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Millions of Unspent NIH Grant Funds Available for Use

HRD-84-24 Published: Dec 13, 1983. Publicly Released: Dec 13, 1983.
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Highlights

During a review of indirect cost rates for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grantees, GAO identified an opportunity for NIH to realize a one-time funding windfall of from $41 million to $143 million by offsetting grantees' estimated yearend unspent grant fund balances against the next period's grant awards.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services should require that the Director, NIH, adopt a policy that requires NIH grant awarding offices to offset unspent grant funds in excess of $2,500 against the next period's grant award.
Closed – Not Implemented
The agency disagreed with the recommendation. The response recognized that the NIH staff has discretion to either offset or support the science as originally approved and stated that the report and the the response have been called to its attention. The auditor assigned to this review stated that there is little likelihood further action will be taken in the future.

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Topics

Federal grantsFunds managementResearch grantsGrant awardHealth careGrant awardsHuman capital managementOverhead costsBudget yearFederal regulations