UCSF Guides: UCSF Research Development Office (RDO): Grant Templates and Guides: Funder Updates and Initiatives

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Below are briefs prepared by the UCSF Research Development Office summarizing new initiatives or updates by the National Institutes of Health. UCSF MyAccess required.

eRA Information: UEI Field Will be Added to Institutional Profile in eRA Commons May 12, 2022
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eRA Information: UEI Field Will be Added to Institutional Profile in eRA Commons May 12
The Institutional Profile screen in eRA Commons will accommodate the Unique Identity Identifier (UEI) following a release tomorrow, Wednesday, May 12, 2022.

As you are aware, as of April 4, 2022, the UEI replaced the Dun & Bradstreet (DUNS) number as the official identifier required for an organization/institution to apply for and receive federal funding from NIH and other federal agencies (See NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-21-170). The UEI, a 12-character alpha numeric identifier, is issued as part of the System for Award Management (SAM) registration process. For applications due on or after January 25, 2022, applicant organizations must have a UEI at the time of application submission.
New NIH Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements
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The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, restricts the amount of direct salary to Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale. The Office of Personnel Management released new salary levels for the Executive Pay Scale and effective January 2, 2022, the salary limitation for Executive Level II is $203,700.

Salary Cap - FY 2021 - $ 203,700.00
Salary Cap with research effort (50%) - $ 101,850.00
Fringe Benefits calculated at 25% of allowable salary - $ 25,462.50
Associated F&A (indirect) costs at 45% of subtotal - $ 57,290.63
New 'Safety Plan' Requirement for R13/U13 applications
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Effective for R13/U13 applications submitted for the April 12, 2022 application due date and thereafter, all applicants recommended for funding must provide to NIH as part of Just-In-Time materials the “safety plan” that will be communicated to all conference/meeting attendees.
While NIH recognizes the value of supporting meetings and conferences where scientific ideas are shared and exchanged, it also recognizes that these events can sometimes become a place where attendees may feel unsafe because of harassment or the perception that harassing behaviors are tolerated or not addressed. As a result, these individuals are not fully able to participate which impedes their contributions to the scientific exchanges supported by NIH. Having a safety plan in place prior to the conference event is a proactive strategy meant to convey to attendees a commitment to fostering a safe environment and to alert potential violators that inappropriate behaviors will not be tolerated.
eRA Reminder: Password Moving to Passphrase for eRA Commons Users Starting November 17, 2021
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Effective November 17, 2021, users of eRA Commons (including Commons Mobile, ASSIST, and IAR) who change their passwords will be required to use a passphrase — a set of random words or a sentence at least 15 characters long — instead of a password. The change is designed to make passwords easy for users to remember but hard for others to guess. We previously communicated this change in a Nexus article and in targeted messages.
Even though eRA is moving to use of two-factor authentication (Login.gov or InCommon Federated Account), users still need to maintain their eRA Commons username and password/passphrase and will get reminders to reset the password annually. With this move, users will need to change their passphrase only once a year (as opposed to the current NIH policy that requires passwords to be changed every 120 days).
eRA users can reset their password by clicking the Forgot Password/Unlock Account link on the eRA Commons Login screen; see Figure 1. This link brings up the Reset Password screen where users enter their eRA Commons user ID and email associated with their eRA account.

Figure 1: Forgot Password/Unlock Account link on eRA Commons Login screen.
Users then receive an email with a temporary password. Upon eRA Commons login with the temporary password, which can be copied from the email and pasted into eRA Commons screens, the Change Password screen appears; see Figure 2. They might also be forwarded to this screen if logging into a new account or if their administrator has reset their password.

Figure 2: eRA Commons Change Password screen.
When the validation messages on the right indicate that password requirements have been met, the user clicks the Submit button to change the password.
After November 17, if eRA Commons users reset their passwords for any reason, they should keep the following password requirements in mind:
• Password length is 15 characters minimum.
• Password can be phrases including spaces and all printable characters, but special characters are not required.
• Going forward, passwords must be reset less frequently, only once per year.
• The password is case sensitive and cannot be reused within 10 passphrase cycles.

Please look for updated content and an updated eRA password policy document on November 17 on the Change Password page of the eRA website.

electronic Research Administration (eRA)
NIH Office of Extramural Research

Note: If users experience an issue with an eRA module after a release, they should completely clear out their browser cache, which will generally resolve the issue. If not, please contact the eRA Service Desk.

Need Help? Submit a web ticket; or call Toll-free: 1-866-504-9552, Phone: 301-402-7469. The Service Desk hours are Mon-Fri, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.
FY22 NIH Budget Proposals
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The President's budget proposal recommends increasing the base budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by approximately $2.5 billion, or 5.9%, and providing $6.5 billion for the establishment of a new science and technology (S&T) initiative called “ARPA-H.”
The President decided to nearly double the increase to NIH relative to his original FY22 funding proposal, with all of that additional funding going to NIH’s base budget. Future medical and public health progress is grounded in the fundamental discovery enabled by NIH and brought to fruition through private sector innovation.
In regard to ARPA-H, President Biden and his team have determined to leverage cross-sector collaboration and capitalize on key attributes of DARPA and ARPA-E to create a new avenue for life-saving, S&T-driven progress. We look forward to exploring where UCSF can engage with this new ARPA-H initiative.
As the President’s budget and bipartisan actions by Congress this year so clearly reflect, our nation is not going to allow COVID-19 to slow the life-saving progress we need; just the opposite – we are going to move faster and more boldly against disabling and debilitating threats. Outside the annual appropriations process, NIH clearly needs funding to address the corrosive effects of COVID-19 on FY21 funding.
NIH Director Collins has estimated that the pandemic set NIH-funded research back by $16 billion. To catch up so we can accelerate forward, it is in our nation’s interests to fill that funding gap. NIH has been asked to provide Congress with parameters on how to best address this additional funding need, and we hope the Administration and Congress will provide supplemental funding that restores the right starting line for the race ahead to more cures.
Modified from Research!America News (researchamerica.org)
Upcoming Changes to the Biographical Sketch and Other Support Format Page for Due Dates on or after May 25, 2021
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NIH Changes to the Biographical Sketch and Other Support Format Changes

As some of you may know, NIH is changing the Biosketch yet again. The announcement has some solid federal-ese: “In an effort to support strong collaboration between Federal research agencies, NIH has made every effort to align the Biographical Sketch (Biosketch), Other Support format page and Application Form Instructions with the guidance issued by the Office of Science and Technology Policy Joint Committee on the Research Environment.”

There's always more to a story. Yes, for many years there has been a push to normalize biosketches via SciENcv, but there were also the concerns about China's Thousand Talents program. The changes in the Biosketch and for the Other Support seem like they might have some roots in an apparent need for increased financial and resource disclosure. The changes seem designed to capture that information.

What has changed?

Biosketches (Here are NIH's Biosketch resources)

· Section B, Positions and Honors, has been renamed Positions, Scientific Appointments, and Honors. This seems straightforward but it's now in reverse chronological order. This is a change.

· Non-fellowship Biosketch: Section D has been removed. That means no Current or Completed support section.

· Fellowship Biosketch: Section D has been updated to simply say Scholastic Performance.

· Information on ongoing and completed research projects now goes in the part A. Personal Statement. Specifically, they say, "…including ongoing and completed research projects from the past three years that you want to draw attention to (previously captured under Section D. Research Support)."

And of course, NIH has provided a sample biosketch (Word document). I noted that the suggested format for describing the grant includes a bit less information than the previous sample.

And it's always worth reading the instructions (Word document).

There are changes to the Other Support pages, which are usually only submitted as Just-in-Time documents for applications.

· The page now separates funding from in-kind support.

· A signature block was added. Each PD/PI or senior/key personnel must electronically sign their Other Support section as a PDF prior to submission.

· Copies "of contracts, grants or any other agreement specific to senior/key personnel foreign appointments and/or employment with a foreign institution as supporting documentation. If they are not in English, recipients must provide translated copies."

· Undisclosed Other Support must be immediately reported.

NIH has updated Other Support resources.

All in all, the biosketch changes won't take you too long to fix. As always, read the FAQ.
NIH to migrate to FORMS-F (effective May 25, 2020)
Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information Form (effective Jan. 2018)
Allowable Appendix Material (effective Jan. 2018)

National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation

FY22 Biden Budget - National Science Foundation (NSF)

President Biden’s budget request also includes an increase of $1.7 billion, or 20% for the National Science Foundation (NSF). Decades’ worth of NSF research was utilized in the COVID-19 response, such as computer software simulations of the molecular structure of the virus. NSF’s portfolio is intentionally diverse; investments yield unknown discoveries, spanning biology, economics, engineering, mathematics, computational science, data analytics, the social and behavioral sciences, and other high-impact disciplines. Research delivers solutions – vaccines developed from decades of previously conducted research led to shots in arms in less than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, a monumental achievement.

Modified from Research!America News (researchamerica.org)

NSF has released a revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 20-1). The new PAPPG will be effective for proposals submitted or due, and awards made, on or after June 1, 2020. Significant changes include:

NSF will require use of an NSF-approved format in submission of the biographical sketch and current and pending support documents, once the PAPPG (NSF 20-1) becomes effective;
New requirement for proposing organizations to submit government-wide representations and certifications in the System for Award Management (SAM);
New requirement for providing e-mail documentation of Program Officer approval for the submission of RAPID and EAGER proposals; and
Clarifications to current and pending support coverage as well as other changes throughout the document.

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)

The UCSF Research Development Office hosted a Get to Know PCORI event on October 2, 2017. Dr. Joe Selby, Executive Director of PCORI, gave an overview of the institute, and five PCORI-funded UCSF investigators discussed elements of preparing a successful PCORI proposal (panel discussion not recorded). A recording of Dr. Selby's presentation is below. The slide deck is available here.

A library of successful PCORI grants by UCSF investigators is available here.

Other Important Federal Agencies for Biomedical and Health Research

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
As outlined in the President’s preliminary budget proposal, funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would increase by $1.6 billion, or 11%. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, other recent outbreaks of infectious diseases, and challenges like antimicrobial resistance underscore the vital role played by the CDC. To protect us, CDC scientists must be on the ground fighting public health threats wherever and whenever they occur. This budget takes a first step in closing the longstanding gap between the demands the CDC is expected to meet and its resources.

Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ)

AHRQ is the lead federal agency tasked with the essential mission of translating medical and public health research into more effective and affordable health care for Americans across the country. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, our nation was facing medical errors costing over 22,000 lives each year. We must empower AHRQ with the research resources to address this tragic reality and confront the estimated $1 trillion in unnecessary spending that inflates annual health care costs. The President’s request makes a much needed down payment on the promise AHRQ-funded research holds by proposing a budget of $380 million, an increase of 12%, over 2021.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
It would be difficult to overstate the crucial role FDA played in responding to COVID-19 or the agency’s overall responsibilities in moving medical interventions – from tests and other technologies to prescription medicines and biologics and from the lab to the patient. Responsible for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of prescription and tobacco products, as well as nearly 80% of the nation’s food supply, FDA-regulated products account for 20 cents of every dollar American consumers spend. According to Alliance for a Stronger FDA, the President’s request includes approximately $3.6 billion for FDA (exclusive of mandatory funding for FDA under the 21st Century Cures Act and one-time funding items). This much needed increase of nearly 10.6% over 2021 will help assure FDA can meet its crucial, multi-faceted mission.

Modified from Research!America News (researchamerica.org)