Notice Number: NOT-AG-17-005
Key Dates
Release Date: February 24, 2017
None
Issued by
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Purpose
This Notice is a time-sensitive Request for Information (RFI) inviting comments and suggestions for NIA to use in planning the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Alzheimer’s Disease Bypass Budget (ADBB). The NIA will consider responses to this RFI in conjunction with past research recommendations and milestones, as well as current input from other NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs) to identify and establish research priorities for the FY 2019 ADBB.
Background
Section 230, Division G of the FY 2015 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, mandates that the NIH submit an annual professional judgment budget for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias, through FY 2025. The exact language of SEC. 230 reads as follows:
Hereafter, for each fiscal year through fiscal year 2025, the Director of the NIH shall prepare and submit directly to the President for review and transmittal to Congress, after reasonable opportunity for comment, but without change, by the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care, and Services, an annual budget estimate (including an estimate of the number and type of personnel needs for the NIH institutes and centers) for the initiatives of the NIH pursuant to the National Alzheimer’s Plan, as required under section 2(d)(2) of Public Law 111 375.
This request reflected the United State's determination to end the scourge of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). NIH prepared its latest professional judgment budget proposal for AD and AD Related Dementias (ADRD) for FY 2018: https://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/stopping-alzheimers-disease-and-related-dementias/about-fy-2018-bypass-budget.
For the development of the FY 2018 ADBB, NIA utilized information gathered at the 2015 AD Research Summit, the 2016 ADRD Summit, and from responses to the 2016 NIA ADBB RFI. NIH-NIA staff used this information in combination with the research milestones and priorities noted below to estimate the necessity for additional research funding of AD and ADRD to achieve by 2025 the ultimate goal of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, which is to develop interventions to prevent the onset of AD and ADRD and/or find effective treatments for those patients with AD and ADRD (in whom prevention did not succeed).
As requested by Congress, the ADBB is to be updated annually through FY 2025. The FY 2018 budget proposal focused on funding needed for investigator-initiated research grants and NIH initiatives that would spur research beyond NIH’s base budget allocated in the previous year. The FY 2018 ADBB arose from an extensive review and planning process that gauged progress in research, assessed emerging and new scientific opportunities to build on that progress, and calculated the additional funds necessary to capitalize on those opportunities and move more quickly in the most promising directions. The FY 2018 proposal also reflected the heavy and growing public health and financial burden of Alzheimer’s and related dementias on individuals, families, caregivers, services, and society.
As part of the FY 2018 Budget development process, the NIA assembled and budgeted for a set of FY 2018 milestones for ADF and ADRD: https://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/stopping-alzheimers-disease-and-related-dementias/about-fy-2018-bypass-budget (scroll down for link to milestone PDF). These milestones were extracted from a broader set of long-range milestones (the full set of research implementation milestones can be found here: https://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/milestones) that have taken into account high priority areas that were identified through the 2012 and 2015 AD Research Summits (https://www.nia.nih.gov/about/events/2012/alzheimers-disease-research-summit-2012-path-treatment-and-prevention; https://www.nia.nih.gov/about/events/2014/alzheimers-disease-research-summit-2015).
The eight Common Alzheimer’s Disease Research Ontology (CADRO) categories provided the overarching framework for the FY 2018 Alzheimer’s Disease Bypass Budget and narrative (see: https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/dn/common-alzheimers-disease-research-ontology-cadro). CADRO also provided the framework for the International Alzheimer's Disease Research Portfolio (IADRP) and will allow tracking of implementation in the budget areas in future years (see: http://iadrp.nia.nih.gov/).
Information Requested
This RFI encourages input from stakeholders throughout the scientific-research community, including policymakers, advocates, patients and caregivers, and the public at large. Input can address a range of topics that NIA will consider in the development of the FY 2019 ADBB, including the current state of science, notable research priorities moving forward, and potential conceptual or technical barriers to overcome.
In keeping with the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease, the FY 2019 ADBB will of course focus on basic research on AD and ADRD. However, the FY 2019 ADBB will also propose support for clinical trials and other kinds of translational research, including research initiatives focusing on caregivers/caregiving to patients with AD and ADRD.
Topics of interest for responses to this RFI Respondents include but are not limited to:
- Suggestions for additional research areas of emphasis (not already identified in current milestones and updates); and
- Emerging research needs and/or opportunities.
How to Submit a Response:
All comments must be submitted via email to this address: niaplanning@nia.nih.gov and are limited to 300 words or less.
Comments must be received by 11:59:59 pm (ET) on March 27, 2017.
Responses to this RFI are voluntary. Please do not include any proprietary, classified, confidential, trade secret, or sensitive information in your response. Comments/responses will be reviewed by NIH-NIA staff. NIH-NIA will not provide feedback on submitted comments/responses.
The Federal Government can use the information submitted in response to this RFI at its discretion and reserves the right to use any submitted information on Federal Government, NIH-NIA, and (other) public websites, in reports, in summaries of the state of the science, in any possible resultant solicitation(s), grant(s), or cooperative agreement(s), or in the development of future funding opportunity announcements.
This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation, grant, or cooperative agreement, or as an obligation on the part of the Federal Government, the NIH, or individual NIH Institutes and Centers to provide support for any ideas identified in response to it. The Government will not pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for the Government’s use of such information. No basis for claims against the U.S. Government shall arise as a result of a response to this request for information or from the Government’s use of such information.
We look forward to your input and hope that you will share this RFI with your colleagues.
Inquiries
Please direct all inquiries to:
Samir Sauma, Ph.D., M.P.H.
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Telephone: 301-496-3121
Email: niaplanning@nia.nih.gov
and Human Services (HHS)
