US National Institutes of Health Needs New Controls on $23Bln Spending Per Year

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) needs new controls and assessments for the $23 billion it spends every year on biomedical research, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The three US federal agencies charged with overseeing NIH costs are the Department of Health and Human Services’ Cost Allocation Services (CAS), NIH's own Division of Financial Advisory Services (NIH-DFAS) the Department of Defense's Office of Naval Research (ONR), the report said.

"GAO is making 12 recommendations to improve controls over [NIH’s] indirect cost rate process," the report stated on Wednesday. "If these deficiencies are not addressed, there is an increased risk that these… agencies may not properly and consistently negotiate indirect cost rates."

However, the GAO warned that all three agencies' internal guidance "lacks detailed instructions to supervisors on their review responsibilities over the indirect cost rate process."

NIH spent over $23 billion to support extramural research in 2015, including $6.3 billion for indirect costs not directly attributable to a specific research project or function, the report added.