NIH Standard Terms of Award include the provision for grantees to extend the final budget period of a previously approved project period one time for a period of 1 to 12 months, without additional NIH funds, and without prior approval. This action, called a No-Cost Extension (NCE), must be taken before the project period ends. The NCE request triggers an automated email notification to the grants management specialist and no further action is required by the recipient.
NIH has issued NOT-OD-25-110 temporarily disabling the ability to request a grantee-approved NCE. All requests for NCEs must be submitted as a prior approval request in eRA Commons for NIH review and approval.
NIH NCE requests should continue to route to ORA prior to expiration; however, we now recommend that all NIH NCEs be submitted at least 45 days prior to expiration to allow NIH time for review and approval prior to the project’s original end date. For awards with fewer than 45 days remaining in the final year, please submit your first-time NCE request as soon as possible via the KC Non-Routed Administrative Request Form.
NIH requires the following documents be submitted as part of an NCE prior approval request: progress report, budget document, and NCE justification. These should be attached to the KC Non-Routed Administrative Request Form for submission by ORA.
Questions can be emailed to ora@iu.edu.
