April 2, 2026
NIH – Domestic subawards to require prior approval
This message was sent to all active PIs and MRAM.
On March 25 2026, the NIH published NOT-OD-26-062: Prior Approval Requirement for Changes to Domestic Subawards.
Effective June 1, 2026, all prime recipients are required to obtain NIH prior approval when adding a new domestic subaward to a project post-award, when the arrangement was not originally a part of the peer-reviewed and approved application.
OSP must submit these requests to NIH in the eRA Commons Prior Approval Module.
As of June 1st, when a subaward needs to be added to an NIH award after it has been awarded to the UW and is set up in Workday, please follow these steps:
- Prepare an Award Modification in SAGE to Add a Subaward – request Prior Approval
- Include a subaward package with the documentation required by GIM 7, as if the subrecipient was being included in an original proposal
- Attach the documents needed for the Prior Approval Module in PDF format, including:
- A justification document explaining the rationale for the request
- A budget document, preferably in the form of a Subaward R&R Budget
- The budget and the subrecipient’s letter of intent should reflect the proposed effective date, which is required information in the Prior Approval Module
NIH approval is required before moving forward with the SAGE subaward request. Please plan ahead and get these Award Modification requests routed to OSP in SAGE as early as possible.