More on the new NIH policy on grant application revisions

In my brief original note on the new NIH policy limiting applicants to a single amendment (-01A1) of grants, I missed commenting on the accompanying press release. This latter overviews a little of the rationale for this step, starting with the problem

“Over the past several years, the number of applications submitted each year to NIH has doubled and the number of investigators applying for grants has increased by over 75 percent, increasing stress on the system, especially when confronted with stagnating budgets. This has led to scientists spending more time rewriting their applications and undue delays in the funding of outstanding projects,” Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., NIH Director said.

and laying out the goal.

This new policy will help ensure earlier funding of high-quality applications and improve efficiencies in the peer review system.

Oh it will, will it?