NIH Multiyear Funded Awards

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A multi-year funded (MYF) award is one in which the project period and budget period are the same and are longer than one year, and the award is funded from a single appropriation.

A no-cost extension of an existing grant does not constitute multi-year funding.

Some examples of activity codes that NIH traditionally uses for multi-year funding awards are C06, DP2, DP3, DP4, R15, R55, RC3, RC4, RF1, UA5, UC4, UC6, and UF1.

Expiration and Canceling of Funds After 5 Fiscal Years

Most NIH awards are funded incrementally based on annual appropriations, and funds only become available one fiscal year at a time, so the five year rule applies to each fiscal year increment.  However, in the case of MYF awards the award is funded from a single appropriation, typically in the first year of the project, for the entire project period.  Moreover, all Federal agencies are required by 31 U.S.C. §1552(a) to close fixed year appropriation accounts and cancel any remaining balances by September 30 of the fifth fiscal year after the year of availability. 

For example, for NIH recipients who received grant funding from NIH in Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 (10/1/2017 - 9/30/2018), the deadline to report disbursements from 2018 awards made with annual appropriations is June 30, 2023.  On September 30, 2023, funds awarded with a 2018 annual appropriation will cancel and will no longer be available to the recipient organization or to the NIH. After that date, recipients will not be able to access FY2018 funds for any reason (program expenditures, obligations, or payment requests).

NIH Multi-Year Funded (MYF) Award Resources

NIH Instructions for Progress Reports for Multi-year Funded (MYF) Awards

Need further NIH MYF award assistance? Have questions, feedback, or are experiencing other issues? Please reach out to your OSR Post Award Research Accountant