Proposed DPCPSI Reorganization and Replicability Initiatives

By: Abigail Randolph
Thursday, February 12, 2026
During the January convening of the NIH Council of Councils meeting, council members discussed the proposed reorganization of NIH’s Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) and outlined initiatives aimed at strengthening rigor and reproducibility in biomedical research. 

DPCPSI Reorganization 
The proposed DPCPSI reorganization has been closely followed by FASEB. During the Council of Councils meeting, Nicole Kleinstreuer, PhD, Director of DPCPSI, presented additional information on the proposed DPCPSI reorganization, providing specific goals for each office and division. This restructuring is currently pending approval from the Department of Health and Human Services. 

The Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA) is intended to coordinate efforts to develop and scale the use of non-animal approaches to biomedical research, such as computational and human-based models, to reduce reliance on animal models. ORIVA would house the newly established Division for Accelerating Innovation in Biomedical Research (DAIBR) and Division of the National Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Test Methods (DNICEATM). 

• DAIBR is intended to support a program of extramural research directed at the development of new approach methodologies (NAMs). 
• DNICEATM would serve as a “coordinating hub” for interagency and international efforts to advance the development, evaluation, and use of NAMs in biomedical research. 

The Office of Research Economics, Planning, and Analysis (OREPA) is intended to develop NIH-wide strategies for metascience with input from extramural and intramural researchers; lead replication and reproducibility efforts; coordinate NIH planning, evaluation, performance, and reporting activities; and conduct portfolio analyses. OREPA would house two existing offices, the Office of Planning, Performance, Evaluation, and Reporting (OPPER) and the Office of Portfolio Analysis (OPA), and the newly established Office of Replication and Reproducibility (ORR). 

• OPPER works to strengthen strategic planning practices and improve assessment of progress toward agency goals and priorities. It also works to communicate NIH’s value while providing transparency and accountability to the public. 
• OPA develops and disseminates metrics and standards to allow decision makers to optimize research investments.
• ORR would coordinate replication and reproducibility efforts across institutes, centers, and offices (ICOs). These efforts would include the development of quantitative measures of replication success rate and methodological transparency, and collaboration with ICOs to develop training grants to support replication and reproducibility. 

Replicability Initiatives 
Jayanta “Jay” Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), discussed plans to promote rigor and reproducibility in biomedical research, a recurrent theme throughout the meeting. 

Dr. Bhattacharya expanded upon recent NIH efforts to create opportunities that support replication of foundational studies and develop incentives to encourage replication and transparent research practices. Dr. Bhattacharya also proposed the creation of an NIH-supported journal that would serve as a dedicated venue for publishing replication and null results, and he expressed in interest creating a replication study repository. The prospective role of OREPA and ORR in carrying out these initiatives, as well as the potential for funding mechanisms to support replication and reproducibility, was emphasized. These efforts build on prior efforts at the NIH to address concerns of reproducibility. 

Access materials from the meeting, along with archived videocasts.