LibGuides: NIH Data Management &amp; Sharing (DMS) Policy: Budgeting for DMS

General Considerations

Researchers can budget for help with certain data management and sharing activities
All costs must be paid prior to end of period of performance
Peer reviewers will review the budget justification, but this commentary won’t impact the score

6-Minute Video Overview from FASEB:

Allowable and Unallowable Costs

Expand the panels below for examples of allowable and unallowable data management and sharing costs:

Examples of allowable costs

Curating data
Developing supporting documentation
Formatting data according to accepted community standards
De-identifying data
Preparing metadata
Local data management considerations (before deposit into an established repository).
Preserving and sharing data through established repositories, such as data deposit fees.

Examples of unallowable costs

Infrastructure costs that are included in institutional overhead (for instance, Facilities and Administrative costs)
Costs associated with the routine conduct of research, including costs associated with collecting or gaining access to research data.
Costs that are double charged or inconsistently charged as both direct and indirect costs.

For more information:

Allowable Costs for Data Management and Sharing (NOT-OD-21-015)
Supplemental guidance to the NIH DMS policy released in October 2020.
NIH FAQ on Budget/Costs for data sharing
Clarifications provided by the NIH during February 2023.
National Academies study forecasting long-term biomedical data costs
For help estimating data management and sharing costs. Review the full study report or use one of the accompanying resources, including recorded webinars, cost drivers workbook, and user guides for a range of audiences (researchers, administrators, storage providers)

Including Costs in Proposals

Updated to reflect new guidance from NIH released in July 2023.

Allowable costs for data management and sharing should be included in the following ways depending on whether you are submitting your grant proposal with a detailed or modular budget:

Detailed Budgets
- Includes costs in the categories they would normally fall under such as personnel, equipment, supplies, etc.
Modular Budgets
- Only mentioned in the Additional Narrative Justification
Budget Justification
- Under the Heading titled “Data Management and Sharing Justification." The following should be included:
  - Requested $ amount
  - A brief summary of the DMS Plan
  - A description of the requested costs
- Peer reviewers will review the budget justification, but this commentary won’t impact the score