A new NIH award structure for foreign collaborators

By Kelly Prifti, Project Manager - GO

On September 12 2025, the NIH announced a major restructuring of how international collaborations are funded. The structure of consortia with foreign subawards as we know it will no longer be accepted for new applications, due to concerns over oversight and national security.  

Starting January 2026, applications involving funding for foreign institutions must include: 

• An Overall Component (collaboration objectives), 

• A Research Project Component (scientific and technical plan), 

• One or more International Project Components, each corresponding to a distinct foreign collaborator/institution. 

The primary applicant must be U.S.-based, with at least one PD/PI in the U.S. and one for each International Project. Applications will be reviewed like other multi-component grants, with special evaluation criteria (NIHGPS 16.3) focusing on the uniqueness and U.S. relevance of foreign resources. There are new activity codes for these projects. 

If selected for funding, applications will be disaggregated: the U.S. institution coordinating the project receives a Notice of Award, while each foreign partner receives a separate Notice of Award, with independent registration, compliance, and reporting responsibilities. NIH may fund some, all, or none of the foreign components. 

NIH is also revising reporting systems (e.g., RPPR) to streamline progress reports across partners while maintaining separate financial reporting. FAQs, guidance, and training on the new structure will be released soon. 

Read more about these changes here and here. 

Don’t hesitate to reach out to Gointernational[at]pasteur.fr for more information about these changes.