• All grantees will automatically receive a 4-month extension for any grant report due between February 28 and June 30.
• Project timelines or additional reporting deadline will be adjusted as needed.

• Payments will be made to grants as scheduled. Expedited payments may be requested if needed.
• The Foundation is open to converting project grants to general operating support, to provide maximum flexibility to use funds where they are most needed. If interested, contact the program officer. This applies to all grantees other than expenditure responsibility grantees, universities, fiscal sponsors, and governmental units; if you fall into one of those categories, there may be other ways to provide you with more flexibility please work with your OSR staff to consult with the grant program officer.

• PCORI revised deadlines and opportunities are noted in the Funding Opportunities section.
• When delays occur because the applicant or recipient organization is officially closed due to a natural disaster or other emergency, or because designated PD/PI(s) or other key staff is/are quarantined or involuntarily unable to come to their work locations, PCORI will consider accepting applications late, with prior approval. Principal Investigators should work with OSR to contact PCORI.

• Institutions should take all steps necessary to ensure the safety of all human participants and research staff involved in PCORI-funded awards.
• If you plan to continue study operations with new patients, any changes to the Population, Intervention(s), Comparator(s), Outcome(s), Timing, or Setting (PICOTS) that affect your PCORI-approved research, this information must be shared with your PCORI staff person (Program Officer, Program Associate, Contract Administrator, or Engagement Officer) as soon as possible with details on the effects of COVID-19 and the related reason for changes. These instances will require PCORI’s review and approval. Such instances will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
• If research activities of your PCORI-funded award have been placed on pause, you do not need to obtain PCORI’s approval in advance. Please contact your PCORI staff person as soon as possible to inform them of the pause in research activities. It is likely the Program Officer/Program Associate for your award would like to see supporting documentation from your institution and/or public health authorities as well as any additional documentation from regulatory bodies. See the open letter to research sponsors and collaborating institutions.

• RGPO will allow recipients to continue to charge the approved salaries and benefits to currently active RGPO awards consistent with the recipient institution’s policy of paying salaries under unexpected or extraordinary circumstances from all funding sources, Federal and non-Federal.
• For research studies that were disrupted due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, RGPO will allow costs to be charged that are necessary to resume activities supported by the award. The expenses must be consistent with applicable RGPO policies, and directly benefit the approved scope of work.
• Costs related to the cancellation of events, travel, or other activities necessary and reasonable for the performance of the approved scope of work, or the pausing and restarting of grant funded activities due to the public health emergency, may be charged to the RGPO grant with which those events, travel, or activities were associated.

• Progress and fiscal reports that are due on or before October 1, 2020 will receive an automatic deadline extension of three months.
• If you need to reduce the scope of your research plan, please note the following:
  1. If you need to reduce the scope of your research plan due to COVID-19 related impacts, you do not need to contact the Program Officer assigned to your grant in advance, as this reduction will be captured in your progress/final report.
  2. If you believe that it will be necessary to alter the approved scope of work or respond to challenges faced by your organization or the communities you serve as a result of COVID-19, please contact your Program Officer. They will be as responsive as possible and work with you to make any changes efficiently.
• If you need additional time extensions, or have questions, please contact us at: [email protected]
• For required research protocol changes, please contact your Institutional Review Board (IRB), Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), or other research regulatory bodies for approval, and then submit that approval to the RGPO funding program. Notification to our office of any assurance approvals or renewals due in the next four months (on or before August 1, 2020) will receive an automatic 30-day deadline extension.

Costs related to the cancellation of events, travel, or other activities necessary and reasonable for the performance of the approved scope of work, or the pausing and restarting of grant funded activities due to the public health emergency, may be charged to the RGPO grant with which those events, travel, or activities were associated.