NIH Annual and Final Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) guidance

The eRA electronic Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) facilitates the ability of Type 5 (non-competing) progress reports to be annually submitted through the eRA Commons RPPR module by grantees.

Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)

NIH requires use of the RPPR module in eRA Commons to submit ALL annual progress reports.

Annual RPPR reporting

For Duke annual RPPR submissions, please review the following information to facilitate a smooth submission.
Basics and planning
  • Progress reports NOT under SNAP are due the 1st of the month, two months prior to the next grant year budget period start date.
  • Progress reports under SNAP are due on the 15th of the month, one and a half months prior to the next grant year budget period start date. Click here for more information.
  • Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) assurance approvals will need to remain active as applicable to human subject and vertebrate animal involvement.
  • When there is human subject involvement, CITI certifications will need to be maintained.
  • Progress reports for Multi-year Funded (MYF) awards have unique content and deadline requirements for submission through eRA Commons. Refer to NIH Instructions for Progress Reports for MYF awards for further details. 

Planning

Departments and PIs may run an eRA Commons Progress Report Query for Duke University which will produce a list of progress reports that are indicated as "due" within the next 4 months. Refer to the Instructions on how to perform this query named "Progress Report Due Dates - By IPF Number."  The Institutional Profile File (IPF) Number is the unique number NIH utilizes for tracking and reporting of grant awards to grantee organizations. Duke University's IPF Number is 2221101.

  • Please note: Any project record indicating Yes to "SNAP" is actually due on the 15th of the month instead of the 1st as shown in the query results.
  • The query does not demonstrate Multi-year Funded (MYF) awards. Refer to NIH Instructions for Progress Reports for MYF awards for further details.
Preparation

Instruction

Role Management and Access for RPPR report completion

  • PIs must have an eRA Commons account with Duke University as the affiliation. Refer to NIH's tutorial on How to create a PI Account in eRA Commons if they do not have an existing account. If they have an account without a Duke affiliation, refer to NIH's tutorial on Creating Affiliations for Users.
  • PIs may delegate authority to department personnel who have an eRA Commons account with an ASST role to manage their Personal Profile (Delegate PPF Edit tab) and/or RPPR report development (Delegate PI tab). Refer to NIH's RPPR User Guide for assistance with delegation instruction.
  • The Personal Profile should be maintained for all account users with up-to-date information. Current relevant information in the Personal Profile is important as the Profile is checked against electronic application submissions for matching data in the validation process.

Section A - Cover Page

  • A.2 Signing Official should be Jennifer McCallister. 
  • A.3 Authorized Official should be the ORA Research Administrator.
  • A.4 Recipient ID - Please enter the SPS record for the RPPR.

Section C - Products

  • C.1 Publications - Please make sure that the publications are in compliance.  If they are not compliant and the RPPR is submitted, an automated email will be sent to the PI (ccing AO or SO) allowing for the additional materials to be submitted to bring the publications up to compliance.  Please see the NIH Public Access Policy for more detail on the policy.

For help on-campus with compliance, please see the Duke University Medical Center Library & Archives.

SPS guidance

Data entry of the SPS record does not populate the eRA Commons RPPR module for report development. Therefore, each system will need separate and complete entry of the progress report details. 

Submission
  • SPS record at PCA state for ORA receipt must occur 5 business days prior to the RPPR deadline.
  • RPPR report must be complete 5 business days prior to the below RPPR deadline. ORA will review the SPS record and the RPPR report.

Example for determining 5 business day calculation to meet ORA submission guideline:

NIH June 15th deadline

ORA 5 business day timeline would fall on June 8th by 8:00 a.m. for SPS record to be completely routed to the Pending Central Approval (PCA) in order to avoid requesting a grant proposal submission waiver. Please note: The Show History screen within SPS indicates which user is reviewing the record for approval. When record is routed to a Pending Non-Central Approval (PNCA) reviewer other than the Duke Owning Org, the record will remain in that Non-Central reviewer's in-box for two days and will auto advance if no action is applied to the record in 2 days.

 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Final RPPR

Both the Interim RPPR and the Final RPPR are currently identical in process and information required. The difference between the two is when and where they are made available to initiate and submit. The Interim RPPR link will be made available in the eRA Commons ‘status’ screen when a grant is eligible for submission of a Competing Renewal application.

Interim RPPRs and Final RPPRs are both due 120 days from period of performance end date for the competitive segment.
Differences between the Interim/Final RPPR and the annual RPPR
  1. Section D: Only D.1 is required in the Participants section in the Interim/Final RPPR.
  2. Section F: Changes and Section H: Budget are not part of the Interim/Final RPPR.
  3. Section I: Outcomes is new. Section I is required for both the Interim/Final RPPR.

Resources