Please join me in welcoming Eric to this new position and congratulating him on his continuing success.  Feel free to contact him to request information about technology transfer and issues relating to patents and business development or to offer your personal well-wishes.

Purpose

This Notice provides guidance about the NIH Fiscal Operations for FY 2016 and implements the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (Public Law 114-113), signed by President Obama on December 18, 2015.  With the passage of the Act, NIH has $32.31 billion in budget authority or equivalent (program level), an increase of $2 billion over FY 2015.  The NIH will continue to manage its portfolio in biomedical research investments in a manner that includes recognizing applications from and providing special incentives for new investigators.

The following NIH fiscal policies are instituted in FY 2016: 

FY 2016 Funding Levels: Non-competing continuation awards that have already been made in FY 2016 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-16-002.  In general, such reductions will be fully restored, and non-competing continuation grants (research and non-research) including those that remain to be issued in FY 2016 will be made at the commitment level indicated on the Notice of Award.  Any exceptions will be posted at the site listed under "Additional Information" below.  Out-year commitments for continuation awards in FY 2017 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 2016 funds.

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA):  Consistent with the 2016 Consolidated 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 approximately 2 percent on average.  The full range of stipend adjustments for FY 2016 is described at NOT-OD-16-047. 

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 http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-013.html and at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/new_investigators/index.htm. 

Salary Limits: Section 202 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 prohibits payments for salaries under grants and other extramural mechanisms in excess of Executive Level II previously set at $183,300, and effective January 10, 2016, increased to $185,100.  See NOT-OD-16-045 for additional information. 

Other Legislative Mandates: Other statutory requirements are described in NOT-OD-16-044.

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.

Inquiries

Questions about specific awards may be directed to the Grants Management Specialist identified in the Notice of Award

You can check the approval end dates of all your studies at the Investigator’s Portal and submit Research Report Forms accordingly.  If you need help with your username and password, call Deborah at our Investigators Help Desk (x43042).  Go to the Lapse of IRB Approval procedure for further guidance.

"Suppression of Experimental Colitis through Enhancing Mucosal Repair and Reinstating Immune Tolerance in the Inflamed Gut"  

This was a very successful first round for this funding mechanism, with three outstanding submissions.   The applications were reviewed by the University Grants Review Committee for GCAT, GRASP, FIT, and RIG-GI, using the same scoring criteria by the National Institutes of Health. 

Please join us in congratulating Drs. Tang and Goel.

For more information, please see:  http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16524/nsf16524.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_27&WT.mc_ev=click.  The deadline for this solicitation is March 22, 2016 (5 pm, proposer’s local time).  Note: you may submit proposals to this solicitation in addition to your regular single or small team proposal to the NSF Division of Chemistry.  If you have any questions, please contact me (cbessel@nsf.gov or 703-292-4906) or Tyrone Mitchell (tmitchel@nsf.gov or 703-292-4947).