NIH Revised Grants Policy Statement and ASSIST for Multi-Project Applications

NIH has announced the publication of a revised NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS) and that multi-project applications will move to electronic submission. OSPA is in the process of evaluating these updates. Any affected campus procedures will be revised, with a separate announcement outlining the changes to follow. Please contact me should you have questions in the meantime.  

Publication of the Revised NIH Grants Policy Statement (Rev. 10/1/2012): Policy Changes and Clarifications Notice
(NOT-OD-12-157) National Institutes of Health

The NIHGPS provides both up-to-date policy guidance that serves as NIH standard terms and conditions of awards for grants and cooperative agreements, and extensive guidance to individuals that are interested in pursuing NIH grants. While this revision does not introduce any new material for the first time, it incorporates new and modified requirements, clarifies certain policies, and implements changes in statutes, regulations, and policies that have been implemented through appropriate legal and/or policy processes since the previous version of the NIHGPS dated 10/1/2011. A document is available that summarizes the significant changes that are implemented with the October 1, 2012 NIHGPS [http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2012/Significant_Changes_NIHGPS_2012.doc] (MS Word-91 KB).

NIH Announces Plans to Transition to Electronic Submission of Multi-Project Applications
(NOT-OD-12-161) National Institutes of Health

Since 2005, NIH has been transitioning its grant programs to electronic submission of applications through the fed-wide portal, Grants.gov, using the SF 424 (R&R) form set. In 2010, NIH completed the transition for all its grant programs, except NIH’s complex, multi-project applications. To meet NIH’s long standing goal of receiving all grant applications electronically, NIH and the Grants.gov program management staff worked together to develop an online application system called ASSIST (Application Submission System and Interface for Submission Tracking) to accommodate electronic submission of NIH’s multi-project applications. ASSIST will allow users to develop and store their applications in a secure online environment. NIH plans to transition all multi-project applications to electronic submission using the SF 424 (R&R) form set by January 2014.