The NIH is proposing to change the PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (PHS Policy) to permit institutions with PHS Animal Welfare Assurances to submit verification of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval for competing applications subsequent to peer review but prior to award. Current PHS Policy, applicable to all PHS-conducted or supported activities involving live, vertebrate animals, provides institutions with a PHS approval Animal Welfare Assurance the option of submitting IACUC approval for competing application subsequent to the submission of the application of proposal, but within 60 days from the receipt date. NIH grants policy mandates that applications lacking IACUC approval are considered incomplete; thus IACUC approval is presently required prior to initial NIH peer review. The proposed change is intended to enhance the flexibility of institutions and reduce the burden on applicants and IACUCs, allowing resources to be focused on substantive review of proposals likely to be funded.

Comments must be submitted on or before May 28, 2002 to Anthony Demsey, Ph.D., Senior Advisor for Policy, Office of Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health, Building 1, Room 154, Bethesda, Maryland 20892. 

The NSF Fast Lane submission process already allows the submission of IACUC approval subsequent to peer review. Applicants who have checked "vertebrate animal" on the submission form can then submit the IACUC approval date or check "planned" if approval has not yet been secured. The NSF Grant Manual section pertaining to animal welfare requirements can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/cpo/gpm95/ch7.htm#ch7-35