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Division of Sponsored Programs > Award Management > NIH Award Terms and Conditions

Standard NIH Award Terms & Conditions

While each award and solicitation leading to award should be reviewed for unique project conditions, the following is the baseline conditions for NIH direct research grant award terms and conditions.

All federal sponsored awards and many non-governmental sponsors and University policy are based on 2 CFR 200, otherwise known as Uniform Guidance or the UG.  NIH implements the Uniform Guidance through their Grants Policy Statement (NIH GPS).  In addition, NIH is a member of the Federal Demonstration Partnership and allows certain flexibilities for research grants called the Research Terms and Conditions.  Your award will specifically identify if it falls under the Research Terms and Conditions. These conditions provide additional flexibility to UF. The Prior Approval Matrix is a handy guide to what flexibilities are offered under these awards.

If the award has no additional conditions outlined in your solicitation or in the special terms and conditions of your award, the following terms apply to your NIH grant.  Any items listed as requiring prior approval should be routed through UFIRST awards to DSP for review and submission to NIH.

Prior Approvals:

  • No Cost Extensions:  First time no cost extension may be approved by UF.  They must be routed through UFIRST Award Modifications, approved and submitted to NIH ERA Commons more than 10 days prior to the termination. Subsequent No Cost Extensions require NIH prior approval.
  • Costs incurred up to 90 days before the start date may be approved by UF
  • Change in the scope or the objective of the project or program (even if there is no associated budget revision requirement prior written approval) require NIH prior approval.
  • Change or absence of PI (either permanently or for a continuous period of more than 3 months) require NIH prior approval.
  • 25% or more reduction in time devoted to the project of the PI or other key person named in the award require NIH prior approval.
  • Unless specifically identified as restricted in your awards terms and conditions, you are allowed to carry forward funds from one budget period to the next without NIH prior approval.

Direct Charging Costs and Rebudgeting:

  • Cost Accounting Standards Apply: No generally indirect charges such as administrative or clerical salaries, laptops or office supplies can be direct charged to your grant without routing a CAS exemption through UFIRST Awards
  • Equipment: If the cost exceeds $25,000 and was not included in the approved proposal budget, NIH must approve the purchase.  If the cost is less than $25,000, was in the approved budget, or is subsequently approved, title to equipment purchased vests with UF.
  • Foreign subawards not included in the NIH approved budget require prior approval.  Subawards based on a fixed price require prior approval from NIH.
  • Participant Support Costs: If your award includes Participant Support Costs these funds are restricted and will be released in a separate project. The funds awarded may not be used to cover costs that are not in support of the participants, without the prior written approval from NIH.
  • Entertainment Costs:  Inclusion of costs of entertainment, including amusement, diversion and social activities requires prior approval.
  • Salary Cap:  No NIH supported UF employee can be paid more than the Executive Level 2 Salary Cap
  • Space renovations:  Use of grant funds to pay for any construction or space charges require prior approval.

Intellectual Property:

  • The University, under 37 CFR Part 401 retains title to inventions supported by the grant.

Program Income:

  • Additive Method

Publicity:

  • If the recipient plans to issue a press release about research supported by an NIH grant, it should notify the NIH funding component in advance to allow for coordination. See http://www.nih.gov/news/media_contacts.htm for media contact information.

Publications:

  • NIH encourages recipients to arrange for publication of NIH-supported original research in primary scientific journals. Each publication, press release, or other document about research supported by an NIH grant must include: 1.An acknowledgment of NIH grant support such as: “Research reported in this [publication, release] was supported by [name of the Institute, Center, or other funding component] of the National Institutes of Health under grant number [specific NIH grant number in this format: R01GM012345.” 2.A disclaimer that says: “The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.”