Today is the NIH R01 Cycle III deadline (October 5, 2017). Under NIH Policy UTMB has been granted a five-day extension on all grants with a submission due dates from August 25, 2017 to October 31, 2017. The NIH further released an exception to this policy (NIHGPS Chapter 2.3.9) for institutions in the Harvey-affected areas as identified by FEMA as a “designated county” (https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4332).  NIH will accept most applications late for due dates starting with August 25, 2017 through midnight (institution local time) December 16, 2017.  For applications from those institutions, this exception supersedes language in Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) that have due dates in that time frame and specify that late applications will not be accepted.  Small business applications for the September 5, 2017 due date and AIDS applications for the September 7, 2017 due date must be received no later than October 7, 2017 because they are reviewed on expedited timelines for an earlier advisory council round.  Similarly, applications for FOAs with a special, one-time review meeting can be accommodated only if submitted no later than three weeks before the scheduled review meeting.  It is recommended that Harvey-affected applicants contact review staff to confirm timing of their submissions to these initiatives, as the review schedule may have changed. 

UTMB has had several faculty and staff members contact program officers regarding this extension. Like when Ike hit in 2008, there appears to be some communication issues between the NIH program officers and the I/Cs. We are in contact with other institutions (MDACC for example) and providing coordinated messages to the NIH leadership. If you anticipate that your October 5, 2017 grant will not be submitted by October 12, 2013 we ask that you please contact your Pre-Award specialists, Ericia Huff (ehuff@utmb.edu), Connie Barton (cjbarton@utmb.edu) or Toni D’Agostino (todagost@utmb.edu) to verify that your grant will be accepted between October 13, 2013 and October 26, 2017.