September 2004, Issue 3

NO-COST EXTENSIONS

A no-cost extension of the expiration date of an awarded project can be requested if

• you have submitted a proposal to continue the project but have not yet been awarded the continuation and need time to bridge the gap, or
• you need additional time to finish experiments essential to the project.

Request a no-cost extension 2—4 weeks before your grant expires by sending a letter or an email to the associate director of grants and contracts for your campus. For the Health Sciences Campus contact Gerald Wodehouse and for the Medford/Somerville campus contact Paul Murphy, director of research administration. Paul is filling in for recently-retired associate director Theodore Liszczak. Mailing addresses can be found at http://www.tufts.edu/central/research/ContactUs.htm.

The request for a no-cost extension should include

1. The name, title and address of the grant specialist at the awarding agency
2. The name of the awarding agency
3. The complete grant number assigned by the awarding agency
4. The name of the principal investigator
5. A statement requesting a no-cost extension from the project end date to the expected new end date, the amount of additional time requested (maximum of 1 year), and the reason for the request. You should explain the scientific need for experiments that have not yet been done.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

First Request for No-Cost Extension: Under Expanded Authorities, the grantee (Tufts University) may extend, one time only and without additional funds, the final budget end date by up to 12 months beyond the project's original expiration date as shown on the Notice of Grant Award. Tufts University, through an associate director of grants and contracts, will notify the awarding agency of the extension 10 days before the project's stated expiration date. Participating federal agencies are

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Office of Naval Research (ONR)
US Department of Energy (DOE)
US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)
Army Research Office (ARO)
Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (AMRMC)
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Not all programs under these agencies are subject to this rule advantage. For clarification on these exceptions please contact the associate director of grants and contracts for your campus.

Subsequent Requests for No-Cost Extensions: All requests beyond the first should arrive at the Tufts Research Administration Office 2—4 weeks prior to the end of the first extension. (Note: the NSF requires that a request be submitted via FASTLANE at least 45 days before the end of the first extension.) Subsequent requests for a no-cost extension must take the form of a letter addressed to the awarding agency's program official (with a notation to send a copy to the awarding agency's grant specialist) and contain all information requested in the 5-point list above plus the principal investigator's signature. The associate director of grants and contracts will co-sign the request and send it to the awarding agency.

NON-FEDERAL SPONSORS

Most non-federal sponsors require a letter of request signed by the principal investigator that is addressed to the sponsoring entity's project administrator and endorsed by a grants and contracts officer of Tufts University. The letter should follow the federal model.

For more information on grants and contracts, go to: http://www.tufts.edu/central/research/GCProposals.htm