Report Finds NIH Oversight of Research Funding Lacking

A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) review found that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) could improve its oversight of external biomedical research funding, which totaled more than $35 billion in fiscal year 2023. The GAO report highlights that while NIH increased oversight staffing by 20 percent over the past decade, the agency has struggled to enforce compliance with reporting requirements and has inconsistently managed unused grant funds, raising concerns about the effectiveness of its oversight practices.

The report reveals that NIH staff review financial and progress reports submitted by grant recipients, but often failed to close out awards when final reports were overdue. As of August 2024, nearly 1,000 progress reports remained delinquent, representing about 0.2 percent of awards issued between fiscal years 2014 and 2024. Although NIH has taken steps to improve the closeout process, it has not thoroughly investigated the underlying reasons for late reporting, limiting its ability to detect misused funds and ensure proper grant management.

Additionally, NIH allows research projects to carry over unspent funds into subsequent budget periods but has not established a consistent policy or guidance to manage these carryovers effectively. While flexibility is given to its various institutes and centers, there is no formal requirement for them to track unused funds, despite evidence showing that large carryover balances are common. Without better tracking and guidance, NIH risks inefficient allocation of its resources, potentially diverting funds from higher-priority research initiatives.

In response to these findings, the GAO issued three recommendations: NIH should identify the causes behind late financial and progress reports, develop an informational resource to assist institutes and centers in managing unused award balances, and require tracking of unused balances across all award portfolios. NIH has agreed with all three recommendations and indicated a commitment to improving its grant management policies accordingly.

The GAO’s review was prompted by NIH’s role as the largest public funder of biomedical research in the United States, with more than 80 percent of its budget allocated to external research efforts. The evaluation focused on trends in extramural funding and oversight staffing, the adequacy of NIH’s current policies, and its methods for managing unused funds. Interviews with officials from four NIH institutes supplemented the agency’s document and data review.

Article by multiple RFHC contributors, based upon information from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report GAO-25-107362

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