Post-Award Changes Requiring Prior Approval

As a federal grant recipient (or grantee), you may need to modify your grant award during the year to accomplish certain program objectives.

Certain post-award changes require SAMHSA’s formal prior approval and an amended Notice of Award (NoA) otherwise known as a “post-award amendment”, such as budget modifications or undertaking certain activities. The most common types of post-award changes requiring formal prior approval and a “post-award amendment”, are described below. The following links provides guidance and what must be contained in the request:

• Key Staff and Level of Effort Changes
• Budget Revisions
• Change in Scope
• Carryover Requests
• No-Cost Extension Requests

Detailed information on other types changes to activities and costs that require formail prior approval is outlined in 45 CFR §75.407 - Prior written approval (prior approval), and Part II of the HHS Grants Policy Statement (PDF | 1.32 MB). For Drug Free Communities (DFC) Support Program Grants requirements refer to the DFC Handbook (PDF | 708 KB).

If you have specific questions regarding actions that may require formal prior approval please contact your Grants Management Specialist.

Based on the nature, extent, and timing, SAMHSA may approve, deny, or request additional material to further document and evaluate your request. Only responses provided by the GMO are considered valid. If SAMHSA approves the request, an amended Notice of Award (NoA) will be issued. Verbal authorization is not approval and is not binding on SAMHSA. Recipients that proceed on the basis of actions by unauthorized officials do so at their own risk, and SAMHSA is not bound by such responses.

How to Submit a Prior Approval Request

IMPORTANT: All post-award requests will be processed exclusively through the eRA system and will no longer be accepted through email. You must have an eRA Commons account to submit your request.

WATCH: A resource video on how to submit a prior approval request: https://era.nih.gov/era_training/samhsa_videos.cfm#amendments (Transcript)

Accessing Work in Progress Amendments from eRA COMMONS - If you have started to work on an Amendment and did not complete it, you can continue to work on the application by following these instructions. 

Contact the eRA service desk with any technical questions regarding the submission process. Contact your assigned Grants Management Specialist with budget and grant-specific questions.

SAMHSA usually processes requests within 30 business days after receipt. Incomplete requests will delay the process.