Effective January 1, 2024, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will require award recipients to address the following in subaward agreements with foreign subrecipients:
“For foreign subrecipients, a provision requiring the foreign subrecipient to provide access to copies of all lab notebooks, all data, and all documentation that supports the research outcomes as described in the progress report, to the primary recipient with a frequency of no less than once per year, in alignment with the timing requirements for Research Performance Progress Report submission. Such access may be entirely electronic.”
At the proposal stage, the NIH expects language to be included in the subrecipient’s Statement of Intent to indicate that the subrecipient is aware of these requirements and can/will comply. The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) has updated its Statement of Intent form to satisfy this requirement.
The NIH also expects recipients to update existing foreign subaward agreements within 60 days of the effective date (January 1, 2024) to address the requirement.
The OSP Subawards Team will assist in ensuring contractual compliance with this requirement for foreign subawards. Research administrators are encouraged to submit amendment requests as soon as possible for existing NIH-funded foreign subawards to meet the NIH deadline.
For more information on the NIH foreign subrecipient policy, see NIH Notice NOT-OD-23-182 and the corresponding NIH Frequently Asked Questions webpage.