NINDS Funding Strategy- FY 2013

NIH Fiscal Operations for the remainder of FY 2013 will be governed by the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (P.L. 113-6; signed by President Obama on March 26, 2013) and the sequestration provisions of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act.  This legislation puts in place approximately $85 billion in federal spending cuts.  The NINDS Appropriation for FY 2013 is $1,532,488,048, which is a decrease of  approximately 5% from the previous fiscal year.  Despite this budget reduction, NINDS remains committed to its mission – reducing the burden of neurological disease by supporting a broad spectrum of basic, translational, and clinical research. In support of this goal, the Institute places a high priority on funding an adequate number of new, competing research project grants.  Based on recommendations from its stakeholders and Advisory Council, NINDS also supports a limited number of special initiatives.

Research Project Grants (RPGs) and Centers

These are the main mechanisms of support for investigator-initiated research. They include single component awards (e.g. the R01, R21, and R03 mechanisms), Small Business Innovative Research Grants (R43, R44), Small Business Technology Transfer Grants (R41, R42), Cooperative Agreement awards (U01), and multi-component awards (e.g. Program Projects [P01], Centers [P50], and Core Center Grants [P30]).

Non-Competing Research Awards:  In FY 2013, NINDS will reduce most noncompeting RPG and Center award budgets by 3.5%, as compared to the level indicated on the most recent Notice of Award.  FY 2013 awards that have already been issued at the 90% Continuing Resolution level will be revised upwardly in accordance with this policy. 

Certain projects, which present possible patient safety concerns or include milestone-driven deliverables, will be exempt from this standard cut.  Examples of such projects include Clinical Trials, Translational U01 awards, Small Business Grants, Training Awards, and CounterACT awards.

Out-year commitments beyond FY 2013: For non-competing awards reduced in FY 2013 due to sequestration, our goal is to maintain out-year commitments at the level indicated on the previous Notice of Award.  The President’s proposed FY 2014 Budget would replace sequestration with other deficit reduction measures and fund NINDS at a higher level than FY 2012.  However, if sequestration remains in place for FY 2014 and beyond, we will consider noncompeting reductions again next year. 

Competing RPGs

We have set aside approximately $130 million of the total funds available for competing awards to fund unsolicited grants not in response to special initiatives. New (Type 1), competing renewal (Type 2), and competing supplement (Type 3) grants will be funded based on percentile rank order.  Because of careful planning over the past several years and the completion of several large programs, NINDS will be able to fund new applications with scores up to the 14^th percentile.  We anticipate that approximately 20% of all eligible competing Research Project Grant applications will be funded this year.

Modular grants will be awarded at an average of 87.5% of the Council-recommended direct cost level. Non-modular applications that request more than $250,000 direct costs in any year, will be awarded at an average of 82.5% of Council-recommended direct costs.

Special Initiatives

An additional $130 million has been set aside to meet the following goals:

• New Investigators: Helping new investigators transition to independence is a high priority for NIH, and an important funding consideration for NINDS. Each Council round, NINDS funds R01 applications from new investigators with percentiles beyond the formal payline. NINDS will continue to support new R01 applications from new and early-stage investigators at a success rate equivalent to that of established investigators submitting new R01 applications.  Preference will be given to early stage investigators.
• RFA/PA’s:  Funding has been set aside for grants responding to specific solicitations (Requests For Applications and certain Program Announcements) approved by the Institute and its Council.  These solicitations generally focus on understudied or new fields of research important to the NINDS mission.
• Bridge Awards: In certain cases, the Institute may use the R56 grant mechanism to provide limited, interim research support that enables an investigator to gather additional data necessary for submission of a revised or new application.  This mechanism has been published in the NIH Guide (NOT-NS-10-004, see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-NS-10-004.html).  Please note that investigators cannot apply for R56 awards.
• High Program Priority (HPP) Awards:  A subset of applications that have percentiles within ten points of the current payline may be identified for high program priority consideration and funded on a case-by-case basis .  All HPP applications are considered by the NINDS Council. 
• Major Clinical Trials:  Multi-center clinical trials and other types of fixed-protocol clinical studies generally have large budgets and substantial NINDS staff involvement. Funds are set aside each fiscal year to fund new competing clinical trials, the use of which depends on the scientific merit of applications received. All such applications are extensively discussed by the NINDS Council, which makes funding recommendations to the NINDS Director. Budgets for individual awards are set each year by staff after careful consideration of the resources that will be needed to follow study protocols.

Duration of Grants

The NIH is required to fund competing RPGs so that the average length of these awards is approximately four years. To achieve this goal, NINDS will award four years of support for many applications that requested and were recommended for 5 years. A limited number of 5-year awards will be approved based on percentile rank of application, type of research (e.g. longitudinal studies and clinical trials may require 5 years to be completed), and new investigator status of applicant.

Research Training and Career Development

NINDS remains strongly committed to Training and Career Development.  The Institute funds individual predoctoral fellowships (F31mechanism), individual postdoctoral fellowships (F32), senior fellowships (F33), institutional grants (T32, T35, K12, and R25), and several career development grants, including the Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01), Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08), Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23), Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award (K25), Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24), Independent Scientist Award (K02), and the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00).  The FY2013 total NINDS budget for training, fellowship, and career development awards is $67 million.

Special Supplement Funding

Approximately $10 million has been set aside in FY2013 for administrative supplements.  These supplements may be awarded to support increased costs that are within the scope of the approved award, but that were unforeseen when the competing application or grant progress report for non-competing continuation support was submitted.

Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Awards

The NINDS Advisory Council may recommend that a small subset of outstanding competing R01 applications be issued as seven year Javits awards. These awards are made in two segments - an initial four year award, followed by a subsequent three year award with staff review and Council concurrence for progress and expanded scope of project. Investigators may not apply directly for Javits Awards. These awards are made to distinguished investigators who:  (1) have a record of substantial contributions on the "cutting edge" of a field of neuroscientific or neurological research, and (2) can be expected to be highly productive for a seven year period. An application selected for nomination must exemplify the investigator's body of work and have been judged to be especially meritorious by the peer review group (study section). For more information, see the Javits Award description.  

NINDS/NIH Policy for Accepting Applications with Budgets Exceeding $500,000/Year

The NINDS supports selected research projects with large budgets, but needs to consider such applications as early as possible in the budget and program planning process. Therefore, applicants must seek agreement to accept assignment from NINDS staff at least 6 weeks prior to the anticipated submission of any application requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs for any year. Applicants with clinical research applications over $1,000,000 must contact NINDS staff a minimum of 3 months prior to the next submission deadline. (See below).
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-02-004.html

NINDS Policy for Accepting Clinical Research Applications Exceeding $1,000,000 Per Year

Applicants planning to submit an application for a clinical research project requesting $1,000,000 or more in direct costs for any year must contact NINDS Office of Clinical Research staff at least 3 months prior to the next submission deadline for new grant applications. The applicant must obtain agreement from the NINDS staff that the Institute will accept the application for consideration for award. Any application subject to this policy that does not receive permission to submit will be returned to the applicant without review. For purposes of this policy "clinical research" is as defined in the 1997 Report of the NIH Director's panel on Clinical Research.  According to this definition, clinical research includes (a) Patient-oriented research (including research on the mechanisms of human disease, therapeutic interventions, clinical trials, and the development of new technologies); (b) Epidemiological and behavioral studies; and (c) Outcomes research and health services research. Excluded from this definition are in vitro research studies that utilize human tissue that cannot be linked to a living individual or research that does not involve human participants. http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-NS-01-012.html