Federal RPPR

Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)

The Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) is a federal-wide uniform progress report format for use by federal agencies that provide sponsored funding.

NIH Reporting

Annual RPPR: Required for all annual non-competing (Type 5) NIH awards.

Interim RPPR: If a renewal application has been submitted on or before the date when a Final Research Performance Progress Report (Final-RPPR) would be required for the current competitive segment, then submission of an "Interim-RPPR" via eRA Commons is required.

Final RPPR: Final Research Performance Progress Report (Final RPPR) is required for any grant that has ended and any grant that is not to be extended through the award of a new competitive segment. The report is due within 120 days of the end of the project period.

Instructions and Resources:

  • Initiating the RPPR
  • Instructions document
  • Click on the blue question marks throughout the RPPR to access additional information.
  • Review the final PDF before submitting. The PDF is what the NIH sees.
  • There are questions about foreign components. This section is currently receiving increased scrutiny. "Foreign component" is defined as significant scientific activity that was performed outside of the United States, either by the grantee or by a researcher employed by a foreign organization, whether or not grant funds were expended.
    • The following grant-related activities are significant and must be reported:
      --involvement of human subjects or research with live vertebrate animals;
      --extensive foreign travel by grantee project staff to collect data, or conduct surveys or sampling activities; or
      --any grantee activity that may have an impact on U.S. foreign policy.
    • Examples of other grant-related activities that may be significant are:
      --collaborations with investigators at a foreign site anticipated to result in co-authorship;
      --use of facilities or instrumentation at a foreign site; or
      --receipt of financial support or resources from a foreign entity.
  • Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for NIH RPPRs - NOT-OD-14-113: The progress report must include a section to describe how IDPs are used to identify and promote the career goals of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers associated with the award. If you receive an email regarding IDPs, please forward the email and provide the requested information to your SPA team. SPA will then respond to NIH. In some cases, the noncompeting continuation award may not be released until this information has been received.

  • Validations:  At any time before an RPPR is submitted to the agency, an error check can be performed to verify that the report passes the business rules and system validations in place. Any user who has access to the RPPR may perform the error check. Select the Check for Errors button from the RPPR Menu screen.

    • If errors or a warning exist, the appropriate error or warning message displays for each failure. All errors must be corrected before submission. The system will prevent submission of an RPPR containing errors. However, the system will not prevent submission of an RPPR when a warning message is displayed.

    • If all validations pass, a message displays indicating: No errors found on validation.

    • If you receive the following warning, be aware that submitting an RPPR with a non-compliant publication will delay funding until the publication is made compliant:

      Warning Message:  This progress report includes one or more publications that are out of compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy. Compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy is a legal requirement and a term and condition of all NIH awards. If you have questions about the Policy, please check the NIH Public Access Website or email PublicAccess@nih.gov. (ID: 201299)

    • If you receive the following warnings, a Human Subjects report will likely need to be submitted for this RPPR:

      Warning Messages

      G.4.b. Updates to Inclusion enrollment report(s) have not been made for study# 106730. If updates are needed, navigate to G.4 of the RPPR to access this study and update inclusion reports. (ID: 206732)

      G.4.b. The following study(s) "Study Title" have some updated information that have not yet been submitted to NIH. If you would like to provide the latest updated version to NIH, please click on Human subjects link in G.4 and submit the study(s) that are in Work in Progress status. (ID: 206732)

NOT-OD-19-108 - Required Use of the xTRACT System to Prepare Data Tables for Training Grant Research Performance Progress Reports in FY 2020. Beginning with RPPRs due on or after October 1, 2019 (FY 2020), recipients must create the required training data tables for submission with NIH and AHRQ T15, T32, T90/R90, and TL1 progress reports via the xTRACT system. 

NOT-OD-17-074: NIH Reminds Recipients to Submit Complete, Timely, and Accurate Progress and Financial Reports

NOT-OD-18-103: NIH will Make the Project Outcomes Section of all Interim and Final RPPRs Submitted on or After October 1, 2017 Available via the NIH RePORTER

Why Project Outcomes Matter in your Interim and Final RPPR

Clinical Trial Validation Errors: Errors for Non-Compliance with Clinical Trial Registration and Reporting at Time of Award and in RPPR. Validations will result in an error for grant recipients upon submission of a Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) when clinical trial registration (required 21 days after enrollment of first participant) and/or results reporting (required 12 months after trial's actual primary completion date) is overdue.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Do I need to route the RPPR in Kuali Research?

  • No, routing is not required.

Do I need to fill in the Recipient ID?

  • No, UMB will not use this field.

Who is my Signing Official?

  • Contact the SPA Proposal team to find out who will review your RPPR. It is very important to list someone on the SPA Proposal team since an email notification will be sent to the Signing Official that action is needed on the RPPR.

Who is my Administrative Official?

  • Select the manager of your SPA team.

What if one of the publications that needs to be associated with the RPPR is "non-compliant" with NIH Public Access Compliance?