NIH Post-Award Monitoring and Reporting
The information provided below is a brief overview of selected monitoring and reporting requirements. For full details on any of these topics, see the NIH Grants Policy Statement. For specific questions, consult first with your OSP Post-Award Grants Specialist . The assigned NIH program officials and NIH grants management specialists are also available to answer any remaining questions. Their contact information can be found on your Notice of Award and in your eRA Commons Award file.
Prior Approval Requests
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Policy allows grantees (recipients) a level of discretion when making changes to budgeting or grant-related activities to meet unanticipated needs. Some changes may be made at the recipient’s discretion as long as they are within the limits established by NIH and the relevant Institute/Center; others will require written prior approval as defined in the Grants Policy Statement (GPS) and the terms and conditions in the Notice of Award (NoA).
The eRA Commons Prior Approval module is available for electronic submission of several prior approval requests (e.g., Withdrawal of an application, $500K or More Direct Costs, Change of Principal Investigator (PI), No Cost Extension beyond 12 months, and Carryover). Recipients may submit other requests by email via an Authorized Organization Representative or Institutional Signing Official (AOR/SO). To identify your AOR/SO, please contact your OSP Post-Award Grants Specialist.
Once submitted, the awarding Institute/Center (IC) Grants Management Specialist (GMS) and Program Officer (PO) will review the request and a response will be sent to the AOR/SO with copies to the Principal Investigator (PI) or Program Director (PD).
Failure to receive Prior Approval may result in enforcement action such as the disallowance of costs or termination of award or other actions within NIH agency authority.
See the NIH Grants Policy Statement on Prior Approval Requirements that describes the activities and/or expenditures that require NIH prior approval.
Common Prior Approval Requests
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- No Cost Extension (Extending the Project Period)
- Change of the Principal Investigator (PI) or Program Director (PD); or Key Personnel; or from single to multiple PIs (or vice versa) named in the NoA requires prior approval from the awarding NIH IC.
- Change in the effort of the PI/PD or other Key Personnel named in the NoA requires prior approval from the awarding NIH IC when the effort level devoted to the project changes by 25 percent or more from what was approved in the initial competing year award; or if the PI/PD is absent for any continuous period of 3 months or more.
- Change of Institution
- Carryover Funds to Current Budget Period: Carryover is the process by which recipients carry forward unobligated funds to cover allowable costs in the current budget period. Most grants have automatic carryover authority, and recipients do not have to request approval from the IC to carryover funds from one budget period to the next.
- Rebudgeting
Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)
The RPPR is required for all annual non-competing (Type 5) NIH awards and final progress reports (Final-RPPR), including SBIR/STTR awards. NIH requires the submission of an “Interim-RPPR” if the recipient organization has submitted a renewal application (Type 2) on or before the due date by which a Final-RPPR would be required for the current competitive segment.
Progress reports are required to continue support of a PHS grant for each budget year within a competitive segment. NIH has implemented the Final and Interim-RPPR for final progress reporting here: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/finalprogressreport.pdf.
RPPR Related Resources:
RPPR Online Help (screenshots and step-by-step instructions)
NIH RPPR Instruction Guide (PDF) (MS Word)
Screen Shots of the R01-like RPPR (PDF)
Guide to Categorizing Products in RPPR's Sec. C (PDF)
Sample Project Outcomes Summary - RPPR
Interim and Final RPPR webinar