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Limited Competitions > NIH Recovery Act Funds for Supplements: Competitive Revision Applications

NIH Recovery Act Funds for Supplements: Competitive Revision Applications - NOT-OD-09-058

• Program Summary
• Eligibility
• Budget and Funding Information
• Application Review Process
• How to Apply
• Inquiries
• Additional Information
• Deadlines/Submission Process
• UIC Technical Assistance

Program Summary

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announces the opportunity for investigators and United States institutions/organizations with active NIH-supported research project grants (including SBIR and STTR) to submit revision applications (formerly termed competitive supplements) to support a significant expansion of the scope or research protocol of approved and funded projects.

IMPORTANT: Revision applications must be for costs to support new research objectives and aims that are outside of the scope of the approved parent grant.

Potential applicants should review the instructions for Revision Applications issued by their funding IC (See NIH Institute & Center (IC) Web Sites) before responding to this Notice. Some ICs will consider Revision Applications only in target areas identified on their Web sites.

Eligibility

• This announcement is for revision applications to active NIH Research Grants, including, but not limited to, R01, R03, R15, R21, R25, R33, R34, R37, R21/R33, R41, R42, R43, R44, SC1, SC2, SC3 grants, and Program Project grants, Center grants, Cooperative Agreements, Training Grants, and Institutional Career Development Awards
• Parent grant must be active at the time the revision application is submitted
• Research proposed in the revision must be accomplished within the current competitive segment, that is, period of support requested for revision cannot exceed current project period end date of the parent grant, including projects on a no-cost extension. Also, a no-cost extension must be in place before the revision application is submitted
• These are 2-year awards and probably are most appropriate at the post-doctoral level. (Note: Most Ks and Ts are eligible for administrative supplements [see NOT-OD-09-056].)
• Fellowships (Fs) and Conference Grants (R13s) will not be considered for revisions
• For all revision applications, the Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) must be the same as the PD/PI on the parent award
• For Multiple PD/PI parent awards, the Contact PD/PI must be the PD/PI listed on the revision request
• Revisions allow a change in the Multiple PD/PI team as well as a conversion from a single PD/PI to multiple PD/PI
• Applicants must include a multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan with the revision application. All revision applications must be submitted by the PD/PI (or Contact PD/PI for multi-PI grants) listed on the parent grant

Examples of the types of revisions that would be appropriate include, but are not limited to the following:

• Hiring students, postdocs or other personnel to accomplish new scientific objectives or to generate novel resources.
• Making investments in technology essential to expand the goals of the project or to enhance energy efficiency in the expansion of the project.
• Requesting that a single PD/PI grant be changed to a multiple PD/PI grant or otherwise modifying the multiple PD/PI team in order to add and pursue new scientific goals. (NOTE: a Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan will be required as part of the application.)
• Other types of revisions may be appropriate but must be consistent with the goals of the Recovery Act

Revision applications are not appropriate when the sole purpose is to restore awards to the full Scientific Review Group-recommended level if they were administratively reduced by the funding agency. In addition, NIH will not consider requests which are solely to restore previously applied budget adjustments to a project nor to supplant institutional commitments supporting individuals and other costs previously committed to projects.

Budget and Funding Information

Due to the limited, two-year nature of Recovery Act funds, revision applications may only be requested for up to two years; therefore the scope and budget of the requested revision must reflect aims and goals that can be accomplished within that limited timeframe.

There is no maximum dollar limit on the budget request for a revision application; however, the requested budget must be reasonable and appropriate for the work being proposed. (Note that equipment purchases cannot exceed $100,000).

Note: For this revision opportunity, prior approval from the IC staff is not needed to submit an application with a budget greater than $500,000 direct costs in any year. (Applicants should ignore the e-submission validation warning regarding the NIH $500,000 per year limit on direct costs.)

Application Review Process

As part of the scientific peer review, all applications will:

• Undergo a selection process in which only those applications deemed to have the highest scientific and technical merit, generally the top half of applications under review, will be discussed and assigned an overall impact/priority score;
• Receive a written critique; and
• Receive a second level of review by the appropriate national advisory council or board.

For funding considerations, revision applications will be assigned to the ICs through which the parent grant was funded. To the extent possible, the locus of initial peer review will be that used for the evaluation of the parent application. That is, if an IC reviewed an application under one of its RFAs, the revision application will go back to the IC for the review. Applications that are complete will be evaluated for scientific and technical merit by appropriate scientific review group(s) in accordance with NIH peer review procedures (http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/peer/) using the review criteria stated below.

Overall Impact. When reviewing a Revision application, the committee will consider:

• Scientific merit of the new work proposed and
• Appropriateness of the proposed expansion of the scope of the project
• If the Revision application relates to a specific line of investigation presented in the original application that was not recommended for approval by the committee, then the committee will consider whether the responses to comments from the previous scientific review group are adequate and whether substantial changes are clearly evident.
• Because different review criteria apply to different types of applications, the revision applications will be evaluated using the criteria appropriate for that type of application. For example, the standard review criteria for research grant applications and cooperative agreements are Significance, Investigator(s), Innovation, Approach, and Environment (NOT-0D-09-025)

How to Apply

The due date for revision applications is April 21, 2009. Applicants interested in applying for Revision support under a program (activity code) that has already transitioned to electronic submission must submit the application through Grants.gov, using the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) that was used for the parent grant. Or, if this FOA is no longer active, use the Parent FOA that matches the program (activity code) of the award.

• The activity code (e.g., R01, R03, R15, R21, R25, R33, R34, R21/R33, R41, R42, R43, R44, SC1, SC2, SC3) of the prior submission (referenced by the Federal Identifier on the SF 424 RR Cover page) must match the activity code of the FOA used for the revision. Revision applications for conference grants (R13s) are not permitted.
• For revisions to Program Project grants (P01), Center grants (e.g., P20, P30, P50), Cooperative Agreements (e.g., U01), Training Grants (e.g., T32) and Institutional Career Development Awards submitted in paper, an FOA is not required. This Notice should be mentioned in the cover letter.
• For all other eligible activity codes that have transitioned to electronic submission, use the following chart to identify the appropriate Parent FOA under which to submit through Grants.gov if the original FOA has expired:

For ALL applications: Follow the instructions as noted below. Note: Font size restrictions apply as designated within the applicable SF424 (R&R) Application or the PHS398 application instructions, and page limitations noted in the original FOA under which the current grant was funded (or if using a Parent FOA because the original FOA expired) should be followed.

• Include a Cover Letter and cite the Notice Number (NOT-OD-09-058) in the first sentence.
• Explicitly cite the Notice Number (NOT-OD-09-058) and Notice Title: NIH Announces the Availability of Recovery Act Funds for Competitive Revision Applications in the Project Summary/Abstract Component of the application.
• Provide a one-page “Introduction” that describes the nature of the revision and how it will expand the scope of the specific aims, research design, and methods of the current grant. Use Item 2.1, Introduction to application, of the PHS 398 Research Plan component to provide this information.
• The body of the application should contain sufficient information from the original grant application to allow evaluation of the proposed revision in relation to the goals of the original application.
• Applicants must submit a budget using the same budget format as was used for the current award. That is, for electronic submissions, use the SF424 (R&R) PHS398 Modular Budget or Research & Related Budget, as appropriate, and for paper applications, use the PHS 398 detailed budget. Any budgetary changes for the remainder of the project period of the current grant must be discussed in the Budget Justification.
• If the revision application relates to a specific line of investigation presented in the original application that was not recommended for approval by the Scientific Review Group, then the applicant must respond to the criticisms in the prior Summary Statement, and substantial revisions must be clearly evident and summarized in the “Introduction.”
• Include the following additional information in the revision application:
  • Scope of the overall project and the anticipated contribution of the requested revision.
  • The research project plan should discuss how the revision will accelerate the tempo of scientific research and/or allow for job creation and retention.
  • Budget for the revision with a justification that details the items requested, including Facilities and Administrative costs and a justification for all personnel and their role in this project.
  • Biographical Sketch for PD/PI and all new Senior/Key Personnel
  • Human Subjects/ Vertebrate Animal documentation (if applicable)

Inquiries

Inquiries and discussion of plans for responding to this Notice are strongly encouraged. For scientific or technical questions relating to research that would be supported by this solicitation, contact the Program Administrator assigned to the parent grant. For administrative questions related to this solicitation, contact the Grants Management Specialist noted on the Notice of Award for the parent grant.

Additional Information

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-058.html

Deadlines

UIC Technical Assistance

For proposal development assistance with these and any other funding opportunities, please complete the online technical assistance request form:  

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