Glossary
Letter of Intent
Some ICs request prospective applicants to submit letters of intent prior to the submission of a grant application. Includes an estimate of the potential review workload and plan for the application.
A
A1 application
The A1 suffix is typically seen as part of an application identification number or grant number and "A1" is often used to refer to a new, renewal, or revision application that is amended and resubmitted after the review of a previous application with the same project number.
Account Administrator (AA)
An individual typically in the grantee organization's central research administration office designated by a SO to facilitate the administration of NIH eRA Commons accounts. The AA can create, modify and/or remove the necessary accounts for these types: AO, AA, FSR, PI or ASST. Although the AA can create additional accounts, the AA cannot modify institutional profile (IPF) information.
Acquisition Cost
The cost of the asset including the cost to ready the asset for its intended use. Acquisition cost for equipment, for example, means the net invoice price of the equipment, including the cost of any modifications, attachments, accessories, or auxiliary apparatus necessary to make it usable for the purpose for which it is acquired. Acquisition costs for software includes those development costs capitalized in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Ancillary charges, such as taxes, duty, protective in transit insurance, freight, and installation may be included in or excluded from the acquisition cost in accordance with the non-Federal entity's regular accounting practices.
Active Grant
A grant meeting the following criteria:
- Today's date is between the budget start and end dates.
- The grant has an eRA System (IMPAC II) application status code of "Awarded. Non-fellowships only." or "Awarded. Fellowships only."
Activity Code
A 3-character code used to identify a specific category of extramural research activity, applied to financial assistance mechanisms. NIH uses three funding mechanisms for extramural research awards: grants, cooperative agreements and contracts. Within each funding mechanism, NIH uses 3-character activity codes (e.g., F32, K08, P01, R01, T32, etc.) to differentiate the wide variety of research-related programs NIH supports. Comprehensive List of Activity Codes
Additive Alternative
A use of program income earned during or after the project period that permits income that is generated under a grant to be added to funds committed to the project by the Federal awarding agency and recipient and used to further eligible project or program objectives. (See definitions for deductive alternative and cost sharing or matching alternative and the NIH Grants Policy Statement: 8. Administrative Requirements 8.3 Management Systems and Procedures-Program Income
Administrative Expenses
Expenses incurred for the support of activities relevant to the award of grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements and expenses incurred for general administration of the scientific programs and activities of the National Institutes of Health.
Administrative Official
In the eRA Commons, reviews the grant application for accuracy before the signing official submits the final application to the NIH.
- May be the same person as the signing official.
- Resides in either the central research administration office or academic departments.
- Create additional AO and PI accounts
- Not authorized to transmit applications to the NIH.
Administrative Requirements
The general business management practices that are common to the administration of all grants, such as financial accountability, reporting, equipment management, and retention of records. Uniform administrative requirements for grants are found in OMB Circular A-102 and OMB Circular A-110 (now found at 2 CFR Part 215).
Administrative Supplement
A request for (or the award of) additional funds during a current project period to provide for an increase in costs due to unforeseen circumstances. All additional costs must be within the scope of the peer reviewed and approved project.
Advisory Council/Board
National Advisory Council or Board, mandated by statute, providing the second level of review for grant applications for each Institute/Center awarding grants. The Councils/Boards are comprised of both scientific and lay representatives. Council/Board recommendations are based on scientific merit (as judged by the initial review groups) and the relevance of the proposed study to an institute's programs and priorities. With some exceptions, grants cannot be awarded without recommendations for approval by a Council/Board.
AIDS-Related
Includes: (1) projects relating to the etiology, epidemiology, natural history, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of AIDS; (2) various sequelae specifically associated with the syndrome; and (3) preparation and screening of anti-AIDS agents as well as vaccine development, including both preclinical and clinical studies. Not all applications examining various influences on T-lymphocytes or retroviruses will be appropriate for the expedited AIDS review process. Applications only indirectly related to AIDS will be evaluated by established Scientific Review Groups (SRGs) appropriate to the scientific discipline during regular NIH review cycles and should not be submitted in response to the expedited AIDS receipt dates. Applicants are urged to take note of the yearly NIH Plan for HIV-Related Research and indicate how their application addresses the NIH priorities set forth in that Plan. The Plan can be found on the NIH Office of AIDS Research homepage
Allowable Cost
A cost incurred by a recipient that is: (1) reasonable for the performance of the award; (2) allocable; (3) in conformance with any limitations or exclusions set forth in the Federal cost principles applicable to the organization incurring the cost or in the NoA as to the type or amount of cost; (4) consistent with regulations, policies, and procedures of the recipient that are applied uniformly to both federally supported and other activities of the organization; (5) accorded consistent treatment as a direct or indirect cost; (6) determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; and (7) not included as a cost in any other federally supported award (unless specifically authorized by statute). For additional information on each, see the NIH Grants Policy Statement: 7 Cost Considerations 7.2 The Cost Principles.
Alteration and Renovation (A&R)
Work that changes the interior arrangements or other physical characteristics of an existing facility or of installed equipment so that it can be used more effectively for its currently designated purpose or adapted to an alternative use to meet a programmatic requirement. See also definitions for Major A&R and Minor A&R.
Ancillary Study
An ancillary study is an adjunctive or supplemental study to an ongoing study. An ancillary study may or may not be a clinical trial. Determine whether an ancillary study is a clinical trial by answering the four questions that define NIH clinical trials based on the information about the ancillary study alone, regardless of the clinical trial status of the parent trial. An ancillary clinical trial is a trial for which the answer to the four questions is "Yes".
An ancillary clinical trial to a larger clinical trial may be considered an independent clinical trial if it includes an additional intervention to patients or a sub-population of patients within the larger clinical trial. An example of an ancillary study that is not a clinical trial could be research which involves analyses of stored samples collected in an ongoing clinical trial but no additional intervention to the human subjects/patients.
Animal Welfare Assurance
Document an institution and all performance sites involving animals in research must have on file with the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare before a PHS Agency may award a grant or contract.
Animals in Research
Any live, vertebrate animal used or intended for use in research, research training, experimentation, or biological testing or for related purposes. The generation of custom antibodies and animals obtained or euthanized for tissue harvest constitute activities involving vertebrate animals. To learn more about policies and guidance on the use of animals in PHS funded research, training, and testing, see the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare.
Applicable Clinical Trial
Applicable clinical trial is the term used in Title VIII of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act (FDAAA) of 2007 (P.L. 110-85) to designate the scope of clinical trials that may be subject to the registration and results reporting requirements in FDAAA.
Applicable Credit
Those receipts that offset or reduce direct or indirect costs. Typical examples of such transactions include purchase discounts, rebates, or allowances; recoveries or indemnities on losses, insurance refunds; and adjustments of overpayments or erroneous charges.
Application Identification Numbers
The application number identifies:
- type of application (1)
- activity code (R01)
- organization to which it is assigned (AI)
- serial number assigned by the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) (183723),
- suffix showing the support year for the grant (-01)
- other information identifying a revision (S1), resubmission (A1), or a fellowship's institutional allowance. For contracts, the suffix is replaced by a modification number.
Application Type Code
A single-digit code identifying the type of application received and processed. Application type codes include the following:
1=New
2=Renewal
3=Revision
4=Extension
6=Change of Organization Status (Successor-In-Interest)
7=Change of Recipient or Training Institution
8=Change of Institute or Division (Type 5 transfer to another NIH IC)
9=Change of Institute or Division (Type 2 transfer to another NIH IC)
Application Viewing Window
Once an error-free application is submitted through Grants.gov to eRA, the eRA system assembles an application image and posts it in the PD/PI's eRA Commons account. The PD/PI, delegated Assistants, Administrative Officials (AOs) and Signing Officials (SOs) have 2 business days to view the assembled application in eRA Commons - just as a reviewer would see it. The application viewing window is linked to the time of submission, not the due date. It begins the day after the assembled application image is posted in eRA Commons and excludes weekends and Federal holidays.
Within the viewing window, an SO can Reject the application and stop it from moving further in the process. After the viewing window, the application automatically moves forward for further consideration and the submission process is complete.
Within the viewing window, an SO can Reject the application and stop it from moving further in the process. After the viewing window, the application automatically moves forward for further consideration and the submission process is complete.
Appropriation Act
The statute that provides the authority for Federal agencies to incur obligations to and make payments out of the U.S. treasury for specified purposes.
Approved Budget
The financial expenditure plan for the grant-supported project or activity, including revisions approved by NIH as well as permissible revisions made by the grantee. The approved budget consists of Federal (grant) funds and, if required by the terms and conditions of the award, non-Federal participation in the form of matching or cost sharing. The approved budget specified in the Notice of Grant Award may be shown in detailed budget categories or as total costs without a categorical breakout. Expenditures charged to an approved budget that consists of both Federal and non-Federal shares are deemed to be borne by the grantee in the same proportion as the percentage of Federal/non-Federal participation in the overall budget.
Assistant Role (ASST)
In the NIH Commons the role designed to allow PIs to delegate certain responsibilities for data entry of grant information and upkeep of their personal profiles. The ASST does not have any other functions in the system.
Audit Finding
Deficiencies which an auditor is required by 45 CFR § 75.516(a) to report in the schedule of findings and questioned costs.
Audit Resolution
The process of resolving audit findings, including those related to management and systems deficiencies and monetary findings (that is, questioned costs).
Authorized Organization Representative (AOR)
The individual, named by the applicant organization, who is authorized to act for the applicant and to assume the obligations imposed by the Federal laws, regulations, requirements, and conditions that apply to grant applications or grant awards. This individual is equivalent to the signing official in the eRA Commons, i.e., holds the SO Role.
Average Programmatic Reduction
The dollar amount a grant award is reduced from the amount recommended by the study section (scientific review group). This is done so Institutes can maintain a sufficient number of grants in their portfolio and to combat inflation of grant costs.
Awarding IC
The NIH Institute/Center (IC) responsible for the award, administration, and monitoring of grant supported activities.
B
Basic Experimental Studies with Humans
Studies that prospectively assign human participants to conditions and that assess biomedical or behavioral outcomes in humans to better understand aspects of phenomena without specific application towards processes or products in mind.
Basic Research
Systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind. (CFR 272.3)
Bayh-Dole Act
The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-517; 35 U.S.C. 200-212), implemented by 37 CFR 401, affords grantees the right to elect title and retain ownership to inventions they develop with funding under an NIH grant award. Under the regulations, grantees are required to report all subject inventions to the awarding agency, as well as include an acknowledgement of federal support in any patents.
behavioral science
The scientific study of human action and behavior.
Bioengineering Consortium
The focus of bioengineering issues at the NIH which consists of senior-level representatives from each of the NIH Institutes, Centers, and Divisions plus representatives of other Federal Agencies concerned with biomedical research and development. Go to Bioengineering Consortium (BECON).
brain stem
The part of the brain that is connected to the spinal cord.
Bridge Awards
Bridge awards provide continued but limited interim support (bridge funding) for meritorious investigators who just miss the funding cutoff and have minimal support from other sources. The continued funding will permit the PD/PI additional time to strengthen a resubmission application. A Bridge award recipient usually will receive an R56 award for a single year. Investigators may not apply for R56 grants. Applications for conversion to an R56 will be selected by IC staff from reviewed applications that fall at or near the payline margins.
Budget Appropriation
Budget Mechanism
Identifies the sub-mechanism category of the award for reporting purposes.
Budget Period
The intervals of time (usually 12 months each) into which a project period is divided for budgetary and funding purposes.
C
cell
In biology, the smallest unit that can live on its own and that makes up all living organisms and the tissues of the body.
Center Grants
Center grants are awarded to institutions on behalf of program directors and groups of collaborating investigators. They support long-term, multi-disciplinary programs of research and development.
cerebral hemisphere
One half of the cerebrum, the part of the brain that controls muscle functions and also controls speech, thought, emotions, reading, writing, and learning. The right hemisphere controls the muscles on the left side of the body, and the left hemisphere controls the muscles on the right side of the body.
cerebrovascular diseases
Cerebrovascular refers to blood flow in the brain. A disease in which an area of the brain is temporarily or permanently affected by inadequate blood supply or bleeding. Typically, one or more cerebral blood vessels are involved.
CFR
CGMO
The Grants Management Officer within an awarding agency who is the principal Grants Officer in the agency.
Change in Scope
An activity whereby the objectives or specific aims identified in the approved grant application are significantly changed by the recipient after award. GMO prior approval is required for a change in scope to be allowable under an award. See NIH Grants Policy Statement: 8 Administrative Requirements 8.1 Changes in Project and Budget 8.1.2 Prior Approval Requirements 8.1.2.5 Change of Scope for additional information.
Change of Recipient Organization
Transfer of the legal and administrative responsibility for a grant-supported project or activity from one legal entity to another before the completion date of the approved project period (competitive segment).