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COVID-19 Resources and Links for PI's, DBO/MSO, Research Administrators and Research Support Staff

4/1/2020

Research Administrators,

We understand there are many questions being raised by principal investigators, research administrators, department business officers and research support staff regarding the impact on sponsored research projects caused by COVID-19 events. We have aimed to limit the number of email communications sent as we understand that COVID-19 related communications via email are numerous.

This single email provides you with links to up-to-date resources available on the Blink COVID-19 Research portal. The links and resources are refreshed as soon as we receive information and new content will be developed as needed.

These links should be your go-to source for information from our sponsors, FAQ’s, quick reference guides, and other relevant COVID-19 related research resources, therefore minimizing daily/frequent email messages.

Get COVID-19 Information for Research Related Activities

At-a-Glace summary of Federal sponsor guidance regarding COVID-19 flexibilities affecting contracts and grants: At a glance summary
Links to detailed sponsor guidance regarding impacts of COVID-19 on contract and grant administration: Guidance from Sponsors and Research Partners
FAQ’s related to COVID-19 impact on contracts and grants: FAQ’s
Information regarding research continuity during COVID-19: Research Continuity Blink Portal

Your first choice for information and answers to questions should be to these resources. If more information is needed, the sponsored projects offices are available to assist our research community in any way possible to support efforts to address solutions to issues that arise regarding impact of COVID-19 on research projects.

Linda Collins, AVC Contracts and Grants (OCGA staff assignments)

Erika Wilson, Senior Director Health Sciences Sponsored Projects Pre-Award Office (HS SPPO staff assignments)

Frank Truong, Director SIO Office of Contract and Grant Administration (SIO-OCGA staff assignments)

NOT-OD-20-087: Guidance for NIH-funded Clinical Trials & Human Subjects Studies Affected by COVID-19

The purpose of this notice is to provide guidance outlining the flexibilities available to recipients conducting NIH-funded clinical trials and human subject studies, that are impacted by the declared public health emergency for COVID-19. NIH recognizes the significant effects that this emergency is having on NIH-funded clinical trials and other human subjects studies. First and foremost, NIH is concerned about the safety and welfare of human subject participants and research staff. Institutions should take all steps necessary to ensure the safety of all human participants and research staff involved in NIH-funded clinical trials and human subjects studies.

At this time, NIH encourages recipients to consult with their IRB and institutions about potential measures to protect participants and research staff. Examples of such measures are:

Limiting study visits to those needed for participant safety or coincident with clinical care.
Conducting virtual study visits
Arranging flexibilities for required laboratory tests or imaging needed for safety monitoring to occur at local laboratories or clinics
Canceling large gatherings of 50 or more people
Limiting or suspending unnecessary travel

Recipients will likely encounter delays to ongoing research based on the effects of COVID-19. As outlined in NOT-OD-20-086, recipients may submit late financial and progress reports, if research is delayed due to COVID-19, and may carryover unobligated balances on active grants without requesting prior approval.

Below are additional details related to current and expanded flexibilities.

Delays in Research Progress:

As outlined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement 8.1.1.3, recipients may extend the final budget period of the approved project on active grants one time for up to 12 months without requesting prior approval from NIH.

To support participant health and safety, and continuity of research during this public health emergency, NIH will allow for additional extensions, including mid-project period extensions, for awards supporting NIH-funded clinical trials and human subjects research. Recipients should contact the awarding Institute or Center (IC) to provide details on the effects of COVID-19, and the need for an extension. NIH is committed to working with its recipients during this public health emergency.

Typically, project periods for NIH awards supporting clinical trials and other human subjects research are limited to seven years. NIH will allow project periods to extend beyond the 7-year timeframe for extensions related to COVID-19.

Unanticipated Costs

As a result of COVID-19, recipients may incur unanticipated costs. For example:

Costs incurred to arrange for participants to receive care at their local sites or virtually, rather than the study site, for required visits.
Supply chain disruptions
Personnel disruptions due to illness or closure of facilities
Additional lab testing (e.g. for COVID-19)
Increased transportation costs

If unanticipated costs are identified due to impacts of COVID-19, and unobligated balances are not available to rebudget, recipients may request administrative supplements from the funding ICs (see PA-18-591 Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional). ICs will make funding decisions on a case by case basis in an effort to support the safety and welfare of participants and sustain research during any delays.

Additional NIH resources related to COVID-19 are available here which includes FAQs that include, but are not limited to, human research and clinical trials specific questions. NIH is continuing to monitor the situation and will publish any additional information regarding this ongoing public health emergency in the NIH Guide.

NOT-OD-20-086: Flexibilities Available to Applicants & Recipients of Federal Financial Assistance Affected by COVID-19

The NIH is deeply concerned for the health and safety of people involved in NIH research, and about the effects on the biomedical enterprise in the areas affected by the HHS declared public health emergency for COVID-19. Due to the potential exceptional impact of the declared public health emergency, we want to assure our recipient community that NIH will be doing our part to help you continue your research. Our website on Extramural Response to Natural Disasters and Other Emergencies has a list of available resources.

The purpose of this Notice is to alert the community of administrative flexibilities that will apply to NIH applicants and recipients. Therefore, working with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) NIH has identified the following short-term administrative flexibilities to assist our applicants with managing administrative, financial management and audit requirements under the Uniform Guidance “Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards” – which are implemented in HHS regulation at 45 CFR Part 75 – without compromising their accountability requirements.

These flexibilities are applicable to NIH applicants and recipients where the entity is conducting research activities related to or affected by COVID-19. Affected entities are those that have been closed, or business activities have been hindered due to COVID-19 precautionary measures and/or illnesses. Entities that are affected will be asked to provide documentation to NIH describing the effects, and how long their facility and NIH related research, clinical practices, or instruction was and/or will be affected.

The following requirements detail flexibilities that NIH is offering during this Public Health Emergency:

Pre-Award Costs: NIH is allowing pre-award costs to be incurred from January 20, 2020 through the public health emergency period and prior to the date of a federal award for all applicants and recipients that have been affected by COVID-19.

Extension of Post-Award Financial and Other Reporting: If your institution is unable to complete and submit financial and Research Progress Performance Reports (RPPR) by the scheduled due date, due to the effects of COVID-19, please be sure to contact the assigned grants management and/or program official to let them know the reports will be late.

NIH will accept these late reports but will delay issuing grant awards until the reports are received and accepted by the appropriate Institute or Center (IC).

Prior Approval Requirement Waivers: As a reminder, recipients have rebudgeting authority available under NIH Grants Policy Statement Sec. 8.1.1.2:, which states, “NIH prior approval is not required to rebudget funds for any direct cost item that the applicable cost principles identify as requiring the Federal awarding agency's prior approval, unless the incurrence of costs is associated with or is considered to be a change in scope.”

Recipients that are not under Streamlined Non-competing Application Process (SNAP) have the discretion to carry forward unobligated balances on their active grants for immediate efforts to support activities related to or affected by COVID-19 as long as the charges are allowable costs and are within the scope of the original award.

In addition, affected recipients that have active non-SNAP grant projects may extend the final budget period of the approved project period on active grants one time for a period of up to 12 months without requesting prior approval, by notifying the assigned grants management specialist.

Cost Related Flexibilities/Expenditure of Award Funds

Salaries: NIH understands that many researchers may be unable to work as a result of or related to the effects of COVID-19. If a recipient organization’s policy allows for the charging of salaries and benefits during periods when no work is performed due to the effect of COVID-19, regardless of the funding source, including Federal and non-Federal, then such charges to NIH grant awards will be allowable.

Reminder: NIH awarding Institutes/Centers (ICs) may request documentation to confirm the requirements of institutional policies.

Stipends: Institutions affected by COVID-19 may continue to provide stipend payments to fellows and trainees who may be unable to work as a result of or related to COVID-19. Recipients should notify the assigned grants management official, and provide documentation demonstrating the effect of COVID-19, and how long the institution will be affected.

Travel: Non-refundable costs associated with grant-related travel that has been cancelled due to COVID-19 may be charged to the NIH award if they would have otherwise been allowable. See NIH GPS 7.9.1 for detailed information on the allowability of travel expenses.

Conference Registration Fees: Non-refundable registration fees for conferences, symposiums or seminars that have been cancelled due to COVID19 may be charged to the NIH award if they would have otherwise been allowable (e.g. necessary to accomplish program objectives).

NIH-Supported Meetings and Conferences: Scientific meetings, conferences and workshops supported by NIH funding may be delayed or cancelled due to COVID-19. Non-refundable costs associated with NIH supported meetings and conferences affected by COVID-19 are allowable and may be requested as an administrative supplement to the appropriate funding IC. Recipients should contact their assigned grants management specialist and program official to provide documentation demonstrating the effect of COVID-19. The funding institute or center will work with the recipient to address the impact on the NIH grant.

As this Public Health Emergency continues, recipients may identify additional cost-related flexibilities that are needed. NIH will consider such requests on a case-by-case basis. Contact your assigned grants management specialist and program official to provide a detailed justification outlining the effect of COVID-19 and the flexibility required. NIH will consider such requests in line with the Federal cost principles, NIH policy, and need to support the project.

Extension of Closeout: NIH will allow recipients that are affected by COVID-19 to delay submission of any final financial, performance, and other reports required by the terms and conditions of award for the closeout of expired projects, provided that proper notice about the reporting delay is given by the recipient to the agency. This delay may not exceed one year.

Extension of Single Audit Submission

Per 45 CFR 75.501, institutions expending $750,000 or more in Federal funding in a Fiscal Year (FY) are required to submit an annual Single Audit report.

NIH will allow recipients directly affected by COVID-19 to delay the completion and submission of the Single Audit report for up to 12 months beyond the normal due date.

The delayed completion and submission would still qualify the recipient as a “low-risk auditee” under the criteria of 45 CFR 75.520.

Additional Resources:

NIH issued a separate Notice related to Late Application flexibilities.
Please see the COVID-19 Flexibilities for Applicants and Recipients FAQs for additional guidance.

NIH is continuing to monitor the situation, identifying ways we can help as outlined on this page, and will publish any additional information pertaining to these emergency declarations in the NIH Guide.

NOT-OD-20-083: General FAQs - Proposal Submission and Award Management Related to COVID-19

For the FAQs link, click here.

1. I have a question related to COVID-19's potential impact on my research project, project- related travel, or field work. Where are some of the places I can find helpful information?

Your employing organization is an ideal starting point. In many cases, colleges and universities have created websites offering information.

Beyond that, we encourage you to consult the following resources:

COVID-19 in general: see

the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) including its guidance for Institutes of Higher Education
the World Health Organization (WHO)
your local and state public health department

Travel to/from and quarantine in foreign countries: see the State Department Travel Advisories website
NIH website: NIH-funded facilities may post guidance for users of the facilities on their websites, and NIH will update this document with pointers to that information as it becomes available.
OER Disaster Website
NIH Guide Notice: Late Application Policy Due to Public Health Emergency for United States for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

2.The NIH Standard Terms of Award provide the recipient the authority to extend the final budget period of a previously approved project period one time for a period of up to 12 months beyond the original completion date down in the NoA. Any additional project period extension beyond the initial extension of up to 12 months requires NIH prior approval.

Per NIH Grants Policy Statement sections 8.4.1 and 8.6, as well as the terms and conditions outlined in Notice of Award, NIH requires that recipients periodically submit financial and progress reports. NIH understands that some reporting delays due to the impact of coronavirus may be unavoidable. Therefore, if recipients are unable to complete and submit a progress report ((Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPR)), Financial reports (Federal Financial Report expenditure data), and/or invention report by the scheduled due date, they should promptly contact the assigned grants management and/or program official. Although NIH will accept these late reports, grant awards will be delayed until the required reports are submitted and accepted by NIH.

3. I am a PI on a NIH-funded Conference or Travel award, but the meeting has been canceled. Who do I contact regarding the impact to the NIH award?

You should contact the cognizant NIH grants management official named in the Notice of Award to alert them of the situation. Feel free to copy the program official to make sure that all appropriate IC staff are aware of the circumstances. In light of the public health threat, you may wish to consider alternate plans, such as providing or using options for virtual participation.

For meetings that are directed by NIH program officers (e.g. steering committee meeting, data coordinating center meetings, etc.), the IC will be open to rescheduling the meeting or allow recipients to use the funds for a future meeting that is consistent with the original scope and objectives of the award.

4. A conference has been canceled, but I have nonrefundable travel, registration, and/or hotel costs. Can these be charged to a NIH Conference or Travel grant?

NIH is currently working internally as well as with our federal partners on a number of proposal and award-related issues pertaining to COVID-19. NIH will communicate with the community about these issues and will provide guidance as further information becomes available. In the meantime, please continue to follow all relevant policies and procedures, including those of your organization, and apply those practices consistently.

5. I am involved with a Conference or Travel award for a meeting that is taking place in the coming weeks. Should I continue with plans for the meeting?

NIH recommends first reaching out to the conference organizer or host. They are best equipped to understand the guidance at the location of the event. They may recommend having contingency plans if the event is ultimately cancelled or re-located, or might be planning to provide options for virtual participation. If you are the organizer, you may wish to consider developing contingency plans.

We also suggest checking the State Department Travel Advisories website if the conference involves foreign travel.

6. I am considering submitting a Conference or Travel proposal to NIH for a future meeting. The site of the meeting has not yet been selected; should I take into account COVID-19 in conference planning and site selection?

Travel logistics, accessibility, and health and safety considerations of the participants should always be a foremost consideration in any Conference proposal. Since the COVID-19 threat is still evolving, it is important to consider flexibility and alternative plans in a proposal to support travel or a conference. For foreign travel, you should consult the State Department Travel Advisories website.

7. My NIH grant involves an exchange of researchers (including students) and/or other foreign travel. Should I continue with plans?

Travel logistics, accessibility, and health and safety considerations of the participants in an active research project should always be a foremost consideration. NIH recommends consulting with your organization about its policies and procedures. You may consider approaching the planned researcher exchanges and/or other foreign travel with flexibility, and/or devising alternate plans including virtual participation as appropriate. As noted above, NIH understands that plans for active research projects may be disrupted, to the point of needing extensions on the original award durations. For foreign travel, you should consult the State Department Travel Advisories website.

8. I have plans to attend a large scientific gathering. Should I continue?

As noted previously, NIH recommends first consulting with your organization about its policies and practices. In addition, you may consider reaching out to the organizer or host of the scientific gathering. They are best equipped to understand the guidance at the location of the event. They may have contingency plans if the event is ultimately canceled or re-located, or they might be planning to provide options for virtual participation. We also suggest checking the State Department Travel Advisories website if the gathering involves foreign travel.

9. I am quarantined for a period of time. There is a NIH proposal deadline during my quarantine period and some essential materials I need are in my office. Can I receive an extension to the deadline?

The NIH will consider accepting applications late, on a case-by-case basis.

Recipients must submit a cover letter with the application, outlining the fact that the institution is closed due to affects of COVID19 so that NIH staff can document the delay.

Recipients do not need to request advance permission to submit late due to a public health emergency-related delay.

10. My university has asked staff to stay home for an undetermined period of time. How would I petition for an extension of an application deadline?

When delays occur because the applicant or recipient organization is officially closed due to a natural disaster or other emergency or because designated PD/PI(s) or other key staff is/are quarantined or involuntarily unable to come to their work locations, the NIH will consider accepting applications late, on a case-by-case basis, under the following circumstances:

Recipients must submit applications or reports as soon as possible after reopening or end-of-quarantine, not to exceed the number of days the institution was officially closed or the key staff including but not limited to the PD/PI was quarantined.

Recipients must submit a cover letter with the application, with enough detail about the delay so that NIH staff can make a determination whether circumstances justify accepting the application late.

Recipients need not request advance permission to submit late due to a disaster/emergency-related delay.

11. I have concerns about traveling to a peer review panel at NIH. What should I do?

Contact the cognizant NIH Scientific Review Officer (SRO) as soon as practicable. NIH will be flexible about accommodating virtual participation.

12. I have already booked my travel and accommodations. Will NIH reimburse me for these costs?

NOT-OD-20-082: NIH LATE APPLICATION POLICY Due to Public Health Emergency for US for COVID-19

When delays occur because the applicant or recipient organization is officially closed or unable to submit grant applications due to the effects of COVID-19, the NIH will consider accepting applications late, on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with the NIH Grants Policy Statement, Section 2.3.9, under the following circumstances:

Institutions must submit applications or reports as soon as possible after reopening or resuming operations so that grant applications can be submitted, not to exceed the number of days the institution was officially closed or unable to submit grant applications.

Institutions must submit a cover letter with the applications with enough detail about the delay so that NIH staff can make a determination whether circumstances justify accepting the application late.

Institutions need not request advance permission to submit late due to this declared emergency.

NIH will be issuing additional guidance related to this public health emergency in the near future.

NOT-CA-20-033: Notice on Policy Regarding Minimum Level of Effort for NCI-Funded Awards

**Effectively Immediately: NCI has announced new mandatory minimum levels of effort for all award mechanisms**

Principal Investigators (PIs), including Project Leaders on multi-project grants, will be required to commit a minimum level of effort to be eligible for NCI funding through R01, U01, P01, and R21 grant mechanisms. Effective immediately, competing applications that do not meet the minimum criteria will not be considered for funding unless the level of effort is raised to comply with the policy. Unless otherwise stated in an FOA, the minimum levels of effort are as follows:

Mechanism	Role	Minimum Level of Effortin calendar months/year (%)
R01/U01	Single PI	1.8 months (15%)
R01/U01	Multi-PI	1.2 months (10%) each
P01	PI	1.8 months (15%)
	Project PI	1.2 months (10%)
	PI and Project PI	3 months (25%)
	Core Leader	0.6 months (5%)
R21	PI	0.6 months (5%)
R35 (Current Policy)	PI	6 months (50%)
P50(Current Policy)	PI or 2 multi-PIs	2.4 months (20%) each
	3 or more Multi-PIs	1.8 months (15%) each
	Co-leads	0.6 months (5%) each
	Core Director	0.6 months (5%)
P30(Current Policy)	PI	3 months (25%)
P30(Current Policy)	Core Director	0.6 months (5%)

Requisite levels of effort for grant mechanisms not listed in this table are stipulated in the FOA.

The policy will ensure that PIs devote the appropriate effort and attention to project leadership for the duration of the grant award. In addition, a request to reduce the PI’s level of effort in subsequent years of funding will not be approved if the proposed level of effort falls below the minimum level.

Note, the minimum effort policy described in this notice will not apply when the grant is in a no-cost extension.

For more information, please go to the notice.

HS SPPO Newsletter Issue 1, Vol. 2 and KR Tips & Tricks

Issue 1 Vol. 2
Kuali Tips & Tricks

NOT-OD-20-070: NRSA Stipends, Tuition/Fees and Other Budgetary Levels Effective for Fiscal Year 2020

Notice Number: NOT-OD-20-070
Key Dates: Release Date: February 7, 2020
Related Announcements: NOT-OD-19-036

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA)

Purpose: This Notice supersedes NOT-OD-19-036 and establishes stipend levels for fiscal year (FY) 2020 Kirschstein-NRSA awards for undergraduate, predoctoral, and postdoctoral trainees and fellows, as shown in the tables below. In addition, the Training Related Expenses and the Institutional Allowance for postdoctoral trainees and fellows have been increased. The Training Related Expenses and Institutional Allowances for predoctoral trainees and fellows and the Tuition and Fees for all educational levels remain unchanged. This Notice reflects the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (H.R. 1865), signed into law on December 20, 2019.

The budgetary categories described in this Notice apply only to Kirschstein-NRSA awards made with FY 2020 funds. All FY 2020 awards previously issued using NOT-OD-19-036 will be revised to adjust funding to the FY 2020 levels. Appointments to institutional training grants that have already been awarded in FY 2020 must be amended to reflect the FY 2020 stipend levels once the training grant award has been adjusted by the NIH. Amended appointments must be submitted through xTrain in the eRA Commons. Retroactive adjustments or supplementation of stipends or other budgetary categories with Kirschstein-NRSA funds for an award made prior to October 1, 2019 are not permitted.

Stipends: Effective with all Kirschstein-NRSA awards made on or after October 1, 2019, the following annual stipend levels apply to all individuals receiving support through institutional research training grants or individual fellowships, including the Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) and Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) programs.

Undergraduates: For institutional training grants supporting undergraduate trainees (T34, TL4), appointments for undergraduate candidates will continue to be made by distinct category (i.e., Freshmen/Sophomores and Juniors/Seniors), but the stipend levels for the categories will be the same:

Career Level Stipend for FY 2020 Monthly Stipend
Freshmen/Sophomores $13,368 $1,114
Juniors/Seniors $13,368 $1,114

Predoctoral Trainees and Fellows: For institutional training grants (T32, T35, T90, TL1) and individual fellowships (F30, F31), one stipend level is used for all predoctoral candidates, regardless of the level of experience.

Career Level Years of Experience Stipend for FY 2020 Monthly Stipend
Predoctoral All 25,320 2,110

Postdoctoral Trainees and Fellows: For institutional training grants, (T32, T90, TL1) and individual fellowships (F32), the stipend level for the entire first year of support is determined by the number of full years of relevant postdoctoral experience when the award is issued. Relevant experience may include research experience (including industrial), teaching assistantship, internship, residency, clinical duties, or other time spent in a health-related field beyond that of the qualifying doctoral degree. Once the appropriate stipend level has been determined, the trainee or fellow must be paid at that level for the entire grant year. The stipend for each additional year of Kirschstein-NRSA support is the next level in the stipend structure and does not change mid-year.

Career Level Years of Experience Stipend for FY 2020 Monthly Stipend:

Career Level	Years of Experience	Stipend for FY 2020	Monthly Stipend
Postdoctoral	0	$52,704	$4,392
	1	$53,076	$4,423
	2	$53,460	$4,455
	3	$55,596	$4,633
	4	$57,456	$4,788
	5	$59,580	$4,965
	6	$61,800	$5,150
	7 or More	$64,008	$5,334

Senior Fellows (F33 only): The stipend level must be commensurate with the base salary or remuneration that would have been paid by the institution with which the individual is permanently affiliated when the award is issued, but cannot exceed the current Kirschstein-NRSA stipend limit set by the NIH for those with 7 or more years of experience. The level of Kirschstein-NRSA support will take into account concurrent salary support provided by the institution and the policy of the sponsoring institution. NIH support does not provide fringe benefits for senior fellows.

Relevant Policies

Current stipend levels are to be used in the preparation of future competing and non-competing NRSA institutional training grant and individual fellowship applications. They will be administratively applied to all applications currently in the review process.
NRSA support is limited to 5 years for predoctoral trainees (6 years for dual-degree training), and 3 years for postdoctoral fellows. The NIH provides eight levels of postdoctoral stipends to accommodate individuals who complete other forms of health-related training prior to accepting a Kirschstein-NRSA supported position. (The presence of eight discrete levels of experience, however, does not constitute an endorsement of extended periods of postdoctoral research training).
It should be noted that the maximum amount that NIH will award to support the compensation package for a graduate student research assistant remains at the zero level postdoctoral stipend, as described in NOT-OD-02-017.

Tuition and Fees, Training Related Expenses, and Institutional Allowance for Kirschstein-NRSA Recipients: The NIH will provide funds for Tuition and Fees, Training Related Expenses, and Institutional Allowance as detailed below. The amounts for tuition do not change, but the Training Related Expenses and the Institutional Allowance for postdoctoral trainees and fellows are increased by $1,000.

A. Tuition and Fees

Undergraduate and Predoctoral Trainees and Fellows: For institutional training grants (T32, T34, T35, T90, TL1, TL4) and individual fellowships (F30, F31), an amount per predoctoral trainee or fellow equal to 60% of the actual tuition level at the applicant institution, up to $16,000 per year, will be provided. If the trainee or fellow is enrolled in a program that supports formally combined, dual-degree training (e.g., MD/PhD, DO/PhD, DDS/PhD, AuD/PhD, DVM/PhD), the amount provided per trainee or fellow will be 60% of the actual tuition level, up to $21,000 per year.

Postdoctoral Trainees and Fellows: For institutional training grants (T32, T90, TL1) and individual fellowships (F32, F33), an amount per postdoctoral trainee or fellow equal to 60% of the actual tuition level at the applicant institution, up to $4,500 per year, will be provided. If the trainee or fellow is enrolled in a program that supports postdoctoral individuals in formal degree-granting training, an amount per postdoctoral trainee or fellow equal to 60% of the actual tuition level at the applicant institution, up to $16,000 per year, will be provided.

B. Training Related Expenses on Institutional Training Grants

For institutional training grants (T32, T35, T90, TL1), these expenses (including health insurance costs) for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees will be paid at the amounts shown below for all competing and non-competing awards made with FY 2020 funds.

Predoctoral Trainees: $4,200
Postdoctoral Trainees: $11,850

C. Institutional Allowance for Individual Fellows

This allowance for predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows will be paid at the amounts shown below for all competing and non-competing awards made with FY 2020 funds.

Institutional Allowance for individual fellows (F30, F31, F32, F33) sponsored by non-Federal Public, Private, and Non-Profit Institutions (Domestic & Foreign, including health insurance):

Predoctoral Fellows: $4,200
Postdoctoral Fellows: $11,850

Institutional Allowance for individual fellows (F30, F31, F32, F33) sponsored by Federal and For-Profit Institutions (including health insurance):

Predoctoral Fellows: $3,100
Postdoctoral Fellows: $10,750

Please direct all inquiries to:

See Frequently Asked Questions Related to NRSA Tuition, Fees, and Health Insurance Policies: https://grants.nih.gov/training/nrsa_tuition_q&a.htm.
Specific questions concerning this notice or other policies relating to training grants or fellowships should be directed to the grants management office in the appropriate NIH Institute or Center, AHRQ, or HRSA.
General inquiries concerning NRSA stipend and tuition policies should be directed to:

Division of Biomedical Research Workforce
Office of Extramural Research
Website: https://researchtraining.nih.gov
Email: NIHTrain@mail.nih.gov

NOT-OD-20-065: Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements

Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements FY 20
Notice Number: NOT-OD-20-065
Release Date: February 05, 2020
Issued By: Office of The Director, National Institutes of Health (OD)
Purpose

Since 1990, Congress has legislatively mandated a limitation on direct salary for individuals under NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards (referred to here as a grant). The mandate appears in The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116-94), signed into law on December 20, 2019, which provides authority for NIH to incur obligations for FY 2020.

The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, restricts the amount of direct salary to Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale. The Office of Personnel Management has recently released new salary levels for the Executive Pay Scale. Effective January 5, 2020, the salary limitation for Executive Level II is $197,300.

For awards issued in those years that were restricted to Executive Level II (see historical record of salary cap link below), including competing awards already issued in FY2020, if adequate funds are available in active awards, and if the salary cap increase is consistent with the institutional base salary, grantees may rebudget funds to accommodate the current Executive Level II salary level.

For a historical record of the salary cap, including effective dates, see: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/salcap_summary.htm.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to: Questions about specific awards may be directed to the Grants Management Specialist identified on the Notice of Award.

Also, please see the following additional notice:
NOT-OD-20-066 - Notice of Legislative Mandates in Effect for FY 2020
NOT-OD-20-068 - Notice of Fiscal Policies in Effect for FY 2020

NOT-OD-20-060: Update of NIH Continuous Submission Policy

Update of NIH Continuous Submission Policy:
Change in Submission Deadlines and End of Recent Substantial Service Option

Notice Number: NOT-OD-20-060

Key Dates
Release Date: January 24, 2020

Related Announcements

NOT-OD-17-042 RESCINDED
NOT-OD-18-178 RESCINDED

Issued by
CENTER FOR SCIENTIFIC REVIEW (CSR)

Purpose

This Notice alerts the scientific research community of plans to discontinue the practice of granting one-year continuous submission status to reviewers with recent substantial review service, which was earned by serving 6 times in an 18 month period. NIH is deeply appreciative of those who regularly serve on our advisory groups. However, prior policy had unintended consequences, among them encouraging excessive review service and thus disproportionate influence by some. NIH believes that diverse advisory groups with a range of familiar and fresh voices best identify high impact research. Limiting over-utilization of the same reviewers on advisory groups is one step NIH is taking to address this goal. Implementation of this change is being done so as to honor commitments to those who have already served under the prior policy:

Reviewers who are currently eligible for continuous submission through Recent Substantial Service will remain eligible through the end of their term on September 30, 2020.

Reviewers who earn eligibility for continuous submission through Recent Substantial Service during the period January 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020, will be eligible from August 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021.

No reviewers will subsequently earn or be granted continuous submission eligibility due to Recent Substantial Service.

Effective February 8, 2020, the continuous submission deadlines for assignment to each council round have been moved back approximately one week (see Table 1). Moving the deadlines for assignment to each council round to a slightly earlier date will allow more of these applications to be assigned to study sections whenever scientifically reasonable.

Continuous submission eligibility for appointed members of NIH committees and other terms/requirements of the overall policy have not changed, with the exception that the deadlines for assignment to a given council round are as defined in Table 1.

POLICY

Eligibility:

Continuous submission eligibility covers appointed members of:

Chartered NIH Study Sections.

NIH Boards of Scientific Counselors.

NIH Advisory Boards or Councils.

NIH Program Advisory Committees.

Appointed regular members of NIH committees are appointed by the Director, NIH (or the Director, NCI); the Secretary, DHHS; or the President of the United States.

Eligibility begins on the date the appointment becomes active and continues for six weeks after the official date of retirement from appointed committee service. Thus, if retirement from appointed service occurs on June 30, continuous submission is permitted until August 16 of that year.

Continuous submission eligibility can be viewed in the reviewer's eRA Commons Personal Profile, in the Reviewer Information section.

eRA Commons users with account administration roles (e.g., SO – Signing Official, AO – Administrative Official, AA – Account Administrator, BO – Business Official) can check an investigator's eligibility using the Advanced Search feature in the Admin module.

The list of currently eligible reviewers can be found on the NIH Continuous Submission page.

Continuous Submission applies to NIH applications that satisfy both criteria:

Submitted with continuous submission-eligible Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD/PI) including applications where one or more of the Multiple PD/PIs (MPIs) is eligible for continuous submission, and

Submitted to R01, R21, and R34 FOAs with standard due dates, including standard AIDS due dates. If a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) has a mix of standard and special receipt dates, continuous submission applications may only be submitted for the standard due dates on the FOA. It is important to note that these applications must also be compliant with policy in effect on the standard due date for which the application is submitted.

Continuous Submission does not apply to:

Applications in which the only eligible personnel have a role other than PD/PI or MPI.

Applications from temporary or ad hoc reviewers. Temporary or ad hoc reviewers who are not eligible for continuous submission may be eligible to use the late submission window as described in the NIH Late Policy.

Applications from individuals who serve as appointed advisors or ad hoc reviewers / advisors for other Federal agencies or for private organizations, or for NIH groups and committees other than those listed above.

Applications submitted in response to RFAs and PARs with non-standard receipt dates.

Applications for activity codes other than R01, R21, or R34. These applications may be submitted on time or following the general NIH Late Policy.

How does Continuous Submission relate to the NIH Late Policy?

Continuous Submission applies to R01, R21, and R34 applications submitted by continuous submission eligible PD/PIs and MPIs to FOAs with standard due dates, including standard AIDS due dates.

The NIH Late Policy applies to

All other types of applications submitted by continuous submission eligible PD/PIs and MPIs.

All applications submitted by all other PD/PIs and MPIs.

Processing and Review schedule:

Applications submitted under the continuous submission option must include a cover letter that identified the continuous submission-eligible PD/PI.

Applications for each council round are accepted no later than 5 PM local (applicant organization) time on the last day of the receipt period.

If the end of the application receipt period falls on a weekend or Federal Holiday, or during an official closure of Washington DC area Federal Offices, the date automatically moves forward to the next business day.

The NIH late policy described in NOT-OD-15-039 cannot be used to extend these receipt deadlines. No additional extensions of these Application Receipt Periods are possible.

Applications are required to comply with policy in effect on the standard due date for the council round in which applications are submitted.

Depending on the timing of the submission and the number of other similar applications received during the Application Receipt Period, NIH staff will decide if the application will be reviewed in a standing Study Section or in a Special Emphasis Panel (SEP).

Applications submitted under this option will be reviewed no later than 30 days before the corresponding Advisory Council.

To ensure timely second level (council) review, the Advisory Council dates and rounds in Table 1 will apply.

Schedule For Assignment to Advisory Council Rounds Under Continuous Submission Option

Submission is Continuous – Council Deadlines are not

For example, a non-AIDS R01 application due October 5 for May Council review may be submitted by a continuous submission-eligible PD/PI through December 10. Applications received on or after December 11 will be assigned to October Council for second level review and funding consideration.

Table 1.

For the Advisory Council Round:	Non-AIDS Standard Application Due Dates		Continuous Submission Non-AIDS Application Receipt Period Ends
	R01	R21, R34	R01, R21, R34
May	October 5 November 5	October 16 November 16	December 10
October	February 5 March 5	February 16 March 16	April 10
January	June 5 July 5	June 16 July 16	August 10

For the Advisory Council Round:	AIDS Application Due Dates	Continuous Submission AIDS Application Receipt Period Ends
	R01, R21, R34	R01, R21, R34
May	January 7	February 1
October	May 7	June 1
January	September 7	October 1

Direct any submission issues, including Grants.gov rejection messages indicating the opportunity is closed, to the eRA Service Desk.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Frequently Asked Questions and answers have been prepared (see https://grants.nih.gov/grants/peer/faq_continuous_submission.htm).
Any remaining issues/appeals may be directed to a NIH Continuous Submission Committee by emailing CSR.cont.sub.comm@csr.nih.gov

Urgent-Applications in KR- DO NOT USE S2S (1/23/2020)

Dear All,

I want to clarify for everyone now that KR has gone live but we are NOT submitting system to system which means NO detailed budgets. We are using KR just like we were using ePD entering only the summary budgets.

This information has been communicated at our HS SPPO contacts meetings.

We are sorry if there has been any confusion on this matter, if in your training you did not receive the instructions for the exercise for summary budget only they are attached for reference.

We are adopting KR in this matter due to several issues discovered during the KR training and testing that are in what is called the Parking Lot and are to be corrected in the next few months. Once these are cleared we will notify everyone when detailed budgets are to be processed in KR. All VCHS department are adopting KR in this way until the parking lot is cleared.

Please click here for information on creating a Summary Budget in KR

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Erika Wilson

Immediate Change in Grant Application and Conflict of Interest Disclosure (1/21/2020)

UC SAN DIEGO
CAMPUS NOTICE
University of California San Diego

OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR RESEARCH

January 21, 2020

ALL ACADEMICS AND STAFF AT UC SAN DIEGO (INCLUDING HEALTH SCIENCES)

SUBJECT: Immediate Change in Grant Application and Conflict of Interest Disclosure

We are pleased to announce Kuali Research and Kuali Conflict of Interest (COI) are now live and ready for use. The launch of Kuali Research and Kuali COI is the culmination of redesigning business processes in order to streamline, develop and implement institutional best practices campus-wide and is part of the Chancellor's Enterprise Systems Renewal (ESR) project. These new systems will enable researchers and staff to prepare and submit external proposals and conflict of interest disclosures more easily.

Kuali Research (KR) replaces the current contract and grant system of Coeus: Electronic Proposal Development (EPD), Institute Proposal (IP) and Award.

Kuali Conflict of Interest replaces the current paper-based processes for PHS, Non-PHS and 700-U forms by providing a more streamlined user experience, making it easier to submit and update conflict of interest disclosures with external proposals and other related activities required to meet university and state and federal government disclosure requirements.

SYSTEM ACCESS
To login to Kuali Research visit: https://ucsd.kuali.co/
To login to Kuali COI visit: https://ucsd.kuali.co/coi
Use can use either your Active Directory (AD) or Business Systems credentials to login, which will require a two-step authentication. For assistance on UCSD Accounts visit
https://blink.ucsd.edu/technology/network/access/index.html.

TRAINING AND RESOURCES
Kuali Research and Kuali COI offer a variety of resources to assist users. Visit the Blink pages below to sign up for trainings and in person consultations. In addition, both systems offer WalkMe, a digital adoption platform that offers in-system help, on-demand, when you need it.

Kuali Research Blink Resource Page:
https://blink.ucsd.edu/research/preparing-proposals/kuali-research/index.html

Kuali COI Blink Resource Page:
https://blink.ucsd.edu/sponsor/coi/kualicoi.html

Sign up for training directly below:
Kuali Research Learning Labs:
https://blink.ucsd.edu/research/preparing-proposals/kuali-research/training.html

Kuali COI Consultations:
https://esr.ucsd.edu/projects/kuali-coi/training/office-hours.html

KUALI CLIENT SUPPORT
Kuali Client Support is available Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (excluding university holidays) and can be reached by calling 858-534-9979, emailing researchadmin@ucsd.edu, live chatting with an agent via Kuali through the WalkMe player or submitting a ticket through UCSD Research Support Services https://ucsdservicedesk.service-now.com/research.

Sandra A. Brown
Vice Chancellor for Research

ESR Announces WalkMe Digital Adoption Platform (1/16/2020)

UC SAN DIEGO

CAMPUS NOTICE

University of California San Diego

OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS RENEWAL PROGRAM

January 16, 2020

ALL ACADEMICS AND STAFF AT UC SAN DIEGO

SUBJECT: ESR Announces WalkMe Digital Adoption Platform

We are pleased to announce that WalkMe has been selected by the Enterprise Systems Renewal (ESR) program as UC San Diego’s Digital Adoption Platform (DAP).

Starting with the launch of Kuali Research this month and for select ESR projects moving forward, WalkMe will be used to augment training and accelerate system adoption by adding in-system help when you need it. When applied, it takes the guesswork out of new systems and processes by providing step-by-step guidance overlaid onto the user interface. These guided walkthroughs, along with direct access to static help content and ways to request support, will be made available, on-demand, as you learn the system.

To take advantage of WalkMe’s functionality on select ESR projects, a lightweight web browser extension needs to be installed. For this reason and to minimize effort for users of university-managed devices, the ESR program partnered with major IT departments to automate the installation for the vast majority of users.

Please be advised that the exact timing of the WalkMe browser extension deployment will vary by the schedule of your IT support staff, and will be timed with specific system launches. As systems come online, the inclusion of WalkMe will be referenced in project communications and the system go-live announcement.

To determine if your web browser is ready to take advantage of the added functionality of WalkMe, we need you to:

Follow the link below to see if the browser extension has been installed and is working as intended:
https://go.ucsd.edu/384oiAo

If the browser extension has not been installed, or is not working properly, please contact your IT support staff.

To learn more about WalkMe and participating ESR projects, please see our Knowledge Base (https://go.ucsd.edu/37NAlSj) and FAQ page (https://go.ucsd.edu/2u51sd9), or contact walkme@ucsd.edu.

Kevin Chou
Program Director,
Enterprise Systems Renewal
Executive Director,
Business Technology Services,
IT Services

Mojgan Amini
IT Community Lead,
Enterprise Systems Renewal
Director,
Process Management & Continuous
Improvement, IT Services

Lynn Underwood
Director, Strategic Organizational
Change Management,
Enterprise Systems Renewal

AHRQ Salary cap Increased to $197,300

AHRQ announced today the Salary Cap has increased to $197,300 for FY 2020. Please start budgeting with this new level for all proposals and progress reports as well as you can start to use it for FY 2020 awards if funds are available.

Per the Notice:

Committed levels of funding for grant and contract awards made in prior fiscal years that were restricted to Executive Level II will NOT be adjusted for the new salary cap rate. However, if adequate funds are available in the award, and if the FY2020 salary cap limitation is consistent with the institutional base salary, grantees may re-budget funds to accommodate the FY2020 salary cap effective January 5, 2020, and cost reimbursement contractors may invoice at the higher rate. It is expected that such re-budgeting will not negatively impact the aims of the project. No additional funds will be provided for grant awards. Total estimated costs of contracts will not be modified.
The salary limitation also applies to all subawards and subcontracts.
Note that no adjustment will be made to any grant, cooperative agreement, or contract award already issued in FY2020.

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-HS-20-006.html

PPT & Recording of HS Contacts Meeting (1/8/2020)

Please see this link for a recording of yesterday's HS Contacts Meetings as well as please see this link for a PDF of the PPT.

Please note, slide 15 explains how to work with HS SPPO during the transition from ePD to KR when both systems are down and you have a proposal to submit:

New Contract/Grant and Conflict of Interest Systems (12/13/2019)

CAMPUS NOTICE

OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR RESEARCH

December 13, 2019

ALL ACADEMICS, STAFF AND STUDENTS AT UC SAN DIEGO

SUBJECT: New Contract/Grant and Conflict of Interest Systems

I am pleased to share important information regarding the implementation of new integrated contracts and grants management and conflict of interest systems that will enhance our research efforts while reducing administrative burdens. Kuali Research (KR) and Kuali Conflict of Interest (Kuali COI) will launch in January 2020 as part of the campus-wide Enterprise Systems Renewal (ESR) Program.

ABOUT KUALI RESEARCH (KR):

KR replaces the current Coeus contracts and grants systems including Electronic Proposal Development (ePD). KR allows faculty and staff to search for federal opportunities and pull required forms automatically into their proposals, as well as to create their project budgets directly in the system. Proposals can then be submitted directly to grants.gov through the KR system. This will result in more efficient, consistent practices for department administrators and principal investigators (PIs).

To ensure that the new system meets the needs of our research community, the planning team has collaborated with over 100 key personnel from Health Sciences, Academic Affairs and Marine Sciences (e.g., faculty, chairs, department research administrators and sponsored projects office representatives).

There are new proposal submission timelines, effective January 21, 2020. These timelines will allow us to use KR most effectively, ensure necessary oversight of proposals, and reduce administrative effort by departmental research administrators and PIs.

-PIs should notify research administrators of their intent to submit proposals no later than 14 business days prior to the sponsor deadline and complete the research questionnaire and certification provided by a KR notification link.

-Research administrators should initiate a KR proposal record no later than 14 business days prior to the sponsor deadline.

-Academic and administrative approvers (chairs and department business officers) should review and approve proposals as soon as they are notified to do so, and should establish appropriate back-up approvers to ensure there is no delay. Only a small percentage of proposals require approval by the department or unit chair, and the chair will be requested to approve only those proposals.

-KR proposal records should be routed to the Sponsored Project Offices 5 business days (with final draft of research plans due 2 business days) prior to the sponsor deadline.

Every effort will be made to ensure adoption of these standards and submission of proposals in accordance to these standards in the launch phase. In the future, failure to meet these deadlines may preclude submission of proposals to external sponsors.

Sponsored Project Office leadership from OCGA, HSSPPO and SIO-OCGA are meeting with deans, chairs, faculty and departmental administrators to discuss system features and timelines, and will work closely with units in order to achieve full adoption of these timelines by July 1, 2020.

ABOUT KUALI CONFLICT OF INTEREST (KUALI COI):

Kuali COI will be launched concurrently with KR and will have integrated disclosure notifications for external proposals and awards.

Kuali COI’s more streamlined process will make it easier to submit and update conflict of interest disclosures to meet state and federal government disclosure requirements.

In the future, both conflict of commitment disclosures and IRB will use the Kuali system, further reducing administrative burden.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR KR AND KUALI COI: As the launch date approaches, a range of training opportunities for both KR and Kuali COI will become available. Once the systems are launched, researchers and staff will be able to obtain assistance through a new Service Now helpline.

To learn more about Kuali Research visit:

https://esr.ucsd.edu/kuali-research To view Kuali Research training opportunities visit:

https://esr.ucsd.edu/projects/kuali-research/opportunities/index.html

To learn more about Kuali COI visit: https://esr.ucsd.edu/kuali-coi.

Sandra A. Brown

Vice Chancellor for Research

December 11, 2019 - HS SPPO Holiday Closure Dates

Dear Department Contacts:

During the holiday season, the Health Sciences Sponsored Project Pre-Award Office will be closed from December 23, 2019 through January 1, 2020, reopening on January 2, 2020.

Please use the following proposal timeline for proposals due in early January 2020. If you have a proposal due in late December, please contact your HS SPPO Analyst to discuss the proposal timeline for that specific proposal.

NIH Non-SNAP Progress Reports (RPPR) due January 1st:

If you are working on a progress report with a budget component, please prepare the RPPR for review and route to your HS SPPO Analyst by December 13th for submission prior to December 20th.

AIDS and AIDS-Related Application Proposals due January 7th:

Complete review copies of AIDS and AIDS-Related Application proposals should be received by HS SPPO no later than December 19th (it is okay to exclude the science sections at this stage of the proposal review). The finalized, ready to submit (as-is without a review) version of the proposal should be received no later than January 3rd before 4:30 pm. Please refer to the HS SPPO webpage, for more information on Submission Timelines.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Thank you & Happy Holidays,

Erika Wilson

Senior Director, HS SPPO

December 10, 2019 - Information on EPD/Coeus to Kuali Research Service Transition

Dear Department Research Administrator,

The purpose of this notice is to provide you with important dates, information and necessary action steps required to ensure a smooth and successful transition from Electronic Proposal Development (EPD), Coeus Institute Proposal (IP) and Award to Kuali Research (KR).

What are the steps for migrating from EPD/Coeus to KR?

EPD OFFLINE: As of 12PM on Tuesday, January 14, 2020 EPD/Coeus will go offline, at which time you have view only access to the system. Please mark your calendar accordingly.
KR GO LIVE: As of 7AM on Tuesday, January 21, 2020 the new Kuali Research System will be live.
MIGRATION: Between 12PM on Tuesday, January 14^th – 7AM on Tuesday, January 21^st all EPD/Coeus IP and Award records will be migrated from EPD/Coeus to Kuali Research.
ACTION NEEDED:

To ensure smooth transition no proposals can be in routing (a.k.a "Approval In Progress") as of 12PM on Tuesday, January 14, 2020.
To prevent EPD proposal records from routing during this time please do one of the following:

For EPD records already "Approval In Progress" complete the record, obtain approvals and have SPO finalize the record and mark as "Submitted" BEFORE 12PM on Tuesday, January 14^th.
For EPD records created BEFORE 12PM on Tuesday, January 14^th do not route and leave proposal as "In Progress." Proposals can be finalized in KR after 7AM on Tuesday, January 21^st.

Any proposals remaining as "Approval In Progress" AFTER 12PM on Tuesday, January 14^th will be returned to the departments and marked as "In Progress." These records will then need to be finalized in KR after 7AM on Tuesday, January 21^st.
Please click on the "EPD Approval In Progress Report" to view the list of proposal records that need to be finalized. (Log into the reporting environment with your Active Directory credentials (i.e. what you use for MS Outlook)

What if my proposal is due during the transition period?\

If your sponsor deadline occurs between January 14^th and January 21st, create the proposal record in EPD, but do not route the proposal (leave as "In Progress"). NOTE: All proposals must be created in EPD BEFORE 12PM on January 14^th.
Beginning 7AM Tuesday, January 21st, you will be able to complete and route the proposal in KR.
If your sponsor deadline occurs after January 21^st you must create and complete a KR record.
During the transition, please continue to work closely with your SPO contact to ensure your proposal is transmitted to the sponsor by the deadline.

What about training?

If you have not yet signed up for KR training, please register for a learning lab by visiting Kuali Research Training Opportunities.

Have additional questions? Please contact: esr-researchadmin@ucsd.edu

Thank you,
On behalf of the Enterprise Systems Renewal (ESR) Kuali Research
Research Information Services (RIS) Advisory Group

HS SPPO Newsletter Issue 2, Vol. 1

Issue 2, Vol 1

HS SPPO Newsletter Issue 1, Vol. 1

Issue 1, Vol. 1

NEW PHS (Public Health Services) Conflict of Interest (COI) FORMS (6/2019)

The PHS COI Form has been updated! Please start to use this new form immediately!

Per Jenifer Ford, the COI Office has updated the language on the PHS (Public Health Services) form and PHS supplement form to clarify the obligation for investigators to disclose their interests with Foreign Entities (including a Foreign University or a Foreign Government). This update is due to the federal government's focus on foreign engagement. The revised COI language will also be in the future Kuali COI system as well .

For PHS projects (such as NIH, AHRQ, and NIH flow-through), continue to submit the PHS form at time of proposal. Make sure you use the form with the date of 6/2019 in the footer. If necessary, the COI team will request the supplement at time of award directly to the investigator(s). Forms are submitted to coiforms@ucsd.edu.

For your convenience, the forms have been attached to this email as well as here are the links from their website:

June 4, 2019 - New Benefit Rates in Sponsored Research Proposals

UC SAN DIEGO

CAMPUS NOTICE

University of California San Diego

OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR RESEARCH

OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR & CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

June 4, 2019

ALL ACADEMICS AND STAFF AT UC SAN DIEGO

SUBJECT: New Benefit Rates in Sponsored Research Proposals

UC San Diego is taking all necessary steps to prepare for a UC-wide transition to a new rate structure for personnel benefits that locally will be effective for budgeting purposes starting July 1, 2019. These new rates, Composite Benefit Rates (CBRs), are a part of UC Path, a unified UC-wide payroll system. The CBRs cover the employer share of fringe benefits costs, and represent pooled rates set as a percentage of eligible salary. While the distribution of university and contract and grant personnel benefit costs are changing, the transition to CBRs does not affect the mechanism by which individual employees pay for their benefits or the amount that individual employees pay.

As communicated earlier this year, and as part of the 2019/20 campus budget development, departments have already incorporated the CBR rates in their planning budgets effective July 1, 2019. Now is the time for

investigators to begin incorporating the new rates in all sponsored research proposal budgets.

The link to planning CBRs and other information is provided at the end of this notice.

The transition to budgeting, and subsequent charging, with CBRs will streamline?and standardize fringe benefits budgeting as well as eliminate the significant financial variability that now exists between budgeted rates and actual charges. CBRs will also provide a simplified and predictable method for multi-year budgeting across all contract and grant budgets.

April 17, 2019 - NOT-OD-19-099: Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants & Cooperative Agreements FY 2019

Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements
FY 2019 Notice Number: NOT-OD-19-099
Key Dates Release Date: April 17, 2019
Related Announcements None
Issued by National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose

Since 1990, Congress has legislatively mandated a limitation on direct salary for individuals under NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards (referred to here as a grant). The mandate appears in The Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 (Public Law 115-245), signed into law on September 28, 2018, which provides authority for NIH to incur obligations for FY 19.

The Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019, restricts the amount of direct salary to Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale. The Office of Personnel Management has recently released new salary levels for the Executive Pay Scale. Effective January 6, 2019, the salary limitation for Executive Level II is $192,300.

For awards issued in those years that were restricted to Executive Level II (see historical record of salary cap link below), including competing awards already issued in FY2019, if adequate funds are available in active awards, and if the salary cap increase is consistent with the institutional base salary, grantees may rebudget funds to accommodate the current Executive Level II salary level. However, no additional funds will be provided to these grant awards.

For a historical record of the salary cap, including effective dates, see: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/salcap_summary.htm

Inquiries

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

January 25, 2019 - New Federal Requirements: Why you MUST disclose all foreign engagements and what this means for you

UC SAN DIEGO

CAMPUS NOTICE

University of California San Diego

OFFICE OF EXECUTIVE VICE CHANCELLOR - ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR - RESEARCH

January 25, 2019

ALL ACADEMICS AT UC SAN DIEGO

KEY ADMINISTRATORS/KEY SUPPORT STAFF

SUBJECT:

New Federal Requirements: Why you MUST disclose all foreign engagements and what this means for you

CONTEXT:

UC San Diego is committed to sustaining an environment that attracts and retains the brightest scholars and most exciting scholarship - and likewise is committed to the University of California's principles of academic freedom. Our many talented foreign scholars and students are essential to the research and education enterprise on our campus and we value their contributions highly.

At the same time, like all other institutions of higher education, our university and its faculty must adhere to federal reporting and disclosure requirements. Not doing so could result in loss of federal funding, not only for the individual who failed to report, but for the institution as a whole.

Last year, the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense issued guidance with respect to those agencies' growing concerns over the potential for foreign influence. Specifically, there is a heightened

concern that certain foreign entities may be seeking to influence U.S. research at all levels including peer review, diversion of intellectual property, sharing of confidential information and the use of resources originating outside the U.S. While other federal agencies have not yet come forward with their own guidance, it is very likely they will follow suit.

Sustained federal research funding is critical to UC San Diego's success and impact; therefore, we must comply with existing and new policies and regulations, including those related to full disclosure of foreign engagements, conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment.

ACTIONS:

*It is your professional responsibility to completely and accurately disclose all external financial interests and support, affiliations, activities and relationships with any foreign entities. The University of California requires all faculty to submit an annual Conflict of Commitment (COC) report indicating whether or not they have engaged in outside activities during the fiscal year. Outside professional activities are separated into three categories: Categories I and II include activities that must be reported and in the case of Category I, must receive prior approval before the faculty member engages in the activity. Examples of Category I activities include:

o Faculty or research appointments at other institutions (even if uncompensated)

o Directorships of labs, centers or programs at other institutions

(even if uncompensated) Disclosure forms are required even if faculty members have nothing to disclose. Deans are responsible for ensuring that all faculty members submit an annual disclosure and that the disclosures are accurate. Read more about COC requirements on blink: https://academicaffairs.ucsd.edu/aps/reports/apm/index.html

*Conflict of Interest (COI) policies require all university employees who are conducting research or other related activities to disclose certain financial interests, whether domestic or foreign. Financial interests include anything of monetary value (whether that value can be easily determined or not) held by the employee, a spouse or registered domestic partner, and dependent children. Examples include:

o income or payments for salaries

o consulting or honorariums

o holding a position such as founder, partner, employee or board member

o having ownership interests such as stocks, bonds or stock options

o travel funds or reimbursements

New financial interests should be disclosed within 30 days of their acquisition. Read more about required COI disclosures on blink: https://blink.ucsd.edu/sponsor/coi/quickreference.html

*Applicants for federal grants must list all foreign affiliations (biosketch) and "other support" prior to award and are required to identify any changes in each annual progress report. According to the NIH policy this includes:

o collaborations with investigators at a foreign site anticipated to result in co-authorship;

o use of facilities or instrumentation at a foreign site; or

o receipt of financial support or resources from a foreign entity.

This covers research contracts and grants, cooperative agreements and organizational awards, including any from foreign governments or entities (e.g. affiliations; collaborations; foreign patents; and exchange of information, materials or data): https://bit.ly/2CLVYVu

A KEY RULE OF THUMB

Any external support or engagement that you would acknowledge in public presentations or publications is something that you must also disclose in grant applications, annual reports and closeout summaries and in

university-related COI and COC disclosure forms (as required).

FINAL THOUGHTS

It is essential for you to be transparent about any affiliations with foreign entities when applying for federal grants. Only by your full disclosure will UC San Diego be in compliance with University of California regulations and be able to advise, assist and protect you and your work.

This situation is fluid so there may be additional guidance in the future. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your department chair or the Office of Research Affairs.

Elizabeth H. Simmons

Executive Vice Chancellor

Academic Affairs

Sandra A. Brown

Vice Chancellor - Research

January 23, 2019 - New Validations for HSS Form When Completing an RPPR

A Human Subjects System (HSS) release on Thursday, January 24, 2019, will introduce the following validations and warning messages for Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPR). These validations are for Section 6 and other fields on the Human Subjects Clinical Trials form.

Scenario	RPPR Validation
Study’s inclusion Monitoring code is marked as Yes, but there is no planned enrollment data and the study is not an existing dataset or delayed onset.	Warning message: "Planned counts are required to be greater than zero for Inclusion Enrollment Reports <IER#, IER#> under Study<Study#>, Inclusion Enrollment Reports<IER#,IER#> under Study <Study #>. Please click on the Human Subjects link in G.4 to update the Inclusion Enrollment Report(s) in Section 2 of the Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information form.
Enrollment of first participant was more than 21 days ago, but a Clinicaltrials.gov identifier (NCT) has not been provided.	Warning message: "Enrollment for <study title> has begun but no Clinicaltrials.gov Identification Number (NCT) has been provided. Please complete Clinicaltrials.gov registration and use the Human Subjects link in G.4 to add the NCT number in the Human Subjects and Clinical Trial Information Form item 1.5."
The actual Primary Completion Date is more than 12 months ago and results have not been reported to ClinicalTrials.gov.	Warning message: "The study <study title> Primary Completion date is more than 12 months in the past and results have not been submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov. The responsible party should submit results to Clinicaltrials.gov."
Project level and study level clinical trial codes are discrepant	Warning messages: When project-level CT code is No: "One or more study records is listed as a clinical trial; however, this grant has a clinical trial indicator of No. Please contact your NIH Program Officer." When project-level CT code is Yes: "None of the study records are listed as clinical trials; however, the grant has a clinical trial indicator of Yes. Please contact your NIH Program Officer.”
Sec 6. Study Primary Completion Date is missing on the form	Error Message: Study Primary Completion Date is missing for Study<Study Title>. Please click on the Human Subjects link in G.4 to update the Study Primary Completion Date in section 6 of the Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information form.
Sec 6. Study Final Completion Date is missing on the form	Error Message: Study Final Completion Date is missing for Study<Study Title>. Please click on the Human Subjects link in G.4 to update the Study Final Completion Date in section 6 of the Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information form.
Sec 6. Completion of primary endpoint date analyses is missing	Error Message: Completion of primary endpoint data analyses date is missing for Study<Study Title>. Please click on the Human Subjects link in G.4 to update the Completion of primary endpoint data analyses date in section 6 of the Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information form.
Sec 6. Reporting of results in ClinicalTrials.gov is missing.	Error Message: Reporting of results in ClinicalTrials.gov date is missing for Study<Study Title>. Please click on the Human Subjects link in G.4 to update the Reporting of results in ClinicalTrials.gov date in section 6 of the Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information Form.
Sec 6. Is this an applicable clinical trial under FDAAA answer is missing.	Error Message: Is this an applicable clinical trial under FDAAA answer is missing for Study <Study Title>. Please click on the Human Subjects link in G.4 to update Is this an applicable clinical trial under FDAAA in section 6 of the Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information Form.
Completion of primary endpoint data analyses date is more than 12 months after the Primary Completion Date	Warning Message: Completion of Primary endpoint data analyses date cannot be later than 12 months from Primary Completion Date for Study <Study Title>. Please click on the Human Subjects link in G.4 to update the Primary endpoint data analyses date in section 6 of the Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information Form.
Reporting results in Clinicaltrials.gov date is more than 12 months after the Primary Completion Date	Warning Message: Reporting of results in Clinicaltrials.gov date cannot be later than 12 months from primary completion date for Study<Study Title>. Please click on the Human Subjects link in G.4 to update the Reporting of results in ClinicalTrials.gov in section 6 of the Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information Form.

Joe Schumaker

eRA Communications

Division of Communications and Outreach

NIH Office of Extramural Research

January 22, 2019 - New 2-Step Submission Process for RPPRs with Inclusion Enrollment Data

With the launch of the new Human Subjects System (HSS), there is now a new two-step submission process for any Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPR) reporting inclusion enrollment updates. When investigators are completing their RPPR inclusion enrollment updates, the system will now automatically open a separate screen for enrollment data entry. This requires separate submission steps for the enrollment data file and the full RPPR file. The NIH RPPR Instruction Guide has not yet been updated regarding this new process. In the meantime, please see below for additional details and instructions for Signing Officials and Principal Investigators.

Who’s Affected? All principal investigators submitting RPPR files with 2018 inclusion enrollment updates submitted since the June 9, 2018 launch of the Human Subjects System (HSS).

What’s Changed? There is now a two-step submission process for inclusion enrollment data updates made during the RPPR process – one submission via ASSIST for the inclusion data and a separate submission for the full RPPR file.

Investigators will enter their inclusion enrollment updates via ASSIST in the Human Subjects and Clinical Trial (HSCT) form. When completed, they need to update the ASSIST file status to “Ready for Submission” and route to their Signing Official (SO) for submission prior to the submission of their full RPPR file.
Once the SO then submits the updated HSCT form, the RPPR can be completed and submitted as usual. (See below for detailed instructions)

Note: If the SO does not submit the ASSIST HSCT updates prior to the RPPR submission, the RPPR file will not reflect the updates made to the inclusion enrollment data. Investigators will receive a warning when trying to submit their RPPR (see screenshot below) but this does not prevent them from submitting.

Figure 1: Warning Message to Remind Signing Official to Submit HSS Enrollment Data

Instructions for Principal Investigators for submitting updated human subjects and enrollment date with the RPPR.

While in the RPPR Menu screen, click the Edit button in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.
If inclusion enrollment updates are needed, first save any RPPR data entered thus far, then click the G Special Reporting Req tab.
Under G.4.b Inclusion Enrollment Data, click the Human Subjects link – this will open a window in ASSIST to make any edits in the Human Subjects and Clinical Trials (HSCT) form.
In the Application Information Screen, click on the HSCT Post Submission tab
In the Study Records screen, click on the View button to see a particular study.

Figure 2: Accessing a specific study record in HSS

To make changes, click the Edit button at the top of the screen, just above the SECTION 1 header.
Scroll down to the bottom of SECTION 2 to find the Inclusion Enrollment Report(s) to be updated.
Enter the enrollment figures and the system will automatically total the rows and columns. Note: the “Unknown” gender/race/ethnicity categories are not available for the Planned Enrollment tables.
After updates are made, click Save and Release Lock and the Submission Status (in the Application Information Screen) will change to Work in Progress.
Back in the Application Information screen, click on the Summary tab near the top of the screen.
Next click the UPDATE SUBMISSION STATUS button in the Actions pane on the left-hand side of the screen and in the Select the new status dropdown menu, select Ready for Submission.
Add a comment and click “add comment,” or click on the blue text stating “continue without adding a comment” to proceed.
The system will send an email to the Signing Official (SO) to notify them that the updates are ready for submission. The SO must log into eRA Commons and click the Submit Application button to allow the changes to be included in the RPPR and transmitted to NIH.
Complete the rest of the RPPR updates then save and submit as usual.

Should the RPPR be submitted before the HSCT form, please go to the online help for the Human Subject System (HSS) and refer to the instructions on How to Change the Application Status and Resubmit.

If you have additional systems-related issues contact eRA Service Desk.

Joe Schumaker

eRA Communications

Division of Communications and Outreach

NIH Office of Extramural Research

January 14, 2019 - New Director of Graduate Student Financial Support

From: gradcoords-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu

On Behalf Of Dean of the Graduate Division

Sent: Monday, January 14, 2019 3:29 PM

OFFICE OF THE INTERIM DEAN

GRADUATE DIVISION

January 14, 2019

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Sharleen Rauch as the new Director of Graduate Student Financial Support in the Graduate Division as of January 14, 2019.

As Director, Shar will serve as a member of the Dean’s cabinet and senior adviser to the Dean of the Graduate Division, advising and providing analytical support and leadership on graduate student financial support and employment topics. She will develop short-term and long-term strategies for graduate student financial support, including maximizing extramural support and ensuring that campus funds are equitably distributed to support the dynamic and broad breadth of graduate education at UC San Diego. She also will oversee the direct fund management, distribution to UC San Diego graduate students, and reporting of fellowship, traineeship, and tuition-and-fee payments. Shar will also work to evaluate and improve processes across the unit and ensure compliance with internal and external policies on graduate student financial support.

Shar began her career in higher education at UC Berkeley in 2007. Most recently, she worked at the University of California San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute as an Administrative/Program Manager. During her tenure, she successfully secured foundation, state and federal funding; managed complex grant projects as large as $30M with sound fiscal stewardship; implemented process improvement projects; and led cross-functional teams. She earned a B.S. in Public Health and another in Speech and Hearing Sciences. Additionally, Shar is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt.

The Graduate Division is the central resource for all matters related to graduate education at UC San Diego and is there at every step in a graduate student’s career, helping students navigate their path from admission to graduation and beyond. Working behind-the-scenes and in collaboration with faculty, staff and students, the Graduate Division guides today’s scholars on their upward trajectory to becoming tomorrow’s leaders.

Please join us in celebrating and supporting Shar’s transition into this leadership role during a time of momentum for the Graduate Division.

Paul Yu

Interim Dean

Graduate Division, UC San Diego

9500 Gilman Drive

La Jolla, CA 92093-0003

Phone: 858-534-6655

graduatedean@ucsd.edu

grad.ucsd.edu

December 21, 2018 - Letter for New NIH Training Grants Application Requirements

As requested by system-wide C&G leadership, RPAC has secured a letter from UC Provost Michael Brown to meet the new requirement for institutional training grant applications found in NIH Notice Number NOT-OD-19-029.

The letter from the Provost can be found here.

This letter will be required effective with the January 25 deadline for T Series applications.

They’ve just published a new webpage that will be a resource on discrimination and sexual harassment in research agreements – Michael Kusiak will get the content built out in the next week or so. This new site can be found here. For now, the only thing of substance there is Provost Brown’s letter.

Thank you to those of you who provided input in the development of this letter. RPAC hopes this will reduce the administrative burden of needing to draft one for each location. Additionally, RPAC has reached out to NIH about the on-going need for this requirement, which seems to duplicate previous assurances made to the agency.

November 27, 2018 - Notice of Fiscal Policies in Effect for FY 2019

The following NIH fiscal policies are instituted in FY 2019:

FY 2019 Funding Levels: Non-competing continuation awards made in FY 2019 will generally be issued 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 2020 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 2019 funds.

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA): Consistent 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 2019 .is described in NOT-OD-19-036.

Next Generation Researchers Initiative Policy: NIH will prioritize meritorious R01- equivalent applications from ESI PD/PIs. By providing funding priority for ESIs, NIH intends to encourage funding applications that involve researchers earlier in their career in accordance with the policy established in FY 2017 and described at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-17-101.html.

Salary Limits: Section 202 of the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 prohibits payments for salaries under grants and other extramural mechanisms in excess of Executive Level II currently set at $189,600.

Other Legislative Mandates: Other statutory requirements are described in NOT-OD-19-030.

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

November 27, 2018 - NRSA stipend levels for FY 2019

NOT-OD-19-036: NRSA Stipends for FY 2019

Effective with all Kirschstein-NRSA awards made on or after October 1, 2018, the following annual stipend levels apply to all individuals receiving support through institutional research training grants or individual fellowships, including the Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) and Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) programs.

Undergraduates in the MARC and BUILD Programs: For institutional training grants (T34, TL4), two stipend levels may be used for undergraduate candidates: Freshmen/Sophomores and Juniors/Seniors.

Career Level	Stipend for FY 2019	Monthly Stipend
Freshmen/Sophomores	$9,360	$780
Juniors/Seniors	$13,104	$1,092

Career Level	Years of Experience	Stipend for FY 2019	Monthly Stipend
Predoctoral	All	$24,816	$2,068

Career Level	Years of Experience	Stipend for FY 2019	Monthly Stipend
Postdoctoral
	0	$50,004	$ 4,167
	1	$50,376	$ 4,198
	2	$50,760	$ 4,230
	3	$52,896	$ 4,408
	4	$54,756	$ 4,563
	5	$56,880	$ 4,740
	6	$59,100	$ 4,925
	7 or more	$61,308	$ 5,109

Relevant Policies

Current stipend levels are to be used in the preparation of future competing and non-competing NRSA institutional training grant and individual fellowship applications. They will be administratively applied to all applications currently in the review process.

NRSA support is limited to 5 years for predoctoral trainees (6 years for dual-degree training), and 3 years for postdoctoral fellows. The NIH provides eight levels of postdoctoral stipends to accommodate individuals who complete other forms of health-related training prior to accepting a Kirschstein-NRSA supported position. (The presence of eight discrete levels of experience, however, does not constitute an endorsement of extended periods of postdoctoral research training).

It should be noted that the maximum amount that NIH will award to support the compensation package for a graduate student research assistant remains at the zero level postdoctoral stipend, as described in NOT-OD-02-017.

Tuition and Fees, Training Related Expenses, and Institutional Allowance for Kirschstein-NRSA Recipients
The NIH will provide funds for Tuition and Fees, Training Related Expenses, and Institutional Allowance as detailed below. The amounts for tuition do not change but the Training Related Expenses and the Institutional Allowance for postdoctoral trainees and fellows are increased by $1,000.

A. Tuition and Fees
Undergraduate and Predoctoral Trainees and Fellows: For institutional training grants (T32, T34, T35, T90, TL1, TL4) and individual fellowships (F30, F31), an amount per predoctoral trainee or fellow equal to 60% of the actual tuition level at the applicant institution, up to $16,000 per year, will be provided. If the trainee or fellow is enrolled in a program that supports formally combined, dual-degree training (e.g., MD/PhD, DO/PhD, DDS/PhD, AuD/PhD, DVM/PhD), the amount provided per trainee or fellow will be 60% of the actual tuition level, up to $21,000 per year.

B. Training Related Expenses on Institutional Training Grants: For institutional training grants (T32, T35, T90, TL1), these expenses (including health insurance costs) for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees will be paid at the amounts shown below for all competing and non-competing awards made with FY 2019 funds.

• Predoctoral Trainees: $4,200
• Postdoctoral Trainees: $10,850

C. Institutional Allowance for Individual Fellows: This allowance for predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows will be paid at the amounts shown below for all competing and non-competing awards made with FY 2019 funds. Institutional Allowance for individual fellows (F30, F31, F32, F33) sponsored by non-Federal Public, Private, and Non-Profit Institutions (Domestic & Foreign, including health insurance):

• Predoctoral Fellows: $4,200
• Postdoctoral Fellows: $10,850

July 28, 2018 - IMPORTANT REMINDER - Monday, July 2, 2018 - FELLOWSHIPS entered in EPD

Effective July 2, 2018, all Fellowships will be entered into EPD.

Inclusive of this email you will find the definition, exclusions and sponsor specific guidance for Fellowships, as well as basic information for entering Fellowships in EPD. You may also view the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Adding Fellowships to the Electronic Proposal Development (EPD) System, a detailed Step-by-Step for entering Fellowships in EPD and a brief Instructional Video. The ERAP Client Support Team is available for questions at eraphelp@ucsd.edu or by calling (858) 534-9979.

Fellowship Definition

Merit Based – in response to a competitive application/announcement
Awarded to a Specific Individual – award follows the individual should they leave the University
Mentored – they are not an individual investigator and is guided by a Faculty member
Intended to enhance an individual's potential to develop into an independent researcher/scholar
Fellowship Exclusions

At UC San Diego, fellowships that are administered by the University through a SPO exclude:

Awards to Faculty – these are handled as grants
Undergraduate fellowships – may be handled on a case-by-case basis
Postdoc Pay Directs and Graduate Students paid directly
Fellowship programs administered by the University – University picks the fellows
Programs or fellowships funded by gifts
Sponsor Specific Guidance

Federal

Must have a specific funding opportunity identifying the intent to award fellowships
Submitted through a central office

Non-Profit

Must determine the intent of the funding. If the intent is not clear in the announcement or sponsor website, clarification with sponsor is needed. The determining factors include:

Does it meet the high-level definition?
How does the sponsor classify it?
What are the reporting requirements/deliverables, final outcomes, basic financial reporting?
Are the terms and conditions appropriate for a fellowship?

Industry

Must be very careful about the sponsor's intent. The program must be for the development of the individual and clearly distinguishable from research contracts solicited by the company that state anticipated outcomes in specific areas of interest to the company.

Foreign Government

See Industry criteria above. Foreign fellowships may be received as a subaward from a foreign university or non-profit requiring additional scrutiny or negotiation. As with US federal fellowships, the original sponsor should have a specific funding opportunity identifying the intent to award fellowships.

Fellowship Proposals in EPD

Anticipated Award Type: A new "Anticipated Award Type" has been added to the General Info Screen: Fellowship

Investigator/Key Persons:

Proposed 'fellow' will be entered as the Principal Investigator (PI) on all Fellowship Proposals.
Faculty member will be entered as a Co-Investigator (Co-I) if a Conflict of Interest disclosure IS required.
Faculty member will be entered as a Key Study Person if a Conflict of Interest is NOT required.

PI Exceptions: are not required for Fellowships.

Conflict of Interest

Non-Federal 700U disclosures are not required for fellowships.
PHS and 9510 disclosures are required for Federal fellowships and sponsors that have adopted those policies.

Routing:

SIO-OCGA and HS SPPO Fellowships will follow their normal routing process and current analyst routing model.
General Campus & Graduate Division Fellowships do not require department approvals (refer to the SOP and Step-by-Step for more detailed information).

Links:

Step-by-Step: Fellowships

SOP: Adding Fellowships within EPD

Instructional Video

Pamela Tallarida

Sr. Training & Client Support Analyst

Electronic Research Administration Program

Research Administration Training Program

Office of Research Affairs

University of California, San Diego

9500 Gilman Dr. #0043, La Jolla, CA 92093-0043

858.246-1902

June 26, 2018 - ePD Record Submission Reminder Co-Investigators

Dear All,

I would like to remind everyone when entering proposals into ePD, if a Co-Investigator has effort & salary listed on the budget, they need to be added in the ePD record as Key Personnel. This will enable the proper routing to the departments and COI reviews.

All investigators contributing effort to the proposal with the following pay roll titles should be added as “Co-Investigator “on the Investigators/Key Persons tab:
Professor, all ranks
Professor-in-residence, all ranks
Adjunct Professor, all ranks, salaried
Clinical professor, all ranks, salaried and unsalaried,
Professor of Clinical X, all ranks
Research Scientist, all ranks
Research Professor
Professor Emeritus
Project Scientist, all ranks
Postdoc (IF PI ONLY)

Thank you,

Erika

Sr. Director Health Sciences Sponsored Projects Pre-Award Office and

Health Sciences Research Service Core

Interim ADCS Finance

University of California San Diego

9500 Gilman Dr.

La Jolla Ca 92093

858-822-4980

June 20, 2018 - IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ: Fellowship Proposals in EPD

Effective July 2, 2018, all Fellowships will be entered into EPD

Inclusive of this email you will find the definition, exclusions and sponsor specific guidance for Fellowships, as well as basic information for entering Fellowships in EPD. Additionally, attached is the Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) Adding Fellowships to the Electronic Proposal Development (EPD) System, a detailed Step-by-Step for entering Fellowships in EPD and a link to a brief Instructional Video. The ERAP Client Support Team is available for questions at eraphelp@ucsd.edu or by calling (858) 534-9979.

Fellowship Definition:

Merit Based – in response to a competitive application/announcement
Awarded to a Specific Individual – award follows the individual should they leave the University
Mentored – they are not an individual investigator and is guided by a Faculty member
Intended to enhance an individual's potential to develop into an independent researcher/scholar

Fellowship Exclusions:

At UC San Diego, fellowships that are administered by the University through a SPO exclude:

Awards to Faculty – these are handled as grants
Undergraduate fellowships – may be handled on a case-by-case basis
Postdoc Pay Directs and Graduate Students paid directly
Fellowship programs administered by the University – University picks the fellows
Programs or fellowships funded by gifts

Sponsor Specific Guidance

Sponsor Category	Requirement
Federal	Must have a specific funding opportunity identifying the intent to award fellowships. Submitted through a central office.
Non-profit	Must determine the intent of the funding. If the intent is not clear in the announcement or sponsor website, clarification with sponsor is needed: Determining factors include: Does it meet the high-level definition? How does the sponsor classify it? What are the reporting requirements/deliverables, final outcomes, basic financial reporting Are the terms and conditions appropriate for a fellowship?
Industry	Must be very careful about the sponsor's intent. The program must be for the development of the individual and clearly distinguishable from research contracts solicited by the company that state anticipated outcomes in specific areas of interest to the company.
Foreign Govt.	See Industry criteria above. Foreign government fellowships may be received as a subaward from a foreign university or non-profit requiring additional scrutiny or negotiation. As with US federal fellowships, the original sponsor should have a specific funding opportunity identifying the intent to award fellowships.

Fellowship Proposals in EPD

Anticipated Award Type

A new "Anticipated Award Type" has been added to the General Info Screen: Fellowship

Investigator/Key Persons

Proposed 'fellow' will be entered as the Principal Investigator (PI) on all Fellowship Proposals.
Faculty member will be entered as a Co-Investigator (Co-I) if a Conflict of Interest disclosure IS required.
Faculty member will be entered as a Key Study Person if a Conflict of Interest is NOT required.
PI Exceptions are not required for Fellowships.

Conflict of Interest

Non-Federal 700U disclosures are not required for fellowships.
PHS and 9510 disclosures are required for Federal fellowships and sponsors that have adopted those policies.

Routing:

SIO-OCGA and HS SPPO Fellowships will follow their normal routing process and current analyst routing model.
General Campus & Graduate Division Fellowships do not require department approvals (refer to the SOP and Step-by-Step for more detailed information).

Links:

June 8, 2018 - HS SPPO & OCGA Announcements

Dear HS Contacts,

We have two announcements for you from OCGA as well as one new requirement announcement from HS SPPO:

Updated Fringe Benefit Rates:
OCGA has posted updated fringe benefit rates for FY2019-2024 on the following page: https://blink.ucsd.edu/research/preparing-proposals/budgets/direct.html#Fringe-benefit-rates. Please start to use these new composite rates immediately.

New F&A Rate Agreement:
OCGA has posted the newly signed F&A Rate Agreement as well as OCGA has updated the table of rates, budget justification language, and other reference links on the following page: https://blink.ucsd.edu/research/preparing-proposals/budgets/indirect.html. Please note, the new indirect (F&A) rate agreement date is May 23, 2018.

HS SPPO & Minimum Requirements in ePD:
Effective July 1, 2018, HS SPPO will be requesting a placeholder in ePD (under the Upload Attachments Tab) for final proposals submitted electronically in eRA Commons or ASSIST. HS SPPO's website has been updated with this new minimum requirement on the following page: https://medschool.ucsd.edu/vchs/research-services/hssppo/review/application-prep/Pages/default.aspx.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your HS SPPO Analyst.

Best regards,
The HS SPPO Team

2nd Annual OCGA Open House and Bootcamp Training

Hello,

Thanks again to everyone who made it out to the 2^nd annual OCGA Open House and Bootcamp Training Sessions! We had nearly 100 attendees, and hope that everyone enjoyed themselves and learned more about what we do.

We also would like to invite you to take a brief survey. Your feedback is important! We will use your responses to develop our next OCGA Campus Forum (6/26/18, 9:30a, Price Center Forum 4^th Floor), next year's open house, and additional training from OCGA [link removed].

Attached are materials from the trainings. Please reach out to Karim Hussein if you have any questions about the trainings, or materials.

Below are hyperlinks to three of OCGA's new e-forms for requesting Outgoing MCAs, Incoming Service Agreements (VCAA Departments), and Unfunded Agreements:

Enterprise Systems Renewal (ESR &) COI Module Update

Hello,

As you may know, UC San Diego has recently launched an Enterprise Systems Renewal (ESR) program to renew processes and technologies in four major business domains, one of which is research. Under the ESR program, Kuali Research will replace Coeus as the next generation contracts and grants system. Kuali Research also has several compliance modules, inclusive of a conflict of interest module. In order to provide the research community with a more streamlined and user friendly interface, a decision has been made to move to the Kuali Research conflict of interest module. Your valuable feedback and contributions with the electronic conflict of interest system (eCOI) will be utilized in the implementation of the Kuali Research conflict of interest module.

As more information becomes available regarding the Kuali Research conflict of interest implementation, we will keep you informed. If you have any questions, please contact the Conflict of Interest Office at info-coi@ucsd.edu or (858) 534-6465.

Thank you.

April 4, 2018 - OCGA Announcements

Good Afternoon,

A couple announcements from OCGA:

FDP Expanded Clearinghouse Information The Federal Demonstration Partnership, in an effort to reduce administrative burden among member organizations, recently launched the FDP Expanded Clearinghouse. This database houses institutional information (audit, DUNS, IDC rate agreements, etc.) that UC San Diego might require in advance of issuing a subaward. Effective immediately, if a subrecipient is a member of FDP and has an intuitional profile in the database, OCGA will no longer require a Subrecipient Commitment Form prior to including the subrecipient in a proposal or issuing a subaward. Further, if you are asked to complete a Subrecipient Commitment Form by an FDP member organization, you can direct them to our UCSD profile instead.

The Expanded Clearinghouse can be found here: https://fdpclearinghouse.org/organizations

Please contact Karim Hussein at OCGA if you have any questions.

OCGA Open House May 1, 2018 (9:30am-12pm)
Please save the date for OCGA’s second annual Open House! This year’s event will feature several “flash trainings,” 10-minute sessions on hot topic issues such as submitting ePD records for PI-Initiated Clinical Trials, Working with Industry, the new MCA e-form, and many others! More information, including registration, will be forthcoming.

March 9, 2018 - Increase in Executive Level II Salary Cap for FY 2018

Dear Contacts,

On March 7, 2018, NIH sent out a notice regarding the Executive Level II Salary Cap for FY 2018 (NOT-OD-18-137). While NIH is currently running on a Continuing Resolution, the current language in the FY 2017 Budget Appropriations states the salary limitation for NIH Salary Cap is maxed at the Executive Level II Pay Scale. In NOT-OD-18-137, NIH is confirming that the Office of Personnel Management has recently increased this pay scale level to $189,600. Thus, effective for NIH proposals on or after January 7, 2018, the salary cap will be $189,600.

Please note the following information:

No adjustments will be made to modular grant applications/awards or to previously established commitment levels for non-competing grant awards issued with FY 2018 funds.
While adjustments are not allowed, rebudgeting is allowable if adequate funds are available.
To rebudget funds issued in FY 2018 prior to January 7, 2018, prorated amounts may be used. For NOAs issued between October 1, 2017 and January 6, 2018, the rate of $187,000 should be used, but after January 7, 2018, you may increase to the new NIH Executive Salary Level II salary cap of $189,600. Thus, for the first part of FY 2018, the $187,000 rate is used and for the remainder of FY 2018 the newer rate of $189,600 is used.
Once the DHHS Appropriation for FY 2018 is enacted, NIH will publish the annual Notice of legislative mandates to provide information on any statutory provisions that limit the use of NIH grant funds in FY 2018.

As you begin to prepare grant applications, please start to utilize the new NIH Executive Salary Level II cap of $189,600.

If you have any questions about the new Salary Cap for Executive Level II, feel free to contact your HS SPPO analyst.

Thank you,
The HS SPPO Team

November 13, 2017 - Changes to Research Indirect Cost Rates

This message is sent on behalf of Linda Collins, Assistant Vice Chancellor Contracts and Grants, Nancy Wilson, Director Office of Scripps Institute of Oceanography Contract and Grant Administration and Erika Wilson, Director Health Sciences Sponsored Project Pre-Award Office, to UC San Diego Health Sciences Employees.

This is advance notice to UC San Diego Health Sciences financial officers and staff responsible for research administration regarding changes to the indirect cost rates utilized in proposal budgets and awards. UC San Diego's Financial Analysis Office has completed negotiations with the Department of Health and Human Services (the cognizant agency for our rate agreement) resulting in multi-year increases to the on-campus research indirect cost rate. While the final signed agreement and details have not been formally received, we are sharing the broad conditions of the new rates so they can be incorporated into sponsored research proposal budgets being prepared for upcoming deadlines. The rate increases over multiple years will require that split budgets be developed as the period of performance crosses fiscal years. Once the rate agreement is received and approved, we will post it on Blink. At that time, we will also complete a comprehensive update of all Blink content regarding indirect costs, including guidance for adoption of rates, updated budget templates and workbooks, budget calculation methodologies, and conditions when new rates apply to supplements to existing awards, etc. All current awards will remain at the existing rate. A formal announcement will be forthcoming from campus leadership as soon as the final agreement is executed. If you have questions about this advance information, please contact your analyst or officer in one of the following:

OCGA (https://blink.ucsd.edu/sponsor/ocga/staff-assignments.html)
SIO-OCGA (https://scripps.ucsd.edu/contracts-and-grants/contacts)
HS SPPO (https://medschool.ucsd.edu/vchs/research-services/hssppo/review/Pages/Analyst-Review-Assignments.aspx).

Here are the on-campus sponsored research rates over the next five years. Note: the off-campus rate remains unchanged at 26 percent.. Additionally, the rates are effective July 1 of each fiscal year.

Fiscal Year (FY) Year	Rate
FY 2018	56.00%
FY 2019	57.00%
FY 2020	57.50%
FY 2021	57.50%
FY 2022 and until amended	58.00%

February 2, 2017 - VA MOUs Reminder

Dear all,

MOUs are required on an annual basis for all VCHS faculty with VA appointments. As we are all in the budget process and SALPRO it is the perfect time to update the MOU's.

The form has been updated and we have shared this information in a prior HSSPPO contacts meeting but would like to remind everyone. Attached you will find the updated excel workbook which includes the form for routing and signatures. This is also available on the HSSPPO website.

Revised MOU Template

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Erika Wilson
Sr. Director Health Sciences Sponsored Projects Pre-Award Office and
Health Sciences Research Service Core
Interim ADCS Finance
University of California San Diego
9500 Gilman Dr.
La Jolla Ca 92093
858-822-4980

September 20, 2016 - FW: OCGA Reminders about ePD "Approval in Progress" status and completion of Compliance Approvals: Impact on Awards

To all Health Sciences Department Business Officers, Administrative Managers and Fund Managers:

The OCGA is currently experiencing a backlog in setting up awards, which is causing a delay in the set-up of funds upon receipt of the Notice of Award from a sponsor. One reason for the delay is due to a new award entry process that adds new steps to the setup process. To reduce the backlog, the OCGA award team is working hours. We expect to be fully caught up by the end of next week. We also anticipate new system improvements that will be developed to further reduce the time it takes to set up awards in the near future.

There are two other causes of delay that proposal submitting departments can help mitigate, so we are asking for your assistance with the following:

ePD Records in "Approval In Progress" status: Upon receipt of a "Notice of Award" from a sponsor, we are unable to set-up the Award record if the proposal has not been approved by all required departmental approvers in ePD (e.g. the proposal is still in an "Approval In Progress" status). For an award to be created, the corresponding ePD record must be in a "Submitted" status.

Important: Not obtaining all required approvals in ePD, prior to the receipt of the award, will delay the award set-up and fund distribution. We have noticed the most common approvals missing in ePD are from the Department Chair (or their alternate). It is important to note, delays in the completion of ePD approvals could negatively impact proposal submission metrics for the lead unit and could lead to missed organizational goals or targets for proposal submissions. For example, in FY16, the overall number of proposals submitted by many units was flat or declined compared to FY15 because many ePD records had not been approved by all required departmental reviewers and not recorded in our system.

Attached are instructions about using ePD "My Dashboard" to view ePD records in "Approval in Progress" status. Access ePD from Blink under "Research Tools" and select "ePD".

Compliance approvals incomplete: Upon receipt of a "Notice of Award", any missing or incomplete compliance approvals (Conflict of Interest, Human Subjects, Animal Subjects, etc.) will delay award setup and fund distribution.

We appreciate your assistance working with us to help expedite the award setup and fund distribution by proactively tracking and following up on all missing departmental and compliance approvals. If you have any questions or would like to discuss these issues in more detail, please contact Ross Dammann at rtdammann@ucsd.edu or X40240.

Regards,
Linda Collins
Assistant Vice Chancellor
Office of Contract & Grant Administration (OCGA)
ePD My Dashboard approval status instructions.pdf

June 27, 2016 – June Newsletter

HS SPPO June Newsletter

Dear Contacts,

The HS SPPO will not be holding a HS Contacts Meeting during the month of June. Please see below for important HS SPPO policy changes, NIH updates, and reminders.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your HS SPPO Analyst or visit our new website here!

The next HS Contacts Meeting will be held Thursday July 21, 2016 in Leichtag 107, from 9am-10am.

Thank you,

The HS SPPO Team

New Submission Timelines

The HS SPPO's submission timelines will apply to deadlines on or after July 1, 2016. Due to short staff, the submission timelines will reflect the central office's hours of business from 8am to 4:30pm. Please see below for details:

For electronic proposals, the following timelines apply to determine the type of review the application will receive:

Full Review
- If the proposal is received five (5) business days prior to the deadline BEFORE 4:30pm, it will receive a full review.
Cursory Review
- If the proposal is received five (5) business days prior to the deadline AFTER 4:30pm, it will receive a cursory review.
AS-IS Review
- If the proposal is received three (3) business day prior to the deadline, AFTER 4:30pm, it will be submitted as-is without a review.

For paper proposals (including sub-awards and paper supplements), the following timelines apply to determine the type of review the application will receive:

Full Review
- If the proposal is received three (3) business days prior to the deadline BEFORE 4:30pm, it will receive a full review.
Cursory Review
- If the proposal is received three (3) business days prior to the deadline AFTER 4:30pm, it will receive a cursory review.
AS-IS Review
- If the proposal is received one (1) business day prior to the deadline, AFTER 4:30pm, it will be submitted as-is without a review.

New Minimum Requirements

No draft application is required as an uploaded document in ePD if the proposal is:

an Administrative Supplement
SNAP Continuation
- Subaward Continuations require a draft application
initiated in ASSIST
- Reminder: Include the Assist Application Identifier in the ePD Abstract Tab in the Internal Comments

New NIH Notices

·NOT-OD-16-105: Revised NIH Parental Leave Policy for NRSA Awards

·NOT-OD-16-092: Modification of No-Cost Extension and Carryover of Funds Policies for the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (Parent K99/R00)

·NOT-OD-16-094: Final NIH Policy on the Use of a Single Institutional Review Board for Multi-Site Research

·NOT-OD-16-109: Scenarios to Illustrate the Use of Direct and Indirect Costs for Single IRB Review under the NIH Policy on the Use of a Single IRB for Multi-site Research

General NIH Reminders

-Reminder regarding the release of the new parent announcements:

Click here to see the release of new Parent Announcements

-FORMS-D Reminder:
Make sure you are using FORMS-D application in either SF424 Adobe Forms Package or ASSIST.

-Reminder regarding Scientific Environment:

The scientific environment statement is required and should be included in the facilities and other resources document (#10 - Other Project Information section.)

Reminders of Past (but important) NIH Notices

·NOT-OD-15-032& NOT-OD-16-080: New Biographical Sketch Format

·NOT-OD-16-006: Simplification of the Vertebrate Animal Section

·NOT-OD-16-008: PHS Assignment Request Form in SF424 Adobe & ASSIST Applications

·NOT-OD-16-009: Changes in Font Guidelines with NIH Proposals

·NOT-OD-16-010: Change in the NIH Definition of Children in Clinical Research

·NOT-OD-16-011& NOT-OD-16-012: Implementing Rigor & Transparency

·NOT-OD-16-034: Delayed implementation for institutional training, institutional career development, and individual fellowship applications till early FY 2017

·NOT-OD-16-068: Impact of Grant Application Form Update (FORMS-D) on Continuous Submission Applications

·NOT-OD-16-084: Restructured and Streamlined Application Guides and Supplemental Instructions

·NOT-OD-16-088: Notice of Intent to Release Names of NIH-Funded Research Project Personnel in the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results (RePORTER) System

Announcement of Campus Resource for New NIH Policy on Rigor and Reproducibility

To the Grants Officers at OCGA and HS SPPO:

In response to the new NIH Policy on Rigor and Reproducibility, the Research Data Curation Program at UCSD Library has partnered with Dr. Anita Bandrowski, of the Neuroscience Information Framework, to create a webpage to help researchers meet some of the new proposal requirements, especially Authentication of Key Biological and/or Chemical Resources. The page is accessible at the following URL:

https://library.ucsd.edu/research-and-collections/data-curation/nih-policy-on-rigor.html

This resource could be quite helpful to UCSD researchers uncertain of how to create an Authentication Plan. Please feel free to disseminate the link widely to the research community and to contact me if you have any feedback.

Regards,

Ho Jung

Ho Jung Yoo | Technical Analyst
hjsyoo@ucsd.edu | 858-534-6032
Research Data Curation Program, UC San Diego Library
http://libraries.ucsd.edu/services/data-curation

Updated Fringe Benefit Rate Table for Blink

This message is sent on behalf of Linda Collins, Assistant Vice Chancellor:

All,

Thanks to Joni Ciarletta in the Budget Office, the fringe benefit rate table has been updated for this upcoming fiscal year.

Here is the Blink link that has been updated. https://blink.ucsd.edu/research/preparing-proposals/budgets/direct.html#Fringe-benefit-rates.

Attached is the excel chart with this table [see below].

Please add the following note to the blink content -- “The largest increases from the rates previously published are due to the UC Retirement Plan and Core Health”.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Linda
lcollins@ucsd.edu

Upcoming HS Contacts Meeting:

Thursday, July 21, 9am-10am, in Leichtag 107

Useful Links:

HS SPPO Web

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Please contact HS SPPO at (858) 822-4109 or vchsgrants@ucsd.edu for any questions or concerns.

October 22, 2015 - October Newsletter

HS SPPO October Newsletter

Dear Contacts,

The HS SPPO will not be holding a Contacts Meeting during the month of October. Please see below for important NIH updates and reminders.

If you have any questions, please feel free to Contact your HS SPPO Analyst or visit our new website here!

The next HS Contacts meeting will be held November 19, 2015 in Leichtag 107, from 9am-10am.

Thank you,

The HS SPPO Team

Featured NIH Notices and Reminders:

NOT-OD-15-154
Webinars for Applicants and Grant Administrators: What you need to know about NIH Application and Review

These webinars are designed to give participants useful insights into our application submission and peer review processes. The University Research Administrators focused Webinar will take place on November 5th, 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM PST, including a 30 minutes Q&A period. Register here: https://public.csr.nih.gov/ForApplicants/InitialReviewResultsAndAppeals/csrwebinar.

NOT-OD-16-002
NIH Operates Under a Continuing Resolution (CR)

DHHS & NIH are currently operating off of a continuing resolution. This will expire on December 11, 2015. The NIH will issue non-competing research grant awards at a level below that indicated on the most recent NOA (generally up to 90% of the previously committed level). Upward adjustments to awarded levels will be considered after FY 2016 appropriations are enacted, but NIH expects institutions to monitor their expenditures carefully during this period. All legislative mandates that were in effect in FY 2015 (see NOT-OD-15-054 and NOT-OD-15-048) remain in effect under this CR, including the FY 2015 Salary Cap (NOT-OD-15-049).

NOT-OD-16-004
NIH & AHRQ Announce Upcoming Changes to Policies, Instructions, and Forms for 2016 Applications

The planned changes will be introduced in two phases. Phase 1 implements a subset of the policy changes using the existing forms (Forms-C+) that will be required for due dates on or after January 25, 2016 and until May 24, 2016; Phase 2 completes the implementation of the new changes with the introduction of new (FORMS-D) forms and instructions that will be required for due dates on or after May 25, 2016 and beyond.

The planned changes focus on the following areas: 1. Rigor and transparency in research; 2. Vertebrate animals; 3. Inclusion reporting; 4. Data safety monitoring; 5. Research training; 6. Appendices; 7. Font requirements; and Biosketch clarifications.

It is expected that the Phase 1 application guide instructions will be released by November 25, 2015 and the Phase 2 application guide instructions will be released by March 25, 2016. All Funding Opportunity Applications (FOAs) will be reissued or updated at least 60 days prior to the first due date on or after May 25, 2016. Parent announcements, administrative supplements, research training, career development, individual fellowship and multi-project FOAs that include "Indiv Career Dev", "Inst Career Dev" or "NRSA Training" component types will be reissued.

NOT-OD-16-007
NIH & AHRQ Announce Transition to New Research Training Table Formats for 2016 and Upcoming Release of the xTRACT System

Table formats, instructions, and a completed set of tables with sample data may be found here on the NIH website. These tables are to be used with the FY 2016 institutional training grant applications and research performance progress reports (RPPRs). Existing tables will be revised to 1. Reduce the number of tables from 12 to 8; 2. Minimize the reporting of individual-level information; and 3. Extend the tracking of trainee outcomes from 10 to 15 years.

Where possible, existing data will be used to pre-populate the xTRACT system, including trainee names and selected characteristics, institutions, grant numbers, and subsequent NIH, AHRQ and other HHS awards. For RPPRs due prior to December 1, 2015, and for applications submitted for due dates prior to May 25, 2016, applicants are advised to continue to use previously issued training data table formats.

Recent eRA Commons Software Release
Diversity Administration Supplements Now Require Credentials in ASSIST

When submitting Diversity Admin Supplements (Type 3) applications, all Senior/Key Persons are required to have valid eRA Commons credentials, otherwise an error will occur and the submission will be rejected.

Fellowship Applications
NRSA Individual Fellowship (F-series) applications now can utilize ASSIST for application submission for the upcoming December 8, 2015 due date. Contact Arpa Orojian for more information or if you have a fellow who plans on submitting an NIH NRSA Individual Fellowship.

xTRACT (Extramural Trainee Reporting And Career Tracking) Module

This module has now been added in eRA Commons, though it is only to be used in the pilot phase, click here for overview of this new module.

xTRACT can be used on a pilot basis for creating data tables for those mechanisms for Research Performance Progress Reports submitted Dec. 1, 2015 or later and applications submitted for the May 25, 2016 due date and after. It will not be required for FY 2016 (NOT-OD-15-112).

Moreover, because xTRACT is being integrated with eRA Commons, some of the data for training tables and reports will be prepopulated, using xTrain appointment and related data. This data includes trainee names, selected characteristics, institutions, grant numbers and subsequent NIH and other HHS awards. Plus, some of the data that is manually entered in xTRACT for one training table submission will be available for reuse in xTRACT, when preparing data for subsequent training table submissions. This automation will significantly reduce the workload for those responsible for completing the information.

NOT-OD-16-005
NIH & AHRQ Announce Upcoming Changes to Post-Award Forms and Instructions

Newly revised post-award forms and instructions, including non-competing progress reports, will be posted on the NIH Forms & Applications page. This table below is a summary of the highlights as well as target dates for these updates.

HS SPPO Updates:

HS SPPO has a new website – have you checked it out? Please click here to visit our new site!
Maureen O'Connor, Director of HS SPPO and Research Service Core, is retiring from UC San Diego. Erika Wilson will serve as interim director of both the HS SPPO and the HS RSC.

Upcoming HS Contacts Meeting:

Thursday, Nov. 19th, 9am-10am, in Leichtag 107

Guest Presenter: Angela McMahill, Director, Conflict of Interest Office.

Useful Links:

HS SPPO Web

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Please contact HS SPPO at (858) 822-4109 or vchsgrants@ucsd.edu for any questions or concerns.

HS SPPO Has a New Website!

Dear Contacts,

We are pleased to announce the launch of HS SPPO's new website! Our new site includes all content from our previous website and wiki pages along with additional new information. Please reference the website for all submission timelines, procedures, and templates used for preparing applications to be submitted through HS SPPO.

The new link is hssppo.ucsd.edu. The website can also be accessed via the previous URL: https://medschool.ucsd.edu/vchs/research-services/hssppo/

Please let us know if you have any questions or feedback regarding the website.

Thank you,

The HS SPPO

July 1, 2012 - Salary Limitation from Federal Awards

Effective July 1, 2012, Principal Investigators may receive no more than 97% of their salary from federal awards, including federal flow through-funding. This Policy applies to all Principal Investigators whose salary is derived entirely from federal awards. This Policy does not apply to Principal Investigators who receive partial funding from other sources (e.g. State of California, industry, non-profits).

As a result of a review by cognizant federal agencies, the University must ensure that activities that are considered part of a Principal Investigator's institutional responsibilities and that do not directly benefit a Federal award are ineligible for direct support from federal extramural awards.

Academic Research appointees, in series such as Research Scientist, Adjunct Professor and Professor In-Residence; and series such as Project Scientists who are Principal Investigators by exception, shall not charge as part of their institutional base salary for 100% extramurally sponsored research, non-award related activities such as public service, non grant-related administrative duties, grant-writing, peer-review of papers and proposals, etc. during the period of the award. Discretionary fund sources such as core university funds may be used to supplement up to 100% of salary. Non-federal awards may be charged only when there is a corresponding direct benefit to the project for the salary charged.

Business Officers, in conjunction with their respective Deans and/or Chairs, should establish practices that average all activities of the academic research appointees on federally sponsored activities on an annual basis as a means to comply with this policy.

UC San Diego Office of Research Affairs

July 1, 2012

February 27, 2012 - Career Development (K) Award Applications requiring a PI Exception

To:Health Sciences Deans, Department Chairs, and ORU Directors, Health Sciences Chief Administrative Officers, Health Sciences Research and Academic Affairs Support Staff

Subject: Clarification of Policy - Career Development (K) Award Applications requiring a PI Exception

On occasion, a post- doctoral trainee or other academic appointee will be sponsored by their department for a K01, K08, or other career development award submission. While most K awards anticipate the successful candidate will be proposed for a junior faculty (i.e., Assistant Professor) position, and some agencies require this, there are circumstances under which an Assistant Project or Research Scientist appointment will be proposed as an alternative.

In light of recent questions, we are affirming our practice to require a PI exception at time of submission. As part of the PI exception and application process, it is important for the candidate and department to understand that such career development award recipients must be paid on the appropriate University approved salary scale for the proposed series, regardless of the possible amount available from the sponsor to support salary. Please convey the department's and candidate's concurrence with this limitation by including a statement to this effect when responding to question three of the seven point statement required in the PI exception request.

As post-doctoral trainees transition into academic and faculty titles, it is important to be cognizant of the steps that must be taken to succeed. If our offices can assist you with this communication, we are happy to do so.

Gene F. Hasegawa	Andrew L. Ries, M.D.
Associate Dean for Administration	Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

News & Updates

Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements FY 2019 Notice Number: NOT-OD-19-099 Key Dates Release Date: April 17, 2019 Related Announcements None Issued by National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose

Inquiries

Effective July 2, 2018, all Fellowships will be entered into EPD

New Submission Timelines

New Minimum Requirements

New NIH Notices

General NIH Reminders

Updated Fringe Benefit Rate Table for Blink

Useful Links:

Upcoming HS Contacts Meeting:

Useful Links:

Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements
FY 2019 Notice Number: NOT-OD-19-099
Key Dates Release Date: April 17, 2019
Related Announcements None
Issued by National Institutes of Health (NIH)