IMPORTANT: Interim Guidance on NIH Salary Cap | New Format Effective for Advance and Pre-Award Account Grant Award Summary (GAS)

MU Grants Community,

Two Important notices picked up from the March 17, 2017 NIH Table of Contents (TOC): 

• NIH Operates Under a Continuing Resolution (NOT-OD-17-048) National Institutes of Health 

NIH, as part of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) continues to operate under the “Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017,” (Public Law 114-254) signed by President Obama on December 10, 2016. In short, NIH will issue non-competing research grant awards at a level below that indicated on the most recent notice of award. When FY 2017 appropriations are enacted, upward adjustments may be considered by NIH.

• Interim Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements (NOT-OD-17-049) National Institutes of Health 

NIH has released Interim Guidance on Salary Limitations (Salary Cap) in NOT-OD-17-049.

NIH has not yet received an FY 2017 appropriation and operates under Continuing Resolution, under which the Consolidated Appropriations Act restricts the amount of direct salary to the Executive Level II - which increased to $187,000 effective January 8, 2017. Interim Guidance in the announcement states:

“For awards issued in those years that were restricted to Executive Level II (see Salary Cap Summary, FY 1990 – FY 2016), including competing awards already issued in FY2017, if adequate funds are available in active awards, and if the salary cap increase is consistent with the institutional base salary, grantees may rebudget to accommodate the current Executive Level II salary level. However, no additional funds will be provided to these grant awards.”

As in years past, since the effective date of the increased salary cap is in the middle of a month (January 8th for 2017), the monthly January cap is prorated to $15,547.58, see the table below for a summary:

And from OSPA – A New Format for Advance and Pre-Award Account GAS 

In an effort to accurately reflect funded grant award data in our internal sponsored activity reports to campus leadership, we have determined some internal changes are needed when OSPA prepares and issues an Advance or Pre-Award GAS.

Because the advance or pre-award account is issued prior to an award or agreement being finalized, the budget associated with the project will be set up by OSPA with zero dollars (rather than the proposed budget amount). The GAS will still provide the MoCode(s) to allocate expenses appropriately, but because the funding is not final, the budget will not reflect a dollar amount. You will still be able to post expenses, even though the budget reflects zero dollars awarded. An example of the GAS is reflected below:

When the award is fully executed, OSPA will update the budget in PeopleSoft to reflect the amount obligated by the sponsor, and prepare/distribute your final GAS.

The Sponsored Programs Procedure Guide is in the process of being updated and that should be completed shortly. As always please don’t hesitate to contact our office with any questions.