A No-Cost Extension (NCE) is an award action that extends the end date of a sponsored project without providing additional funding. An NCE should be requested when a project’s end date is approaching, but the research needs to continue. For example, if a project is behind schedule due to a delayed shipment of a piece of equipment essential to the scope of work, the investigator may need to request an NCE.

The request of time should be in line with any remaining work on the project and should be justified according to programmatic impact. Funds must be available in the 53 account to support the project for the additional period of time, which may include support of committed effort. Simply having funds remaining is not a valid reason to request an extension, and an NCE does not authorize additional spending on new activities beyond those in the original project.

Because an NCE is an award amendment, it must be submitted to a sponsor through a CSU authorized official. A number of federal agencies have delegated the authority for approving the first NCE to the institution. Even so, all NCE requests (except for requests to the NSF as noted below) should be submitted to the appropriate OSP Team via email and should contain:

• Sponsor Award #
• Award title
• Name of CSU PI
• KR Award #
• Current end date
• Requested end date
• Valid justification for the extension

Below is an example of an email request for a no-cost extension.

In addition to the information shown above, some sponsors may want to know the amount of funds remaining in the account, others may request a budget that indicates how funds will be spent during the extension, whereas others may require a progress report accompany the NCE request.

Because NCE’s are requested to complete the scope of work, a measurable amount of PI effort should be shown during the extension period. When effort is not charged to a project or used to meet a mandatory cost share, 1% minimum effort during the NCE period must be documented internally. See CSU’s Effort Policy FAQs. In instances where a modest amount of time is requested in order to close out the project, documented effort is not required.

Many agencies recommend an NCE request be submitted at least 45-calendar days prior to the end of the project period. Please allow additional time for OSP to receive and process the NCE request. Requirements regarding the timing of an NCE request vary by sponsor, so it is important that you plan ahead and read the terms and conditions of the award. Some sponsors require submission via their electronic research administration portal, while others accept NCE requests by email to the grants officer and program manager. All NCEs must be approved by the grants officer at the sponsoring agency.

For questions regarding requesting an NCE, contact your SRA.