Title |
Announcement # |
Receipt Date |
NIH Competitive Revision Applications for Research Relevant to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act |
PAR-12-010 (R01)
PAR-12-011 (U01) |
February 17, 2012 |
Eligibility, Submission, Timeline, Review, and Budget
Q. Can competitive revisions of P01 grants be submitted? How about R37?
A. P01’s are not eligible, but R37’s are ELIGIBLE under the R01 funding opportunity announcement (FOA) PAR-12-010.
Q. If my grant is in an institute or center that is not listed on the FOA, can I still apply?
A. No, but you can talk with the program director/project officer (i.e., the NIH staff person who has programmatic responsibility for your award). If the NIH institute or center (IC) that funded your award decides to participate, it can join PAR-12-010 by publishing a Notice in the NIH Guide to announce that participation; a hyperlink to that Notice will be added to the first page of PAR-12-010.
Q. Can I apply for more than one research project with the same parent R01 or U01?
A. Yes, you may.
Q. May I include a PI who was not a PI on the parent grant?**NEW!
A. Yes, you may. A competing revision (supplement) application may include multiple-PD/PIs even if the parent grant was not originally reviewed and approved as a multiple-PD/PI project, so long as the FOA under which the parent grant was submitted allowed multiple PD/PIs. A revision application revises and extends the scope of the previously approved project. Therefore, the revision may include a change in the model used from a single PD/PI to multiple PD/PI. However in this case, a Leadership Plan will be required as part of the revision application. Note that the PI of the competitive revision must have been a PI of the parent award.
Also, a competing revision (supplement) application to a multiple-PD/PI parent grant may include additional PD/PIs. A revision application expands the scope of the previously approved project. Therefore, the expansion may include an expansion of the PD/PI team. Expansion of the PD/PI team will require a revised Leadership Plan as part of the revision application.
Q. My parent R01 had a modular budget, but I have an idea for a competitive revision that would cost more than $250K per year. Am I required to use a modular budget for this competitive revision application, and therefore limit the budget to $250K/year?**NEW!
A. Yes, you are required to use a modular budget and limit the budget to $250K per year.
Q. The award period for the competitive revisions will begin in September 2012. My parent R01 award (which was not modular) ends in April, 2014. The competitive revision will have only 7 months remaining of the upcoming budget year (September to April). I have well-justified expenses during those 7 months that exceed 7/12 x $500K. May I ask for more than 7/12 of $500K for that partial year, or is the budget cap prorated to 7/12 of $500K?**NEW!
A. Yes you may. If you can provide a strong scientific justification, you may ask for more than 7/12 of $500K. However, the award period is still limited, so you may not specify more than 7 months of operating costs (e.g. salary support) for the period from September to April. Expenses beyond 7/12 of $500K might include, for example, one-time equipment purchases.
Q. My parent award has a multi-PI structure. I am one of the PIs but I am not the specified contact PI. When we compete for this revision, we will retain the same set of PIs, but can I be the specified contact PI for the revision?**NEW!
A. No, the contact PI must be the same for the parent and revision application. From the SF424, section 2.8: "Note that all revision applications must be submitted by the same PD/PI (or Contact PD/PI for multi-PI grants) as listed on the current award and applicants must use the same budget format (i.e. R&R Budget Component or PHS 398 Modular Budget Component) as the current award."
Q. If I am not recruiting new subjects for the revision application, and will only conduct research with the subjects already enrolled for the parent study, do I need to include a targeted enrollment table?**NEW!
A. Yes, if your revision includes human subjects, even if they are from the parent project, the application should include a targeted/planned enrollment table.
Q. I submitted an R21 that was previously reviewed but did not score not well enough to be funded. Instead of resubmitting that R21, can I convert it to an application under this FOA?**NEW!
In general, the answer is no. In order to apply under this FOA, you must make it scientifically distinct from the application that was previously reviewed.
Q. The award period for the competitive revisions will begin in September 2012. My R01 is scheduled to end in April of 2014. The FOA states, "Applicants may request support for up to 2 years, not to exceed the remaining number of years on the parent grant." According to the FOA – "… the no cost extension must be in place before the revision application is submitted." I would like to apply for 2 years of funding, but my NIH institute does not permit me to request a no-cost extension for the parent grant so far in advance of the end of the current funding. What can I do?
A. The competitive revision must end by the end of the parent project period. In this example, the competitive revision study period must end by April 2014. Institutes differ in their procedures for no cost extension approvals, so if you wish to extend your parent project period to accommodate the competitive revision period, you should contact the institute early about your options regarding a no cost extension because this must be in place before the application submission deadline. Any competitive revision application that includes a request for support beyond the award period of the parent grant will not be accepted.
Q. The FOA says that I should use the same format as the parent grant application, but that was paper. Should I also submit the competitive revision on paper?
A. No, the competitive revision should be submitted electronically even if the parent grant was submitted on paper (and all necessary instructions are in PAR-12-010 and PAR-12-011).
Q. In which review panels will these revision applications be peer reviewed?
A. The Center for Scientific Review will identify the most appropriate standing study section for each application. Competitive revision applications will be grouped accordingly. The group of applications will be reviewed in a “rump” special emphasis panel (SEP) that will follow the regular meeting. If possible, applications will be reviewed by the rump SEP associated with the study section that reviewed the parent grant while balancing the number of applications reviewed by each SEP.
Q. If I am awarded the competitive revision, and when the parent grant ends I apply for a no-cost extension for the parent grant, does that also extend the revision?
A. Yes.
Q. I am the PI of a U01. How will the Steering Committee and Coordinating Center of the U01 be involved in the application for competitive revisions?
A. This FOA (PAR-12-011) is intended to supplement your particular project. It is not necessary for the Coordinating Center and/or Steering Committee to be involved in this competitive revision application. If you want the Coordinating Center or others in your cooperative agreement to contribute to your competitive revision, they can be subcontractors in your application.
Q. What is the maximum award budget?
A. The maximum award budget is $500,000 per year. An early version of the FOA stated a limit of $250,000 per year for the R01 revisions, but the correct amount is $500,000 per year.
Q. What are the page limits?**
Scientific Content
Q. How much can the study design and study aims differ from the parent grant? For example, my current research is a cohort study involving questionnaires. Can the proposed research involve collecting biological specimens from a subset of participants and conducting laboratory experiments?
A. Competitive revisions allow for an expansion of scope from the parent grant. However, competitive revision applications that appear disconnected from the parent grant may not fare as well in review or program as applications that clearly leverage the resources, expertise, and work of the parent grant. Contact program staff, both those listed on this FOA and assigned to your parent grant, regarding how to position your competitive revision application in relation to your parent grant.
Q. A preliminary injunction has been issued against the FDA’s graphic warning labels, which were scheduled to go into effect September 2012. Does research on the impact of graphic warning labels continue to be a research topic consistent with the goals of this FOA?
A. Yes. The impact of graphic warning labels remains a research area of interest under this FOA. However, it is unclear at this time when the graphic warning label requirements will go into effect.
Q. Where can I find out more about what research questions are within the scope of this FOA?
Q. Do we have to have preliminary data on what we propose to do? Do we need to write a progress report section too?
A. Preliminary data, while not required, will strengthen your application. Similarly, evidence of progress on the parent grant will indicate to reviewers that your proposed project is also likely to be successful.
**Questions/Answer revised February 6, 2012.