LIMITED COMPETITION FOR EQUIPMENT SUPPLEMENTS TO MBRS SCORE GRANTS
RELEASE DATE: October 31, 2002
RFA: GM-03-006
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
(http://www.nigms.nih.gov)
Letter of Intent Receipt Date: November 29, 2002
Application Receipt Date: December 30, 2002
THIS RFA CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION
o Purpose of this RFA
o Program Objectives
o Mechanism(s) of Support
o Funds Available
o Eligible Institutions
o Individuals Eligible to Become Principal Investigators
o Special Requirements
o Where to Send Inquiries
o Letter of Intent
o Submitting an Application
o Peer Review Process
o Review Criteria
o Receipt and Review Schedule
o Award Criteria
o Required Federal Citations
PURPOSE
Minority Opportunity for Research (MORE) Division, Minority Biomedical
Research Support (MBRS) Branch of the National Institute of General Medical
Sciences (NIGMS) announces a limited initiative to solicit competing
supplemental applications to acquire laboratory equipment. The purpose of
these supplemental grants is to assist Support for Continuous Research
Excellence (SCORE) grantee institutions in acquiring and maintaining
individual pieces of equipment or establishing an equipment core. Although
equipment is an allowable cost in SCORE grants, these supplements should
provide the research faculty with equipment that is either not readily
available or is lacking but that is essential to conducting their research.
The supplemental funds may be used to purchase new equipment or to upgrade
existing equipment for use by investigators in the biological, behavioral or
biomedical related sciences.
PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
Background
In the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, NIH was encouraged to increase the
number of underrepresented minorities participating in biomedical and
behavioral research. In response to the Act, the NIGMS established the MBRS
program which includes the SCORE initiative. The purpose of the MBRS
program is to assist biomedical and behavioral research faculty to develop
competitive research programs at minority-serving institutions and to
increase the number of underrepresented minority scientists professionally
engaged in biomedical research. In addition, the MBRS Branch recognizes
that eligible institutions are diverse in institutional environment and
mission. Therefore, with respect to evaluation, the SCORE program requires
that each institution set its own goals and measurable objectives that are
based on its self assessment and that it identify anticipated milestones for
achievements.
Types of Equipment Requests
Individual Equipment Items: Applicants may request costs for individual
pieces of equipment necessary to facilitate progress in a particular
research subproject. Justification for the equipment should be based on its
utility to drive the research forward and its present unavailability at that
institution.
Multi-user research core facilities: Costs for multi-user research core
facilities are allowable. The core may include substantial equipment and
services that will be shared by multiple research subprojects of the
program. A plan for access to the facility, its maintenance, management and
use must be included. The core may also include a technical assistant to
maintain and service the equipment and instruct faculty and students in its
use. To aid in the review, it is suggested that a tabular summary show the
estimated or actual proportional use of this core component by each project,
and other investigators and students. Justify this core component by
discussing ways in which these centralized services improve quality, bring
about an economy of effort, and/or save overall costs as compared to their
inclusion as part of each research subproject. Plans to maintain the core
facility beyond the grant period should be discussed. Support for large
pieces of equipment, however, may be limited by the MBRS budget.
MECHANISMS OF SUPPORT
This RFA will use competing supplements (Type 3) to an existing NIH SO6 MBRS
award mechanism. As an applicant you will be solely responsible for
planning, directing, and executing the proposed project. For equipment,
this is a one-time solicitation and awards are not renewable. Institutions
that responded to this solicitation in FY2002 are eligible to reapply.
FUNDS AVAILABLE
NIGMS intends to commit approximately $3-7 million in FY 2003 to fund
supplemental equipment grants in response to this RFA. Because the nature
and cost of the equipment may vary, it is anticipated that the size of each
award will also vary. Although the financial plans of NIGMS provide support
for this supplement program, awards pursuant to this RFA are contingent upon
the availability of funds and the receipt of a sufficient number of
meritorious applications. At this time, it is not known if this RFA will be
reissued.
ELIGIBLE INSTITUTIONS
Eligible institutions are those with current MBRS SCORE grants.
Institutions must have at least one year of support remaining at the time of
award and the supplemental award may not extend beyond the parent grant.
MBRS SCORE institutions that responded to this RFA in FY2002 are eligible to
reapply.
INDIVIDUALS ELIGIBLE TO BECOME PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
The PI for this supplement must be the PI (Program Director) of the parent MBRS
SCORE grant.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Although requests for equipment should be justified with regard to enhancing
the progress of the research, it must not change the scope of the research
project(s).
A progress report will be required as a part of a subsequent non-competing
application (Type 5), competing renewal (Type 2) application, or of the
close-out package if a competing renewal application is not awarded. This
progress report should describe the benefits derived from institution-wide
use of the equipment and provide specific information on overall use of the
equipment or equipment core.
Allowable costs
Support for equipment for a subproject and/or equipment for core facilities
may be requested. The minimum cost allowable is for a single piece of
equipment is $20,000 and the maximum is $750,000. The minimum aggregate
cost allowable is $50,000 and the maximum is $1,000,000. Three price quotes
are required for all individual equipment costing more than $25,000 and
these quotes must be provided with the grant application. Applications
without the required price quotations will be considered incomplete and will
not be reviewed. In addition, when fully justified, support for a technical
assistant to maintain and teach others in the use of the equipment is
allowed. Support may be requested during competitive renewal of MBRS SCORE
grants (up to $40,000 per year) for continued support of personnel beyond
the supplement-funded period.
Consultation with the program officer is encouraged if questions arise (see
INQUIRIES below).
Unallowable Costs
Unallowable costs include:
o Computers for individual use;
o Computers and audiovisual equipment for general classroom use;
o Supplies and other laboratory items whose cost is less than $20,000.
WHERE TO SEND INQUIRIES
We encourage inquiries concerning this RFA and welcome the opportunity to answer
questions from potential applicants. Inquiries may fall into three areas:
scientific/research, peer review, and financial or grants management issues:
o Direct inquiries regarding programmatic issues to:
Chief, MBRS Branch
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
45 Center Drive, Room 2As.37, MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
Telephone: (301)594-3900
FAX: (301)480-2753
E-mail: mbrs-more@nigms.nih.gov
o Direct inquiries regarding review issues to:
Helen R. Sunshine, Ph.D.
Chief, Office of Scientific Review
National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH
45 Center Drive, Room 3AN.12F, MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
Telephone: (301)594-2881
FAX: (301)480-8506
E-mail: sunshinh@nigms.nih.gov
o Direct inquiries regarding fiscal matters to:
Antoinette Holland
Grants Management Officer
Grants Management Branch
Division of Extramural Activities
National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH
45 Center Drive, Room 2AN.50, MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
Telephone: (301)594-5132
FAX: (301)480-2554
E-mail: hollanda@nigms.nih.gov
LETTER OF INTENT
Prospective applicants are asked to submit no later than November 29, 2002 a
letter of intent to apply for these supplements. In this letter of intent,
include:
o a descriptive title of the proposed project,
o the name, address, and telephone number of the MBRS current grant program
director who must be the PI of the supplemental application,
o the names of other key personnel, and
o the number and title of the RFA.
Although a letter of intent is not required, is not binding, and does not enter
into the review of a subsequent application, the information that it contains
allows NIGMS staff to estimate the potential review workload and plan the review.
The letter of intent is to be sent by the date listed at the beginning of
this document. The letter of intent should be sent to:
Derrick C. Tabor, Ph.D.
Program Director, MORE Division
NIGMS
45 Center Drive, Room 2AS.37, MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-3900
Telelephone: (301) 594-3900
Fax: (301) 480-2753
E-mail: tabord@nigms.nih.gov
SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION
Applications must be prepared using the PHS 398 research grant application
instructions and forms (rev. 5/2001). The PHS 398 is available at
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html in an interactive format.
For further assistance contact GrantsInfo, Telephone (301) 710-0267, Email:
GrantsInfo@nih.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INSTRUCTIONS:
In addition to following the PHS 398 instructions for supplements, for
example, all supplements are required to have a one page introduction, the
supplementary instructions below should also be followed.
RESEARCH PLAN (Not to exceed 25 pages)
Under the Research Plan, the PI should provide the information requested
below. This section may not exceed 25 pages. Equipment quotations, letters
from collaborators and consultants, and the checklist are excluded from the
25 page limit.
Section 1: Describe how the requested equipment has (1) relevance to the
institution's goals and specific objectives, (2) immediate utility to
specific research project(s), and (3) how the investigator(s) will take
advantage of unique features of the equipment to enhance progress of the
research project(s). Describe how the requested equipment will provide an
innovative approach to the research being conducted. Describe how the
equipment will significantly enhance the scientific environment in which the
research is being conducted and how it will contribute to the probability of
meeting the goals and objectives of the SCORE program.
Section 2: Describe the plan for maintenance of the requested equipment and
how the institution will assist in support of the equipment requested.
Section 3: Describe your plans to share data generated from the requested
equipment (if applicable).
Section 4: Complete Section 3 ("Facilities and Administrative Costs") of the PHS
398 Form Checklist.
USING THE RFA LABEL: The RFA label available in the PHS 398 (rev. 5/2001)
application form must be affixed to the bottom of the face page of the
application. Failure to use this label could result in delayed processing
of the application such that it may not reach the review committee in time
for review. The RFA number must appear on the label. In addition, the RFA
title and number must be typed on line 2 of the face page of the application
form and the YES box must be marked. The RFA label is also available at:
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/label-bk.pdf.
SENDING AN APPLICATION TO THE NIH: Submit a signed typewritten original of the
application, including the Checklist, and three signed photocopies of the
application in one package by December 30, 2002 to:
Center for Scientific Review
National Institutes of Health
6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 1040, MSC 7710
Bethesda, MD 20892-7710
Bethesda, MD20817 (for express/courier service)
At the time of submission to CSR, two additional copies of the application must be
sent to:
Office of Scientific Review
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
45 Center Drive, Room 3AN.12, MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
APPLICATION PROCESSING: Applications must be received by the application receipt
date listed in the heading of this RFA. If an application is received after that
date, it will be returned to the applicant without review.
The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) will not accept any application in
response to this RFA that is essentially the same as one currently pending
initial review, unless the applicant withdraws the pending application. The
CSR will not accept any application that is essentially the same as one
already reviewed. This does not preclude the submission of substantial
revisions of applications already reviewed, but such applications must
include an Introduction addressing the previous critique.
PEER REVIEW PROCESS
Upon receipt, applications will be reviewed for completeness by the CSR and
responsiveness by the NIGMS. Incomplete and/or non-responsive applications will
be returned to the applicant without further consideration.
Applications that are complete and responsive to the RFA will be evaluated for
scientific and technical merit by an appropriate peer review group convened by the
NIGMS in accordance with the review criteria stated below. As part of the initial
merit review, all applications will:
o Receive a written critique
o Undergo a selection process in which only those applications deemed to
have the highest scientific merit, generally the top half of applications
under review, will be discussed and assigned a priority score
o Receive a second level review by the National Advisory General Medical
Sciences Council.
REVIEW CRITERIA
The goals of NIH-supported research are to advance our understanding of
biological systems, improve the control of disease, and enhance health. In
the written comments, reviewers will be asked to discuss the following
aspects of your application in order to judge the likelihood that the
proposed research will have a substantial impact on the pursuit of these
goals:
o Significance
o Approach
o Innovation
o Investigator
o Environment
The scientific review group will address and consider each of these criteria in
assigning your application's overall score, weighting them as appropriate for each
application. Your application does not need to be strong in all categories to be
judged likely to have major scientific impact and thus deserve a high priority
score. For example, you may propose to carry out important work that by its
nature is not innovative but is essential to move a field forward.
Applications submitted in response to this RFA are supplemental to an
existing award. Since these were previously reviewed using the NIH standard
review criteria, the following review criteria will be used to determine the
merit of the supplemental application for equipment:
(1) SIGNIFICANCE: For research subproject equipment: Does the requested
equipment have relevance and immediate utility and will the investigator
take advantage of unique features of the equipment to enhance progress of
his/her research project? For equipment core: Does the proposed equipment
core satisfy the needs of specific research and pilot projects and is there
a plan for coordinating equipment core use by several faculty members?
(2) APPROACH: For subproject equipment: Is there a plan for its maintenance?
For equipment core: If technical assistance for core is requested, does the
technician have the appropriate background and skills to maintain the
equipment and instruct others in its use? If a technical assistant is not
requested, is the plan for its maintenance and service adequate?
(3) INNOVATION: For all equipment: Has the investigator shown that the
equipment will provide an innovative approach to accomplishing the original
aims of the research project(s)?
(4) INVESTIGATOR: For subproject equipment: Has the investigator been
productive in documenting his/her research findings in refereed journals?
Will this equipment enhance his/her productivity?
(5) ENVIRONMENT: For all equipment: Will the equipment significantly enhance
the scientific environment in which the research is being conducted and
contribute to the probability of meeting the goals and objectives of the
SCORE program? For all equipment: Is there evidence of institutional
support?
ADDITIONAL REVIEW CRITERIA: In addition to the above criteria, your application
will also be reviewed with respect to the following:
PROTECTIONS: The adequacy of the proposed protection for humans, animals, or the
environment, to the extent they may be adversely affected by the project proposed
in the application.
INCLUSION: The adequacy of plans to include subjects from both genders, all
racial and ethnic groups (and subgroups), and children as appropriate for the
scientific goals of the research. Plans for the recruitment and retention of
subjects will also be evaluated. (See Inclusion Criteria included in the section
on Federal Citations, below.)
DATA SHARING: The adequacy of the proposed plan to share data.
BUDGET: The reasonableness of the proposed budget and the requested period of
support in relation to the proposed research.
RECEIPT AND REVIEW SCHEDULE
Letter of Intent Receipt Date: November 29, 2002
Application Receipt Date: December 30, 2002
Peer Review Date: March 2003
Council Review: May 2003
Earliest Anticipated Award Date: June 1, 2003
AWARD CRITERIA
Award criteria that will be used to make award decisions include:
o The likelihood that the applicant institution will fulfill the proposed
project objectives and further the goals of the MBRS program
o Scientific merit (as determined by peer review)
o Availability of funds
o Programmatic priorities
REQUIRED FEDERAL CITATIONS
INCLUSION OF CHILDREN AS PARTICIPANTS IN RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN SUBJECTS: The
NIH maintains a policy that children (i.e., individuals under the age of 21) must
be included in all human subjects research, conducted or supported by the NIH,
unless there are scientific and ethical reasons not to include them. This policy
applies to all initial (Type 1) applications submitted for receipt dates after
October 1, 1998.
All investigators proposing research involving human subjects should read the "NIH
Policy and Guidelines" on the inclusion of children as participants in research
involving human subjects that is available at
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/children/children.htm.
REQUIRED EDUCATION ON THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN SUBJECT PARTICIPANTS: NIH policy
requires education on the protection of human subject participants for all
investigators submitting NIH proposals for research involving human subjects.
Refer to this policy announcement in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts
Announcement, dated June 5, 2000, at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-
files/NOT-OD-00-039.html.
URLs IN NIH GRANT APPLICATIONS OR APPENDICES: All applications and proposals for
NIH funding must be self-contained within specified page limitations. Unless
otherwise specified in an NIH solicitation, Internet addresses (URLs) should not
be used to provide information necessary to the review because reviewers are under
no obligation to view the Internet sites. Furthermore, reviewers are cautioned
that their anonymity may be compromised when they directly access an Internet
site.
HEALTHY PEOPLE 2010: The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving the
health promotion and disease prevention objectives of "Healthy People 2010," a
PHS-led national activity for setting priority areas. This PA is related to one or
more of the priority areas. Potential applicants may obtain a copy of "Healthy
People 2010" at
http://www.health.gov/healthypeople/Document/tableofcontents.htm#volume1.
AUTHORITY AND REGULATIONS
This program is described in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No. 93-
375. Sections 301 and 405 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended authorize
awards, and these are administered under PHS grants policies and Federal
Regulations 42 CFR part 52c, 45 CFR part 74, and 45 CFR part 92. See also Senate
Appropriations Committee Report, No. 92-316, July 29, 1971, Executive Order 12900,
Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans February 22, 1994, Executive Order
12876, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, November 1, 1993, and
Executive Order 13021, October 21, 1996 and Outline of Work Plan, August 18, 1998,
White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities. Applications are not
subject to the intergovernmental review requirements of Executive Order 12372 or
Health Systems Agency review.
The PHS strongly encourages all grant and contract recipients to provide a smoke-
free workplace and promote the non-use of all tobacco products. In addition,
Public Law 103-227, the Pro-Children Act of 1994, prohibits smoking in certain
facilities (or in some cases, any portion of a facility) in which regular or
routine education, library, day care, health care or early childhood development
services are provided to children. This is consistent with the PHS mission to
protect and advance the physical and mental health of the American people.