Administrative Supplements to Grants and Cooperative Agreements

Purpose

This notice describes the new procedure that NIDA grantees must use when submitting requests for administrative supplements. Administrative supplements are used by NIDA to add funds to a grant or cooperative agreement for defined purposes that do not expand a project's scientific scope.

Background

On Feb. 8, 2012, NIH published a program announcement in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts (PA-12-100) entitled “Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp)”, which expires on 1/31/2014 per NOT-OD-13-031. This PA provides grantees the option to electronically submit administrative supplement requests through Grants.gov or through the eRA Commons for grant activity codes that have transitioned to electronic submission. Activity codes that have not transitioned to electronic submission will continue to apply using the PHS 398 forms as described below. 

In addition to this administrative supplement program, NIDA participates in at least two other supplement programs:

• Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Admin Supp), PA-12-149
• Research Supplements to Promote Re-Entry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers (Admin Supp), PA -12-150

For these two programs, NIDA will accept requests for administrative supplements according to the guidelines described in these two PAs. Policies and procedures for these two PAs differ from the administrative program described in PA-12-100. Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to review these PAs in detail before submitting an administrative supplement request.  

Policy

NIDA will consider requests for administrative supplements, in response to PA-12-100, to add funds to a grant or cooperative agreement for defined purposes that do not expand a project's scientific scope. The grantee must obtain prior approval from NIDA in order to submit a request for an administrative supplement. No request will be accepted for consideration without prior approval from NIDA.

Administrative supplements are restricted to requests for increased costs due to unforeseen circumstances in high priority research programs. Consistent with existing NIDA policies, it is anticipated that NIDA administrative supplements will be awarded only under rare circumstances.  The request must be strongly justified and must address the criteria detailed in PA-12-100, Section V., Application Review Information.  

Grantees may not request additional funds if the unforeseen costs can be paid for by rebudgeting funds or from utilization of unobligated balances from prior year awards. Administrative supplements cannot pay for increased costs due to an investigator's transfer or promotion, nor can they be used to expand research aims.

No administrative supplement submitted under this PA will be accepted for consideration without prior approval from NIDA. Grantees must obtain written approval from their NIDA program official and grants management specialist before applying. This written approval must accompany the supplement application at the time of submission.

NIDA staff will review the application and consider whether the budget and the requested period of support are fully justified and reasonable in relation to the proposed research.

Administrative supplements are reviewed by NIDA program and grants management staff. In some cases, additional expertise may be called upon to assist in the review. Administrative supplement requests above $100,000 in direct costs will also be reviewed by and recommendations obtained from the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse. Administrative supplement requests will be considered for funding four times during the fiscal year; December, February, May, and August, regardless of the need for Council review. 

Budgets

The supplement budget request should only include funds for the additional supplement activities. All requested costs in the supplement request must be strongly justified and meet the tests of allowability as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement (rev. 10/2012), “Cost Considerations.”

Please note that for those grant mechanisms that receive full facilities & administrative costs, the supplement request should reflect the current F&A rate, even if the rate differs from the rate used to calculate F&A costs for the parent award.

Key Dates

Administrative supplement requests must be submitted at least thirty days before the requested activity is to begin. 

Administrative supplement requests will be accepted throughout the year, but will only be considered for funding four times during the fiscal year; December, February, May and August. . The NIH fiscal year begins October 1 and no awards are issued before December 1 in a new fiscal year.  The final submission date for each fiscal year is July 1. Supplements received after July 1 will be considered for funding in the following fiscal year. The earliest possible award date for requests submitted after the final submission date for each fiscal year (July 1) is December 1. 

Eligibilty

In general, the parent grant must remain active at least for the entire period of the supplemental funding. Please note that a no-cost extension cannot be used to accommodate this requirement. All no-cost extensions must be in place before submitting a request for an administrative supplement.

Activities proposed in the administrative supplement request must be within the general scope of the parent grant. The following are examples of supplemental requests that might be considered for funding:

• Preservation of a unique research material or resource that may otherwise be lost, such as maintaining a unique knockout mouse model.
• Addition of patients, populations, or other items related to a protocol due to enrollment issues, a need for statistically significant data, or responses to protocol and data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) reviews.
• Provision for an orderly termination or temporary continuation of support to prevent loss of research resources or hardship of personnel, which includes taking advantage of a rare event with an immediate need, such as salvaging a rare animal model.
• Replacement of equipment, supplies, and time lost due to a natural disaster.

Administrative supplements may not pay for a principal investigator (PI) to move in a new scientific direction, to obtain preliminary data for another contemplated research effort, or to use a new technology or an animal model not specified in the application. If additional funds are needed for such purposes, investigators should consider submitting a competitive revision application or apply for another grant.

Requests must stay within the original Council-approved scope of the research. If grantees need additional funds for an expansion in project scope, they should request a revision (competing supplement) rather than an administrative supplement. Revision applications undergo the same peer review process as regular competing grant applications. Revision applications are usually peer reviewed by the initial review group that reviewed the parent grant application. For further information, please contact your program official.  

Application Procedure

1. The PI must contact the NIDA program official and grants management specialist listed on the parent grant Notice of Award (NoA) to discuss a possible administrative supplement.  It would be helpful to submit an email with “Request to submit an administrative supplement” and the NIDA grant number in the subject line of the email to the NIDA program official and grants management specialist listed on the parent grant NoA.
    
2. The Signing Official may only submit the administrative supplemental request after receiving an email approval from NIDA.
    
3. The following details must be included with the request:
   • Reason for the request and justification for the funds
   • Detailed budget and composite budget page if more than one year of supplemental support is requested
   • Biographical sketch and human subjects documentation (if applicable) for any new key personnel
   • The approval to submit the administrative supplement from NIDA
4. The grantee should determine the appropriate method to use for the request. There are two options if the parent grant has transitioned to electronic submission:
   1. Apply electronically through grants.gov
      • Use the Apply for Grant Electronically button provided in the parent FOA, “Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (PA-12-100).”
      • Follow the SF 424 instructions for supplement requests.
   2. Apply electronically through the eRA Commons
      • Log in to the eRA Commons, go to the Admin Supp tab, and choose “Initiate Request”
      • Follow instructions in the eRA Commons Administrative Supplement User Guide
   3. If the parent grant has not transitioned to electronic submission, please prepare the request using the PHS 398 forms:
      • On the face page, note the administrative supplement PA title and number from the FOA above
      • Please submit the complete request in PDF format by email the NIDA grants management specialist named in the parent grant NoA.  It would be helpful to write “Request for administrative supplement” and the NIDA grant number in the subject line of the email.

Contacts

For specific questions about administrative supplements, contact the program official or grants management specialist of the parent grant.

For general questions about administrative supplements contact:

Ms. Pamela Fleming
Chief, Grants Management Officer
Office of Management
Grants Management Branch
National Institute on Drug Abuse
National Institutes of Health
301- 443-6710
pfleming@nida.nih.gov

References

• Parent Funding Opportunity Announcement PA-12-100. NIH Guide. Feb. 8, 2012
• Notice of an Extension of Expiration Date for PA-12, 100.  NIH Guide, January 28, 2013 http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-13-031.html
• Notice of Availability of Two Pilot Processes for Submitting Non-competing Administrative Supplement Requests to NIH, NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-12-043. Feb. 13, 2012.
• eRA Commons Frequently Asked Questions,  Administrative Supplements (Type 3s)
• Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Admin Supp), NIH Guide PA-12-149, April 6, 2012
• Research Supplements to Promote Re-Entry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers (Admin Supp), NIH Guide PA-12-150, April 6, 2012