On Monday, April 25, 2011 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) posted its NIH Fiscal Policy for Grant Awards for Fiscal Year 2011. The notice (NOT-OD-11-068) indicates that NIH has been allocated a budget of $30.9 billion, which is nearly one percent less than the total fiscal year (FY) 2010 budget authority level of $31.2 billion. As a result, NIH will implement reductions in commitment levels for non-competing research awards. Modular and non-modular research grants from all NIH Institutes and Centers, with the single exception of the National Cancer Institute, will be reduced to one percent below the FY 2010 award level. Awards that have already been made in FY 2011 which are impacted by this policy may be revised. Some awards are exempt from the policy, so a careful review of the notice is advised.
For competing research awards, each NIH Institute and Center will manage its competing portfolio using funds that have not been committed for non-competing awards. It is estimated that this will allow for the support of the NIH investigator pool with approximately 9,050 new and competing Research Project Grants. Additional details on fiscal operations, including specific funding strategies, will be posted on the NIH website.
