Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements FY 2024

Notice Number: NOT-OD-24-057

Purpose

This Notice provides information regarding the salary limitation for NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards and extramural research and development contract awards.

Since 1990, Congress has legislatively mandated a limitation on direct salary for individuals under NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards (referred to here as a grant). The mandate appears in the annual appropriation act that provides authority for NIH to incur obligations for a given Fiscal Year (FY). At this time, NIH has not received an FY 2024 appropriation and is operating under a Continuing Resolution, the "Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-22)”, that applies the terms and conditions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 restricts the amount of direct salary to Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale. The Office of Personnel Management recently released new salary levels for the Executive Pay Scale. Effective January 1, 2024, the salary limitation for Executive Level II is $221,900.

For active awards, including awards that have been issued in FY 2024 (continuation and new) that were restricted to Executive Level II, if adequate funds are available, and if the salary cap increase is consistent with the institutional base salary, recipients may rebudget funds to accommodate the current Executive Level II salary level.

Once the Department of Health and Human Services Appropriation for FY 2024 is enacted, NIH will publish the annual Notice of legislative mandates to provide information on any statutory provisions that limit the use of NIH grant funds in FY 2024.

Please refer to the full announcement linked below for more details.

Reminder of eRA Commons ID Requirement for All Personnel on the R&R Senior/Key Person Profile Form

Notice Number: NOT-OD-24-042

Purpose

This Notice serves as a reminder and updated guidance to the requirement for eRA Commons IDs for all Senior/Key Personnel. An eRA Commons ID must be entered in the “Credential, e.g. agency login” field for all Senior/Key Personnel, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIH GPS 1.2), and Other Significant Contributors (OSCs) listed on the R&R Senior/Key Person Profile Form. Currently, applicants will encounter an eRA system warning if the “Credential, e.g. agency login” field is blank or does not contain a valid eRA Commons ID. The validation is anticipated to be updated from a warning to an error in mid-January in advance of due dates on or after January 25, 2024. Errors must be corrected before the application can be successfully submitted to the agency.  Applicants are encouraged to check that their Commons account is active well before applicable due dates.

Please refer to the full notice linked below for further details.

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-24-042.html

Should you have any questions, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

NIH Operates Under a Continuing Resolution

Notice Number: NOT-OD-24-039

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-24-039.html

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), operates under the Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-22) signed by President Biden on November 16, 2023. This Act (CR) continues government operations through February 2, 2024, at the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 enacted level, with no reduction.

Consistent with NIH practices during FYs 2006 - 2023, NIH Institutes and/or Centers may, at their discretion, issue non-competing research grant awards at a level below that indicated on the most recent Notice of Award. Upward adjustments to awarded levels will be considered after FY 2024 appropriations are enacted, but NIH expects institutions to monitor their expenditures carefully during this period. All legislative mandates that were in effect in FY 2023 (see NOT-OD-23-072) remain in effect under this CR, as well as the salary limitation set at Executive Level II of the Federal Pay Scale (see NOT-OD-23-056) and the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award predoctoral and postdoctoral stipend levels and tuition/fees as described in NOT-OD-23-076.

The current salary cap levels remain the same until the Executive Salary Levels change; typically, January 2024.

Should you have any questions, please contact OSP.

MEMORANDUM

DATE:           12/5/2023

TO:               Business Managers/Department Chairs/Center Directors/Faculty

FROM:          Michael T. Walsh, Director, Office of Sponsored Programs

RE:               OSP Winter Break Deadlines: Dec. 21, 2023 - Jan. 1, 2024

________________________________________________________________

This is a special announcement concerning the OSP schedule for reviewing/approving proposals with deadlines to Federal, State, and Other Agencies that occur during UMBC's Winter Break this year. 

Please note the following:

1.     UMBC's holiday break begins at COB (5 PM) on Friday December 22^nd (first full day of holiday vacation is thus Monday December 25^th) and goes through Monday January 1^st.  UMBC opens for business on Tuesday January 2^nd.

2.  All proposals with submission deadlines occurring between Friday December 22, 2023 and Monday January 1, 2024 must be fully routed, ready for submission, and released to the OSP office for final review and submission by the close of business on Monday December 18, 2023; and

3.     All proposals with submission deadlines occurring between Tuesday January 2^nd and Thursday January 4th, 2024 (the first 3 business days after the break) will be due to OSP by 9 AM on Tuesday December 19, 2023.

This schedule is consistent with our current policy, which requires the submission of complete proposals to OSP at least three (3) FULL business days before the agency submission deadline. Since UMBC is closed during the Winter Break, OSP will also be closed and OSP personnel will not be available during the Winter Break for consultation or proposal submission(s). 

The campus closure during Winter Break traditionally has imparted a heavy workload on OSP staff. Therefore, we will enforce our current policy more consistently, with little maneuverability.   Proposals received after the OSP deadlines specified above will be reviewed on a first-come/first-serve basis and will be submitted only if time permits. 

In keeping with the deadline enforcement policy of ORCA (Office of the Vice President for Research & Creative Achievement), any proposal not fully routed and ready for submission by 9:00 a.m. of the deadline date will not be submitted to the agency.  If the deadline occurs over Winter Break, please refer to the deadline presented in #2 above.

Thank you for your understanding...and best wishes for a great Holiday season and Winter Break.

Best Regards,

Dr. Michael T. Walsh

Director

UMBC Office of Sponsored Programs

MEMO FROM THE OFFICE OF SPONSORED PROGRAMS (OSP)

Re: Possible Federal Government Shutdown (September 2023)

There is currently a real possibility that a U.S. Federal Government shutdown may occur by the start of the federal fiscal year (October 1^st).  There is still hope that a positive resolution to the situation can be agreed upon by our Congressional leaders in the coming days (or weeks) ahead. Nevertheless, we wanted to provide an "FYI" to the campus to notify them that a shutdown is being considered and is plausible and could have some impacts on grants and contracts that the institution has with the Federal Government.

Every shutdown is different and this one could also be unique. However, if past is precedent, then we may have at least a basic idea of what to expect during what we hope will be a brief shutdown. A few examples below reveal what we might see if there is a shutdown:

• In the past Grants.gov continued to take proposal submissions, even though some of the e Federal agency systems that receive proposals from Grants.gov were not operational. However, to ensure that proposals were counted as "submitted on time", they still needed to be submitted to Grants.gov by the published deadline. 

• NSF Fastlane (now NSF Research.gov) did shutdown during the last shutdown in 2018 which lasted 35 days. Fastlane allowed for late proposal submissions due to the shutdown, but provided very little turnaround time--and thus very little "leniency"--once the shutdown ended and systems resumed normal operation.  Therefore, the Office of Sponsored Programs is recommending that we continue with "business as usual" submitting proposals by their due dates to ensure maximum opportunity for eventual award.

• A shutdown will result in the delayed receipt of new awards, increments, modifications, and extensions from the affected Federal agencies.

By referencing a summary of experiences of past government shutdowns, the Council on Government Relations (COGR) has compiled a list of items institutions should consider in preparation for a shutdown. This list is not official guidance, nor is it completely exhaustive; however, it does offer some good examples and insights into how to prepare your institution in the event that a shutdown does occur.

Historically, the impacts from a shutdown are typically agency-specific {and in some instances, they might even be award-specific).  Below is a link to agency-specific information that is available at this time (as of Tuesday September 26, 2023}:

                                 White House Contingency Plans

OSP, OCGA, and ORCA will continue to monitor the news and situations that are constantly developing in regards to the possible shutdown.  We will provide updates and guidance throughout the legislative process as they become available. At this time, the Office of Sponsored Programs is recommending we continue with business as usual.

Our goal is to help inform UMBC's research and Creative Achievement community with what the next necessary steps and procedures might be.  And we sincerely hope that the required federal funding bills are soon passed or that a Continuing Resolution (CR) is obtained to at least stabilize the current funding volatility.

Best Regards,

Michael T. Walsh

Director, OSP

SciENcv is an NCBI tool for creating biosketches and financial support documents necessary for NIH or NSF grant proposals. This workshop is tailored to principal investigators and staff involved in proposal development who have no or limited experience with SciENcv.

NCBI has Account Tools to assist in the creation and production of these documents for both agencies. Through practical, task-oriented activities, participants will gain hands-on experience and general understanding of the document-creation process. We will also be highlighting the new and improved SciENcv interface for creating NSF Biosketches, which NSF grant submitters will be required to use starting October 23, 2023.

In this workshop you will learn:

• How to create and export an NIH or NSF biosketch and other award support documents using SciENcv
• What information is needed to become a delegate and their function
• How to use My Bibliography to create and store a reference list

A Q&A period will be held at the end of this workshop to discuss questions and issues of interest for the participants. However, please note that we will not address specific NIH and NSF policy changes or cover post-award processes.

Visit the link in this post to register by October 4th!

·         NIH Final Updated Policy Guidance for Subaward/Consortium Written Agreements

·         Notice Number: NOT-OD-23-182

·         Previous Notice Number: NOT-OD-23-133

·         https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-23-182.html

Purpose

·        In response to audits conducted by the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), NIH published a Notice in the Federal Register (88 FR 36603) on June 5, 2023, outlining its plans to update the NIH Grants Policy Statement, section 15.2, to require that foreign subrecipients provide copies of all lab notebooks, all data, and all documentation that supports the research outcomes as described in the progress report, to the primary recipient no less than once every six months. NIH has received extensive feedback and is issuing this Notice to respond and to issue a final revised Notice.

This notice updates the NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS), Section 15.2, which outlines the requirements for consortium/subaward agreements on NIH-funded grants. These updates will be incorporated into the GPS in the FY24 publication. This updated guidance is effective October 1, 2023. A Federal Register Notice announcing the updates will be posted in the coming weeks.

Updated Policy Guidance

Effective January 1, 2024, section 15.2 will be updated to include the following clarifications (changes are bold and italicized):

15.2 ADMINISTRATIVE AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS

The following highlights several areas within the consortium relationship that the recipient needs to address with consortium organizations receiving subawards under a grant to ensure compliance with NIH requirements. The requirement for a written agreement addressing these and other areas is specified in this section.  NIH will not support any agreement that does not meet the minimum requirements outlined in the written agreement section below (15.2.1). NIH reserves the right to request copies of the written agreement and relevant supporting documentation as needed, as part of its oversight responsibilities. Failure to provide requested documentation may lead to remedies for noncompliance and potential enforcement actions (see 8.5, Specific award conditions and remedies for noncompliance).

NIH expects recipients to ask potential subrecipients, at the application stage, to submit language in their letters of support indicating their awareness of these requirements and the subrecipient’s willingness to abide by all requirements should an award be issued.

Note that most of these requirements only apply to a recipient’s consortium relationships with sub-recipients. When the relationship is with a vendor that is providing routine goods and services within normal business operations that are ancillary to the operation of the research program, the public policy requirements listed below do not apply. The vendor must also be providing similar goods and services to many different purchasers and provide them in a competitive environment.

15.2.1 Written Agreement

The recipient must enter into a formal written agreement, signed, and agreed to by both parties, with each consortium participant/subrecipient that addresses the negotiated arrangements for meeting the scientific, administrative, financial, and reporting requirements of the grant, including those necessary to ensure compliance with all applicable Federal regulations and policies and facilitate an efficient collaborative venture. If a subrecipient is unwilling to accept the requirements outlined in this section, by signing a written agreement, then an agreement cannot be issued. At a minimum, this agreement must include the following:

Note: All current requirements remain in place, with the addition of:

·        For foreign subrecipients, a provision requiring the foreign subrecipient to provide access to copies of all lab notebooks, all data, and all documentation that supports the research outcomes as described in the progress report, to the primary recipient with a frequency of no less than once per year, in alignment with the timing requirements for Research Performance Progress Report submission. Such access may be entirely electronic.

Please refer to the full Notice for further details as this is only an excerpt of the new requirement. 

Should you have any questions, please contact OSP.