Since 1990, Congress has legislatively mandated a limitation on direct salary for individuals under NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards (referred to here as a grant). The mandate appears in the annual appropriation act that provides authority for NIH to incur obligations for a given Fiscal Year (FY). At this time NIH has not received a FY 2017 appropriation, and is operating under a Continuing Resolution "the Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017" (Public Law 114-254) that applies the terms and conditions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, restricts the amount of direct salary to Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale. The Executive Level II salary was previously set at $185,100, and increased to $187,000 effective January 8, 2017. For awards issued in those years that were restricted to Executive Level II (see Salary Cap Summary, FY 1990 – FY 2016), including competing awards already issued in FY2017, if adequate funds are available in active awards, and if the salary cap increase is consistent with the institutional base salary, grantees may rebudget to accommodate the current Executive Level II salary level. However, no additional funds will be provided to these grant awards. Once the Department of Health and Human Services Appropriation for FY 2017 is enacted, NIH will publish the annual Notice of legislative mandates to provide information on any statutory provisions that limit the use of NIH grant funds in FY 2017. Additional guidance on the salary cap will also be provided at that time. For a historical record of the salary cap, including effective dates, see: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/salcap_summary.htm
| Career Level | Years of Experience | Actual Stipend for FY 2016 | Projected Stipend for FY 2017 | Monthly Stipend |
| Postdoctoral | 0 | $43,692 | $47,484 | $3,957 |
| 1 | $45,444 | $47,844 | $3,987 | |
| 2 | $47,268 | $48,216 | $4,018 | |
| 3 | $49,152 | $50,316 | $4,193 | |
| 4 | $51,120 | $52,140 | $4,345 | |
| 5 | $53,160 | $54,228 | $4,519 |
