Office of Research and Project Administration

Recovery Act: Reminders on Annual Reporting Requirements and Notice of Revised Financial Closeout Requirements for ARRA-funded Administrative Supplements and Competitive Revisions

Notice Number: NOT-OD-10-066Key Dates
Release Date: March 17, 2010Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH), (http://www.nih.gov)

Purpose

The purposes of this Guide Notice are to: 1) remind NIH grantees that information on ARRA-funded Administrative Supplements and Competitive Revisions must be included in the annual progress report of the parent grant; 2) remind grantees on the special reporting requirements for administrative supplements providing summer experiences for students and science educators; and 3) inform grantees of revised financial closeout requirements when multiple ARRA-funded Administrative Supplements and/or Competitive Revisions are awarded to the same parent award.

Background

The NIH has received funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“Recovery Act” or “ARRA”) to stimulate job creation and economic development activity related to medical and behavioral research for the Nation.   To increase transparency for the public on how ARRA funds are used, NIH and its grantees are required to separately award, track, monitor, account for, report on, audit and close out ARRA funding. Administrative supplements and competitive revisions presented unique challenges that required NIH to modify its usual practice and award these as financially distinct awards from the parent grant with single project and budget periods of up to 24 months. 

Policies

Reminder:  Reporting on Administrative Supplements and Competitive Revisions in the Annual Progress Report of the Parent GrantWhile the ARRA administrative supplements and competitive revisions are awarded as separate awards with a single budget period of up to 24 months, there is no separate annual progress report required for these awards.  However, consistent with standard NIH policy, to ensure proper monitoring and collect the date necessary to administer the program, all grantees are reminded of the requirements (described in the funding FOAs, in the terms and conditions of award, and in the PHS2590 non-competing continuation instructions) to include information on the supplement activities as part of the annual progress report(s) of the parent grant and in a Final Progress Report, separate from the parent grant, submitted as part of the closeout process.  Reminder:  Special Reporting Requirements for the Summer Experience ProgramThe terms and conditions of award applicable to grantees with administrative supplements to Summer Experiences for Students and Science Educators require additional information on the annual progress report and/or in the final progress report for the applicable ARRA supplement.  Grantees are reminded to include names of individuals supported; type of position (e.g., high school student, undergraduate student, or type of science educator); the student and/or teacher’s home institution; resume or statement of employment qualifications; and a brief summary of the summer research experience for each individual supported, including:

• Description of how the summer experience accelerated the tempo of research under the grant. Description of the research skills and/or knowledge obtained by students and educators during the experience.
• Statement from each supported student or educator describing how the experience helped them meet their short-term and long-term employment goals.

A template was distributed to the PIs of ARRA Summer Experiences Awards to facilitate the preparation of statements by students and educators.  This template is available on the NIH Recovery Act web site at http://www.grants.nih.gov/recovery/summer_opps.html#scientific.   Revised Policy:  Financial Closeout Requirements for ARRA-funded Supplements and Revisions for Grants with Multiple ARRA SupplementsCloseout of multiple ARRA supplements or competitive revisions to a Parent Award with regular NIH appropriation fundsNIH has updated its systems to handle the closeout of a single ARRA administrative supplement or competitive revision separate from the parent grant (when the parent is funded with regular NIH annual appropriation funds, not ARRA).  However, the system is not able to accommodate separate financial reporting in the closeout process when multiple ARRA supplements and/or competitive revisions are awarded to the same parent grant.  In these situations, NIH is modifying its existing policy so that awardees are only required to submit a single Financial Status Report (FSR) at the time the project period of the last ARRA supplement or revision ends (e.g., after the project periods for all other supplements and revisions have also expired).  In cases where an ARRA supplement/revision is awarded after a previous ARRA supplement/revision has already been terminated and closed out, a revised SF269 Financial Status Report will need to be submitted at the end of the last awarded ARRA supplement/revision.  Reminder, when multiple ARRA supplements/revisions are awarded, if any one of the awards is extended, then the FSR due date for all the ARRA supplements/revisions is also extended.Closeout of one ARRA supplement or competitive revision to a Parent Award with regular NIH appropriation fundsWith the minor exception of those cases described above, the requirement remains for grantees to submit separate closeout documents (Final Progress Report, Final Financial Status Report, and Final Invention Statement) to closeout the Recovery Act funding at the time the ARRA funding ends.  These closeout reports for the ARRA funding are required even when the parent grant continues beyond the period of ARRA support.Closeout of one or more ARRA supplements or competitive revisions to a Parent Award with ARRA fundsThis revised financial closeout policy does not affect grants where the parent and supplements/revisions are all awarded with ARRA funds. In those cases standard closeout procedures apply; e.g., only a single FSR is required at then end of the ARRA project period. In cases where a supplement has ended, but remains open pending the completion of another supplement, information on any additional supplement activities should be submitted in the progress report of the parent grant, as described above. 

Inquiries

Questions concerning this Notice should be referred to the Grants Management Specialist assigned to a particular grant or to GrantsPolicy@mail.nih.gov.

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Jane Tolbert
Senior Research Administrator
Office of Research & Project Administration
University of Rochester
503 Hylan Building
RC Box 270140
Rochester, NY 14627
Phone: 585-275-4210
Fax: 585-275-9492
Email: jtolbert@orpa.rochester.edu