NIH Policy Update on International Collaborations
In NOT-OD-25-104, NIH announced its intention to establish a new award structure that would directly fund foreign entities collaborating with lead domestic entities, moving away from the traditional subaward structure for collaboration with foreign entities. In line with that new award structure, on September 12, 2025, NIH issued NOT-OD-25-155, outlining a new application structure for NIH-funded international collaborations. Proposals for projects that include funded international collaborations will submit applications to a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that utilizes NIH’s multi-component application package. The technical merit review will be conducted consistent with the process for other multi-component application reviews. Reviewers will provide an Overall Impact score for the project as a whole and be asked to comment on the specific review criteria for each of the individual components. Should a project be considered for funding, the International Project component will be pulled from the overall application and that foreign entity will then move forward as a direct applicant. Just-in-Time information will be requested from both domestic and foreign entities separately. NIH will issue PF5 (grants), UF5 (cooperative agreements), and RF2/UL2 awards directly to foreign entities, each responsible for their own financial reporting. Guidance from NIH on performance reporting will follow. OCGA will share updates as they become available.
S2S Grants Functionality
New functionality to validate NIH (and NIH partnering agency) applications is available in S2S Grants. Upon completing an application in S2S Grants for NIH (or a partnering agency), navigate to the Electronic Submission page and select the “Validate Proposal” button to check for Grants.gov validations. Once the application has passed all Grants.gov validations, select the “Validate Proposal with NIH” button under NIH Validation to check for eRA Commons validations. Together, these validation checks will provide insight into how likely the application is to pass sponsor system validations upon submission. Be sure to always read the Notice of Funding Opportunity and other sponsor guidelines to ensure you follow all application requirements. A major NIH deadline (Monday, October 6th) is coming up, so please plan ahead and be ready to submit early!
Feel free to contact eRAHelp@research.ucla.edu if you have any questions regarding this new functionality.