Try, Try Again: NIH and AHRQ Clarify Resubmission Policy

by Fatoyinbo, Willette B.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently clarified a policy linked to submission and resubmission of applications (NOT-OD-18-197) for grants and cooperative agreements to include the following:

1.) Only a single resubmission (A1) of an original application (A0) will be accepted. An A1 application, submitted to a PA, PAR, or PAS program announcement, complies with any other PA, PAR, or PAS program announcement that accepts resubmissions, provided eligibility and other requirements are met. The A1 application review process will reflect the new review criteria in the current Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), not the criteria in the FOA used for the A0 submission.

2.) If a researcher chooses to change the funding announcement type (PA, PAR, or PAS program announcement) to a Request for Applications (RFA), or vice versa, the subsequent application must show as a new A0 application.

3.) NIH and AHRQ will reject A1 applications that show a different activity code (e.g., R01, K01, U01, etc.) from the A0 original application unless a reissued FOA changed an activity code at the time of reissuance. In that case, the following activity code changes are allowed:

  • A1 resubmission applications may change activity code when the original A0 application was submitted through a FOA that changed activity code at time of reissuance, and the A1 application is submitted to the reissued FOA.
  • A0 Renewal applications may change activity code when the application was funded through a FOA that changed activity code at the time of reissuance, and the renewal application is submitted to the reissued FOA.

Securing federal funding is a huge accomplishment, but it doesn’t happen overnight. Most grant awardees experience the rejection of an application before securing a sizable award. So, what can researchers do with a rejected grant application? Try, try again using industry best practices and updated funder policies as a guide throughout the resubmission process. Good luck!