Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements FY 2023
Notice Number: NOT-OD-23-056
Release Date: January 12, 2023
Related Announcements: NOT-OD-23-052 – NIH Operates Under a Continuing Resolution; NOT-OD-23-050 – NIH Operates Under a Continuing Resolution; NOT-OD-23-005 – NIH Operates Under a Continuing Resolution
Issued by: NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH)
Purpose: This Notice provides information regarding the salary limitation for NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards and extramural research and development contract awards.
Since 1990, Congress has legislatively mandated a limitation on direct salary for individuals under NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards (referred to here as a grant). The mandate appears in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-328), signed into law on December 29, 2022, which provides authority for NIH to incur obligations for Fiscal Year 2023. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 restricts the amount of direct salary to Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale. The Office of Personnel Management recently released new salary levels for the Executive Pay Scale. Effective January 1, 2023, the salary limitation for Executive Level II is $212,100.
For issued awards that were restricted to Executive Level II (see historical record of salary cap link below), including competing awards already issued in FY 2023, if adequate funds are available in active awards, and if the salary cap increase is consistent with the institutional base salary, recipients may rebudget funds to accommodate the current Executive Level II salary level.
For a historical record of the salary cap, including effective dates, see: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/salcap_summary.htm
Please see notice NOT-OD-23-056 for examples of Salary Application Requests, Salary Cap Calculations and Adjustments.
Inquiries: Questions about specific awards may be directed to the Grants Management Specialist identified on the Notice of Award. Questions related to the NIH salary cap policy may be directed to the Division of Grants Policy at: grantspolicy@nih.gov.
