NIAID Glossary of Funding and Policy Terms and Acronyms

PAR

See program announcement identifying location of peer review.

See parent program announcement.

NIH-wide funding opportunity announcement that enables applicants to submit an electronic investigator-initiated grant application for an activity code, e.g., Research Project Grant (Parent R01).

For any parent program announcement, some institutes may not participate or may not accept applications in all topics. Parent PAs are not initiatives, which stimulate research in a scientific topic. Compare with institute-specific program announcement.

For more information, go to these resources:

• NIH's Parent Announcements for Unsolicited or Investigator-Initiated Applications
• NIAID's How Funding Opportunities Work in the New Investigator Guide to NIH Funding
• NIAID's Funding Opportunity Announcements questions and answers
• NIAID's Grant Application portal

Document issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office containing a description, specification, and claims that describe the subject matter in detail and giving its owner a right to exclude others from making, using, or selling it. See small business award.

Only an inventor can obtain a patent; however, employers often require employees to hand over patent rights.

For more information, go to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Commercial use license for patented and patent-pending technologies; PLAs are either nonexclusive or exclusive and define royalties to be paid.

For more information, go to NIH Office of Technology Transfer and NIAID's Copyright and Publication for Grantees questions and answers.

Award for new investigators to help them begin independent research early in their career.

For more information, go to NIAID's Pathway to Independence Awards (K99/R00) SOP and the Early-Stage and New Investigators portal.

Funding cutoff point for grant applications set each fiscal year after NIAID gets a budget by balancing projected grant numbers, grant budgets, and money in the Institute's budget.

NIAID sets paylines conservatively and pays additional grants beyond the payline at the end of a fiscal year.

NIAID funds most applications in percentile (for R01s only) or overall impact score order (for other grants). See also interim payline, selective pay, and program balance.

For more information, go to NIAID Paylines and other resources on the Paylines and Funding portal, including Paylines and Budget Pages Change Throughout the Year.

Go to these resources in the Strategy for NIH Funding:

• Percentiles Indicate Relative Rank, How Percentiles Are Determined
• Paylines Are a Conservative Funding Cutoff Point
• How NIAID Makes Funding Decisions

System for evaluating research grant applications and contract proposals using non-NIH reviewers who are professional peers of a principal investigator. NIH's peer review system comprises both initial peer review and second-level review.

See also dual peer review, scientific review group, study section, integrated review group, special emphasis panel, scientific review officer, human subjects codes, and animals in research codes.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Initial Peer Review in the Strategy for NIH Funding
• Peer Review portal

Scientist who reviews grant applications or contract proposals for NIH, including the scientific review group chair, who leads the discussions.

See also primary peer reviewer, secondary peer reviewer, initial peer review, and scientific review officer.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• NIAID's Peer Review questions and answers
• Who Peer Reviews Your Application? in the Strategy for NIH Funding
• Peer Review portal

Ranking used by NIH institutes to set R01 paylines and make funding decisions. A percentile shows the relative position of each application's overall impact score among all scores assigned by a scientific review group at its last three meetings. The range is from 1 to 99 in whole numbers; lower numbers represent better scores.

For more information, go to NIAID's Paylines and Funding portal and these resources in the Strategy for NIH Funding:

• Percentiles Indicate Relative Rank, How Percentiles Are Determined
• Hypothetical Percentiling Data
• Paylines Are a Conservative Funding Cutoff Point
• How NIAID Makes Funding Decisions

Time interval required to complete work defined in a statement of work. A period of performance can be revised only through an agreement between a contractor and a contracting officer, who must issue a formal modification to a contract.

For more information, go to NIAID's Contracts portal.

Agreement of a parent or guardian to the participation of their child or ward in research.

For more information, go to these resources:

• 45 CFR 46.402
• 45 CFR 46
• NIAID Human Subjects Resources portal

Measurement of a person's effort in academic, summer, or calendar months a year. Use person months on NIH applications and other forms instead of percent effort.

For more information, go to NIH's Usage of Person Months questions and answers.

Sensitive information that could distinguish a person's identity. Examples include names, social security numbers, medical information, pictures, and financial records.

Different from individually identifiable information in human subjects research. For more information, go to NIAID's Data Security SOP.

PHS noncompeting grant progress report. A grantee submits a PHS 2590 annually to NIH to report progress and continue funding. Program officers and grants management specialists review to make sure projects are proceeding as planned.

NIH has a streamlined noncompeting award process (SNAP) for progress reports. A Notice of Award states whether a grant is SNAP. Also see eSNAP.

For more information, go to these resources:

• PHS 2590 Non-Competing Grant Progress Report
• NIAID SOPs:
  • Noncompeting Progress Reports and Program Officer Approval
  • eSNAP (Electronic Streamlined Noncompeting Award Process)
• Strategy for Your Grant in the Strategy for NIH Funding

Form in the Grant Application Package for electronic applications used to attach a cover letter.

For more information, go to NIAID's Create a Cover Letter in the Strategy for NIH Funding.

Form in the Grant Application Package for electronic applications that has information NIH needs such as name of project director/principal investigator, identification of research involving human subjects or stem cells, and contact information.

PHS forms and instructions for submitting a paper competing application for a grant or cooperative agreement. For electronic applications, name used for some agency-specific forms in the Grant Application Package.

For more information, go to PHS 398 and NIAID's Grant Application, Paper SOP.

Form for modular budgets in the Grant Application Package for electronic applications. Also see Research and Related Budget Component form

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Plan Your Budget in the Strategy for NIH Funding
• Modular Grants SOP

Form in the Grant Application Package for electronic applications used to create the Research Plan.

For more information, go to NIAID's Strategy to Write the Research Plan in the Strategy for NIH Funding.

PI applicant

See applicant.

Implanted embryo in early stages of development before formation of identifiable tissues and organs.

Costs (e.g., salaries, animal purchases, other start-up costs) that principal investigators incur when they anticipate receiving a Notice of Award. Prior approval is required in some cases.

Incurring preaward costs does not obligate NIAID to issue a Notice of Award or increase the amount of an approved budget.

For more information, go to these resources:

• NIAID's Prior Approvals for Post-Award Grant Actions SOP
• NIH's Terms and Conditions of NIH Grant Awards in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.

Part of an NIH grant application's Research Strategy.

• Preliminary Studies—for a new application, section describing the principal investigator’s relevant preliminary studies to establish the competence of the investigator to accomplish goals of the project.
• Progress Report—for a renewal NIH grant application, section summarizing the previous application’s Specific Aims, any changes to the aims as a result of budget reductions, and importance of results.

For more information, go to these sections in Strategy to Write the Research Plan in the Strategy for NIH Funding:

• Write the Research Strategy

Analysis performed by a contracting officer to determine whether an offeror's proposed costs are fair and reasonable.

For more information, go to FAR 15.404 and NIAID's Contracts portal.

Annual budget request submitted to Congress by the U.S. president. NIAID submits a budget request as part of the NIH budget request, which is modified by the Office of Management and Budget.

For more information, go to these resources:

• OMB
• NIAID Funding Opportunity Planning and the Budget Cycle
• NIAID's Budgets and Planning questions and answers

Routing of an NIH grant application by the Center for Scientific Review to an institute or center, which decides whether to fund it. An institute or center may request to change an assignment if the application is more suited to another IC. Also see secondary assignment and receipt, referral, and assignment of applications.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources in the Strategy for NIH Funding:

• Requesting an Institute and Study Section
• Ensure You Get the Right Assignments

Monies added to an existing grant to support postdoctoral research scientists who are taking care of a child or sick family member.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Primary Caregiver Technical Assistance Supplements
• Research Supplements portal

Peer reviewer who reads a grant application thoroughly, writes a critique of it before an initial peer review meeting, and then presents it to the scientific review group for discussion. Also see secondary peer reviewer.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Strategy for NIH Funding
  • Know Your Audience
  • Master the Application
  • Initial Peer Review and Your Next Steps
• Peer Review questions and answers
• Peer Review portal

Qualified person or persons designated by an applicant institution to direct a research project or program supported by NIH and who usually writes the grant application.

PIs oversee scientific and technical aspects of a grant and the day-to-day management of the research. Grants.gov term is project director/principal investigator. Also see multiple PI.

For more information, go to NIAID's Part 1. Qualify for NIH Funding in the Strategy for NIH Funding.

Document that replaces a principal investigator's signature on NIH's electronic documents. PIs file the assurance with a grantee institution for each grant application, progress report, or prior approval request.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Noncompeting Progress Reports and Program Officer Approval SOP
• Prepare Your Just-In-Time Information in the Strategy for NIH Funding

See new investigator.

Written approval a principal investigator must get from an NIH institute's grants management officer to change an approved project or budget after an award is made. See grant rebudgeting.

For more information, go to NIAID's Prior Approvals for Post Award Grant Actions SOP.

Process FDA uses to reduce the time needed to review a new drug application that either offers major advances in treatment or provides a treatment when no adequate therapy exists. FDA conducts priority review for most drugs with a fast track designation.

Priority review, along with fast track and accelerated approval, is part of FDA's approach to making therapeutically important drugs available at an earlier time.

For more information, go to FDA's Fast Track, Accelerated Approval and Priority.

Formerly used term. See overall impact score.

Law protecting citizens against needless collection, recordkeeping, or release of personal data and allowing them to see and correct the information.

For more information, go to these resources:

• Privacy Act
• NIAID's Privacy, Conduct, Conflict of Interest, and Clinical Research Ethics questions and answers

Information for which a person can expect that observations or recording are not taking place, and the information will not be made public. Information must be individually identifiable to constitute human subjects research. See coded private information.

For more information, go to these resources:

• Definitions in 45 CFR 46.102(f) and full 45 CFR 46
• HHS's Guidance on Research Involving Coded Private Information or Biological Specimens
• NIH's Research Using Human Specimens, Cell Lines, or Data FAQs
• NIAID's Private Information or Biological Specimens in Human Subjects Research questions and answers
• NIAID Human Subjects Application and Grant Handbook
• NIAID Human Subjects Resources portal

NIH announcement requesting grant applications in stated scientific areas, unless a generic parent program announcement.

Generally institutes do not set aside money to pay for the grants (unless a PAS), and applications are considered to be investigator-initiated. For some PAs, NIAID may fund applications with scores beyond the payline.

Institutes publish PAs in the NIH Guide and in Grants.gov as funding opportunity announcements. Also see PAR and PAS.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• NIAID Funding Opportunities List
• Program Announcements SOP
• Choose Approach and Find FOAs in the Strategy for NIH Funding

program announcement identifying location of peer review (PAR)

Program announcement that identifies the location of initial peer review, either in the Center for Scientific Review or an institute, and may include other information on receipt, referral, or review. Abbreviation is PAR. See Scientific Review Program.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Peer Review at NIAID questions and answers
• NIAID Funding Opportunities List
• Program Announcements SOP
• Choose Approach and Find FOAs in the Strategy for NIH Funding

Program announcement with set-aside funds to pay for the grants, abbreviated PAS.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• NIAID Funding Opportunities List
• Program Announcements SOP
• Choose Approach and Find FOAs in the Strategy for NIH Funding

IMPAC designator signifying a scientific program, category of research, and program officer. NIAID uses four bytes.

The first denotes division: Division of AIDS—A, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation—I, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases—M, or Division of Extramural Activities—X.

The next two characters denote a scientific program, and the fourth character denotes programs with more than one program officer.

Program class codes allow staff and NIAID's main advisory Council members to see where grant applications and grants reside administratively.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Program Officers Listed by Program Class Code spreadsheet
• Program Assignment in NIAID SOP

NIAID staff member who oversees a scientific program and the progress of grants in his or her portfolio. Program officers work closely with grants management specialists to administer and resolve issues with NIAID grants. Also called program official.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Contact Staff for Help in the Strategy for NIH Funding
• When to Contact an NIAID Program Officer checklist
• Program Officers SOP

Formerly used term. See Program Officer Checklist.

Checklist in IMPAC used to document a program officer's evaluation of the scientific aspects of a research project, other support to identify possible overlap of support, and other factors that may affect a competing application's funding level.

Also used to document evaluation of noncompeting progress reports—PHS 2590.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Program Officer Checklist SOP
• Noncompeting Progress Reports and Program Officer Approval SOP

Grant in the P series that supports a multidisciplinary, long-term research program with an objective or theme involving groups of investigators. Awarded on behalf of a principal investigator, the grant can support projects and shared resources.

For more information, go to these NIAID resources:

• Guidance for Preparing a Multiproject Research Application
• NIAID Program Project (P01) Applications questions and answers
• Other Grant Types portal

Required scheduled report summarizing research progress; may include technical, fiscal, and invention report information.

For more information, go to NIAID's Contract Deliverables and Reporting Requirements SOP and Contracts portal.

Total allowable costs, both direct costs and facilities and administrative costs, incurred by a grantee to carry out a project. Costs can be charged to a grant and paid by a grantee to satisfy a matching or cost-sharing requirement.

See the Research and Related Budget components of the Grant Application Package.

For more information, go to NIAID's Plan Your Budget in the Strategy for NIH Funding.

Field and attachment to the Research and Related Budget Other Project Information form that describes the public health relevance of the proposed research in three sentences or less in lay language. See Project Summary/Abstract.

For more information, go to NIAID's Hone Your Abstract and Narrative in the Strategy for NIH Funding.

NIAID staff member who coordinates the substantive aspects of a contract from  solicitation  planning to actions taken just before award. The project officer role ends when an award is made, and the contracting officer's representative takes over.

For more information, go to NIAID's Project Officer and Contracting Officer's Representative SOP and Contracts portal.

NIAID plan outlining major milestones for developing and publishing initiatives and reviewing the resulting grant applications and contract proposals. Formerly called phasing plan.

For more information, go to NIAID's Phasing of Initiatives SOP.

Field and attachment to the Research and Related Budget Other Project Information form of an electronic grant application that provides a complete description of what the proposed research intends to accomplish in 30 lines or less.

Abstracts are public and should not include confidential information. See Project Narrative.

For more information, go to these resources:

• NIAID's Sample R01 Applications and Summary Statements at Samples and Examples.
• NIAID's Hone Your Abstract and Narrative in the Strategy for NIH Funding.
• NIH's RePORTER database

Law that ensures companies transacting business with the government are paid on time. The government must pay within 30 days from the date a contractor submits an invoice or must pay interest.

For more information, go to FAR 32.9 and NIAID's Contracts portal.

Written offer by an individual or non-federal organization to enter into a contract, usually in response to a solicitation. It consists of a technical and a business proposal, including a description of the project and its costs, and the methods, personnel, and facilities to carry it out.

For more information, go to NIAID's Contracts portal.

See acceptable proposal.

Interested party's written objection to an agency's contract solicitation, proposed award, or award.

For more information, go to FAR 33.101 and NIAID's Contracts portal.

Formal design for research involving human subjects or research animals an investigator submits to an institutional review board or institutional animal care and use committee for review. For human subjects research, NIAID staff also review protocols.

A protocol generally has an objective, rationale, design, eligibility requirements, treatment regimen, and a description of research and data analysis methods.

For more information, go to NIAID Human Subjects Resources and Animals in Research portals.

Umbrella organization in the U.S. federal government for HHS health agencies, the Office of Public Health and Science, and the Commissioned Corps. Granting agencies:

• NIH
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Indian Health Service
• Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

For more information, go to the Office of Public Health and Science, HHS.

Public source of data, such as census data. The meaning with respect to human tissue specimens is widely debated. Generally, specimens widely accessible by the research community but not the public are not considered to be publicly available.

For more information, go to these resources:

• NIH's Research Using Human Specimens, Cell Lines, or Data FAQs
• NIAID Human Subjects Resources

Service of the NIH National Library of Medicine providing access to 12 million MEDLINE citations and journals as well as links to full text articles. For more information, go to PubMed.

Free database of the NIH National Library of Medicine housing biomedical and life sciences journal articles. NIH requires investigators to post their manuscripts to PubMed Central.

For more information, go to NIAID's Public Access of Publications SOP and Copyright and Publication for Grantees questions and answers.