On Thursday (May 1) of last week, National Institutes of Health released a Guide Notice announcing a change to the structure of awards containing foreign subawards. While the Guide Notice did not immediately cancel foreign subawards, the agency announced that it would not issue any New awards that contained foreign subcontracts. They also stated that existing awards which contain foreign subawards would not receive Renewals or Non-Competing Continuations, at least for the time being.  My office has already contacted the PIs most immediately affected by this change.

I have written to the NIH Policy Desk for clarification about how to structure future proposals that may contain foreign collaborators, but haven't yet received a response. While the Guide Notice indicates that foreign activities may be possible in the future using a different award structure, it has yet to develop and disseminate these details. We encourage PIs to weigh these factors on their own and make the best determination regarding their upcoming proposals and collaborations.