University of California, San Francisco
Stimulus

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated by NIH!

NIH Frequently Asked Questions Webpage

Some highlighted FAQs:

Challenge Grants

1. If someone holds a K award (either individual or institutional), can they apply for a Challenge Grant?
2. If a PI is awarded and accepts a Challenge Grant, will they then become ineligible to apply for a K?
3. Can apply for both the NOT-OD-09-056 Administrative Supplements and NOT-OD-09-058 Competitive Revision Applications with the same general  research plan?

1. If someone holds a K award (either individual or institutional), can they apply for a Challenge Grant?
It depends on the type of career award. If it's a K that allows concurrent research and/or the PI has effort available, then it is allowable to accept a Challenge Grant. If you are in the last two years of a mentored K award, and you receive a Challenge Grant for which you are the PI, you can reduce your effort on your K award to 50%.  If the career award prohibits the PI from simultaneously holding an independent investigator award or the award has no available effort for other sponsored research, then the candidate would have to choose between the career award and the Challenge Grant, if awarded.

2. If a PI is awarded and accepts a Challenge Grant, will they then become ineligible to apply for a K?
In most cases, receipt of a Challenge Grant will disqualify an applicant from receipt of a Career Award since the receipt of a Challenge Grant means the PI will no longer be considered an NIH New Investigator.  The exception is the K24 grant, which is for mid-career researchers.

3. Can apply for both the NOT-OD-09-056 Administrative Supplements and NOT-OD-09-058 Competitive Revision Applications with the same general  research plan?
No. The scope of the revision application is to request funds for new science within the current project period.  The supplement is to request funds only to support the existing research. So, the science would never be the same to be eligible for either. Here’s some language from the NOT-OD-09-056: Revision applications must be for costs to support new research objectives and aims that are outside of the scope of the approved parent grant. A request for funds to support work within the general scope of the peer-reviewed activities and aims approved within the parent grant should be submitted as an administrative supplement.