Funding News Edition: November 16, 2022 See more articles in this edition
To expedite processing of eligible administrative supplement requests, NIH now offers an option for signing officials (SOs) to bypass the standard 2-business day application viewing window. The SO can access the bypass option through a new ‘Verify’ action in eRA Commons Status.
As always, applicants should discuss potential administrative supplement requests with the awarding NIH institute or center before submitting the request. The noncompeting award provides additional funds added during a current project period to meet costs within the original scope of the award that were unforeseen when the new or renewal grant application was submitted.
Administrative supplements do not go through peer review. Rather, they are reviewed by NIAID staff with relevant expertise and no conflict of interest.
What is the Viewing Window?
The application viewing window provides 2 full business days after application submission for organizations to check the assembled application image for any formatting issues (e.g., missing attachment, garbled text) prior to further agency processing. An organizational SO can reject the application and submit a corrected application before the due date if additional changes are needed within this window.
Although necessary for competing applications, the application viewing window causes unnecessary delays in the processing of administrative supplement applications. Bypassing the window will speed up the application process for these applications.
Implementation
The optional ‘Verify’ action to bypass the application viewing window for administrative supplement applications was made available to users with the SO role in eRA Commons Status starting on October 27, 2022.
Once an SO uses this bypass option, they forfeit the organization’s ability to reject or make further changes to the application. Organizations must carefully review their applications prior to using the ‘Verify’ action to mitigate the need to resubmit. After the SO confirms they want to bypass the viewing window, NIH will automatically forward the request to the appropriate grants management program staff for consideration.
For more information, go to eRA Commons online help. Direct all systems policy questions to the Systems Policy Branch in NIH’s Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration at OPERAsystemspolicy@nih.gov. Direct any technical questions to the eRA Service Desk by submitting a web ticket, or calling 1-866-504-9554 (toll-free) or 301-402-7469.
Related Resources
For more information on administrative supplements and how to avoid technical difficulties, go to the links below: