Know Your Closeout Obligations at Project’s End

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Within 120 days of your project period’s end date, you must submit the following Final Reports for Grant Closeout:

  • Final Research Performance Progress Report (F-RPPR)
  • Final Federal Financial Report (FFR)
  • Final Invention Statement and Certification (FIS)

If you have already submitted a renewal application of your grant, the link available in eRA Commons will be for the submission of an Interim-RPPR (I-RPPR) instead of the F-RPPR. If your renewal application is funded, the FFR will be required. NIH will use your I-RPPR to fulfill submission requirements under the I-RPPR policy; if your application is not funded, NIH will treat the I-RPPR as your F-RPPR, using it for closeout. You will still need to provide the FFR and FIS, if closing out.

Failure to submit reports when they are due may result in NIH's taking enforcement actions against your institution for grant closeout reporting noncompliance. Here are a few tips to help you complete this process on time and without issue.

Don’t Wait To Submit Closeout Reports if They Are Ready

You don't have to wait until all three closeout reports are ready to send them; after your grant ends, we advise you to send each report as soon as you are ready to submit it.

Reconcile Your FFR With Your PMS Account

Work with your organization's grants administration to prepare and submit the final FFR for your grant.

Note that as of April 1, 2022, NIH and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality award recipients no longer complete the cash transaction section (lines 10a through 10c) of the FFR in the HHS Payment Management System (PMS).

Always Submit a Final Invention Statement and Certification

The Final Invention Statement and Certification requires you to list all “inventions which were conceived or made during the course of work under the grant or award, from the original effective date of support through the date of completion or termination.” You must submit this report even if you previously reported inventions or your funded project did not result in an invention.

As an investigator, you likely agreed as a term of employment to disclose any inventions to your organization. In turn, your organization should be reporting inventions to HHS through iEdison.* You need not have filed for a patent application for your invention to be a reportable invention. Any inventions thus reported should also appear on your FIS. If you had no inventions, put "None."

*Note that iEdison will be moving from NIH eRA to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). For details about the transition, downtime, and action items, see the June 24, 2022 Guide notice.

Don’t Wait for Unaccepted Manuscripts

You must follow NIH’s Public Access Policy, which includes reporting to NIH any publications or manuscripts accepted for publication resulting from your grant during the reporting period in question.

If, after your project period has ended, a submitted manuscript has not yet been accepted for publication, do not delay your F-RPPR or I-RPPR for the sake of including the manuscript in your publication list or waiting for a publication to be in full compliance with the Public Access Policy.

While there is no public access compliance enforcement for an I-RPPR or F-RPPR submitted with noncompliant publications, you should still follow through to ensure compliance (after submission). Besides being a policy term and condition of the original award, if your renewal application is funded, eRA Commons may automatically include the noncompliant publications of the I-RPPR or F-RPPR in the first noncompeting progress report (RPPR) of the renewal project, thus requiring compliance before NIAID can issue the first noncompeting award.

Write in Plain Language

Your project outcomes section of the F-RPPR and I-RPPR will be made public. Given this, you should explain your project outcomes such that the general public can understand your conclusions.

Beware of mistakenly submitting Final Progress Report Additional Materials (FRAM) requested by a program officer in the Revised Public Outcomes section, as that information will be displayed publicly.

Reminders: Data Sharing, Clinical Trials

If you requested $500,000 or more in direct costs in any year, remember to share final research data. Do so also if you responded to a program announcement or request for applications that requires data sharing.

As for clinical trials, ensure that they’re registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov database and that you report results in a timely manner. The Clinical Trial Research section of our website lists and describes other NIH and NIAID policy requirements specific to conducting clinical trials.

Questions?

If you have questions about grant closeout, contact the grants management specialist listed on your Notice of Award.

Contact Us

Email us at deaweb@niaid.nih.gov for help navigating NIAID’s grant and contract policies and procedures.

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