All non-competing continuation RPG awards will be paid at full committed levels on their regular anniversary dates.

Retroactive to the September, 2003 National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB) round (the first funding cycle of FY 2004), new (type 1) and competing continuation (type 2) R01 applications up to the 20.0 percentile will be paid within the payline. Non-percentiled R01s will be paid on a case by case basis.

NCI established a new policy in FY 2004 (which will continue in the future) for large percentiled R01 (at or over $700,000 direct cost requested in any year – which is approximately $1 million in total costs). The NCI Executive Committee will establish a separate payline for percentiled RO1's > $700,000 DC. The intent of the Executive Committee will be to apply the common R01 payline whenever possible, but to reserve the right to reduce the payline based on budgetary constraints. For applications which were reviewed at the September and February NCAB rounds for FY 2004, the large R01 payline is the 20 th percentile.

New (Type 1) Competing RO1 applications from first time RO1 investigators

Applicants eligible for consideration as first-time R01 investigators will be paid at the 21.0 percentile extended pay line . The definition of first-time R01 investigators is that found in the instructions for the PHS-398 (grant application format) which can be viewed at: http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/section_1.html#face_page - scroll to item 3.

P01s will continue to be paid on a case by case basis. P01 applicants will be notified of their potential for funding by the NCI program staff.

Applicants who are not eligible for funding under this plan should submit an amended application for the June/July (or next regular) receipt date. Such applications, along with those submitted for the February/March, 2004 receipt date, will be funded under FY 2005 budget plans, which are not yet known and may be different from these FY 2004 announced levels.

NCI is committed to the review and funding of all RFAs that have been previously announced and solicited for competition and award in FY 2004. As always, success rates for RFAs depend on the number and scientific merit of the applications received, and applications are considered for payment on a case by case basis. Please consult the program director listed on your summary statement if you have any questions regarding these competitions.

To achieve the above paylines it is necessary to require budget reductions of competing awards from approved requested levels. For type 1 modular R01s of 7 units or less within the payline, this will generally be 10%. For type 1 larger R01s, it will be a reduction of 18%. R01s designated as MERIT Awards will be exempt from these reductions. Program project awards (P01s) are selected on a case by case basis, with type 1 awards averaging an 18% reduction.

Type 2 larger R01s and all P01 awards in conformance with NCI budget cap policies (a 20% cap on the increase over the current level of support for an ongoing grant) will be subject to a 10% reduction on average. These Type-2 reductions will permit an average growth of 10% over the current level for competing continuation grants.

The NCI website lists additional information and history under "funding policies": http://www.nci.nih.gov/research_funding/policies.