Overview of NSF and NIH& Recent Updates

Office of Research Services & Outreach

NSF Overview

NSF at a GlanceHistoryVisit NSFOrganization ListContracting OpportunitiesNSF & CongressBudgetPerformance Assessment InformationPartners

NationalScience

Foundation

Overview

NSF Vision (2015)NSF envisions a nation that capitalizes on new concepts in science and engineering and provides global leadership in advancing research and education.

NSF Mission (1950)To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity and welfare; to secure the national defense.

With an annual budget of about $7 billion, NSF

funds approximately

25 % of all federally

supported basic research

conducted by U.S. colleges

and universities.

NSF Support for Basic Research at Academic Institutions:

Share of Total Federal Support

4.7%

27.7%

35.5%

44.5%

50.3%

76.0%

39.1%

All Life Sciences

Social Science & Psychology

Physical Sciences

Engineering

Environmental Sciences

Matematics & Computer Sciences

Other Sciences

NSF’s Strategic Goals

Innovate for Society, linking with societal needs, and impacting economic and societal welfare.

Perform as a Model Organization, attaining excellence and inclusion inall operational aspects.

Transform the Frontiers, seamlessly integrating research and education, coupling research infrastructure and discovery.

Mathematical& PhysicalSciences

(MPS)

Geosciences(GEO)

Engineering(ENG)

Computer &Information

Science &Engineering

(CISE)

BiologicalSciences

(BIO)

Office of theInspector General

(OIG)

DirectorDeputy Director

National Science Board(NSB)

Office of Cyberinfrastructure

Office of Diversity & Inclusion

Office of the General Counsel

Office of Integrative Activities

Office of International Science & Engineering

Office of Legislative &Public Affairs

Office of Polar Programs

Social, Behavioral

& EconomicSciences

(SBE)

Education & HumanResources

(EHR)

Budget, Finance & Award

Management(BFA)

Information& Resource

Management(IRM)

NSF Organizational Chart

NSF Workforce• Consists of approximately

– 1,450 Federal employees (includes staff of the National Science Board Office and the Office of the Inspector General);

– 200 Non-Federal Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assignees coming from research institutions;

– 450 contract workers.

• Unlike other science agencies, NSF does not maintain its own research laboratories.

The Work: Programs & The Merit

Review Process

What is a Program?

• A well-defined grant-giving function, usually with a well-defined budget

• Usually means an individual investigator grant program, but could also refer to a facilities program (e.g., National Radio Astronomy Observatory), a center program or fellowship program for students.

Programs are the

implementation arm of NSF.

What is NSF’s Merit Review Process?

• The review process ensures that proposals submitted to NSF are reviewed in a fair, transparent, and in-depth manner

• NSF proposals receive an external review by experts;

• Program Officers make funding recommendations based on the input received from reviewers.

NSF receives approximately

42,000 proposals each year for

research, education and training

projects, of which approximately

10,000 are funded.

• Program Directors oversee the National Science Foundation’s “gold standard” merit review process.

Program directors have the

opportunity to be involved with a

broad spectrum of national scientific

programs and initiatives that

ultimately increase intellectual

awareness and enhance

professional growth.

What do Program Directors do?

NSF Merit Review Process

Proposal Review Criterion:Intellectual Merit

• Advance knowledge & understanding• Well thought-out• Principal Investigator qualifications• Access to resources• Creative or original• Potentially transformative

Proposal Review Criterion:Broader Impacts

• Advancement of discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning

• Broaden participation of underrepresented groups

• Enhancement of infrastructure for research and education

• Dissemination of results to enhance scientific and technological understanding

• Benefits to society• Mentoring Activities for Postdoctoral

Researchers

• Integration of Research and Education

• Integrating Diversity into NSF Programs, Projects, and Activities

• Postdoc Mentoring Plan

• Data Management Plan

Additional Considerations

That Apply to All Proposals

• Established Spring 2010, charged with “examining the two Merit Review Criteria and their effectiveness in achieving the goals for NSF support for science and engineering research and education”

• Focusing on:

– How criteria are being interpreted and used by PIs, reviewers, and NSF staff

– Strengths and weaknesses of criteria

– Impact of criteria on how PIs develop projects

– Role of the institution

NSB Task Force on Merit Review

NSB Report on Merit Review Criteria: Overall Findings

• The Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts review criteria together capture the important elements that should guide the evaluation of NSF proposals.

• Revisions to the descriptions of the Broader Impacts criterion and how it is implemented are needed.

• Use of the review criteria should be informed by a guiding set of core principles.

NIH Overview

•About NIH•Types of Grant Programs•Grants Process Overview

About NIH•The National Institutes of Health (NIH), is a part of the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services. •NIH’s mission is to improve human health by increasing scientific knowledge related to disease & health.•NIH is made up of 27 Institutes and Centers (IC’S). •The ICs are loosely organized under the Office of the NIH Director, each has broad authority to set their own policies and make their own grant funding decisions.•Each IC has a specific research agenda, often focusing on particular diseases or body systems e.g. NIA-National Institute of Aging, NCI-National Cancer Institute,

• The NIH conducts its own Intramural Research Program utilizing staff scientists at its Bethesda, Maryland campus, which is the world’s largest medical research facility.

• The NIH Extramural Research Grants Program funds research nationally at universities and research centers, through grants, cooperative agreements and contracts.

• FY2013 NIH received over 30 billion to fund research 25.7 billion was distributed to scientists across the USA and the rest was used for research at the NIH.

NIH’s Research Programs

Types of Funding Opportunities

• Parent Announcements (PA): standard due dates. Usually open for 3 years. Investigator initiates the research topic. No specific funds set aside.

• IC-Specific Program Announcements (PA): standard due dates. Usually open for 3 years. Topic is usually broadly defined. No specific funds set aside.

• Request for Applications (RFA): Has a single due date. Specifies funds set aside and number of awards. Has a clear well defined research area.

• Request for Proposals (RFP): Announcement made when NIH would like to make an award for specific need. RFP has single application dates.

Funding Announcements• Description

• Eligibility• Funding• Restrictions• Due Dates (Standard due dates or other)• Length, font, margins, etc. Refers you to SF424• Contacts

NIH Activity Codes• NIH uses a variety of funding mechanisms, including: grants, cooperative agreements & contracts.• Grants & Cooperative Agreements are classified by “Activity Codes” that indicate the kind of

activity that will be conducted under the project:• The R-series indicates Research Project Grants, e.g., R01, R03, R21. • The P-series indicates Program Project Grants, e.g., P01, P30, P50.• The T-series indicates institutional NRSA training grants.• The K-series indicates career development awards.• The F-series indicates individual NRSA fellowshipsNIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) may vary in the way they use activity codes; not all ICs accept applications for all types of grant programs.

Estimated Number of proposals the NIH receives• NIH receives over 86,000 competing grant

applications per year.• The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) receives

about 56,000 proposals annually. • CSR is a unit with the NIH that is responsible for

receiving and referring grant applications.• CSR uses 16,000 reviewers and 240 Scientific

Review Officers

Receipt and Referral

• Within CSR The Division of Receipt and Referral (DRR) serves as the central receiving point for all competing applications, whether solicited or unsolicited. Upon receipt of a competing application, DRR:– Checks for completeness– Determines area of research– Assign application to specific NIH Institute or Centers – Assign an identification number– Assign application to a Review Group

NIH Peer Review Process

• After an application is assigned to a Study Section, the Scientific Review Administrator (SRA) assigns it to 2 or 3 members to read.

• Those applications believed to rank in the lower half of the group of applications are “streamlined” or “triaged” i.e., they are returned to the applicant “without review”

• The Study Section reviews and ranks applications, assigning a “priority score” to each proposal. These are then transmitted to the funding institutes, where Program Officials make funding recommendations to the Institute’s National Advisory Council.

• The Advisory Council conducts a second level of review and makes final funding decisions.

It generally takes at least 10 months for a grant to be funded after it is submitted to NIH. A proposal submitted on February 1 will not be funded before December.(Example Success rates New R01 – 15.4%- Applications received 23,004 Awarded 3,554)

JITJust-in-time

• After the priority scores are determined, NIH sends an e-mail requesting for Just-in-Time (JIT) information for grants within the competitive range for possible funding.

• JIT information requested includes:• Other Support (Active and Pending Support. • Budget (if revised from original submission)• Human Subject Education• Applicable protocols (Human Subjects, Animal Subjects, Biosafety, Stem Cell, etc).

• JIT information must be submitted for review and evaluation PRIOR to making an award.

• Submission of JIT information is not a clear indicator that one may be funded and should only be submitted if requested by the agency.

Notice of Award (NoA)

• The NoA is the legal binding document issued to notify the grantee that an award has been made.

• It contains or references all the terms and conditions of the grant and Federal funding limits and obligations.

• It provides the documentary basis for recording the obligation of Federal funds in the NIH accounting system.

• Summary: Grant Number, Dates, Amount, Terms, Special TermsContact information)

Understanding Grant Numbers• A grant number provides unique identification for the grant.

The figure below shows an example of a complete NIH grant number

(1 R01 CA123451-01A2)

(1 R01 CA123451-01A2)• The Type code indicates whether the application is new, a renewal, a

noncompeting applications, or other type. 1-new 2-renewal, 3-revision• The Activity code lists the type of grant that has been applied for.• The Institute code (also known as the IC or Institute/Center code) is a two-

letter code for the name of the NIH Institute or Center. CA-National Cancer Institute.

• The serial number identifies the specific application and is assigned by the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR).

• The Support Year indicates the current year of support (e.g. 01 is a new grant).

• The Suffix Code (optional) is a code used for supplements, amendments, or fellowship institutional allowances.

Accepting the Award

• The grantee accepts an NIH award and its associated terms and conditions by drawing or requesting funds from the Payment Management System, or upon the endorsement of a check from the US Treasury for foreign awardees.

Post-Award Management

• Monitoring Your Award Grantees are responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of their grant. NIH awarding offices monitor grants to identify potential problems

• Payment spelled out in NoA it can be electronic, cash request basis or a reimbursement basis.• Monitoring Expenditures Grantees are required to have financial systems in place to monitor

their grant expenditures. The Grants Management Specialist (GMS) monitors expenditures to determine whether they indicate a pattern of accelerated or delayed expenditures.

• Prior Approval Requests All requests that require prior NIH approval must be made in writing (e-mail is acceptable) to the Grants Management Officer at least 30 days before the proposed change. This should be endorsed by your institutions AOR.

• Reporting Requirements Progress, invention, final inventions, final report , quarterly cash transaction reports and financial reports.

Post-Award Management

• Audit Requirements (NIH grantees or sub-recipients that expend $500,000 or more in federal awards during the fiscal year are subject to an audit requirement. Those expending less than $500,000 are not required to have an annual audit for that year, but must make their grant-related records available to NIH or other designated officials for review or audit).

• Educational institutions and nonprofit organizations, including hospitals, are subject to the requirements of OMB Circular A-133.

• For-profit organizations , including for-profit hospitals, and foreign organizations can satisfy audit requirements with either of two audit types, according to 45 CFR 74.26(d):

• Closeout The process by which the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity determines that all applicable administrative actions and all required work of the Federal award have been completed and takes actions as described in 45 CFR § 75.381 . The required closeout reports include: Final FFR, Final progress report, Final Invention Statement and Final population tracking data when applicable.

• Record Retention Grantees generally must retain financial & programmatic records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other records that are required by the terms of a grant. Record Retention is for a period of 3 years from the date the annual (FFR) is submitted.

Roles GMO/GMS/PO

• Grants Management Officer (GMO): is the official responsible for the business management aspects of grants and cooperative agreements, including review, negotiation, award, and administration, and for the interpretation of grants administration policies and provisions.

• Grants Management Specialist (GMS):staff member who oversees the business and other non-programmatic aspects of one or more grants and/or cooperative agreements. These includes evaluating grant applications for administrative content and compliance; negotiating grants; providing consultation and technical assistance to grantees; and administering grants after award.

• Program/Project Official (PO):The NIH official responsible for the programmatic, scientific, and/or technical aspects of a grant.

NIH Grant Definitions

Competitive Segment: The initial project period recommended for support (up to 5 years) or each extension of a project period resulting from a competing continuation award that establishes a new competitive segment for the project.Budget Period: The intervals of time, usually 12 months each, into which a project period is divided for budgetary and funding purposes.Project Period: The total time for which NIH approves support of a project. The total project period is comprised of the initial competitive segment, any subsequent competitive segment resulting from competing continuation awards, and non-competing extensions.New Application: A grant application for a new project that has not previously been submitted to NIH for funding consideration.Revised Application: An application which was previously not funded by NIH and which the PI has revised to address the concerns of peer reviewers. Competing Continuation/Renewal: An application that requests funding of an additional several years for a project that was previously funded for a period of several years by NIH. The renewal application must compete with all other new, revised and competing continuation applications, i.e., no special consideration for funding.Non-competing Continuation: An application that must be submitted each year within the competitive segment in order to receive the next budget year of funding. This application includes the PI’s annual progress report on the science of the project. This application does not compete with others for funding, since the funding was already committed by NIH at the beginning of the competitive segment

Recommendations

• Other suggested readings/linksGlossary and acronymshttp://grants.nih.gov/grants/glossary.htmwww.nih.govwww.grants.gov

Questions?