New Portal Empowers NIH Inventors to Manage Royalty Payments Directly

By: Kevin Doran, Office of Technology Transfer (NIH Technology Transfer Community Newsletter)

Managing royalty payments just became easier — and more secure — for National Institutes of Health (NIH) inventors. The NIH Office of Financial Management (OFM) has launched a new secure portal feature, giving inventors and royalty recipients more direct control over their personal and payment information.

Effective March 11, 2026, inventors and legal heirs receiving royalty payments can now securely access and update their Personally Identifiable Information (PII) directly in the OFM royalty payment system (ROMANSYS). Through the portal, recipients can now review and update key information in real time.

This new self-service capability represents a major shift from prior processes, where updates to sensitive information often required manual handling by the OFM Royalty Team. This enhancement reflects a strong, coordinated effort across the NIH technology transfer community.

The NIH Office of Technology Transfer (OTT), Technology Transfer Offices, and Enterprise Technology Transfer (ETT) Support — working closely with the Data Quality Working Group — leveraged the ETT database to support a smooth and successful implementation. As part of this effort, OTT partnered with OFM to validate inventor names, mailing addresses, and email addresses for individuals who received royalty payments between FY2022 and the first half of FY2025. This critical data quality initiative helped ensure that registration communications reached the right recipients accurately and efficiently.

This enhancement supports Executive Order 14249, “Protecting America’s Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse,” and aligns with federal information security standards. It strengthens NIH’s ability to protect sensitive financial data while improving operational efficiency.

Before receiving future royalty payments, recipients will receive email instructions on how to access the portal and complete registration. These instructions will be sent to the email address currently on file in the OFM royalty payment system. OFM will continue coordinating with OTT to maintain and update inventor contact information moving forward. The next semiannual royalty payments are scheduled for June/July 2026.

To update an email address or verify existing details, inventors are asked to contact the NIH Royalty Management Team at: [email protected]

Click here to read the full NIH Technology Transfer Community Newsletter.