Request NIH Approval for Budgets Exceeding the Maximum Annual Threshold

If a proposal budget exceeds $500,000 in direct costs in any given budget period, prior approval from NIH must be received to submit the application.

To obtain this approval, the applicant Principal Investigator (PI) must contact the Institute/Center Program Official (IC PO) listed in the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) in writing or by telephone at least six weeks prior to the anticipated proposal submission. This amount is for direct costs only and does not include MUSC's institutional F&A or consortium F&A.

If approved, the PI must include a cover letter with the application identifying the IC PO that was contacted and indicate that the official agreed to accept assignment of the application. Applications requesting more than $500,000.00 that are non-compliant with these requirements will be administratively withdrawn from NIH’s Center for Scientific Review (CSR) and will not be reviewed or considered for funding.

For more information about this prior approval requirement and procedure, please refer to: NIH Grants Policy Statement Section 2.3.7.2 Acceptance for Review of Unsolicited Applications Requesting $500,000 or More in Direct Costs.