The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently issued updated requirements and instructions for biographical sketches (biosketches), Other Support format pages, and application forms, and updated its FAQs for Other Support and Foreign Components (NOT-OD-21-073). These changes are part of an effort by the NIH to align documentation requirements and guidance with recommendations issued by the Office of Science and Technology Policy Joint Committee on the Research Environment (JCORE) in January 2021.
NIH subsequently issued NOT-OD-21-110 to allow more time for the research community to prepare for the new requirements which will now go into effect in January 2022. Below are the key changes that will be effective for applications and research performance progress reports (RPPRs) with due dates on or after January 25, 2022.
Key changes include:
- Using updated format pages for biosketches and Other Support. Biosketch templates explicitly call out “scientific appointments,” and Other Support templates have been reorganized to separate funded projects from in-kind contributions.
- Requiring investigators to sign Other Support documents to certify their accuracy.
- Submitting supporting documents for all foreign activities and resources reported in the Other Support. These documents must either be in English or include translated copies. The FAQs clarify that machine translations of documents are acceptable.
- Requiring recipient organizations to immediately notify requisite NIH grants management specialists if institutions discover that a principal investigator (PI) or other senior/key personnel on an active NIH award failed to disclose Other Support information outside of just-in-time (JIT) or RPPR phases as applicable.
Failure to follow the appropriate formats on or after January 25, 2022 may cause NIH to withdraw applications from or delay consideration of funding.
The Sponsor Guidelines tab of ASU’s International Research and Global Collaborations sitelet has been updated with the new NIH requirements.
Note: Per NIH Deputy Director, Michael Lauer, “NIH will not require that supporting documentation be disclosed to NIH until January 25, 2022, but institutions may be asked by NIH to provide them prior to this date, if necessary.“
Sources Cited:
- Huron Client Alert: NIH Issues Guidance for Biosketches and Other Support…
- NIH NOT-OD-21-073
- NOT-OD-21-110
- extramural NEXUS: Updated Biographical Sketch and Other Support Format Pages Available Now and Required January 2022
- Council on Governmental Relations (COGR)
By Research Operations