Consortium and contractual arrangements appear in several parts of your application: an attachment to the Research Plan form, letters of support, budget form, and biosketches for key personnel.

Consortium/Contractual Arrangements

If you're working closely with an investigator from another institution, your institutions may need a formal agreement of the terms of the collaboration.

Grantees must establish a subaward, or consortium agreement, with any outside organization that performs any of their grant-supported research activities.

• Do not include the agreement itself in your application—you will send it to us later with your just-in-time documentation. For more information, see Responding to Pre-Award Requests ("Just-in-Time").
• In the Consortium/Contractual Arrangements attachment to the PHS 398 Research Plan form, briefly describe the arrangement, stating the roles of the people and organizations involved.
• You typically include a breakdown of costs, such as personnel and supplies, as well as facilities and administrative costs.

Letters of Support

In your application, you will also need a letter from your consultants describing their willingness to participate and their role in your project.

You could send your consultants a sample letter they can return to you with their signature. That way, the letter will contain all the information you need (and they may return it to you faster). Attach as Letters of Support to the PHS 398 Research Plan form.

Learn more on NIH's Reference Letters page.

Budget Form

Provide each subaward's DUNS number, and make sure information in the subaward budget form matches that in the Research Strategy. The budget periods of the subaward, whether active or not, must always align with the budget periods of the prime grant.

For the consortium justification in a modular application, use the PHS 398 Modular Budget form. For nonmodular, use the R&R Subaward Budget in the Research and Related Budget Component. Follow the SF 424 Application Instructions.

Find advice on how to Plan Your Budget and Personnel.

Biosketches

Create biographical sketches for all key personnel and other significant contributors and attach them to the Research and Related Senior/Key Person Profile form. Learn more at Create Biosketches.