PHS Assignment Request Instructions

G.600 - PHS Assignment Request Form
The PHS Assignment Request Form may be used to
communicate specific application assignment and
review preferences to the Division of Receipt and
Referral (DRR) and to Scientific Review Officers (SROs).
This information will not be part of your assembled
application, and it will neither be made available to
program staff nor provided to reviewers. It is used
specifically to convey additional, optional information
about your preference(s) for assignment and review of
your application to DRR and SROs.
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Completing the PHS Assignment Request Form:
This form is optional. Use it only if you wish to communicate
specific awarding component assignments or review preferences. There is no requirement that all
fields or all sections be completed. You have the flexibility to make a single entry or to provide
extensive information using this form.
Note on Application Assignments: The Division of Receipt and Referral (DRR), Center for Scientific
Review (CSR) is responsible for assigning applications to awarding components such as NIH
Institutes/Centers (ICs) and other PHS agencies for funding consideration. DRR also assigns
applications to NIH Scientific Review Groups (SRGs) and Special Emphasis Panels (SEPs).

Awarding Component Assignment Suggestions (optional)
To facilitate accurate communication of any assignment preferences to NIH referral and review
staff, use the short abbreviation (e.g., NCI for the National Cancer Institute).
All assignment suggestions will be considered; however, not all assignment suggestions can be
honored. Applications are assigned based on relevance of your application to an individual
awarding component mission and scientific interests in addition to administrative requirements
such as IC participation in the funding opportunity announcement used to submit your
application.
Descriptions of the scientific areas covered by all NIH ICs and links to other PHS agency
information can be found on the PHS Assignment Information website.
You do not need to make entries in all three boxes of the “Awarding Component Assignment
Suggestions” section.
Suggested Awarding Component(s):

You may enter up to three preferences for primary assignment in the boxes in the “Suggested
Awarding Component(s)” row. Note: Your application will be assigned based on the most

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appropriate match between it, the terms of the FOA, and the mission of each possible awarding
component, with your preference(s) taken into consideration when possible.

Study Section Assignment Suggestions (optional)
To facilitate accurate communication of any review assignment preferences to NIH referral and
review staff, use the short abbreviation of the SRG/SEP you would prefer. For example, enter
“CAMP” for the NIH Cancer Molecular Pathobiology study section or enter “ZRG1HDMR” for the
NIH Healthcare Delivery and Methodologies SBIR/STTR panel for informatics. Be careful to
remove all hyphens, parentheses, and spaces when you type in the suggestion. Freeform text
(such as "special emphasis panel" or "member conflict SEP") should not be entered.
All suggestions will be considered; however, not all assignment suggestions can be honored.
More information about how to identify CSR and NIH SRGs and SEPs, including their short
abbreviations, can be found on CSR Study Sections and Special Emphasis Panel. A list of all NIH
SRGs and SEPs is also available.
While the majority of NIH research grant and fellowship applications are reviewed by CSR, some
are assigned to individual IC review groups and some are clustered for review in SRGs/SEPs,
depending on existing locus of review agreements within NIH and other PHS agencies. This limits
flexibility for honoring assignment preferences.
You do not need to make an entry in all three boxes of the "Study Section Assignment
Suggestions" section.
Suggested Study Sections:

You may enter up to three preferences for SRGs/SEPs in the boxes in the “Suggested Study
Sections” row. Use one box per individual SRG/SEP preference suggestion. All review preferences
will be considered. Note: Your application will be assigned based on the most appropriate match
between it, the terms of the FOA, and the guidelines for each SRG/SEP, with your preference(s)
taken into consideration when possible.
Note: This information is not applicable if you are submitting an application to an RFA.

Rationale for assignment suggestions (optional)
Enter the rationale (i.e., why you think the assignment is appropriate) for your Awarding
Component and Study Section suggestions.
Your answer can have a maximum of 1000 characters.

List individuals who should not review your application and why (optional)
You may list specific individuals, if any, who should not review your application and why they
should not review your application. Provide sufficient information (e.g., name, organizational
affiliation) so that the SRO can correctly identify the individual. Be prepared to provide additional
information to the SRO if needed. Simply stating “Dr. John Smith is in conflict with my application”
is not helpful.
Your answer can have a maximum of 1000 characters.

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Identify scientific areas of expertise needed to review your application
(optional)
You may list up to five general or specific types of expertise
needed for the review of your application. Limit your answers to
areas of expertise – do not enter names of individuals you would
like to review your application.

Each field can have a maximum of 40

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