Notice Number: NOT-DA-18-034

Key Dates

Issued by
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Purpose

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) intends to publish a series of Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) for Cooperative Agreements to solicit applications to build a network of researchers collaborating across justice and healthcare and other community-based service settings to develop effective responses to opioid misuse and opioid use disorder in justice-involved populations.

Opioid misuse and opioid use disorder consequences exist at the intersection of health and justice systems. Improving the capacity of the justice system to respond to opioid crisis with evidence-based approaches requires strong partnerships between justice systems and healthcare and other community based organizations. Supporting the development of these relationships and novel models of justice-community collaboration is a critical target in addressing the current opioid crisis. NIDA is interested in launching a network of investigators who can rapidly conduct research to address the opioid crisis in justice settings. A variety of research methods will be used, including clinical trials, implementation science research, policy evaluations and/or modeling approaches.

This Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop meaningful collaborations and appropriate projects.

Research Initiative Details

Network Structure and Objectives

The JCOIN network is intended to facilitate transdisciplinary collaborations that can create actionable, translatable insights to the justice system and community-based organizations that work with justice-involved populations who use opioids or who are at high risk of using opioids. It is expected that there will be significant collaboration across the network and network components. Components of the proposed network will include:

• Clinical Research Centers. Clinical research centers will emphasize clinical research and clinical trials, including implementation, effectiveness, and hybrid implementation-effectiveness studies. Applications will be accepted by individual applicants as well as linked applications from multiple investigators for Clinical Research Centers.

• Coordination and Translation Center. The Translation and Coordination Center will emphasize managing logistics, stakeholder engagement, and dissemination of findings and products from the JCOIN network.

• Advanced Analytics and Methodology Resource Center. The Advanced Analytics and Methodology Center will provide data infrastructure support across the cooperative and will conduct foundational research to support the work of the clinical sites, including modeling studies, national surveys, and/or systematic collection and analysis of relevant policies and laws.

Clinical Research Centers

This FOA is intended to run in parallel with companion FOAs that solicit applications for a Data Coordination and Translation Center, and an Advanced Analytics and Methodology Resource Center. Applications for each component must be submitted separately.

This initiative intends to support individual or linked clinical research project sites. Linked and individual applicants are expected to propose research questions targeting enhancing justice system capacity to respond to opioid use among justice-involved populations.

For clinical research sites, key capacities and efficiencies will include executing a range of clinical research approaches (e.g., pragmatic clinical effectiveness, implementation, and hybrid implementation-effectiveness trials) to address opioid use among justice-involved populations. Clinical Research Sites will also be expected to demonstrate capacity to execute trials in 5 or more communities where both justice and healthcare as well as other community-based partners are willing to express a commitment to participating in trials conducted by the proposed network. In the context of this initiative, a community is defined as a targeted justice setting (e.g., a jail, prison, drug court) and the network of community-based service providers that serve justice-involved individuals in residing in the same geographic area as the justice setting. Note that for linked applications, each applicant must be able to demonstrate this capacity to engage multiple communities.

Justice System Scope

For the purposes of this announcement, justice setting is broadly defined and is inclusive of prisons, jails, drug courts and other problem-solving courts (e.g., Driving While Impaired (DWI), family courts, veterans courts), policing and police diversion programs, transitions to secure settings from communities, transitions from secure settings to communities (i.e., re-entry), probation and parole, child welfare (particularly when there is concurrent involvement in other parts of the justice system), and juvenile justice. Special interest is on models to bring MAT to justice settings and to link with healthcare support upon release from jail or prison.

HEAL Initiative

This study will be part of the of the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative to speed the development and implementation of scientific solutions to the national opioid public health crisis. The NIH HEAL Initiative will bolster research across NIH to (1) improve treatment and prevention of opioid misuse and opioid use disorder and (2) enhance pain management. More information and periodic updates about the HEAL Initiative is available at: https://www.nih.gov/research-training/medical-research-initiatives/heal-initiative.

Public Law 115-141, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (signed on March 23, 2018) includes a requirement that grantees from for-profit applicant organizations must provide a 50% match and/or in-kind contribution of all federally awarded dollars under the grant award (direct costs, as well as facilities and administrative costs) for research related to opioid addiction, development of opioid alternatives, pain management and addiction treatment.

Funding Information

Estimated Total Funding TBD
Expected Number of Awards TBD
Estimated Award Ceiling TBD
Primary CFDA Numbers TBD

Anticipated Eligible Organizations

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to: