UW Research

December 8, 2025

NIH Update: Letters of Intent

This message was sent to all active PIs and MRAM. 

NIH’s recent notice indicates they no longer accept non-binding Letters of Intent (LOI) for their funding opportunities. This LOI refers to expressions of interest in advance of the application process, which NIH occasionally invited for internal planning purposes. Please note that this NIH notice does not pertain to LOIs between institutions or Letters of Support (LOS) from individuals, which are regularly part of the application process. NIH guidance on these attachments has not changed.

In addition, the requirement for unsolicited applications requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs per year, to obtain approval from an NIH Institute or Center to receive the application, has been discontinued.

OSP expectations for LOIs unchanged

  • UW institutional policies around establishing research collaborations remain the same.
  • When the UW will be named as a subrecipient in another applicant’s NIH proposal, the UW PI is required to route an eGC1. See EO 34 and GIM 1.
  • On approval, OSP will generate a standard cover letter as the UW LOI, unless the applicant has provided its own format for the LOI in advance (e.g., face page or subrecipient commitment form).
  • If a UW application to NIH includes subrecipients, an LOI must be attached to the eGC1 reflecting approval of each subrecipient entity’s authorizing official.
  • The PI should follow instructions in the NIH Application Guide as well as all of the directions in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

For more information please see NIH’s Advice on Application Sections for Letter of Support.

This topic along with some other recent NIH Notices will be covered at the December MRAM. We hope to see you there.