National Institutes of Health Updates & Reminders

NIH Update to Funding Opportunity Terminology

Notice NOT-OD-23-109, released on April 21, 2023, alerts the research community that effective immediately, NIH will use the term Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to refer to formal announcements of the availability of Federal funding through a financial assistance program. Previously, such announcements were referred to as funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). See the NIH Grants & Funding Glossary for the full definition.

NIH is currently updating websites, documents, and other resources to reflect the new terminology.

Expiration of COVID-19 Health Emergency

March 1st NIH issued NOT-OD-23-095 to announce that the HHS declared public health emergency for COVID-19 will be terminated on May 11, 2023. NIH will no longer issue Emergency Notices of Funding Opportunities related to COVID-19. Ongoing emergency awards will not be impacted and will retain all existing emergency flexibilities for the remainder of the current competitive segment.

NIH Post Submission Material Policy Revision

Effective for applications submitted for May 25, 2023 receipt dates and beyond, NOT-OD-23-106 details changes to the allowable post submission materials. One page Preliminary Data updates will only be permissible if the request for proposal guidelines allows preliminary data in the application. All other materials listed in NOT-OD-19-083 as acceptable materials will continue to be accepted if submitted 30 days before the study section meeting.

eRA Information: Select Withdrawn NIH Applications Will Display a Grant Number Appended with ‘D’ in eRA Commons Effective April 26

A new process has gone into effect, April 26, 2023, which will tag a resubmission or renewal application that is withdrawn prior to review with a ‘D’ in the grant number. The tag will only appear when a subsequent version is submitted.

This will allow NIH staff to assign the original grant number of the withdrawn application to the subsequent version and preserve information related to the withdrawn application in the eRA Commons.

Applicants will see the withdrawn application listed on the Status Information screen (also called Grant Folder) with a D% (D1, D2, D3) at the end of the grant number.

An example is 1R01CA12345-01D1. The Status will state ‘Application withdrawn.’ The Status Information screen in eRA Commons, displaying a withdrawn application designated with a ‘D1’ at the end of the grant number.

The applicants will also see the documents and information associated with the withdrawn application. No action is required on their part.