Provide Comments on Flexibilities for Semiannual Animal Program Reviews

To help NIH’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) gather input on flexibilities available to Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) for conducting semiannual program review, consider responding to the Request for Information (RFI) on Flexibilities for Conducting Semiannual Animal Program Review.

Brief descriptions of the flexibilities are as follows. Read the RFI for complete details.

1. The program review may be conducted at a convened IACUC meeting (e.g., in person, using teleconferencing or video conferencing) with a quorum.
2. For program reviews that do not involve Animal Welfare Act-regulated species, IACUCs may use as few as one qualified individual as an ad hoc consultant to conduct the program review.
3. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) need not be reviewed every six months. IACUCs may choose the frequency and method for regular review of animal facility SOPs as part of the overall review of the animal care and use program.
4. The USDA and OLAW agree that the timing of program reviews can include flexibility of within 30 calendar days of the six-month interval from the last program review, provided there is no forward drift of the date from year to year.
5. IACUCs may review the entire program once every six months or on a staggered schedule.
6. IACUCs may use an AAALAC International site visit to meet the requirements for a program review, provided it meets the requirements of the PHS Policy and Annual Welfare Regulations. The subsequent program review must be conducted no later than six months from when the AAALAC site visit occurred with a 30-day flexibility in timing.
7. OLAW has developed a checklist to help IACUCs conduct the program review and facility inspection.

Response, Submission, and Contact Information

Responses to this RFI are voluntary and may be submitted anonymously. Do not include any personally identifiable or other information that you do not wish to make public. Proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should not be included in responses.

Submit responses electronically on the RFI webpage on or before August 1, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Note that comments may be made available on the OLAW website.

If you have questions, direct them to OLAW by emailing olaw@mail.nih.gov or calling 301-496-7163.