Highlights of the new NIH and AHRQ Policy allowing submission of A1 proposals as A0.

The Sponsored Research Administrative Services has compiled the following information to addresss questions related to the change in NIH submission policy. 

The NIH and AHRQ will not assess the similarity of the science in the new (A0) application to any previously reviewed submission when accepting an application for review. NOT-OD-14-074 

A new application need not demonstrate substantial changes in scientific direction compared to previously reviewed submissions, and must not contain an introduction to respond to the critiques from the previous review. NOT-OD-14-074 

NIH’s policy for accepting overlapping applications remains in effect (NOT-OD-09-100) and NIH will not accept duplicate or highly overlapping applications under review at the same time.  NIH will not accept:

• A new (A0) application that is submitted before issuance of the summary statement from the review of an overlapping resubmission (A1) application.
• A resubmission (A1) application that is submitted before issuance of the summary statement from the review of the previous new (A0) application.
• An application that has substantial overlap with another application pending appeal of initial peer review (NOT-OD-11-101).

The change in policy has been put in place.  An application that was reviewed before April 16th, 2014, as well as any application submitted in the future, could be submitted as a new (A0) application for any subsequent, appropriate due date, if the previous summary statement has been released (NOT-OD-14-082). 

The updated policy applies to major types of applications and activity codes - including applications for research grants, the NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, Career Development Awards, Individual Fellowships, Institutional Training Grants, Resource Grants, Program Projects, and Center Grants (NOT-OD-14-082).

 The number of submission cycles is not limited, but NIH encourages applicants to update their applications to reflect the status of the field over the interim period and to incorporate new preliminary data, literature citations, letters of reference, etc. as time passes (NOT-OD-14-082). 

The updated policy does not preclude submission of a new (A0) application following an unsuccessful new (A0) application, without an intervening resubmission (A1) application (NOT-OD-14-082). 

There is no limit on the number of times an application can be submitted. (FAQ) Item A. 7. 

An applicant should decide on a case by case basis whether it is better to submit a new application or to address the reviewer’s statement in a resubmission of the previous application. (FAQ)  Item B. 4. 

After a resubmission of a competing renewal (Type 2) application that is not funded the next submission should be submitted as a new application (Type 1 A0) on the new application due date, and it will lose any association with the previously funded grant.   As a new Type 1, the application would be due on the new application due date, not the renewal application due date, and would not contain a Progress Report or introduction in response to previous critiques. (FAQ)  Item B. 7. 

If an application is not successful through the RFA and is late submitted to a different RFA or to a program announcement (such as the “parent” announcement), then it is considered a new application. If your application was submitted previously to a PA and you want to now submit it to an RFA, it is considered a new application.  (FAQ)  Item B. 11. 

If you are applying to a new funding opportunity announcement (FOA), you must use the form (proposal package) associated with that FOA. When submitting to the same FOA as the previous application, check the funding opportunity to make sure that no form updates have happened since the previous submission.  If a more recent version is available, the information will need to be transferred to the new your information to the new proposal package. See Do I Have The Right Electronic Forms For My Application?  (FAQ)  Item C. 3. 

If a new application is being submitted in the same topic area of science as an unfunded resubmission application, no reference to the previous submissions should be made in the cover letter of the new application.  The application will be given a new number and will not be compared to the previous submissions.  (FAQ)  Item C. 5. 

The title an application being submitted again as new does not need to be changed unless the applicant wishes to change the title.  (FAQ)  Item C. 9.