NIH Grant Closeout Procedure

NIH Grants Policy Statement   (03/01)   Part II: Terms and Conditions of NIH Grant Awards  Subpart A: General -- Part 7 of 7  http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2001/part_iia_7.htm

Closeout

NIH will close out grants as soon as possible after expiration of a grant that will not be extended or after termination of a grant as provided in 45 CFR 74.71 to 74.73 or 92.50. Closeout includes timely submission of all required reports and adjustments for amounts due the grantee or NIH. Closeout of a grant does not automatically cancel any requirements for property accountability, record retention, or financial accountability. Following closeout, the grantee remains obligated to return funds due as a result of later refunds, corrections, or other transactions, and the Federal Government may recover amounts based on the results of an audit covering any part of the period of grant support.

Final Reports

Grantees are required to submit a final Financial Status Report, Final Invention Statement and Certification, and final progress report within 90 days of the end of grant support unless an extension is granted by the GMO. Failure to submit timely and accurate final reports may affect future funding to the organization or awards with the same PI.

Final Financial Status Report

A final FSR is required for:

• Any grant that is terminated.
• Any grant that is transferred to a new grantee.
• Awards, including awards under SNAP, which will not be competitively extended through award of a new competitive segment.

The final FSR must cover the period of time since the previous FSR submission or, for awards under SNAP, the entire competitive segment or as much of the competitive segment as has been funded prior to termination. Final FSRs must have no unliquidated obligations, and must indicate the exact balance of unobligated funds. Unobligated funds must be returned to NIH or must be reflected by an appropriate accounting adjustment in accordance with instructions from the GMO or from the payment office. For those organizations receiving their funds through PMS, final reports, as specified by PMS, must be submitted to that office. It is the responsibility of the grantee to reconcile reports submitted to PMS and to the NIH awarding office. Withdrawal of the unobligated balance following expiration or termination of a grant is not considered an adverse action and may not be appealed (see "Administrative Requirements—Enforcement Actions—Recovery of Funds").

Where the submission of a revised final FSR results in additional claims by the grantee, NIH will consider the approval of such claims subject to the following minimum criteria:

• The charges must represent allowable costs under the provisions of the grant.
• There must have been an unobligated balance for the given budget period that is sufficient to cover the additional claim. Such a claim may be considered regardless of whether the unobligated balance was moved forward to offset the award for a subsequent budget period.
• Funds must be available from the applicable appropriation.
• NIH must receive the revised FSR within 15 months of its due date.

Final Progress Report

The final progress report should include a summary of progress toward the achievement of the originally stated aims, a list of the results (positive or negative) considered significant, and a list of publications. The final progress report also should:

• Report on the inclusion of gender and minority study subjects (using the gender and minority inclusion table as provided in the PHS-2590).
• Where appropriate, indicate whether children were involved in the study or how the study was relevant for conditions affecting children (see "Public Policy Requirements and Objectives—Requirements for Inclusiveness in Research Design—Inclusion of Children as Subjects in Clinical Research" and the PHS-398).
• Describe any data, research materials (such as cell lines, DNA probes, animal models), protocols, software, or other information resulting from the research that is available to be shared with other investigators and how it may be accessed.

An original and one copy of this report should be submitted to the GMO.

Final Invention Statement and Certification

The grantee must submit a Final Invention Statement and Certification (HHS-568), whether or not an invention(s) results from work under the grant. The final invention statement/certification must be signed by the PI and an authorized organizational official and must list all inventions that were conceived or first actually reduced to practice during the course of work under the project, from the original effective date of support through the date of expiration or termination, whether or not previously reported. If there were no inventions, the statement should indicate "None."

NOTE:  SPA will need a copy of the Final Progress Report for our files.  When you bring the Final Invention Statement and Certification form to SPA for institutional sign-off, we will make a copy of this form for our file.