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As promised in my October blog , NIA will share updates on our interim fiscal year (FY) 2024 funding line policy once decisions have been finalized. We thank everyone for their patience as we continue to adjust to an uncertain budget climate.
A reminder that NIH remains under a continuing resolution (CR) through Feb. 2, 2024, giving NIA a flat budget based on FY23 appropriations during this CR, with uncertainty of the eventual budget for the year. Until we know more information regarding the final budget, NIA will continue to issue awards at a conservative rate. This interim payline is temporary until NIA receives its final budget.
The details
At this time, NIA is paying FY24 noncompeting awards at 90% of the committed level as shown in the Notice of Award. There is still a good chance these cuts made in noncompeting awards paid earlier in FY24 will be restored to 100% once a full appropriation is granted, if adequate funds are provided.
NIA continues to reduce FY24 competing awards in the general funding category (non-Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias) by 16% on average (individual awards may be reduced by more or less than that percentage). This average cut policy applies to all research project awards except R03s (small grants), R21s (exploratory/developmental awards), and R15s (Academic Research Enhancement Awards and the NIH Research Enhancement Awards program), which generally receive the study-section-recommended amount of support.
Note that all early stage investigator and new investigator applications will receive the study-section-recommended amount of support (i.e., will not receive the reduction). For the Alzheimer’s and related dementias research allocation, NIA is paying awards at their full study-section-recommended amounts unless concerns about overlap or similar issues reduce the amount awarded.
The adjusted paylines
| General payline, <500K | General payline, => $500K | AD/ADRD payline, < $5M | AD/ADRD payline, =>$5M | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All (except below) | 8% | 5% | 12% | 10% |
| New investigator R01s | 11% | 8% | 15% | 13% |
| Early Stage Investigator R01s | 13% | 10% | 17% | 15% |
You will notice one major difference in this year’s Alzheimer’s and related dementias paylines: NIA has separate paylines for those applications under and equal to/exceeding $5 million total costs. This is reflective of our efforts to manage the increase in research budgets in dementia research grants when faced with unknown budget allocations.
| Applications | General payline | ADRD payline |
|---|---|---|
| Program projects | 10 | 12 |
| Other NIA-reviewed research | 10 | 12 |
| Parent career development awards | 18 | 25 |
| Parent fellowship awards | 20 | 30 |
Though NIA expects to pay most applications within these lines, when scientific concerns are identified in peer review that weaken the case for making an award, we may invite a resubmission of the application. Similarly, we may pay a few applications beyond the paylines when they focus on high programmatic priorities of the institute. All other categories of awards (Conference, Institutional Training, Small Business) are allocation-based rather than based on a funding line.
Keep in touch for the latest updates
Be sure to bookmark our payline policy webpage for full details, and keep an eye on it and the Inside NIA blog for possible additional adjustments throughout FY24.
NIA program officers are still the go-to experts for questions about your individual applications and how these changes could affect your research plans. We welcome your questions or comments below.
Budget, Paylines, and Funding Policy 2023-12-14T00:00:00Z