Other Support Reporting for NIH

Yes. For examples of documentation, download U-M's Common Other Support Examples (Word document). 

For a general list of what to include in Other Support documentation see the NIH - Other Support Reportng webpage.  

Any active appointment must be included an investigator's Biosketch, including a VA appointment.

An international entity is one located outside of the United States (US).

"International" in this context does not refer to an entity that does business internationally, but rather to an entity that is formed outside the United States.

If an investigator signs a contract/agreement with a U.S. subsidiary of an international "parent" company, the U.S. subsidiary is not considered an international entity.

Contact Other.Support.Questions@umich.edu for questions regarding sponsor-required Other Support documenation.

Contact COI.Questions@umich.edu for outside activity disclosure assistance.

See the Other Support, Biosketch, and M-Inform Disclosure Matrix.  

U-M's current interpretation of NIH guidance is that for external consulting activity to be included in Other Support, it must:

• Involve the design, conduct, or reporting of research; and
• Be current or ongoing; and
• Contribute tangible work to the research.

Examples include:

• Developing a research protocol
• Analyzing data from a research project
• Serving on a steering committee for a research project
• Work that results in publication of research (e.g., in an academic journal, at conferences, etc.) such that your contribution is cited in the publication.

High-level activity, such as a one-time phone conference to discuss the feasibility of a research concept or to provide subject matter expertise, is not considered an activity that needs to be reported as Other Support.

If the consulting activity is independent of an investigator's U-M appointment, then list effort as zero Person Months. However, the Other Support entry should still include the dollar amount for the consulting activity. 

See Common Other Support Examples.

Yes. For consulting related to a specific non-UM research project, include the total dollar amount for the project in Other Support.

To report non-project-specific consulting, enter the dollar amount of the investigator's consulting activity.

In General

Investigators should not list “0.0” Person Months (calendar or academic/summer) for projects/proposals listed in Other Support. If an investigator is an active member of a project team, then some value greater than 0 should be indicated for the project, even if no salary support is directed to the investigator’s participation on the project.

• For a project with a No Cost Time Extension (NCTX), if the Principal Investigator (PI) is the person reporting Other Support, then they should have some measurable effort on the project. For other types of senior/key personnel on the project, if their work is complete, they should not list the project on Other Support.


• For K (Career Development) awards where all the effort is reported on the K award, but the concurrent projects are benefitting from the work, the concurrent projects may be listed on Other Support with 0.0 effort, including a note referencing the K award in the project description.

Exceptions

• Per the NIH, list any external consulting that involves the design, conduct, or reporting of research (i.e., consulting agreements that are not routed through U-M and are between a non-U-M entity and an individual faculty member) on the invesigator's Other Support with 0.0 person months.


• If a clinical trial is “dormant” (i.e., not enrolling), senior/key personnel may list “0.0” person months if they are not actively working on the trial.

No, regardless of the value, if the in-kind resource meets these criteria, it should be reported in Other Support.

If the visitor is made available at no cost to U-M to support any of the U-M investigator’s research endeavors, they are considered an in-kind resource and must be included in the Other Support document.

If the visitor will be working on the proposed project, and are not a budgeted resource, then they should be included in the Facilities and Other Resources section of the proposal application.

See Common Other Support Examples.

The researcher should provide the project number and PD/PI name for the prime award as the "Source of Support" on the NIH Other Support template. All other information, including the total award amount and person months, should be specific to the subaward.

Yes, if the trainee is supported by a non-U-M entity (e.g., their home institution), and the trainee is contributing to any of the U-M faculty member's research endeavors, then the U-M faculty member would need to include the trainee as a type of "in-kind" resource on their Other Support document.

Do not include the trainee as an in-kind resource on the U-M faculty member's Other Support document if the trainee is supported solely through funds that are routed through U-M (including federal grants/awards).

Yes, when you are the career-development recipient. If you are serving as a mentor without specified effort, it does not need to be included in your Other Support.

If there is no overlap, you can simply state: “None of the active/pending projects listed above represents an overlap of science, budget, or committed effort.”

A digital signature is required, using an electronic signature software application. The University of Michigan recommends using the SignNow application.

• A scanned copy of an ink signature is NOT acceptable.
• A typed name name of an investigator is NOT acceptable.
• A .jpg, .png. or other type of image of an investigator's signature is NOT acceptable.

For SignNow guidance see the:

• ITS quick reference guide
• Michigan Medicine quick reference guide

Yes, but with qualifications. Use Adobe's Prepare Agreement option under the Sign menu and the Insert Digital Signature function to ensure the required audit trail is assigned.  Do not use Adobe's "Fill & Sign" or "Sign Yourself" options.

NIH requires that "[a]pplicants and recipients maintain supporting documentation to reasonably authenticate that the appropriate individual signed the [Other Support] form."  In this case, supporting documentation is interpreted to mean an audit trail associated with each application of an electronic signature.  The individual is responsible for locating and providing a signature's supporting documentation upon request from NIH or others.  When using Adobe, the PDF file, electronic signature, and audit trail are stored locally (e.g., on an individual's computer drive). 

U-M recommends using SignNow to sign Other Support documentation.  As UM-supported software, the PDF file and correspondiing signature supporting documentation is stored centrally and availalble through SignNow.