NCCIH Research Blog

I am pleased to meet you, our blog readers, through my first post for the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) Research Blog. My name is Debbie Chen, and I’m the new chief grants management officer in the Office of Grants Management (OGM) at NCCIH. OGM is the lead on the administrative aspects of grants, ensuring that the requirements of regulations and policies are met.  

My topic today is NCCIH’s Just-in-Time (JIT) process. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) uses JIT for certain programs and award mechanisms. It allows time-sensitive elements of an application to be submitted later in the application process, after review of the application and when it is being considered for funding.  

Information commonly requested for JIT includes: 

• Other Support information for key personnel
• Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approvals for work involving animal subjects
• Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval and training in the protection of human subjects for projects involving human subjects 

In addition, NCCIH also requests information to satisfy policies that are specific to NCCIH:

• For clinical research projects at NCCIH, you may also be requested to submit a Study Accrual and Retention Plan (SARP).
• For studies on natural products, you may be requested to submit information for NCCIH’s Product Integrity Policy. 

Other information, such as a Data Management and Sharing Plan and a Data Safety and Monitoring Plan, may also be requested that are specific to your application. These requests may come from OGM as well as the Division of Extramural Research. 

Policies and requirements are often evolving at NIH. One that I would like to highlight is changes to the format of the Other Support information (since January 25, 2022). Since applications that do not follow the new format must be returned, I offer you a few suggestions that might be helpful:

• Please ensure that you fill out all the data elements, including the entire award number and budget dates. This is particularly important for applications that are pending award and still under consideration for funding.
• Provide supporting documentation in English for any foreign activities, appointments, resources, and employment included in the active Other Support section.
• Ensure that Other Support pages include the required electronic signatures. This is a topic included in Frequently Asked Questions. A signature cannot be typed, nor can it be a wet signature that is scanned. Applicants can select their electronic signature software.

If you have questions about JIT or other grants management topics, I invite you to reach out to the grants management specialist named on the award or the contact on the Funding Opportunity Announcement.