2024 Award Funding Policy

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) conducts and supports basic and clinical research on many of the most serious diseases affecting public health.

NIDDK extramural research is organized into 3 programmatic divisions: 1) Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases; 2) Digestive Diseases and Nutrition; and 3) Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases.

The Institute supports basic and clinical research through investigator-initiated grants, program project and center grants, cooperative agreements, career development and training awards, and contracts.

The NIDDK has developed and issued a Strategic Plan to accelerate research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of diseases and conditions under the Institute’s mission. This overarching 5-year trans-NIDDK Strategic Plan complements our disease-specific planning efforts. The Plan highlights NIDDK's commitment to empowering a multidisciplinary research community; engaging diverse stakeholders; and leveraging discoveries of connections among diseases across NIDDK’s mission to improve prevention, treatment, and health equity—pursuing pathways to health for all. NIDDK will make funding decisions, as consistent with applicable law, in alignment with values established in the Strategic Plan.

Budget Data

Current Appropriation

NIH is operating at a program level of $47.081 billion in FY 2024, a decrease of approximately $378 million over the FY 2023 final budget allocations. NIDDK’s discretionary appropriation for FY 2024 is $2.311 billion. This is an increase of about 0.43% from NIDDK’s appropriation in FY 2023. This figure does not include the Special Type 1 Diabetes appropriation of $160 million that NIDDK oversees on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Funding Strategy

NIDDK is committed to supporting as many meritorious competing research grant applications as possible. Consistent with NIH policy (see NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-24-109) and the Next Generation Research Initiative (see NOT-OD-17-101) NIDDK will manage its portfolio in biomedical research investments in a manner that includes recognizing applications from and providing special consideration for early career investigators.

To maximize our available resources, all grant awards will continue to be subject to programmatic adjustments from the National Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NDDK) Advisory Council approved levels. These adjustments take into consideration the overall scientific and technical merit of the grant application, the cost of the proposed research, and other resources available for related research projects.

Funding Guidelines

Competing Awards

NIDDK established an initial FY2024 R01 general pay line of the 15th percentile, for both New and Competing applications, which was effective for October 2023 and January 2024 Council. However, due to the availability of funds, R01 applications reviewed for May 2024 Council will have a general payline at the 13th percentile. Most R01 applications submitted to Notices of Funding Opportunity that 1) do not have set-aside funds, 2) have a primary assignment to NIDDK, 3) request less than $500,000 direct costs per year, and 3) score at or better than the payline established (per the above) will receive an award. Applications that have NIDDK as a secondary assignment do not benefit from this payline.

R01 applications that do not include therapeutic clinical trials as the primary focus of the research plan requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs for any year will be held to a more stringent pay line. The more stringent pay line is 5% below the prevailing general payline threshold in effect at the time for both Type 1 and 2 R01 applications which do not have therapeutic clinical trial as the primary focus of the research plan.

Therapeutic Clinical Trial R01 Applications

Per NOT-DK-18-012, NIDDK will not apply the more stringent pay line to R01 applications that include therapeutic clinical trials if the total direct costs (exclusive of F&A on subcontracts) for five years do not exceed $2.5 million (or $2 million for four years), even if the direct costs equal or exceed $500,000 in some years. As indicated above, the more stringent pay line will continue to be applied for all other R01 applications (i.e., all applications that do not have a therapeutic clinical trial as the primary focus of the research plan).

R01 Applications Received in Response to PARs

Consistent with NIDDK policy first established in FY 2016, R01 applications received in response to Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) that are PARs will not automatically be considered for funding based on payline/percentile ranking. Scores and additional programmatic factors will be weighed when considering applications received under R01 PAR NOFOs for funding.

General Considerations Regarding Competing Awards

Please note the following regarding competing awards:

• NIDDK will exercise discretion and consider portfolio balance, programmatic importance, and other factors in determining precisely which applications are awarded.
• All grant awards will continue to be subject to programmatic adjustments from the NDDK Advisory Council approved levels.
• These funding guidelines are applicable for applications to be paid in FY 2024. Many applications submitted in FY 2024 (e.g., those submitted in January/February/March for September/October Advisory Council consideration) will usually not be eligible for funding consideration until FY 2025. The funding levels for FY 2025 cannot now be reliably predicted.

Early-Stage Investigators (ESIs)

Fostering the success of investigators establishing careers in biomedical research is a high priority of the NIDDK and NIH (see Policy Supporting the Next Generation Researchers Initiative). In FY 2024 NIDDK will place special emphasis on supporting ESIs (new investigators within 10-years of their terminal research degree or medical residency who have not yet been awarded a substantial, competing NIH research grant; see ESI FAQs and NIDDK’s New and Early Stage Investigators page) by establishing a nominal payline for R01 applications submitted by ESIs at the 25th percentile. In addition, when possible and appropriate the full period of support recommended will be awarded.

R01 applications submitted by New Investigators who are not also ESIs will have a nominal payline at the 15th or 13th percentile (same as the general pay line per the above).

First Competitive Renewal Applications of R01 Grants Awarded to NIDDK ESIs

Consistent with the NIH Next Generation Researchers Initiative, NIDDK seeks to encourage the stable integration of early career researchers into the scientific research workforce. In support of this, the nominal payline for first competitive renewal applications for R01 awards to researchers who were ESIs when they competed for the initial NIDDK Type 1 R01 award scoring between 16th and 18th percentile except for the May Council which is between the 14th and 16th may be considered for funding in FY 2024. Only one award per eligible investigator may be considered for this special payline. If a special payline award is made to an eligible investigator any other eligible applications from that investigator will be considered for funding based on the standard nominal payline.

Bridge Support

In cases where a competing renewal application falls near but beyond the nominal payline, NIDDK will continue to consider interim support on a case-by-case basis and provide limited support in selected cases. The goal is to preserve essential research resources pending the re-review of a revised application. NIDDK can choose to award a one- or two-year R56 grant to an R01 application scored outside the payline. These awards provide support for investigators to collect preliminary data and use these data to revise and improve their R01 applications.

Administrative Supplements

NIDDK has prioritized its budget to maintain funding of investigator-initiated grants at the highest possible level. Therefore, the institute has little flexibility to support administrative supplements. Given this prioritization, the number of successful administrative supplement applications will be extremely low and generally limited to rare, unforeseen circumstances (e.g., requests to replace key pieces of equipment following a natural disaster). In FY2024, NIDDK does not have any special NOFOs or Notices soliciting administration supplements to replace old equipment or to purchase shared equipment or to expand the scope of a project by adding funds or restoring an administratively cut year.

Duration of Grant Support

Competing awards are adjusted to achieve a 4-year average duration for research project grants. Nevertheless, applications from ESIs, program project grants, and clinical trial grants are generally awarded for the full length of their recommended project period.

Salaries

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 prohibits payments for salaries under grants and other extramural mechanisms in excess of Executive Level II currently set at $221,900.

Non-competing (Continuation) Awards

Consistent with the Notice of Fiscal Policies in Effect for FY 2024 (see NOT-OD-24-109) non-competing (Type 5) continuation grants (research and non-research) issued in FY 2024 will generally be issued at 96% of the commitment level indicated on the Notice of Award. This includes U24 non-competing awards and excludes Type 1 Diabetes funding. Out-year commitments for continuation awards in FY 2024 and beyond remain unchanged.

Program Project (P01), High Impact, Interdisciplinary Science in NIDDK Research Areas (RC2), and Other Applications with Budgets Greater than $500K

NIDDK has adopted a more stringent funding practice for awarding program project (P01) grants, High Impact, Interdisciplinary Science in NIDDK Research Areas (RC2), and other investigator-initiated grant applications with budgets of $500,000 or more requested direct costs in any one year. Prior approval is required before submitting an application for review that requests $500,000 or more in direct costs in any one year. The request to submit such applications should be received at least three months prior to the proposed submission date. Prior approval is required for renewal and revised applications as well as new applications. Please consult with the appropriate NIDDK program staff and visit the following site for information on research areas supported by NIDDK: http://www.niddk.nih.gov/research-funding/research-programs/. Renewal (competing continuation [Type 2]) program project (P01) applications may request a maximum of $6.25 million in direct costs over five years, excluding the Facilities & Administrative (F&A) costs for subcontracts. In addition to the caps on the amount requested, P01 awards are subject to administrative adjustment from the NIDDK Advisory Council approved levels. Also, please note that any P01 grant receiving a competing award in FY 2011 or later will be limited to one subsequent renewal.

HIV/AIDS Research

HIV/AIDS related applications will receive additional consideration in the context of NIH’s HIV/AIDS research priorities (see NOT-OD-20-018) as well as programmatic relevance to the NIDDK mission.