Frequently Asked Questions

All official requests must be signed by an authorized institutional official. Requests should be submitted formally to your grants management specialist and include as a reference the grant number and principal investigator (PI). Requests may be submitted by email.

Please factor in sufficient time for a response, particularly toward the end of a current grant budget period.

When a trainee needs to take a leave of absence, complete the documentation to suspend the period of appointment and submit an amended statement of appointment and a termination notice. If the student returns to the program within the same budget period of the grant, complete and submit a new reappointment form. The student can complete their training, based on funding-levels provided to them prior to departure. However, the policy differs if the student does not plan on returning to the program until the following grant budget period. In such situations, the program needs to use one of its available slots in the forthcoming year for the student and any unused funds accruing from the previous year go into the program's unobligated balance.

Federal Financial Reports (FFR) for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) T32s, which all have budget period end dates of June 30, are due by September 30. If the FFR is late, a program runs the risk of not receiving an award for the following budget period.

Include the following in your noncompeting continuation applications:

• A brief summary of prior year accomplishments, problems encountered and resolved, recent additions (e.g., faculty, tracks, courses) and future plans.
• Aggregate data tables on the racial/ethnic distribution of students supported with AHRQ funds from the fiscal year near completion.
• Brief description of students (and their accomplishments) currently supported by AHRQ, with indication made if the student is or will be supported with funds from the fiscal year near completion vs. the previous fiscal year.
• List of AHRQ-supported students who have left or graduated from the training program since the last reporting period, and those who are on the grant who are expected to complete their support by June 30 of that year.
• List of students who have been recruited for the following year, including those who will be continuing.
• Summary of minority recruitment plans.
• Summary of training in the ethical conduct of research.
• Appropriate budget and face pages.
• Biosketches for any new faculty.

No, AHRQ does not follow the follow the Streamlined Non-competing Award Process (SNAP). Submit a complete, detailed RPPR, including a budget and justification, other support, and progress report, in accordance with instructions provided in the Noncompeting Application Requirements.

No, only stipend, tuition, and fees are to be obligated for the full 12-month appointment from the date the appointment is made. Any charges for Travel or for Training-Related Expenses (TRE) are to be made to the grant in the budget period in which the expenses are incurred. Once a budget period ends, any unexpended TRE and/or Travel funds must be reported as an unobligated balance. Further, if a trainee is on a grant less than 6 months in a budget period, half of the TRE funds awarded for that trainee position revert back to the Government in the form of an unobligated balance.

It depends on the specific cost. Overall, these guidelines apply:

• "Trainee costs" (stipend, tuition/ fees) cannot be rebudgeted into other budget categories (i.e. travel, Training-Related Expenses) without prior approval or without sufficient funds available to fill approved slots.
• Grantees can rebudget into or within "Trainee costs" (stipend, tuition/fees) without prior approval; however, the funds cannot be used to augment stipends beyond established levels.
• Travel and Training-Related Expenses can be rebudgeted into or within all budget categories without prior approval; however, the funds cannot be used to augment stipends beyond established levels.

Trainees can be appointed at any time during a budget period, and must be appointed for an entire 12-month appointment period, even when that period goes beyond the end of the budget period. When making an appointment, the entire 12-month stipend and tuition is charged to the grant budget period in which the appointment initially is made. Thus, an appointment made in one budget period can overlap into the next budget period. While the entire 12-months of stipend and tuition is charged to the grant at the time of the appointment, funds for travel and Training-Related Expenses are not, therefore, any unexpended balances stemming from a trainee's stipend and tuition is reported as an unliquidated balance on the Federal Financial Report (FFR), but unexpended balances from travel and other training related expenses are reported as an unobligated balance on the FFR.

Note: Students appointed as late as June 30 of a given grant year have their salary capped at the level established for the grant year in which they were last appointed or re-appointed. Those students are not entitled to receive any newly announced stipend increases available to students who are initially appointed or reappointed the next day (which is the beginning of the new grant year award). Also, if a student is on a grant six months or less in an award period, one-half of the Training Related Expenses (TRE) funds associated with that student revert back to the Government in the form of unobligated balances.

Information on AHRQ-funded grants is available from the agency's Project Research Online Database. You can search by Category, Request for Applications/Program Announcement (RFA/PA) number, State, principal investigator's name, and keywords. You will also be able to view the abstract. Go to: https://prod.ahrq.gov/projectsearch/.

If you want additional information pertaining to a particular funded grant, you will need to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. For instructions on how to submit a FOIA request, go to: http://www.ahrq.gov/policy/foia/instruct.html.

Yes, the policy pertains to all types of applications submitted to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). This includes new and amended applications, large and small research projects, training and career development applications, conference applications, and investigator-initiated and solicited applications.