SUBJECT:

NIH Developing a Policy to Cap Number of Individual Awards

On May 2, NIH announced its intention to cap individual PIs at three R-O1 (or equivalent) awards using a metric titled "Grants Support Index (GSI)". This program will be phased-in over time. It has the goal of providing additional funding and opportunities for young and mid-career investigators.

What we know:

- All NIH funded PIs, including multiple PIs, will have a GSI based on type, size, and complexity of their grants and contracts.

- The policy is expected to impact PIs and Multiple PIs with three or more awards of various types. We have identified UC San Diego investigators who will likely be affected.

- NIH is NOT defunding any current grants.

- New GSI measure will be phased-in with the review of new applications and competing renewals beginning September 2017.

- The NIH is refining the scoring system. We encourage you to review the plan (see below) and provide feedback on the upcoming Request For Information.

- When the plan is finalized, the GSI will be calculated automatically by NIH and posted on the ERA Commons for each investigator.

- We will contact those faculty likely affected and their department chairs in advance to evaluate individual situations and assist in creating a personal plan in compliance with the new federal guidelines.

- We will be careful to uphold the highest ethical standards in responding to all NIH guidelines about the revised award system.

Vice Chancellor Sandra Brown will be providing reports to Departmental/Divisional Chairs of those investigators with three or more NIH awards in order to support the development of preliminary plans to mitigate any potential impact.

Please refer to the following NIH published links for more detailed information and to submit your comments.

*NIH May 2 Announcement from Director Collins:
https://goo.gl/ghajfV

*NIH May 2 “Open Mike” article titled “Implementing Limits on Grant Support to Strengthen the Biomedical Research Workforce” by Dr. Mike Lauer: https://nexus.od.nih.gov/all/2017/05/02/nih-grant-support-index/

*NIH January 26 “Open Mike” Article titled “Research Commitment Index: A New Tool for Describing Grant Support” by Dr. Mike Lauer:

Please contact vcresearch@ucsd.edu with any questions.

Peter F. Cowhey Interim Executive Vice Chancellor David A. Brenner Vice Chancellor – Health Sciences Dean, School of Medicine Sandra Brown Vice Chancellor – Research