The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019, Public Law 115-245, signed into law on September 28, 2018, restricts the amount of direct salary which may be paid to an individual under Health and Human Services grants, cooperative agreements, and applicable contracts to a rate no greater than Executive Level II of the Federal Executive Pay Scale. Effective January 6, 2019, the Executive Level II salary level is $192,300.
This week, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) issued guidance regarding implementation of the HHS salary cap. In general, for FY 2019 awards:
- Salary earned between October 1, 2018 and January 5, 2019 is capped at $189,600.
- Salary earned January 6, 2019 and later is capped at $192,300.
- For awards that were proposed at the previous rate, but are awarded at the new rate, sponsors generally will not increase awards to cover the cap. In most cases, however, funds may be rebudgeted to accommodate the current cap.
All new and competing applications should reflect the new cap of $192,300. (The S2S Grants system has been updated with the new salary cap).
Current recipients should review the notices from NIH (NOT-OD-19-099) and AHRQ (NOT-HS-19-013) for complete details, or refer to the current website and/or grant policies of other HHS sponsors.
Contact your OCGA Team for further clarification or assistance.