Funding News Edition: March 16, 2022 See more articles in this edition
NIH recently updated its Special Council Review (SCR) policy to change the dollar threshold for SCR and align with Forms-G Other Support disclosure requirements.
The SCR policy requires NIH institute and center Advisory Councils to provide additional consideration for new and renewal applications from already well-supported principal investigators (PIs).
What does “well-supported” mean? The threshold for SCR is based on all of a PI’s active NIH awards:
- The original August 20, 2012 Guide notice set the threshold at $1 million in direct costs each year.
- The new February 17, 2022 Guide notice updates the threshold to $2 million in total costs (direct and indirect) each year, effective starting with the May/June 2022 Council round.
NIH shifted the SCR threshold from direct to total costs because the Forms-G Instructions for Other Support ask PIs to provide the total award amount. Note that the threshold for SCR review does not represent a cap on NIH funding.
All other aspects of the original policy remain the same as announced in the 2012 notice. Direct your questions about SCR to grantspolicy@nih.gov.