OSP FO# 11-183

AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)/National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)

PROGRAM: High-End Instrumentation Grant Program (S10)

OBJECTIVES: The NCRR High-End Instrumentation Grant (HEI) program encourages applications from groups of NIH-supported investigators to purchase a single major item of equipment to be used for biomedical research. Instruments in this category include, but are not limited to, structural and functional imaging systems, macromolecular NMR spectrometers, high-resolution mass spectrometers, cryoelectron microscopes and supercomputers.

Each applicant institution must propose a Principal Investigator who can assume administrative/scientific oversight responsibility for the instrumentation requested. This person need not be an NIH grantee but must be affiliated with the applicant institution and registered on the eRA Commons. An internal advisory committee must be named to assist the Principal Investigator in administering the grant and overseeing the usage of the instrument. The membership of this committee should be broadly based and include members without conflicts of interest who can resolve disputes if they arise. Applications should demonstrate a clear need for the instrumentation by projects supported by multiple NIH peer review research grants and demonstrate that these projects will require at least 75 percent of the total usage of the instrument. Major users can be individual researchers, or a group of investigators within the same department or from several departments at the applicant institution. If the major user group does not require total usage of the instrument, access to the instrument should be made available to other users upon the advice of the internal advisory committee.

Please see the program announcement below for further program details.

ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS: There is no limit on the number of applications an institution may submit provided the applications are for different types of equipment. Applications must identify three or more NIH funded investigators (Principal Investigators of active P01, R01, U01, R35, R37, DP1 or DP2 research grants) who will be users of the requested instruments.

DEADLINE:
BU Internal Deadline: August 26, 2011
Application Deadline: September 19, 2011

FUNDING INFORMATION: This program is supported by the NIH Biomedical Research Support Shared Instrumentation Grants program (S10) award mechanism. The NCRR intends to commit approximately $20 million in FY2012 to fund approximately 10-15 new awards. Applications are limited to instruments that cost at least $750,000 per instrument or integrated instrument system. Since the nature and scope of the instruments that may be requested will vary, it is anticipated that the size of an award will vary also. There is no upper limit on the cost of the instrument, but the maximum award amount is $2 million. Awards will be made for direct costs only for duration of one year. If the amount of funds requested does not cover the total cost of the instrument, the application should describe the proposed source(s) of funding for the balance of the cost of the instrument. Matching funds are not required. However, commitment of an appropriate level of institutional support to ensure associated infrastructure is expected and should be described.

AGENCY CONTACT:
Marjorie A. Tingle, Ph.D.
High End Instrumentation Grant Program
National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
National Institutes of Health
6701 Democracy Boulevard, MSC 4874
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4874
Telephone: (301) 435-0772
Fax: (301) 480-3659
Email: HEI@mail.nih.gov
Web: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-11-228.html

INTERNAL REVIEW PROCESS: An institution may submit more than one application for different instrumentation for the September 19, 2011 deadline. However, if several applications are submitted for similar equipment from the same institution, documentation must be provided from a high-level official stating that this is not an unintended duplication, but part of a campus-wide institutional plan. Therefore, to avoid unintended duplication and coordinate cost-sharing requests, if necessary, an internal deadline has been established. Principal Investigators (PIs) interested in submitting a proposal should forward a memorandum to their Associate Dean by Friday, August 26, 2011. In the memorandum, (1) describe the specific equipment to be purchased, (2) list users who would benefit from the equipment (indicating those with appropriate NIH support), (3) note the total estimated cost of the equipment, (4) explain additional installation costs, (5) explain plans for covering purchase costs over $2 million as well as additional installation and annual operating costs, (6) itemize all cost-sharing commitments being requested from the University, within the context of a fully developed project budget, and (7) cite any program features which should make it particularly competitive for NIH funding. The memorandum should be countersigned by the relevant department chair/center director to indicate endorsement of the project. After the Dean’s assessment, the memorandum will be forwarded to OSP-CRC Director Joan Kirkendall for review and then to the Office of the VP for Research for authorization. PIs will be advised of institutional cost-sharing commitments in time to complete the project budget and process their proposal for final review.

REMARKS: NIH requires that applications to this program be submitted electronically through Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov). After submission via Grants.gov, applications will be retrieved and processed by the NIH Commons system (https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons/index.jsp). In order to prepare a responsive application, PIs should download both the complete program guidelines (PAR-11-228) and the corresponding application package from Grants.gov as well as the NIH Grants.gov Application Guide (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm). PIs must also be registered Commons users.

For more information about Grants.gov and the NIH Commons, or to register as a Commons user, please contact either India Adams (adamsi@bu.edu) or A. B. Effgen (abeffgen@bu.edu) in the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) at x3-4365. In addition, please contact the OSP Assistant Director assigned to your school or department as soon as possible to coordinate submission through the Grants.gov system.

Complete program guidelines and application material may be obtained from the web site listed above or from the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). Please distribute this notice to any faculty or staff members who might be interested in the information. For more information, please contact the OSP at X3-4365 or ospinfo@bu.edu, or visit the OSP web site at http://www.bu.edu/osp.