General Interest-NIH - Now Available: PHS 398 Application Forms and Instructions for Application Due Dates on or after September 25, 2013 and Updated Application Guides for Electronic Application Forms; October 30, 2013

Key Dates
Release Date: July 26, 2013

Related Announcements
NOT-OD-13-092
NOT-OD-13-074
NOT-OD-13-075

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose

This Notice announces the availability of new application instructions and forms for paper-based PHS 398 applications (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html) and also the availability of new Application Guide instructions for electronic SF 424 (R&R) applications (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm). The new application instructions and forms must be used for applications intended for due dates on or after September 25, 2013.

All Applicants

These instructions incorporate numerous clarifications, updates and policy announcements that have appeared in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts (aka Guide) since the 06/2009 revision of the PHS 398 application guide and the 06/2012 revision of the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide for NIH and Other PHS Agencies. Since the Guide also publishes multiple funding opportunity announcements, the Office of Extramural Research posts Policy Notices, clarifications and other updates on this webpage: NIH Policy Notices. Applicants are expected to be aware of any relevant Notices that appear in the Guide.

Changes of note include:
Supplemental Grant Application Instructions 
Parts II (Supplemental Instructions for Preparing the Protection of Human Subjects Section of the Research Plan and Policies) and III (Policies, Assurances, Definitions, and Other Information) of the instructions are now located in a separate “Supplemental Grant Application Instructions” document.  Parts II and III have therefore been removed from the PHS398 Application Instructions and the general Application Guides for Forms-B and Forms-C application packages.  

Notice of Proprietary Information
Clarification of policy regarding the final determination of whether an application contains proprietary information and that a positive finding of proprietary information does not automatically shield the information from release in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request should the application result in an award.

Biographical Sketch
“Patent Citations” have been added as part of section C, Selected Peer Reviewed Publications.

Research Plan
In the Research Strategy, Section C Approach, if research on Human Embryoinic Stem Cells (hESCs) is proposed but an approved cell line from the NIH hESC Registry cannot be identified, applicants must provide a strong justification for why an appropriate cell line cannot be chosen at the time of application.

Letters of Support
There are clarifications regarding the content.

Appendix
Photographs or color images of gels, micrographs, etc., are no longer accepted as Appendix material. These images must be included in the Research Strategy.

PHS 398 Applicants

· All PHS 398 paper application submissions intended for due dates on or after September 25, 2013, must use the 8/2012 version of the PHS 398 instructions and forms (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html). The 06/09 version of the form remains available at this time for use in responding to FOAs that have due dates prior to September 25, 2013.

· In addition to the changes outlined above, in the Research Plan, Inclusion Enrollment Reports have been renamed and modified and are now “Planned Enrollment Report” and “Cumulative Inclusion Enrollment Report”. See NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-13-092 "Modifications to NIH’s Planned and Cumulative Inclusion Enrollment Forms".

SF 424 (R&R) Applicants

· As announced in Notice NOT-OD-13-074, applications using electronic forms will transition to new forms identified with a Competition ID of FORMS-C.  Application instructions for FORMS-C are now available. Applicants MUST return to the FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA), or the reissued Parent Announcement, to download the new application forms for due dates on or after September 25, 2013. 

· Added a new Chapter 9. Supplemental Instructions to the SF 424 (R&R) for Preparing a Multi-Project Application

· At this time the general Application Guide for Forms-B and Forms-C have been revised. The anticipated posting dates for the SF424 (R&R) Individual Fellowship Application Guide for NIH and AHRQ and the SF424 (R&R) SBIR/STTR Application Guide for NIH and Other PHS Agencies are Late Fall 2013 and Spring 2014, respectively.  As those Application Guides are revised, the above changes, including the use of the separate Supplemental Grant Application Instructions will be applicable. 

Important Note

Any application submitted using incorrect application forms (including applications that have an incorrect mix of old and new forms) may be delayed and may not be reviewed.

Inquiries

Questions should be directed to grantsinfo@od.nih.gov.

Link to Full Announcement

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-13-091.html