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Funding Policy

NCI Full Year Funding Policy for RPG Awards FY 2025

NCI Mission

The National Cancer Institute conducts and supports research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to the cause, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer, rehabilitation from cancer, and the continuing care of cancer patients and the families of cancer patients. Learn more about NCI or view the Institute's mission statement.

Budget Information

NIH is currently operating under the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (Public Law 119-4) signed by President Trump on March 15, 2025. Information on the FY 2025 budget can be found on the NCI Budget and Appropriation page.

Funding Strategy

The full year FY 2025 policies have been established considering the budget outlook for FY 2026. Significant reductions have been proposed in the President’s FY 2026 budget submission to Congress (The President’s FY 2026 Discretionary Budget Request – OMB – The White House). NCI’s funding strategy for FY 2025 will therefore aim to support current research activities and reduce future-year budget requirements for FY 2026.

Decisions on competing grants will continue to be based on review of individual applications. Peer review evaluation of scientific merit will remain the primary consideration in NCI funding decisions, and NCI will generally fund grants in order based on the impact score/percentile determined by review. The NCI will also continue its efforts to support early stage investigators and give special consideration to applications that fill a significant gap in the cancer research portfolio or propose an especially novel or promising scientific approach.

Non-Competing Awards

NCI will generally fund both categorical and SNAP non-competing grants at 100% of the committed level. Non-competing grants awarded under the previous interim policy (generally at 90% of the committed level) may be revised accordingly.

Competing Awards

Traditional Research Grants – Experienced and New Investigator (R01) & Exploratory Development Grants (R21s)

Considering the significant budget reductions proposed for FY 2026 in the President’s budget submission to Congress, NCI’s funding strategy for FY2025 is to support current research activities, while reducing future-year budget requirements. The R01 paylines for the October and January NCAB review rounds will remain at the 9th percentile for EI/NIs. However, the R01 paylines for the May NCAB review round have been lowered by two points from the previous interim paylines, to the 7th percentile for experienced and non-ESI new investigators (EI/NIs). This modification to the paylines will reduce the future-year cost requirements for FY 2026. Exploratory Development (R21) applications with scores up to and including the 7th percentile will be funded without additional review.

Early Stage Investigators (ESIs)

NCI remains strongly committed to supporting early stage investigators (ESIs) and will place special emphasis on supporting these applicants. As with Experienced and New Investigator Grants, R01 selections submitted by ESIs for the October and January NCAB review rounds will remain at the 15th percentile and those for the May NCAB review round have been lowered to the 13th percentile. Applications with scores up to the established paylines will be funded without additional evaluation Eligible ESI applications within the regular R01 payline will be considered for conversion to the R37 Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Awards: Merit R37 Conversion notice. Current definitions and additional information regarding New and Early Stage Investigators can be found on the NIH's Office of Extramural Research website at: New Stage and Early Established Investigator Policies.

Program Projects (P01s)

All P01 applications will be individually evaluated for funding selection.

Small Grants (R03s) & AREA Grants (R15)

Small (R03) and AREA (R15) grant applications with scores up to and including 25 will likely be funded with no policy reductions.

Large Dollar Amount R01

All R01 applications with direct costs over $1,000,000 will be individually reviewed for funding selection.

Request for Applications (RFA)

RFA applications are considered for funding by the NCI senior leadership. Success rates for RFAs will depend on the scientific merit and programmatic priority of each application, the number of applications submitted, and the amount of funds available. NCI does not consider it obligatory to use all funds set aside for any RFA. Please contact the program director listed on your summary statement if you have questions.

Competing RPG Funding Policy Reductions

R01 & U01 Modular Applications: Competing renewals (Type-2s) will be funded at the NCI Type 2 cap level with no additional policy reductions applied. New Modular (R01) applications (Type-1s) with a direct cost of $175 thousand or less will generally be funded at a 6.5% reduction from the Initial Review Group (IRG) recommended level and awards with a direct cost over $175 thousand will generally be funded at an 8.5% reduction. Foreign applications with direct costs under $250 thousand will be treated as modular grants in applying funding policy reductions.

R01 & U01 Categorical (Non-modular) Applications: Competing renewals (Type-2s) will be funded at the NCI Type 2 cap level with no additional policy reductions applied. New Categorical Traditional (R01) grants (Type-1s) will generally be funded at a 17% reduction from the Initial Review Group (IRG) recommended level.

R21 Applications: New (Type-1) applications requesting $175 thousand or less will generally be funded at a 6.5% reduction from the Initial Review Group (IRG) recommended level, and those requesting over $175 thousand in direct costs will generally be funded at an 8.5% reduction.

Other Non-RFA RPG Reductions (P01, UM1, R33): Competing renewals (Type-2s) will be funded at the NCI Type 2 cap level with no additional policy reductions applied. New (Type-1) applications requesting $175 thousand or less will generally be funded at a 13% reduction from the Initial Review Group (IRG) recommended level, and those requesting over $175 thousand in direct costs will generally be funded at a 17% reduction.

No Policy Reduction: No funding policy reductions will be applied to the following grant awards:

  • Small Grant (R03)
  • Academic Research Enhancement Award (R15)
  • Research Specialist Award (R50)
  • Small Business Innovation Research (R43/R44)
  • Small Business Technology Transfer (R41/R42)

Archive of Funding Policy for Previous Fiscal Years

Funding Policy FY 2024 (PDF) 
Funding Policy FY 2023 (PDF) 
Funding Policy FY 2022 (PDF) 
Funding Policy FY 2021 (PDF) 
Funding Policy FY 2020 (PDF)

  • Updated:

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