ADDENDUM to RFA CA-05-012   COMMUNITY NETWORKS TO REDUCE CANCER HEALTH 
DISPARITIES 

RELEASE DATE:  June 9, 2004

NOTICE: NOT-CA-04-018

National Cancer Institute (NCI) 
 (http://www.nci.nih.gov)

Clarifications for CA-05-012, Community Networks Program (CNP) 

This addendum is to inform potential applicants of the following points 
of clarification that resulted from the pre-application conference held 
on May 26, 2004. 

1) Large, regional, and local projects
 
A large-scale project (up to $1.75 million/year) has a Headquarters 
area and four or more additional geographic areas for a total of at 
least five areas.  In general, these are national in scope or cover a 
number of states.  A regional project (up to $1.0 million/year) has a 
Headquarters area and two to three other geographic areas for a total 
of three to four areas. The regional projects do not have to involve 
multiple states.  A local project (up to $500K/year) has a Headquarters 
area and up to one other area for a total of up to two areas. 
Partnerships with community-based organizations, primary/secondary 
prevention facilities, and community hospitals need to be established 
for each area.

If your needs are greater than those that can be covered by 
$500,000/year, then you need to justify the greater amount.  There is a 
large separation between the requirements for a local ($500,000) and 
the regional and large CNPs in terms of requirements.  The larger CNPs 
have the requirement that  the applicant must have a demonstrated 
history of achievements in work with community-based organizations in 
the areas of community-based participatory awareness, research, and 
training.   For regional or large CNP projects there is a requirement 
for two proposed research projects (each 10-page in length with a term 
of one-year and budget of $75,000 total cost).  Thus, the requirements 
increase significantly for the regional and large CNP applicants.   The 
program goal is to increase the number of local CNP awards.  
          
2)  Form at least four collaborations with other NCI programs 

To demonstrate the ability to  Form at least four collaborations with 
other NCI programs,  the applicant may describe previous experience in 
health disparities-related research and issues with NCI-funded 
activities, NIH-funded activities, or other experiences demonstrating 
your collaborative experience in that area. Although applicants are 
welcome to contact extramural program staff at NCI for information 
concerning NCI-supported programs, extramural staff cannot provide 
either  letters-of-endorsement or letters-of-support  for grant 
applications.

During the course of the 5-year grant, NCI 
Centers/Divisions/Offices/Centers or other NCI-funded programs will 
initiate collaborations requesting CNP involvement in health disparity 
activities, such as recruitment to clinical trials or participation in 
energy balance activities.  The CNP will be required to form at least 
four of these types of collaborations during the 5 years of the grant.  
Providing information on previous activities involving disparities 
gives an indication of the applicant’s ability to fulfill the 
collaboration objective.  

3) Qualifying populations

Racial/ethnic minorities and/or underserved populations with 
disparities are the qualifying populations.  If possible, baseline data 
indicating the current level of disparities should be reported so that 
the reduction in disparities can be more easily measured in the future.  

Non-racial/ethnic minority communities would need to qualify as 
underserved populations.  It is the responsibility of the applicant to 
document that the proposed community is underserved and the nature of 
its disparities.

4) Requirements for  proposed research projects  

The purpose of the proposed research projects is to demonstrate the 
ability of the applicant to perform community-based participatory 
research.  Each proposed research project application is comprised of a 
10-page proposal for period of one year of funding with a total budget 
of $75,000.  There will be no additional funding for these projects.  
The awardee must implement this proposed research during the course of 
the grant.  The mechanism for the implementation of the research is 
left to the awardee.  For example, the proposed research project could 
be performed using funding from the grant, or the project can be 
submitted as a pilot project when the awardee transitions to Phase II. 
The proposed research projects will be evaluated by the review group 
using the NIH review R01 criteria of significance, approach, 
innovation, investigator, and environment.  Applicants requesting 
$1,000,000 or more are required to submit two pilot projects.  The 
proposals are submitted as appendices to the grant application. 

5) Applications to Phases I, II, and III 

All applicants apply for Phase I grants; more experienced applicants, 
such as previous Special Population Network grantees and other 
qualified applicants, may also apply for Phase II grants.  Once the 
grant is awarded, the transition to Phase II and later to Phase III 
does not require the submission of a new PHS 398 grant application.  
The transitions will be authorized by NCI program staff within the 
grant award of the CNP project. 

Each new application should address the investigator’s ability to 
perform the proposed Phase I objectives.  In addition, the applicant 
should fully discuss the Research Design and Methods of the proposed 
CNP.  Reviewers will assess the applicant’s ability to perform these 
tasks. 

6) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)  

An MOU is requested in the RFA.  It outlines the specific roles and 
responsibilities of the partner and the CNP.  It is more detailed than 
a simple letter-of-support. The MOU may be conditional on obtaining the 
award.  For any partnership for which the grant will provide funds, a 
budget and budget justification for each partnership with the proposed 
amount and the purpose of the funds are required.    

Additional updated information about the RFA is available at the 
Community Networks Program 
Website, http://crchd.nci.nih.gov/RFA/index.htm

INQUIRIES

Inquiries regarding this notice may be directed to:

Kenneth C. Chu, Ph.D.
Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities
National Cancer Institute
6116 Executive Blvd, Room 602
Bethesda, MD 20892-8341
Rockville, MD  20852 (for express/courier service)
Telephone:  (301) 496-8589
FAX:  (301)-435-9225
Email: [email protected]

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