NOT-OD-10-062: UPDATE TO RFA-OD-10-009: OS Recovery Act Limited Competition: Methodology Development in Comparative Effectiveness Research (RC4) Announcement of Non-Applicability of Requirement to Attend Meetings

UPDATE TO RFA-OD-10-009: OS Recovery Act Limited Competition: Methodology Development in Comparative Effectiveness Research (RC4) Announcement of Non-Applicability of Requirement to Attend Meetings

Notice Number: NOT-OD-10-062

Key Dates
Release Date: February 17, 2010

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH), (http://www.nih.gov)

In December, 2009, the NIH announced the availability of funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) for research to enhance, develop, or evaluate methodologies to improve the efficiency, validity and credibility of comparative effectiveness research (CER) studies (RFA-OD-10-009).

Please note that the following requirement, listed under section VI, item 1, page 31 of this solicitation, DOES NOT apply:

“Applicants should plan to attend an AHRQ CER conference of awardees supported under the FOA for dissemination purposes. For budgetary purposes, applicants should plan for two representatives to travel to the Washington, D.C. area for conference presentations as arranged by AHRQ and NIA. To this end, applicants should present a relevant plan, to include involved personnel, budget justifications, and timetables appropriate to participating in such a conference. In addition, applicants should plan to attend an annual investigator’s meeting including grantees from this FOA and the companion Clinical Trials FOA.”
This Notice serves to notify potential applicants of the above changes related to this solicitation.
No other changes are being made to the funding opportunity announcement at this time.

Inquiries

This Notice is subject to restrictions on oral conversations during the period of time commencing with the submission of a formal application[¹] by an individual or entity and ending with the award of the competitive funds. Federal officials may not participate in oral communications initiated by any person or entity concerning a pending application for a Recovery Act competitive grant or other competitive form of Federal financial assistance, whether or not the initiating party is a federally registered lobbyist. This restriction applies unless:

(i) the communication is purely logistical;
(ii) the communication is made at a widely attended gathering;
(iii) the communication is to or from a Federal agency official and another Federal Government employee;
(iv) the communication is to or from a Federal agency official and an elected chief executive of a state, local or tribal government, or to or from a Federal agency official and the Presiding Officer or Majority Leader in each chamber of a state legislature; or
(v) the communication is initiated by the Federal agency official.

For additional information see http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_fy2009/m09-24.pdf

We encourage your inquiries concerning this funding opportunity and welcome the opportunity to answer questions from potential applicants. Inquiries may fall into three areas: scientific/research (program), peer review, and financial or grants management issues:

Questions concerning this Notice should be referred to the Scientific/Research Contacts:

Michael S. Lauer, M.D.
Division of Cardiovascular Sciences
National Health, Lung and Blood Institute
6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 8128
Bethesda, MD 20892
Telephone: (301) 435-0422
Fax: (301) 480-7971
Email: lauerm@nhlbi.nih.gov

Kate Bent, Ph.D.
Center for Scientific Review
National Institutes of Health
6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 3160
Bethesda, MD 20892
Telephone: 301-435-0695
Email: bentkn@csr.nih.gov

¹ Formal application includes the preliminary application and letter of intent phases of the program.