On November 24, 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued Notice NOT-OD-26-012, providing updated guidance on how NIH is resuming extramural activities following the October 1 lapse in appropriations. This includes updated and extended proposal deadline dates for proposals with deadlines between October 1 and December 5, 2025.
What You Need to Know
Revised Deadlines for Proposals:
All grant applications with due dates between October 1 and December 5, 2025 — including those originally marked “no late submissions accepted” — will now be accepted through 5:00 p.m. local time on December 8, 2025, without the need for advance permission or a justification cover letter.
Revised Deadlines for Post Submission Materials:
For applications slated for the January 2026 Council, NIH will accept post-submission materials up to one week before the scheduled peer-review meeting. For the May 2026 Council, a one-page preliminary data update will be accepted (if allowed under the original NOFO), and all other post-submission materials must be submitted at least 30 days before the study-section meeting.
Modification to Peer Review Process:
Recognizing the backlog created by the shutdown, NIH is implementing emergency modifications to the peer-review and council processes. More than 370 peer-review meetings were canceled between October 1 and November 14, 2025, impacting over 24,000 applications. These meetings are now being rescheduled. To manage workload and continue the review process efficiently, study sections will limit discussion to the top third of applications, designate the middle third as “competitive but not discussed,” and categorize the lowest-scoring applications as “not competitive.” Funding remains possible for applications in both the discussed and “competitive but not discussed” groups. Summary statements will also be simplified to a consensus sentence with supporting bullet-point scores through the May 2026 Advisory Council.
Questions?
Please reach out to your DCG Officer if you have any questions.