Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences September 14, 2001

NCI Lifts Ban on Accepting R01 Applications Over $700,000 per Year

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has resumed accepting unsolicited new (Type 1) R01s over $700,000 direct costs for any budget year. NCI temporarily stopped accepting these types of applications this past summer in response to overall escalating costs of grants.

At the same time, remember that the Institute requires prior approval to submit large, unsolicited grants. Please refer to the below information repeated from an earlier EGRP Bulletin:

NCI Requires Prior Approval to Submit Large, Unsolicited Grants

NCI policy requires that unsolicited R01 grant applications over $500,000 (large grants) in direct costs for any budget year must be internally approved prior to their submission. The policy applies to all grant mechanisms, including new (type 1), competing continuation (type 2), competing supplement, and amended/revised versions for any award mechanism. It does not include R01s that are submitted in response to a Requests for Applications (RFA).

Extraordinarily large, unsolicited grant applications that request $2.5 million or more in direct costs for any given year must be approved by the Extramural Division Directors' (EDD) Committee prior to acceptance for review.

NCI Program Directors must submit an Awaiting Receipt of Application (ARA) form for signature by the respective Division Director. The approved ARA is then forwarded to NIH's Committee for Scientific Review (CSR), and serves as authorization to accept receipt of large and extraordinarily large grant applications. A new ARA form is required for any revised resubmittals, if the initial application is not funded.

Not requesting and obtaining NCI approval for submission of large grants AT LEAST ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE will result in the application being returned to the applicant without review, causing a review delay of one round. Requests must include submission of a brief description of the research protocol and the direct cost budget for each year of the proposed grant period. Refer to NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, release date: March 20, 1998.

Questions about this policy or large and extraordinarily large grants/ARAs may be directed to your Program Director.