NIH Announces Plan to Consolidate Peer Review Processes

By: Yvette Seger
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
On the evening of March 6, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a news release announcing the agency’s intentions to centralize peer review for all applications for grants, cooperative agreements, and research and development contracts within its Center for Scientific Review (CSR). The news item noted in the opening paragraph that the proposed approach “is expected to save more than $65 million annually by eliminating duplicative efforts across the agency, making the review process more efficient.” The notice also touted that consolidation would “improve quality, consistency, and integrity of review while maximizing competition of similar science across the agency.”

Currently, CSR oversees peer review processes for 78 percent of funding applications submitted to NIH. Nearly all of NIH’s individual Institutes and Centers (I/Cs) – 23 of 27 – maintain their own review offices to oversee review of funding opportunities specific to each I/C’s priorities and strategic plan. The newly announced plan would eliminate I/C-specific review processes and staff and consolidate them within CSR.

It is unclear whether this announcement is connected to the March 3 announcement that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – NIH’s parent department – rescinded its longstanding policy of requiring public comment for rulemaking associated with public property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts (see related article). Per the final paragraph of the news item, “NIH’s proposal is now under review with implementation pending external review. This includes review by HHS and the Office of Management and Budget, providing Congress with a 15-day notification period, and issuing a Federal Register Notice.”