VPR Office Requests Notification from Researchers Planning to Submit Instrumentation Grants

Part of the submission requirements for NIH Shared Instrumentation and High End Instrumentation Grant Programs is an institutional letter of support.   This letter includes detailed supporting documentation and mulitple level approvals.  Therefore, the VPR office along with PDO are requesting notification now from researchers who may be considering the submission of this type of grant.  The proposals are due to NIH on May 29, 2015.  

Questions - Annette Evans at 257-1663.

NIH FY 2016 High End Instrumentation and Required Information for Letter of Institutional Commitment 

The NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) has announced the High-End Instrumentation Grant program for major research equipment costing at least $600,000. ORIP intends to commit approximately $20 million in FY 2016 to fund approximately 10-15 new awards. The NIH deadline is May 29, 2015. 

Complete Program Announcement:  http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-15-118.html 

Special Use Instrument (SUI):  In rare special circumstances, to extend the outreach of the HEI Program to cases when an institution cannot justify sole use of the high-end instrument for NIH-supported and other biomedical research, the institution may contribute a portion of the cost of the requested instrument commensurate with the proposed use of the instrument for other than biomedical research. This rare request will be designated as a Special Use Instrument (SUI) and the instrument’s Biomedical Research Time (BRT) must be at least 50% of the Accessible User Time (AUT) or the portion of the NIH funds of the cost of the instrument, whichever is larger. If an institution makes a request for SUI, the non-NIH funds must not be less than 25% of the total instrument price. The non-biomedical research activities supported by the instrument may include research in other fields, curricular instructions, and billable clinical care. The institution must provide specific long term plans to secure and protect access to the instrument for biomedical researchers, as detailed in Section IV under "SUI Request". If an institution is considering a SUI request, the applicant is strongly advised to consult with Scientific/Research Contact(s) and Financial/Grants Management Contact(s) (see Section VII) before submitting an application as it is likely that special administrative procedures will have to be followed. 

Financial Plan: The application must include a specific financial plan for long-term operation and maintenance of the instrument, with details on how various operational costs will be met. The financial plan MUST include a table for year one of operation with dollars for anticipated expenditures and anticipated income showing how these estimates were derived. For Year 1 specific dollar amounts are required; for Years 2 -5 approximate dollars are recommended. Also required is a description of projected changes to the financial plan over the subsequent four years for operation, maintenance, supplies, anticipated income, and institutional support. 

Institutional Commitment:  The application must describe the institutional infrastructure available to support the instrumentation and confirm the institutional support toward the maintenance and operation of the instrument. Describe institutional support for personnel. In particular, confirm that the institution will commit to provide backup of the financial plan for five years from installation of the equipment or for the effective lifetime of the instrument. The PD/PI, upon recommendations and approval of the Advisory Committee, may request permission from the NIH for any future changes to this commitment due to unforeseen alterations in the use of the instrument (i.e., transfer of title to another institution, trade-in towards a more advanced instrument, etc.). 

Letters of Support: All letters of support and a table that provides information about instrument performance of all previous S10 awards for instruments awarded or installed within the past five years should be combined into a single files named Letters of Support and uploaded as a separate attachment via Other Attachments. The combined files should include, as applicable:  letters from institutional officials for the institutional commitment, institutional back-up for the proposed financial plan, letter about inventory of instruments at the institution which are unavailable to the PI, letter from biosafety officer if human or infectious materials are to be analyzed, and a letter from an institutional official describing the non-NIH funds if the institution is requesting a SUI. 

Researchers planning to submit a proposal to the High-End Instrumentation Grant program should send the following material electronically, assembled into a single PDF file, to the Office of the Vice President for Research at limitedsubmissions@uky.edu and a copy to their Associate Dean for Research by March 24, 2015:

• Name and department of PI
• Instrument requested and approximate cost
• Proposed user group (a minimum of 3 NIH-funded investigators is required)
• A description of the instrument capabilities/uses, and a one page narrative of how the instrument addresses current institutional research priorities and will extend UK”s capabilities to facilitate additional NIH-funded research
• A draft management plan for Year 1 and any projected changes for Years 2-5
• If the instrument is intended to be part of an existing service core (recharge center), identify which one; if a new recharge center is being proposed, provide proposed name and location and include a letter of support from the relevant Dean that includes the commitment to provide financial back-up for the proposed financial plan if it should fall short of the projected income.
• NIH prefers locating the instrument in a centralized core facility whenever possible; however, if the instrument is not intended to be part of a service core, delineate the department/center/institute and college plans for instrument support in terms of personnel and service costs and include a letter of support from the relevant Dean that includes the commitment to provide financial back-up to ensure operation and maintenance of the instrument. 

If any level of financial support will be requested form the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Vice President for Research will appoint a committee to review and recommend those proposals best aligned with institutional research and budgetary priorities. 

Questions about the submission process may be sent to Ms. Annette Evans in the Office of the Vice President for Research (alevan4@email.uky.edu or 257-1663.)  Potential applicants can contact the Office of the Vice President for Research to discuss financial aspects of running a cost-recovery core facility if they need more information.  The Office of the VPR will also provide the table of all previous S10 awards to UK within the past five years that is a required part of the application. 

To identify NIH-funded investigators, researchers may contact the Proposal Development Office (PDO@uky.edu) or search SPIFi, the database of UK funded projects (http://www.research.uky.edu/ospa/info/spifi.html). 

NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant Program and Required Information for Letter of Institutional Commitment 

The NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) supports the Shared Instrumentation Grant program for major research equipment costing between $100,000 and $600,000. ORIP intends to commit approximately $40 million in FY 2016 to fund approximately 80 new awards. The NIH deadline is May 29, 2015. 

Complete Program Announcement:  http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-15-088.html 

Management Plan:  The application must include a specific financial plan for long-term operation and maintenance of the instrument with details on how various operational costs will be met. The financial plan MUST include a table for year one of operation with approximate dollars for anticipated expenditures and anticipated income showing how these estimates were derived. Also required is a description of projected changes of the financial plan over the subsequent four years for operation, maintenance, supplies, anticipated income, and institutional infrastructure. 

Institutional Commitment: The application must describe the institutional infrastructure available to support the instrumentation and confirm that the institution will commit to provide backup of the financial plan for five years from installation of the equipment or for the effective lifetime of the instrument. The PD/PI, upon recommendations and approval of the local Advisory Committee, may request permission from the NIH for any future changes to this commitment due to unforeseen alterations in the use of the instrument (i.e., transfer of title to another institution, trade-in towards a more advanced instrument, etc.). 

Letters of Support: Letters from institutional officials for the institutional commitment and letters from the biosafety committee, if applicable, should be combined in a single file named Letters of Support and uploaded as a separate attachment via Other Attachments. The institution must provide an official letter of support that includes an explicit commitment to provide backup for the proposed financial plan. This letter must state that if the financial plan should fall short of its projected income, the institution will commit funds to replace the shortfall and maintain operation of the instrument. Applications without an institutional commitment to support a shortfall in the financial plan will not be accepted for review. The institution must also provide a Letter of Support that includes a table with information about instrument performance of all previous S10 awards for instruments awarded or installed within the past five years. The table should include: S10 grant number, year of award, PD/PI’s name, generic name of instrument, current instrument status (i.e., in use, traded-in, transferred, non-functional), approximate hours used per year, status of maintenance agreement, and number of publications citing the S10 award. If the instrument is currently non-functional, the institution must provide a supplementary explanatory text. 

Because this program requires an institutional letter of support, researchers interested in submitting a proposal to the Shared Instrumentation Grant program are asked to submit the following information electronically, assembled into a single PDF file, to the Office of the Vice President for Research at limitedsubmissions@uky.edu and a copy to their Associate Dean for Research by Tuesday, March 24, 2015: 

• Name and department of PI
• Instrument requested and approximate cost
• Proposed user group (a minimum of 3 NIH-funded investigators are required)
• A description of the instrument capabilities/uses, and a one page narrative of how the instrument addresses current institutional research priorities and will extend UK’s capabilities to facilitate additional NIH-funded research
• A draft management plan for year one and any projected changes for years 2-5
• If the instrument is intended to be part of an existing service core (recharge center), identify which one; if a new recharge center is being proposed, provide the proposed name, location, and include a letter of support from the relevant Dean that includes the commitment to provide financial back-up for the proposed financial plan if it should fall short of the projected income
• NIH prefers locating the instrument in a centralized core facility whenever possible; however, if the instrument is not intended to be part of a service core, delineate the departmental/center/institute and college plans for instrument support in terms of personnel and service costs and include a letter of support from the relevant Dean that includes the commitment to provide financial back-up to ensure operation and maintenance of the instrument

 If any level of financial support will be requested from the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Vice President for Research will appoint a committee to review and recommend those proposals best aligned with institutional research and budgetary priorities. 

Questions about the submission process may be sent to Ms. Annette Evans in the Office of the Vice President for Research (alevan4@email.uky.edu or 257-1663). To identify potential NIH-funded investigators, researchers may contact the Proposal Development Office (PDO@uky.edu) or search SPIFi, the database of UK funded projects (http://www.research.uky.edu/ospa/info/spifi.html).