NIH Fiscal Policy for Grant Awards - FY 2007
Notice Number
Key Dates
- Release Date: December 15, 2006
Issued By
This Notice provides guidance to the extramural community about the NIH's Fiscal Operations Plan for FY2007.
Faced with a markedly increased number of applications and applicants for grant support at a time of flat budgets with no inflationary adjustments, NIH is taking immediate proactive steps in FY2007 to manage its portfolio of investments in biomedical research. NIH is committed to buttressing core areas of vulnerability, such as the ability of new investigators to compete for support in these difficult financial times, and protecting our investment in well established investigators with little or no other significant support. In addition, NIH is adjusting the number of competing Research Project Grants (RPG) that will be awarded, with the goal of stabilizing to the extent possible the yearly variation in number of awards that are made.
NIH is instituting the following fiscal policies in FY2007:
- Inflationary adjustments for existing non-competing renewal awards will not be made in FY2007. Non-competing awards that were expected to include an inflationary increase in FY 2007, including modular grants will not receive any inflationary increase. Institutes and centers (ICs) will maintain the flexibility to supplement such non-competing awards on a case by-case basis according to scientific and programmatic imperatives. However, such supplements will not be considered as part of the base for future budgetary adjustments.
- Each IC will manage its portfolio by using uncommitted funds and the savings from not funding inflationary increases for non-competing awards in FY 2007 to maintain the stability of the NIH investigator pool by reaching approximately 9600 new and competing RPGs, a number similar to that of FY 2005.
The following guidelines apply in order of priority:
- Maintain a number of new investigators comparable to the average of the most recent five years.
- Develop IC specific mechanisms to insure that first time grantees applying for their first renewal and who receive review scores near the nominal payline of the relevant IC be given appropriate consideration with the goal of avoiding serious attrition or closure of new laboratories to the greatest extent possible.
- Develop IC specific mechanisms to insure to the greatest extent possible that established grantees with insufficient other support and who receive review scores near the nominal payline of the relevant IC be given appropriate consideration, with the goal of not losing outstanding laboratories.
- Each IC will have flexibility to adjust its policies for funding other mechanisms according to its specific scientific and programmatic imperatives.
Finally, NIH is currently operating under a continuing resolution, which was recently extended until February 15, 2007. The policy for issuing non-competing awards under the current continuing resolution will continue as stated in NOT-OD-07-004 http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-07-004.html.
Inquiries
Questions about specific awards may be directed to the Grants Management Specialist identified in the Notice of Award.
Additional Information
Added 12/20/06
On December 15, NIH issued its Fiscal Policy for Grant Awards FY 2007 (shown above). This policy has been developed to allow NIH to support a sufficient number of new and competing research project grant awards to mitigate the effects of the absence of inflationary increases in the NIH budget on new investigators and established investigators with little or no other support. The policy has several key features:
- NIH is operating under a continuing resolution with a budget set at the FY 2006 level. This continuing resolution is in effect until February 15, 2007. Under this resolution, non-competing awards will be made at a level of 80% of the previously committed level. Such awards should be considered as "placeholders" that will be adjusted upward once the size of the overall NIH budget for all of FY 2007 is clear, as discussed below.
- Congressional leadership has indicated that a continuing resolution is likely to be extended for all of FY 2007. Under this scenario, NIH will be funded at or near FY 2006 levels. Under these circumstances, non-competing renewal awards will not be adjusted for inflation. Thus, for a non-modular award with an inflationary increase provided in the budget, no increase will be given. For a modular award, the award will be decreased by 3% since it is assumed that an inflationary increase has been built into the budget. Thus, a non-modular award will likely be made at the FY 2006 level, while a modular award will likely be made at 97% of the FY 2006 level. Note that these adjustments affect the award base, so they will also impact future years of the award.
- These policies affect research project grants. Research training grants and fellowship awards will not be affected. Policies for other award mechanisms will be developed by each NIH institute and center. For the latest information on NIGMS FY 2007 financial management policies, see http://www.nigms.nih.gov/About/Budget/FY2007Plan.htm.
As always, if you have questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact me at bergj@mail.nih.gov.
Jeremy M. Berg
Director
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
45 Center Drive, 2AN.12G
Bethesda, MD 20892
bergj@mail.nih.gov
(301) 594-2172
