order to simplify the process
• Expanded Help: An expansion of the Research.gov Live Help service to now include support for logging in and changing a password

We encourage you to share this information with your colleagues. If you have any questions, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-673-6188, or ithelpcentral@nsf.gov.

Thank you,

The NSF Business Applications Team

SPO Service Schedule for March 18, 2015

On Wednesday, March 18, 2015, the majority of Sponsored Projects Office staff will be involved in a regional meeting with sponsored project officers from Stanford University and UCSF. SPO services on this date therefore will be limited to front-desk administrative duties. Proposal and award set-up activity will resume on Thursday, March 19. For the purposes of the VCRO’s five day proposal submission policy, March 18 will not count as a working day. Individuals submitting proposals or other time-sensitive transactions during this time frame should plan accordingly.

New NIGMS Guidelines for Funding Investigators with Substantial Unrestricted Research Support

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences has published new guidelines for awarding R01s and other research grants to investigators with substantial levels of long-term, unrestricted research funding from any source.

NIGMS defines unrestricted funding to mean that it is not project-based and may be used to conduct research on a broad topic at the Principal Investigator’s or Program Director’s discretion. NIGMS considers such support substantial and long-term if it is over $400,000 in direct costs (excluding the PI/PD’s salary and direct support of widely shared institutional resources) and extends for at least two years from the time the NIGMS grant would be funded.

NIGMS implementation is effective for applications submitted on or after January 2, 2016.

See the January 13 NIH Guide notice New NIGMS Guidelines for Funding Investigators with Substantial Unrestricted Research Support (NOT-GM-15-102) and the NIGMS Funding for Investigators with Substantial Unrestricted Research Support guidance for more information.

NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy for NIH PIs

On August 27, 2014 the National Institutes of Health announced its final Genomic Data Sharing (GDS) Policy. This policy is designed to promote sharing, for research purposes, of large-scale human and non-human genomic data generated from NIH-funded research.

The GDS Policy applies to all competing NIH grant applications and proposals for NIH contracts submitted for the January 25, 2015 deadline and thereafter if the proposed research will generate large-scale human or non-human genomic data or will use these data for subsequent research. In such cases, the GDS Policy applies regardless of the funding level.

Please Note: The following guidance is to assist Principal Investigators at the application stage only. PIs should review additional genomic data sharing requirements at the Just-in-Time (JIT)/post-award stages provided by NIH. A RAC webpage also is being developed to provide the campus with additional guidance on how to indicate in Phoebe that genomic data sharing will be part of the research as well as procedures for obtaining institutional certification for the sharing of genomic data at the post-award stage.

WHAT RESEARCH PROJECTS ARE AFFECTED BY THIS POLICY?

Examples of large scale genomic research projects that are subject to the GDS Policy are available in Supplemental Information to the NIH GDS.

The GDS Policy does not apply to:

• Institutional training grants (T32s, T34s, T35s, and TL2s);
• K12 career development awards (KL2s);
• Individual fellowships (Fs);
• Resource grants and contracts (Ss);
• Linked awards derived from previously reviewed applications (KL1, KL2, RL1, RL2, RL5, RL9, TL1, UL1);
• Facilities or coordinating centers funded through related initiatives to provide genotyping, sequencing, or other core services in support of Genome Data Sharing
• Smaller studies (e.g., sequencing the genomes of fewer than 100 human research participants) are generally not subject to this Policy.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Unless the Funding Opportunity Announcement states otherwise, applicants preparing grant applications are expected to:

• Contact the appropriate NIH Institute or Center (IC) Program Official or Project Officer as early as possible to discuss Genome Data Sharing expectations and timelines that would apply to their proposed research.
• State in the cover letter with the application that the research proposed will generate large-scale human and/or non-human genomic data.
• Include a Genomic Data Sharing plan in the Resource Sharing Plan section of the funding application or proposal. (A more detailed genomic data sharing plan will need to be provided to the funding IC prior to award.)
• Outline in the budget section of their funding application the resources they will need to prepare the data for submission to appropriate repositories. NIH will provide additional guidance on these resources, as necessary.

Note: In situations in which the sharing of human data is not possible, applicants should provide a justification explaining why they cannot share these data and provide an alternative data sharing plan. Exceptions to NIH expectations for data submission to an NIH-designated data repository will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the NIH.

Applicants who wish to use controlled-access human genomic data from NIH-designated data repositories (e.g., dbGaP) as a secondary user to achieve the specific aim(s) of the research proposed in the grant application should briefly address their plans for requesting access to the data and state their intention to abide by the NIH Genomic Data User Code of Conduct in the Research Plan of the application.

Note: Researchers should be aware that access to these data is dependent on an approval process that involves the relevant NIH Data Access Committee(s). Researchers may wish to secure access to the data prior to submitting their application for NIH support. Secondary users of controlled-access data are not expected to deposit their findings into NIH-designated data repositories, unless appropriate.

RESEARCH FUNDED BEFORE THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE POLICY

Although the GDS Policy does not apply to research submitted prior to the Policy’s effective date, NIH, nonetheless, strongly encourages investigators to comply with the expectations outlined in the Policy. Investigators should provide an updated genomic data sharing plan to the funding IC in the submission of the research performance progress report. For studies involving human participants that were initiated before the Policy’s effective date and used consents that do not meet the expectations of the GDS Policy, investigators are expected to plan to transition to a consent for future research uses and broad sharing, if possible, particularly for new or additional collections of specimens. There will be reasonable accommodation, determined on a case-by-case basis by the funding IC, for long-term projects ongoing at the time of the Policy’s effective date to come into alignment with NIH’s expectations for consent and data sharing. The goal is to bring these projects into alignment, to the extent possible, in a reasonable timeframe.

QUESTIONS

Investigators with questions about whether the Policy applies to their current or proposed research should consult the relevant Program Official or Program Officer or the IC’s Genomic Program Administrator (GPA). Names and contact information for GPAs are available through the NIH GDS website.

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August 27, 2014 Research Advocate: NIH Issues Genomic Data Sharing Policy

Statement of Economic Interests (700-U) Form Revised for 2015

The State of California has issued a revised 700-U Statement of Economic Interests for Principal Investigators for immediate use. The revised form, dated 2014/2015, is available on the Conflict of Interest Committee website and is the only version that will now be accepted. If you have any questions please contact Jyl Baldwin (jbaldwin@berkeley.edu, 2-8110). This year, the threshold for gifts of travel has been increased to $460 from the previous $440. The instructions regarding travel gifts have also been revised.

State of California law requires disclosure of financial interest in the sponsor of a research project; the donor of a research gift; and, under certain circumstances, the provider of materials under a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) when that sponsor, donor, or provider is a non-governmental source. Please see State of California Financial Disclosure for more information.

NIH Publishes Fiscal Policy for Grant Awards for FY 2015

The National Institutes of Health has issued NIH Fiscal Policy for Grant Awards - FY2015 (NOT-OD-15-050) and related notices that provide guidance for the federal fiscal year 2015 (through September 30, 2015).

• NIH Fiscal Policy for Grant Awards - FY2015 (NOT-OD-15-050)
• Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Stipends, Tuition/Fees and Other Budgetary Levels Effective for Fiscal Year 2015 (NOT-OD-15-048)
• Notice on Salary Limitation on Grants, Cooperative Agreements, and Contracts (NOT-OD-15-049)

From NOT-OD-15-050:

FY 2015 Funding Levels: Non-competing continuation awards that have already been made in FY 2015 were generally funded at levels below that indicated on the most recent Notice of Award (generally up to 90% of the previously committed level) as described in NOT-OD-15-001. Such reductions may be fully or partially restored, depending on the Institute or Center. Non-competing continuation grants (research and non-research) including those that remain to be issued in FY 2015 likely will be made within the range between the commitment level indicated on the Notice of Award and 3 percent below that level. Out-year commitments for continuation awards in FY 2016 and beyond will remain unchanged. The NIH awarding Institutes/Centers (IC) will develop and post their fiscal policies consistent with overall NIH goals and available FY 2015 funds.

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA): Consistent with the 2015 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act and with the recommendations of the Advisory Committee to the Director regarding the Biomedical Research Workforce, the NIH will increase NRSA stipends by 2 percent on average. The full range of stipend adjustments for FY 2015 is described at NOT-OD-15-048.

New Investigators: NIH will continue to support new investigators on R01 equivalent awards at success rates comparable to that of established investigators submitting new (Type 1) R01 equivalent applications. Achievement of comparable success rates should permit the NIH to support new investigators in accordance with the policies established in FY 2009 and subsequent years as described at NOT-OD-09-013 and at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/new_investigators/index.htm.

Salary Limits: Section 203 of the 2015 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act prohibits payments for salaries under grants and other extramural mechanisms in excess of Executive Level II currently set at $181,500. See NOT-OD-15-049 for additional information. NOT-OD-15-049 states that the “Executive Level II salary is currently set at $181,500, increasing to $183,300 effective January 11, 2015.”

Other Legislative Mandates: Other statutory requirements will be described in a notice to be released early in January.

Additional Information: Additional details on Fiscal Operations, including specific funding strategies for ICs will be posted at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/financial/index.htm.

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January 12 Update: NIH has posted Notice of Legislative Mandates in Effect for FY 2015 (NOT-OD-15-054), with additional information on statutory provisions that limit the use of funds on NIH grant, cooperative agreement, and contract awards for FY 2015.