Information Regarding the Stimulus Package

IACUC ARRA Announcement to Faculty

April 25, 2009

Dear Faculty,

As you all are certainly aware, the deadline for submitting Challenge Grant applications to Grants.gov is Monday April 27th. Originally, given the very short “just-in-time” (JIT) notifications that we have been receiving for recent ARRA-related awards, it was believed that the NIH would be operating the JIT notification for Challenge Grants in a similar fashion. Therefore, on March 13th I sent an “IACUC Announcement” requesting that all protocols that would eventually be linked to an awarded Challenge Grants be submitted as soon as possible after April 27th. That request is being retracted.

We have a new request… PLEASE WAIT UNTIL YOU RECEIVE JUST-IN-TIME NOTIFICATION to submit your IACUC protocols for Challenge Grant awards.

Why have we changed our request?

NIH ARRA FAQ #17. http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/faqs_recovery.html#Ia17

Earlier this month the NIH put forth language explaining that Challenge Grants would follow the same timeline as “restricted awards”. The NIH must issue awards for the Challenge Grants by September 30th, but “the institution has until November 30th to provide verification of IACUC approval.” The “restriction” is that “animal research is not allowed until IACUC approval is obtained”—which should not be a new concept to anyone. This change in the management of awarded Challenge Grants has been confirmed with the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, the “Compliance Office” of the NIH.

I would like to reiterate, please wait until you receive JIT notification to submit your IACUC protocols for Challenge Grant awards. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at any time.

Troy Hallman

_____________________________________________________________

Troy M. Hallman, MS, VMD, Diplomate ACLAM Director of Animal Welfare, Office of Regulatory Affairs Adjunct Assistant Professor in Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine University of Pennsylvania

3624 Market Street

Suite 301S - Science Center

Philadelphia, PA 19104-6006

215-573-4863 (office)

215-573-9438 (fax)

thallman@upenn.edu

For more information
or any questions
please contact:

Josie Rook
Executive Director
Office of the
Vice Provost for Research
rookj@upenn.edu
215-898-7236