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  5. Foreign Award and Component Tracking System (FACTS) - Overview

Foreign Award and Component Tracking System (FACTS) - Overview

What is the purpose?  

FACTS is designed to meet NIH's need to accurately track and report NIH investments in research (grants and contracts) involving collaborations in foreign countries. FACTS is also used to process these requests for foreign collaborations that require State Department clearance.

What are the features?

FACTS allows:

Program Officials and Grants Management staff to:

  • Identify grants with foreign components (the performance of any significant scientific elements or segments of projects outside of the US, either by the recipient or by a researcher employed by a foreign organization, whether or not grant funds are expended). See Page I-16 of the NIH Grants Policy Statement for the complete definition.
  • Enter relevant foreign component data in the module, accessible from the Program Management Module and Grants Management module.
  • If required, submit a State Department Clearance request to Fogarty International Center's Division of International Relations (DIR).  DIR will determine if the request is valid and complete.

    Note: the ability to enter foreign component information and to submit a State Department Clearance request is also available to other Global Research staff at the IC, who can access FACTS through Query, View and Report (QVR).

Fogarty International Center staff to:

  • Review State Department Clearance requests submitted by ICs.
  • Notify the submitter if the request does not require clearance or grant approval to forward the request.
  • Forward the request to the State Department.
  • Forward State Department request for more information back to the IC.

State Department staff to:

  • Access the State Department Clearance request and ask for additional information or approve the request.  For most countries, if no action is taken, the request will be automatically approved after 14 days.

Contracts Staff to:

  • Collect and manage data on foreign components for contracts.
  • Request State Department clearance.

What are the benefits?

  • Improves the ability of NIH to report on its international grants activities — collaborators, collaborating organizations and funding.
  • Improves data collection and management of international grants activities.
  • Standardizes data collection, management and reporting of data on international grants activities across NIH.
  • Integrates foreign component data with IMPAC II data.
  • Utilizes information from the grant application, reducing data entry for users.
  • Provides reports on foreign components through the QVR search tool and the RePORT Web site.

Who can be given FACTS user roles?

  • Program official (PO)
  • Grants management officer (GMO)
  • Grants management specialist (GMS)
  • Non-program or GM Staff with responsibilities for Foreign Component data entry or Clearance submission
  • Contracts staff
  • Fogarty International Center/Division of International Relations staff
  • State Department hubs and embassies' staff
  • State Department Headquarters  staff

For information: Go to the lock icon FACTS info page on the eRA Intranet (for authorized NIH and partner agency staff only)