No-cost extension (NCE)

No-cost extensions are widely used when project execution has been delayed (e.g., recruitment difficulties, equipment delays, COVID disruption) and funds remain unspent. US federal sponsors generally permit a first 12-month NCE under expanded authority without prior approval (with notification), with subsequent extensions requiring formal approval. UKRI typically permits NCEs up to 6 or 12 months with justification. NCEs are not intended to fund new scope or to address poor planning.

What it means on the award ledger and agreement

An approved NCE changes the project period end date recorded on the Notice of Award (or equivalent grant agreement) — it does not add a dollar to the total budget. The remaining unobligated balance already on the award becomes the funding source for the extended period; if there is little or no unspent balance, an NCE has nothing to fund and is not the right instrument (a continuation award or supplement would be).

First extension vs. later extensions

Most US federal sponsors distinguish a first, one-time no-cost extension — which many awards permit under delegated “expanded authority,” with notification rather than prior approval — from a second or later extension, which is not covered by that delegated authority and requires a formal prior-approval request with written justification to the awarding agency. At NIH, only the institution’s Signing Official, not the Principal Investigator, holds the eRA Commons permission to submit either type of extension request. Full step-by-step mechanics and current agency deadlines are covered in NIH No-Cost Extension: How to Request One and NSF No-Cost Extension: How to Request One; this entry defines the term rather than duplicating that procedural detail.

What an NCE shifts downstream

Because an NCE moves the end of the period of performance, it also moves every date that hangs off that end date. It extends the post-award phase and pushes back the start of the closeout phase by the same interval: the 90-to-120-day closeout clock under 2 CFR 200.344 does not begin running until the new period of performance actually ends. It likewise shifts the due date of the award’s final report, but it does not restart the reporting cadence for periods already completed. Critically, an NCE is not a continuation decision — no new budget period is created and no fresh programmatic review of progress is triggered, because total funding and approved scope both stay fixed.

How it differs from related terms

An NCE is not the same as carry-forward: carry-forward moves an unspent balance into a later budget period without changing the award’s end date, while an NCE changes the end date itself. It is also not a grant renewal (a competitive or non-competitive award of new funds and a new project period) — see Grant Renewal vs. No-Cost Extension for that distinction in detail.

Who decides

The recipient’s authorized institutional official (e.g., NIH’s Signing Official) submits the request; the sponsor’s grants management or program officer approves it. A PI can justify and initiate the request internally, but cannot submit it directly to most federal sponsors.

FAQ

How many no-cost extensions can a grant have? There is no universal cap, but each extension beyond the first delegated one requires increasingly specific justification, and repeated extensions on one award tend to draw sponsor scrutiny.

Does an NCE require sponsor approval? A first NCE is often self-administered under delegated authority (notification only); a second or later NCE requires the sponsor’s formal approval.

References

• 2 CFR 200.308(f) (Revision of budget and program plans), 2 CFR Part 200 — Uniform Guidance; NIH Grants Policy Statement section 8.1.1 (Standard Terms of Award); UKRI Terms and Conditions of grants.