NIH Prior Approval Requirement for Changes to Domestic Subawards, Effective June 1, 2026

NIH is updating the prior approval requirement for changes to domestic subawards on all NIH grants and cooperative agreements, effective June 1, 2026. For full details, read NIH notice NOT-OD-26-062 and the summary of changes below.

Summary of Changes

Effective June 1, 2026, all prime recipients are now required to obtain NIH prior approval when adding a new domestic subaward to a project post-award, when the arrangement was not originally a part of the peer-reviewed and approved application. This new prior approval requirement is intended to ensure that NIH is aware of all subaward activities for each NIH project.

Requests must be submitted in the eRA Commons Prior Approval Module using the “Other Request” type.

Please contact your Pre-Award Officer with any questions.