When it comes to developing a budget request for your grant application, you may have two routes from which to choose: detailed or modular. Often the choice is made for you based on your application’s activity code, though in certain situations the specific budget you request will determine whether you will apply using a modular budget.
We focus here on the essentials of a modular budget request.
When Modular Is a Must
You must use the PHS 398 Modular Budget Form in your application if all the following apply:
- You are at a U.S. applicant institution and submitting a new, renewal, resubmission, or revision (competing supplement) application.
- You are requesting $250,000 or less in direct costs per year, excluding facilities and administrative costs. Note: You will request total direct costs in $25,000 increments.
- You are applying for any of the following grants or their cooperative agreement equivalent whether investigator-initiated or in response to a program announcement or request for application:
- Research project grant (R01/U01)
- Small grant (R03)
- Exploratory/developmental research grant (R21/UH2)
- Clinical trial planning grant (R34/U34)
- Research Enhancement Award (R15)
How do I access the modular budget form?
You can access the PHS 398 Modular Budget Form as part of the SF 424 R&R application package. If you mistakenly use the R&R Budget Form—which is for applications requesting more than $250,000 in direct costs—you will need to correct the error before your application can pass electronic validations.
Will reviewers know how I plan to spend my budget?
The modular budget form includes prompts to attach a Personnel Justification, Consortium Justification, and Additional Narrative Justification, which in combination serve to justify your budget to peer reviewers. In these attachments, you’ll describe how you plan to spend the requested budget without being tasked to itemize costs in detail.
Take Note: A Word of Advice
Whether going the modular route or not (the majority of R01 budgets are now non-modular), make sure you request a budget that accurately reflects what your proposed project will truly cost. Reviewers will not respond well when faced with a budget that is clearly inflated or insufficient for the proposed work. Learn more about why it’s essential your budget is On the Mark.
Researchers new to NIH funding sometimes assume that the cut-off point for using the modular budget form, a budget request of $250,000 in annual direct costs, represents either the average R01 award or the budget amount most likely to satisfy peer reviewers. But it is neither of those things. Again, our advice is that you request a budget sufficient to make your proposed project successful; if that amount is at or less than $250,000 in annual direct costs, then you will use the modular budget form.
Learn More
To find additional information on modular budgets, check the following resources.