NIH Guidelines
Modular Grant Application and Award Process

In a modular grant application to the National Institutes of Health, total direct costs not exceeding $250,000 per year are requested in $25,000 increments or "modules" instead of being compiled from detailed and separate budget categories. (NOTE: only NIH uses the modular budget format.)

A typical modular grant application will request the same number of modules in each year. Application budgets are simplified. Detailed categorical budget information is not submitted to NIH with the application although a detailed budget is required for internal Duke use and must be submitted to ORS for review along with the modular budget forms. The budget form pages of the PHS 398 application are not used. Instead, total direct costs requested for each year are presented. A budget justification in narrative form is provided only for personnel and, when applicable, consortium or contractual costs.

SPS NOTE: The Sponsored Projects System is designed to prepare both regular and modular budgets in the correct format for NIH, including the related modular forms such as the biosketch and the internal detailed budget needed for ORS and Sponsored Programs.

Additional narrative budget justification is required only if there is a variation in the number of modules requested. There is no routine escalation for future years. In determining the total for each budget year, applicants should first consider the direct cost of the entire project period. Well-justified modular increments or decrements in the total direct costs for any year of the project that reflect substantial changes in expected future activities may be requested. For example, purchase of major equipment in the first year may justify a higher overall budget in the first, but not in succeeding years.

When a NIH application has a modular budget, there are additional changes to make in the "Other Support" and "Biographical S ketch" sections of the application. Other Support pages of the PHS 398 are not submitted with the application. Information on other research activities of the principal investigator and key personnel are instead provided as part of the "Biographical Sketch" and the biosketch page limit is increased. This information will include the goals of any active research and of research conducted during the previous three years, and will be used by reviewers in the assessment of investigators' qualifications to carry out the proposed project.

Although NIH does not need a line item budget in a modular grant application, the University does. When submitting a modular grant to Research Support for review, please include a detailed budget. This budget will not go to NIH but is needed by the University in the review and after the award is made.