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Nail Down National Advisory Council’s Role in the Grant Process

Reader question: After the study section, approved grants go to the National Advisory Council, what is this group and what do they do?

Expert Comments: Once your application passes through peer review, it moves to the applicable Institute or Center’s (IC’s) National Advisory Council. This is another level of review.

The National Advisory Allergy and Infectious Diseases Council (NAAIDC), for instance, is an 18-member council comprised of 12 scientists and six lay people. The council’s primary roles include the following:

• Performing second-level peer review, which involves making final recommendations regarding what grant applications to fund
• Examining IC programs to determine effectiveness in meeting goals and the needs of the scientific fields it supports
• Advising on institutional policy regarding training, health information dissemination, administration, budget and other areas
• Developing and clearing concepts for program announcements (PAs), research funding announcements (RFAs) and requests for proposals (RFPs).

If your application is within the payline, which means it falls under the funding cutoff point, and doesn’t contain any special issues, members will perform an initial expedited review. Three NAAIDC members conduct this review electronically approximately two months before a council meeting. The results are then ratified by the full group at its next meeting. This allows the IC to fund grants only a few weeks after the council ratifies its meeting decisions.

If your application contains unresolved special issues — such as concerns about human subject or animal protection — it cannot undergo expedited review. Council subcommittees examine these applications and determine what information is missing. The full council will not recommend your application for funding until you submit the identified missing details.

At this point, you should contact the Program Officer to find out what information is required. The Program Officer’s name will be listed in your summary statement, along with the name of your grants management specialist.

Expert comments provided by Marissa Berg, quality control manager for Resource Associates, The Grant Experts, a grantwriting consulting firm in Farmington, N.M.