NIH Salary Cap

Since 1990, Congress has legislatively mandated a limitation on direct salary for individuals under NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards (referred to here as a grant).  The mandate appears in The Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 (Public Law 115-245), signed into law on September 28, 2018, which provides authority for NIH to incur obligations for FY 19.

The Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019, restricts the amount of direct salary to Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale.  The Office of Personnel Management has recently released new salary levels for the Executive Pay Scale.  Effective January 6, 2019, the salary limitation for Executive Level II is $192,300.

For awards issued in those years that were restricted to Executive Level II (see historical record of salary cap link below), including competing awards already issued in FY2019, if adequate funds are available in active awards, and if the salary cap increase is consistent with the institutional base salary, grantees may rebudget funds to accommodate the current Executive Level II salary level.  However, no additional funds will be provided to these grant awards.

For a historical record of the salary cap, including effective dates, see: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/salcap_summary.htm