2271 Amendment Request Memo - Final

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health

Office of the Director

 Office of Extramural Research

Building 1 Room 144

Bethesda, Maryland 20892

(301) 496-1096

(301) 402-3469 - FAX

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/

Date: October 20, 2009

To: Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Through: Marilyn Tuttleman, NIH Project Clearance Officer, OPERA, OER, OD

From: Jennifer Sutton

Division of Scientific Programs

Office of Extramural Programs

Office of Extramural Research, OD, NIH

Subject: Amendment to the PHS 2271, (OMB No. 0925-0001, Exp 6/30/2012)

OMB recently approved all the forms under OMB No. 0925-0001 on 6/12/2009. One of the forms in this package, the PHS 2271 Statement of Appointment form, is used to document the appointment of individuals as trainees, scholars, or participants in PHS institutional research training grants, career development, and research education awards. As noted in the Supporting Statement for this package, for several years now NIH has been transitioning to electronic submission of this particular form through the newly developed xTrain system in the Electronic Research Administration (eRA) Commons.

To facilitate this move towards total electronic submission, NIH proposes to add a data field to the form to collect the eRA Commons Identification Number (ID) for individuals that will be appointed using the form. The eRA Commons is an integral part of the NIH electronic business process; establishing a Commons ID is a one-time event for individuals when they first begin a relationship with NIH funding. Opening a Commons account and establishing a Commons ID are essential prerequisites for all advanced graduate students, postdoctorates, and early-stage investigators as they prepare to apply for PHS fellowships, career development awards, and research grants. The Commons ID is a unique identifier for an individual in the eRA Commons; thus the collection of this data field will also aid in quicker processing of all the data collected on this form since it will facilitate a “match” to the correct individual.

A copy of the first page of Form 2271, with the new Commons ID number change highlighted, is provided as a separate attachment.

We request prompt evaluation of this change so that we may continue to expand use of the xTrain appointment system, one of NIH’s goals under the Government Performance and Results Act. OMB approval of this revised form will allow the NIH and other PHS agencies to enhance the timeliness and efficiency of the appointment process and ensure that information on trainees, scholars, and other participants is readily available for program monitoring and evaluation.

We estimate that the total burden hours currently associated with the PHS 2271 will not change as a result of adding the Commons ID to the form, as described below.

Estimates of Hour Burden
Types of Respondents	Number of Respondents	Frequency of Response	Average Response Time	Annual Hour Burden
NIH Grantees (Form 2271)	15,500	Annually	15 minutes	3,875

Thank you for your consideration of this proposed amendment to amend the PHS 2271.

Attachment: Amended PHS 2271 with change highlighted.