Dear Colleagues:
Below is a summary of a recent NIH Guide Notice. Please review the notice and forward it to faculty, researchers and staff, as appropriate. Questions regarding the notices should be directed to your Contract and Grant Officer.
Updated Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements
(NOT-OD-25-025)
National Institutes of Health
This notice updates the NIH policy regarding the salary limitation for NIH grants and cooperative agreement awards.
Since 1990, Congress has legislatively mandated a limitation on salary for individuals under NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards (referred to here as a grant), to Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale. The mandate appears in the annual appropriation act that provides authority for NIH to incur obligations for a given Fiscal Year (FY).
Effective October 1, 2024, the HHS policy on salary rate limitation outlines that the legislative mandate limiting salary to Executive Level II, currently $221,900, applies to both:
- Direct salaries (individuals working directly on NIH projects) and
- Indirect salaries (executive salaries in various uncapped cost pools)
The policy change applies to new, competing renewals, and non-competing continuations issued on or after October 1, 2024. Recipients may not draw down funds, whether direct or indirect costs, to pay salaries above the salary rate limitation, and recipients must have established policies and procedures that are consistently applied regardless of the source of funds.
This update will be reflected in the FY 25 NIH Grants Policy Statement.
Paul Lekutai
Director, Federal and Non-Federal Sponsored Projects
Sponsored Projects Administration
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-7600
