The CCTS promotes IRB reliance through NCATS' Streamlined, Multisite, Accelerated Reliance for Trials (SMART) IRB to support the protection of human subjects in multisite research projects. Use of SMART IRB not only reduces time-to-activation for clinical trials and studies based on two or more sites, but also facilitates negotiation of multisite clinical trial contracts. All CCTS Partners that perform interventional human subjects research have formally agreed to use IRB reliance and are joining SMART IRB.

SMART IRB also offers educational materials, tools, and checklists to support the review and conduct of multisite research, including streamlined standard operating procedures.