Project Records maintains the projects for AgriLife and USDA. Projects include Hatch, McIntire-Stennis, State, Grants with NIFA, Animal Health Grants, Administrative, and Internal. Every AgriLife Principal Investigator with a research program is required to have a project. This Project also serves as an accounting tool. After 5 years, Hatch and McIntire-Stennis Projects must be terminated, and a new project initiated. Annual Reports and a Final Report are required for all projects except Internal and Administrative Projects.

 

USDA/NIFA Capacity Programs FAQs

Which state agency administers the four NIFA capacity programs in Texas?

• Texas A&M AgriLife Research

 What is Hatch funding to experiment stations based on?

• Hatch funding is a formula fund, meaning USDA NIFA applies a very specific formula to determine AgriLife’ s Hatch funding each year. Some of the variables include the population of Texas compared to the overall US population, the farming population of Texas compared to the overall farming population in the US.

 

What are the steps to initiating a new Hatch or any of the other three capacity programs and who do I contact to start a project?

• You will need to accomplish 3 tasks before we initiate a new project in the NIFA Reporting System. You’ll need to complete a draft of your proposal and then send it to 3 qualified individuals to have your project peer reviewed. After you have your reviews sent back, you should incorporate any changes suggested from your reviewers and then complete your final written proposal. From there you will need to complete the AG-905 form and have your department head or agency director complete the form for administrative review. Once you have sent Project Records your final written proposal, the 3 reviews you received, and the AG-905 completed, project initiation can commence in the NIFA Reporting System. Reach out to either Chad Houston, or Kylie Daniels, in Project Records if you need to submit a project.

 

How do I report progress in a Hatch project?

You will need to be prepared to have a response to the following 4 items:

• In 2-3 sentences, briefly describe the issue or problem that your project
• Briefly describe in non-technical terms how your major activities helped you achieve, or make significant progress toward, the goals and objectives described in your non-technical summary.
• Briefly describe how your target audience benefited from your project’s activities
• Briefly describe how your target audience benefited from your project’s

In NRS, there is a results section for each project. You will need to access your project in NRS, click on the results section, and then click on Add Result.

Once you are there, the form will allow you to respond to the 4 items listed above.

 

What’s the deadline for submitting a new Hatch, annual, or final reports?

• New faculty members are usually given 6 to 9 months to complete all the AgriLife paperwork before project initiation begins. For faculty members with existing projects, they are encouraged to reach out to Project Records approximately 6 months prior to their existing project expiring. This will allow time to have the renewal project approved by USDA NIFA, so there are no breaks in Hatch project coverage.
• Progress Reports in NRS are based on the federal fiscal year (October 1st through September 30th)
  • Progress reports are annual and should reflect what took place during that specific federal fiscal year.
  • Progress reports can be submitted for the previous federal fiscal year, starting on October 1st.
  • The due date for progress reports will always be 90 days later, which falls on December 30th.
• The Final Report will be available for submission in NRS, 60 days prior to the project expiring.
  • The final report can be submitted at any time once the “Add FINAL Result” button appears on a project.
  • Final Reports should include the overall accomplishments of the research between the start date and end date of the project.
• AgriLife Research allows 90 days beyond the project expiring to have the final report submitted in NRS.

 

What steps need to be taken after the Hatch project expires in 5 years?

• Faculty members are encouraged to reach out to Project Records once their existing project is within 6 months of expiring. Hatch project renewals are the same as if it were a faculty member’s initial Hatch project. To renew your Hatch project, you will need to complete a written proposal for the next 5 years plan of work, have your proposal peer reviewed, and complete the AG-905 form. After which a new Hatch project will be initiated in the NIFA Reporting System.

 

What is Hatch funding used for?

• It is used towards salaries, startups, retention, equipment grants, and to provide resources when they are needed, etc. Hatch funding frees up state support to be used for expenditures not allowed by Hatch.

 

Who can submit a Hatch project?

• Faculty members and other scientists affiliated with AgriLife Research as well as tenure and tenure track faculty members at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences who have a minimum 25% research appointment. Postdocs and technicians cannot submit.

 

How can I join a Multistate Hatch Project and how does my program benefit from joining one?

• Project Records has a Laserfiche form for anyone wishing to join a NIMSS project and/or apply for a Multi-State Hatch project in NRS. To have a Multi-State Hatch project there are 2 In the 1st part, you must be added as a member/participant on a qualifying NIMSS project. NIMSS has multiple project types but only multistate research projects and NRSP projects are eligible for MSH funding. To be added to a NIMSS project, Appendix E will need to be submitted for you. For the NIMSS project you wish to join you will need to select the objectives you plan to work on, determine the annual Full Time Equivalent (FTE) that you estimate, and the USDA classifications which involve Knowledge Area, Subject of Investigation, and Field of Science. Once you have an Appendix E submitted for you, you will need to complete the AG-905 form for Multi-State Hatch projects (the requirement for 3 peer reviews is waived for Multi-State Hatch projects). Once both of those have been submitted, project initiation can commence in the NIFA Reporting System, which is the 2nd part of this process.
• Benefits include networking and collaboration with other researchers, contribution to existing or emerging regional and national issues affecting agriculture, and opportunities for AgriLife RFP’s.

 

What is the process for joining a Multistate Hatch Project?

• Step 1: Identify a qualifying NIMSS multistate research project that is eligible for Multi-State Hatch funding (If you don’t know which NIMSS project types are eligible please reach out to Project Records)
• Step 2: Complete the AgriLife Research Laserfiche Form for “NIMSS/Appendix E/Multi-State Hatch Form” – https://it-lf-ecmf.tamu.edu/Forms/ag-res-appendix-e
• Step 3: An Appendix E will be submitted for you in NIMSS, for the project listed on the AgriLife Laserfiche Appendix E adds you as a member/participant on the NIMSS multistate research project only (this does not mean you have a Multi-State Hatch project).
• Step 4: Complete and submit the AgriLife AG-905 form for Multi-State Hatch Projects.
• Step 5: Complete the Project Initiation in the NIFA Reporting System (NRS) for Multi- State Hatch Projects.

 

How do I apply for one of these projects?

• You apply through the portals assigned to Texas AgriLife Research.
• Reach out to Project Records and we will be happy to walk you through all the guidelines and steps to apply for any of the capacity/formula funded projects.

 

What is typically included in the application?

For Hatch, McIntire-Stennis, or Animal Health & Disease Research Projects:

• Final written proposal
• The three individual peer reviews that you received to formulate your final written proposal.
  • At least one reviewer should be from outside the Texas A&M System
• Complete AG-905 to include administrative review and approval from department head or director.
• Successfully acquire USDA eAuthentication for access to the NIFA Reporting System.

For Multi-State Hatch Projects, please refer to the question regarding “What is the process for joining a Multi-State Project?”.

 

How long is a Hatch, Multi-State Hatch, McIntire-Stennis, or Animal Health & Disease Research project good for?

• A project can be active and approved by USDA NIFA anywhere from 1 day to 5 years max. USDA NIFA no longer allows a project to exceed 5 years, even by a single day.

 

My project expired or is about to expire in NRS. Can I request an extension from USDA NIFA?

• USDA NIFA establishes and approves the start date and end date for each project. While a project end date can be closed out earlier, it is rare that NIFA will reapprove a project that has a later end date than was originally approved by NIFA. Also, a project cannot and will not be approved beyond a total of 5 years (to the day).

How do I request a No Cost Extension on my project in NRS?

• No Cost Extension is language USDA NIFA uses for competitive USDA NIFA grants. USDA NIFA grants are administered in the older, and more familiar, REEport platform. As the term implies it is a request for an extension in time but does not allow for additional grant funding. Since the projects listed in NRS are formula funded (non-competitive), No Cost Extension terminology exists within the NRS platform, and therefore NCE’s are not available for projects in NRS.

My project is about to expire or has expired but I plan to continue with the research for the past 5 years. Am I automatically renewed for another 5 years, or do I need to submit a new project in NRS?

• NRS does not have an automatic renewal for projects that have expired. You will need to resubmit a new 5-year plan of work and a new project initiation will need to take place in NRS. Once USDA NIFA has approved a project it will be considered active and approved for the period listed on the start date and end date of the
  project. You will need to compose a new written proposal and have it peer reviewed just as you did before. If you prefer to start over completely, you may. But you do not need to completely scrap your previous proposal. Just make sure to update it and make sure it is relevant for the next 5 years (Plan of Work).

When do I need to start thinking about renewing an existing project that I have in NRS?

• Approximately 6 months before your project expires in NRS, you are highly encouraged to reach out to Project Records and to remind them. Project Records will provide you with any updated guidelines or steps needed to renew your project. Once you have submitted all the paperwork to Project Records, a new project initiation can commence in NRS. It is ideal to have the project submitted to NIFA REVIEW at least 4 to 6 weeks prior to your existing project expiring, because we can set the project start date to commence the day after your current project expires.
  This ensures that you don’t have any time gaps for the funding type(s) you have in NRS. Within reason, a project can be submitted to NIFA REVIEW at any time. Even several months in advance of the start date entered on the future project.

Besides the research I plan on conducting, what are the expectations and what are my responsibilities if I have an approved project in NRS?

• USDA NIFA requires a progress report be submitted any time a project is active in NRS, at any point in time during a federal fiscal year. A project can have anywhere between 1 and 6 reports required over the life of the project and this is very much dependent on the start date and end date of the project. Reporting requirements
  are based on the federal fiscal year, which runs from October 1st of one year, through September 30th of the following year. If a 5-year project is approved to start on September 30, 2024, then that project is active for just 1 day in federal fiscal year 2024, which would require an FY2024 annual progress report. Likewise, if a project ends on 10/1/2029, then the project would have been active for 1 day in the new federal fiscal year which would require a final report be submitted. The last report will always be submitted as the final report. All other previous reports are annual progress reports.
• Reports are expected to be submitted no later than 90 days after the previous fiscal year has ended (typically around December 30th each year), or no later than 90 days past the end date on the project (this date will vary from project to project).
• Project Records has recently developed a reporting template that shows all the required reports needed over the lifetime of the project. This includes the reporting periods, the appropriate federal fiscal year the report pertains to, the reporting windows for each report, and the status for each report. The Excel template is dynamic and many of the fields in the template will automatically update, depending on the date or anytime the file is opened. If you have not received a reporting template for your project, please reach out to Project Records and this will be provided to you.

 

Project Records Contact Information:

• Kylie Daniels, Research Project Records and IACUC Assistant || daniels@ag.tamu.edu