National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
U24 Resource-Related Research Projects Cooperative Agreements
- June 14, 2022 - This RFA has been reissued as RFA-DA-23-052
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support a coordinating center (CC), which will coordinate research efforts across the NIDA funded longitudinal cohorts that address emerging and high priority research on HIV/AIDS in the context of substance use and substance use disorders (SUD). The CC will serve as 1) a national data and specimen resource that harmonizes and collects data and biological samples from the NIDA cohorts and affiliated studies, and enables additional research efforts through virtual repositories; 2) a facilitator of current and future research at the intersection of HIV and substance use and SUD; and 3) the central hub for organizing and enabling communication within and outside the NIDA cohort studies program, including annual meetings, advisory and scientific oversight committees.
July 10, 2022
| Application Due Dates | Review and Award Cycles | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Renewal / Resubmission / Revision (as allowed) | AIDS | Scientific Merit Review | Advisory Council Review | Earliest Start Date |
| Not Applicable | Not Applicable | August 10, 2022 | November 2022 | January 2023 | April 2023 |
All applications are due by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization.
Applicants are encouraged to apply early to allow adequate time to make any corrections to errors found in the application during the submission process by the due date.
Not Applicable
It is critical that applicants follow the instructions in the Research (R) Instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide, except where instructed to do otherwise (in this FOA or in a Notice from NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts).
Conformance to all requirements (both in the Application Guide and the FOA) is required and strictly enforced. Applicants must read and follow all application instructions in the Application Guide as well as any program-specific instructions noted in Section IV. When the program-specific instructions deviate from those in the Application Guide, follow the program-specific instructions.
Applications that do not comply with these instructions may be delayed or not accepted for review.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) supports a program of longitudinal cohorts to address emerging and high priority research on HIV/AIDS in the context of substance use and SUD. These cohorts provide a strong resource platform for addressing imminent questions related to HIV prevention, treatment, HIV-associated comorbidities and coinfections in people who use drugs (PWUD).
This FOA aims to support a single coordinating center (CC). The CC is charged with the task of enhancing collaborations and innovation in research to address NIH’s high priority HIV research areas among the cohort investigators and other researchers engaged in the HIV and addiction research field by leveraging the rich data and biospecimen resources available through the cohorts program. The center coordinator(s) will lead the CC and is responsible for the overall performance of the project, including the development, tracking, and reporting of performance metrics by all the currently funded U01 cohort program sites. The CC will establish and maintain a virtual repository for all the behavioral, clinical, and laboratory data including virologic, immunologic, genetics and other relevant biological data collected from the NIDA-funded cohort studies that can be shared widely among the cohort investigators and their collaborators. The CC will also identify new research opportunities, approaches to addressing methodological and/or technical challenges, and strategies to disseminate information and research findings from the cohort research sites.
Background: The CC was first established in 2017 to coordinate data and biological resources generated by the NIDA funded cohort studies addressing a wide range of research topics related to HIV/AIDS and addictive substance use, and infectious diseases that are strongly syndemic with these problems. Together, these cohorts possess a combined sample size of ~12,000 participants and over 20,000 historical participants. The cohorts include diverse key populations of ethnic, sexual and gender minorities living with HIV or at high risk for HIV (e.g., men who have sex with men (MSM), African Americans and Hispanic/Latinos MSM, people who inject drugs (PWID), young MSM, people living with HIV (PLWH) and PLWH with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection, and transgender and gender nonconforming/non-binary youth (TGMY)). The list of the funded cohort programs and/or sites is available at NIDA HIV/AIDS and Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Cohort Studies | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The cohorts track and report various types of drug use (stimulants, opioids, synthetic opioids, e.g. Fentanyl, marijuana and hallucinogens), poly drug use and trends in drug use that contribute to increased risk of HIV acquisition and transmission.
The core study areas include:
- Stimulant use and its impact on HIV transmission and clinical outcomes (i.e., viral loads and CD4 cell counts)
- Microbiome and HIV pathogenesis in PWUD
- High risk behaviors associated with drug use and HIV seroconversion
- Immunologic and host genetic factors in HIV seroconversion
- Mathematical modeling and cost-effectiveness studies related to HIV, HCV, and substance use treatment and prevention services
- HIV care models and ART adherence in high risk marginalized populations
- Uptake of HIV testing and prevention services including pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP)
- Long term health consequences of HIV and ART in PWUD
- HIV associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND), aging, cardiovascular and liver disease in people co-infected with HCV
- Social determinants of health disparities related to HIV and SUD, access to care and prevention services for HIV and HIV-related comorbid conditions
- Phylogenetic analysis of HIV clusters in injecting networks
- Molecular studies of HIV infection and persistence in PWUD
Purpose of the Coordinating Center
The purpose of the CC is to coordinate research efforts across the NIDA funded longitudinal cohort programs that address emerging and high priority research on HIV/AIDS in the context of substance use and SUD and infectious diseases that are strongly syndemic with these problems. The CC is charged with the tasks of providing the organizational framework for the management, direction, and overall coordination of the NIDA’s HIV and SUD cohort programs; supporting progress of the scientific agenda of the NIDA cohort programs; and fostering collaborations across the cohort sites and the wider scientific community engaged in the HIV and addiction research. Additionally, the CC will facilitate collaborations with other major HIV cohort studies that are supported by other ICs in partnership with NIDA including the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study/Women’s Interagency HIV Study Combined Cohort Study (MACS/WIHS-CCS), the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS), The Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN), and The IeDEA Cohort Consortium in all applicable NIDA/NIH HIV research priority areas.
Functions of the Coordinating Center include but are not limited to:
- Administration and Coordination: The administrative functions include facilitating the work of cohort sites and their recipients and the NIH scientific staff in the overall program management of the initiative. Activities should include, but are not limited to:
- Provide scientific leadership, overall project management, primary oversight of the research activities and data coordinating functions across the funded cohort programs
- Organize a centralized consortium website that records, tracks and shares cohorts site activities to ensure reliability and consistency of data and biological specimens collected across the various program sites
- Develop and implement procedures for monitoring subject recruitment, retention, and dropout, and remedies as needed for meeting the enrollment targets
- Develop an organizational and administrative structure to promote communication, provide technical assistance, and facilitate interaction across the cohort sites and their PIs, including maintaining a directory and a web-portal to assist with information sharing
- Establish and manage committees and communication mechanisms that bring together the cohort program PIs and NIH Program and Science officers; establish a CC Steering Committee to develop policies governing matters such as (e.g., authorship, communications, data sharing, etc.); establish a Governance Committee, and provide logistics and management support, such as organizing annual meetings and scientific workshops, and maintaining documentation
- Establish and implement an evaluation plan for the cohort studies program, including a logic model, evaluation of data collection and sharing procedures, processes to specify, track, and assess metrics for data collection and sharing.
- Prepare and distribute regular reports to cohort site PIs and NIDA program staff that include progress and data summaries; participant demographics, enrollment and survey data; Data Safety and Monitoring Board reports, interim findings, and scientific outputs such as publications and presentations
- Implement a CC data management hub and/or model that serves as a repository for data from the cohort sites and provide appropriately deidentified data for integration in other larger NIH data sets
- Bring recipients together to reach consensus around appropriate data standards, common data elements (CDE) and data sharing methods for management of diverse data sets (e.g., qualitative, quantitative, EHR, geospatial, healthcare systems and settings, implementation data types) to enable de-identified data for public use as appropriate
- Data Collection, Integration and Sharing
The CC will manage data collection, integration, and sharing for the NIDA HIV and substance use and SUD cohort program recipients. It will apply appropriate biomedical informatics and data science approaches for managing a broad range of data types, including identifying approaches for harmonizing and merging data where feasible, working with latent variable structures, and other strategies to create a data ecosystem for the consortium. Activities must include at least the following:
- Build a CC data management capability that serves as a repository for data from the cohort studies and will facilitate linking to the other NIH cohort datasets in the larger NIH data integration framework.
- Facilitate data standardization, harmonization, integration, and analysis across the NIDA funded cohort programs
- Provide expertise and assistance on data sharing, IRB and other human subject issues, including cross-consortium human subjects consent and assent procedures
- Document and recommend standards for describing data sources, common data elements, vocabularies, storage and integration methods that support FAIR data use
- Develop and implement methodologies to pool and generate large data sets for enabling high priority HIV research; ensure data safety, integrity and confidentiality
- Provide consultation on use of standards, common data elements, common data models taking into account existing standards and resources including:
- Data Harmonization for Social Determinants of Health via the PhenX Toolkit: (www.phenxtoolkit.org)
- NIH Common Data Elements (CDE) Repository https://cde.nlm.nih.gov/
- Use of OMOP models (https://www.ohdsi.org/data-standardization/the-common-data-model/)[B[1] when applicable
- Implementation of the schemas proposed under the ABOUT ML effort ( Annotation and benchmarking on understanding and transparency for machine learning lifecycles ; available at https://www.partnershiponai.org/about-ml/
- Develop agreements about the structure and content to enable sharing and aggregation required by the cohort projects because the use of standard vocabularies, CDEs and data dictionaries will support joint analyses and sharing.
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge and expertise on new drugs and drug use trends, and emerging infectious diseases (e.g., COVID) to provide frequent communications, develop and implement new protocols or survey modules to collect appropriate data to address research questions unique to PLWH who use addictive substances.
- Communicate and provide technical assistance, as needed to encourage adherence to federal health data standards including FHIR (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-19-122.html) and USCDI (https://www.healthit.gov/isa/sites/isa/files/2020-03/USCDI-Version1-2020-Final-Standard.pdf), where applicable and within scope.
- Provide support for adherence to federal health data standards including FHIR (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-19-122.html) and USCDI (https://www.healthit.gov/isa/sites/isa/files/2020-03/USCDI-Version1-2020-Final-Standard.pdf)- which includes three NLM supported vocabulary standard for codes (and names) for drugs, tests diagnoses, symptoms, some social determinants of health, some psychologic scores and all of the Medicare/Medicaid assessments.
- Data Management and Use
The CC will provide expertise and disseminate information on emerging drugs, trends in drug use and comorbidities (e.g., Hepatitis, STIs, COVID-19).
- Establish a secured, centralized, user-friendly data hub for cohorts that can accept individual participant data including unique participant IDs. The data resource should be designed to promote and leverage standardization of data collection by identifying common data elements (CDEs) relevant SUDs and relevant social determinants of health (SDOH); prepare and release data sets via consultation with the CC Steering Committee and NIDA Program contacts following the agreed upon timelines and milestones
- Provide access to tools and resources that support needs of cohort study investigators to make their data FAIR
- Provide access to useful and practical administrative data systems that may assist research sites in identifying high-risk populations and subpopulations where increasing drug testing may be most useful. The centralized data hub with integrated data across the cohort projects and related administrative data should be available for secondary data analysis by all cohort investigators and the broader research community engaged in HIV and SUD research
Resources and Infrastructure
The CC must have ready access to appropriate infrastructure to accomplish CC activities and processes, including relevant administrative and support services, data storage and management capacity, and expertise to meet the objectives of the CC. Large datasets procured under this program should have provisions of re-use, including in data use agreements and Informed Consent for NIDA funded cohort studies or other NIDA and NIH funded studies (intramural and extramural) that NIDA partners with.
Special Considerations
National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse Recommended Guidelines for the Administration of Drugs to Human Subjects: The National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse (NACDA) recognizes the importance of research involving the administration of drugs with abuse potential, and dependence or addiction liability, to human subjects. Potential applicants are encouraged to obtain and review these recommendations of Council before submitting an application that will administer compounds to human subjects. The guidelines are available on NIDA's Web site at http://www.drugabuse.gov/funding/clinical-research/nacda-guidelines-administration-drugs-to-human-subjects.
Points to Consider Regarding Tobacco Industry Funding of NIDA Applicants: The National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse (NACDA) encourages NIDA and its grantees to consider the points it has set forth with regard to existing or prospective sponsored research agreements with tobacco companies or their related entities and the impact of acceptance of tobacco industry funding on NIDA's credibility and reputation within the scientific community. Please see http://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/advisory-boards-groups/national-advisory-council-drug-abuse-nacda/council-statements/points-to-consider-regarding-for details.
Data Harmonization for Substance Abuse and Addiction via the PhenX Toolkit: NIDA strongly encourages investigators involved in human-subjects studies to employ a common set of tools and resources that will promote the collection of comparable data across studies and to do so by incorporating the measures from the Core and Specialty collections, which are available in the Substance Abuse and Addiction Collection of the PhenX Toolkit (www.phenxtoolkit.org). Please see NOT-DA-12-008 (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-DA-12-008.html) for further details.
See Section VIII. Other Information for award authorities and regulations.
Cooperative Agreement: A support mechanism used when there will be substantial Federal scientific or programmatic involvement. Substantial involvement means that, after award, NIH scientific or program staff will assist, guide, coordinate, or participate in project activities. See Section VI.2 for additional information about the substantial involvement for this FOA.
Renewal
The OER Glossary and the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide provide details on these application types. Only those application types listed here are allowed for this FOA.
Not Allowed: Only accepting applications that do not propose clinical trials.
NIDA intends to commit $1,000,000 in FY23 to fund one award..
The project period is limited to 5 years
NIH grants policies as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement will apply to the applications submitted and awards made from this FOA.
1. Eligible Applicants
Higher Education Institutions
- Public/State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
- Private Institutions of Higher Education
The following types of Higher Education Institutions are always encouraged to apply for NIH support as Public or Private Institutions of Higher Education:
- Hispanic-serving Institutions
- Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
- Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs)
- Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions
- Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs)
Nonprofits Other Than Institutions of Higher Education
- Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
- Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
For-Profit Organizations
- Small Businesses
- For-Profit Organizations (Other than Small Businesses)
Local Governments
- State Governments
- County Governments
- City or Township Governments
- Special District Governments
- Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Federally Recognized)
- Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized)
Federal Governments
- Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government
- U.S. Territory or Possession
Other
- Independent School Districts
- Public Housing Authorities/Indian Housing Authorities
- Native American Tribal Organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Faith-based or Community-based Organizations
- Regional Organizations
Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Institutions) are not eligible to apply.
Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply.
Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed.
Applicant organizations
Applicant organizations must complete and maintain the following registrations as described in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide to be eligible to apply for or receive an award. All registrations must be completed prior to the application being submitted. Registration can take 6 weeks or more, so applicants should begin the registration process as soon as possible. The NIH Policy on Late Submission of Grant Applications states that failure to complete registrations in advance of a due date is not a valid reason for a late submission.
- System for Award Management (SAM) Applicants must complete and maintain an active registration, which requires renewal at least annually. The renewal process may require as much time as the initial registration. SAM registration includes the assignment of a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code for domestic organizations which have not already been assigned a CAGE Code.
- NATO Commercial and Government Entity (NCAGE) Code Foreign organizations must obtain an NCAGE code (in lieu of a CAGE code) in order to register in SAM.
- Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)- A UEI is issued as part of the SAM.gov registration process. SAM registrations prior to fall 2021 were updated to include a UEI. For applications due on or after January 25, 2022, the UEI must be provided on the application forms (e.g., FORMS-G); the same UEI must be used for all registrations, as well as on the grant application.
- Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Organization registrations prior to April 2022 require applicants to obtain a DUNS prior to registering in SAM. By April 2022, the federal government will stop using the DUNS number as an entity identifier and will transition to the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) issued by SAM. Prior to April 2022, after obtaining a DUNS number, applicants can begin both SAM and eRA Commons registrations. The same DUNS number must be used for all registrations, as well as on the grant application.
- eRA Commons - Once the unique organization identifier (DUNS prior to April 2022; UEI after April 2022) is established, organizations can register with eRA Commons in tandem with completing their full SAM and Grants.gov registrations; all registrations must be in place by time of submission. eRA Commons requires organizations to identify at least one Signing Official (SO) and at least one Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) account in order to submit an application.
- Grants.gov Applicants must have an active SAM registration in order to complete the Grants.gov registration.
Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD(s)/PI(s))
All PD(s)/PI(s) must have an eRA Commons account. PD(s)/PI(s) should work with their organizational officials to either create a new account or to affiliate their existing account with the applicant organization in eRA Commons. If the PD/PI is also the organizational Signing Official, they must have two distinct eRA Commons accounts, one for each role. Obtaining an eRA Commons account can take up to 2 weeks.
Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as the Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) (PD(s)/PI(s)) is invited to work with his/her organization to develop an application for support. Individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as well as individuals with disabilities are always encouraged to apply for NIH support.
For institutions/organizations proposing multiple PDs/PIs, visit the Multiple Program Director/Principal Investigator Policy and submission details in the Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Component of the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.
Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as the Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) (PD(s)/PI(s)) is invited to work with his/her organization to develop an application for support. Individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as well as individuals with disabilities are always encouraged to apply for NIH support.
For institutions/organizations proposing multiple PDs/PIs, visit the Multiple Program Director/Principal Investigator Policy and submission details in the Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Component of the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide. The CC director (PD/PI) should have multidisciplinary expertise and a working knowledge of the resources, methods, and logistics required in support of complex behavioral and clinical HIV/AIDS and SUD research being carried out by a diverse group of clinical, epidemiological, translational, and basic science investigators.
The CC director is expected to commit substantial level of effort that is required to lead and manage a complex program with diverse objectives and study goals at disperse sites.
2. Cost Sharing
This FOA does not require cost sharing as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
3. Additional Information on Eligibility
Number of Applications
Applicant organizations may submit more than one application, provided that each application is scientifically distinct.
The NIH will not accept duplicate or highly overlapping applications under review at the same time, per 2.3.7.4 Submission of Resubmission Application. This means that the NIH will not accept:
- A new (A0) application that is submitted before issuance of the summary statement from the review of an overlapping new (A0) or resubmission (A1) application.
- A resubmission (A1) application that is submitted before issuance of the summary statement from the review of the previous new (A0) application.
- An application that has substantial overlap with another application pending appeal of initial peer review (see 2.3.9.4 Similar, Essentially Identical, or Identical Applications).
1. Requesting an Application Package
The application forms package specific to this opportunity must be accessed through ASSIST, Grants.gov Workspace or an institutional system-to-system solution. Links to apply using ASSIST or Grants.gov Workspace are available in Part 1 of this FOA. See your administrative office for instructions if you plan to use an institutional system-to-system solution.
2. Content and Form of Application Submission
It is critical that applicants follow the instructions in the Research (R) Instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide except where instructed in this funding opportunity announcement to do otherwise. Conformance to the requirements in the Application Guide is required and strictly enforced. Applications that are out of compliance with these instructions may be delayed or not accepted for review.Letter of Intent
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 IC staff to estimate the potential review workload and plan the review.
By the date listed in Part 1. Overview Information, prospective applicants are asked to submit a letter of intent that includes the following information:
- Descriptive title of proposed activity
- Name(s), address(es), and telephone number(s) of the PD(s)/PI(s)
- Names of other key personnel
- Participating institution(s)
- Number and title of this funding opportunity
The letter of intent should be sent to: NIDALetterofIntent@mail.nih.gov.
Applicants are encouraged to send the letter of intent by email to the email address above but as an alternative the letter may also be sent to:
Scientific Review Branch
National Institute on Drug Abuse
3WFN 9th Floor, MSC 6021
301 North Stonestreet Ave
Bethesda, MD 20892
Page Limitations
All page limitations described in the SF424 Application Guide and the Table of Page Limits must be followed.
Instructions for Application Submission
The following section supplements the instructions found in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and should be used for preparing an application to this FOA.
SF424(R&R) Cover
All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.
SF424(R&R) Project/Performance Site Locations
All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.
SF424(R&R) Other Project Information
All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.
SF424(R&R) Senior/Key Person Profile
All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.
R&R Budget
All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.
R&R Subaward Budget
All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.
PHS 398 Cover Page Supplement
All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.
PHS 398 Research Plan
All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed, with the following additional instructions:
Resource Sharing Plan: Individuals are required to comply with the instructions for the Resource Sharing Plans as provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.
The following modifications also apply:
All applications, regardless of the amount of direct costs requested for any one year, should address a Data Sharing Plan.
Appendix:
Only limited Appendix materials are allowed. Follow all instructions for the Appendix as described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.
- No publications or other material, with the exception of blank questionnaires or blank surveys, may be included in the Appendix.
PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information
When involving human subjects research, clinical research, and/or NIH-defined clinical trials (and when applicable, clinical trials research experience) follow all instructions for the PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information form in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide, with the following additional instructions:
If you answered Yes to the question Are Human Subjects Involved? on the R&R Other Project Information form, you must include at least one human subjects study record using the Study Record: PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information form or Delayed Onset Study record.
Study Record: PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information
All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.
Delayed Onset Study
Note: Delayed onset does NOT apply to a study that can be described but will not start immediately (i.e., delayed start).All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.
PHS Assignment Request Form
All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.
3. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM)
See Part 1. Section III.1 for information regarding the requirement for obtaining a unique entity identifier and for completing and maintaining active registrations in System for Award Management (SAM), NATO Commercial and Government Entity (NCAGE) Code (if applicable), eRA Commons, and Grants.gov.
4. Submission Dates and Times
Part I. Overview Information contains information about Key Dates and times. Applicants are encouraged to submit applications before the due date to ensure they have time to make any application corrections that might be necessary for successful submission. When a submission date falls on a weekend or Federal holiday, the application deadline is automatically extended to the next business day.
Organizations must submit applications to Grants.gov (the online portal to find and apply for grants across all Federal agencies). Applicants must then complete the submission process by tracking the status of the application in the eRA Commons, NIH’s electronic system for grants administration. NIH and Grants.gov systems check the application against many of the application instructions upon submission. Errors must be corrected and a changed/corrected application must be submitted to Grants.gov on or before the application due date and time. If a Changed/Corrected application is submitted after the deadline, the application will be considered late. Applications that miss the due date and time are subjected to the NIH Policy on Late Application Submission.
Applicants are responsible for viewing their application before the due date in the eRA Commons to ensure accurate and successful submission.
Information on the submission process and a definition of on-time submission are provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.
5. Intergovernmental Review (E.O. 12372)
This initiative is not subject to intergovernmental review.
6. Funding Restrictions
All NIH awards are subject to the terms and conditions, cost principles, and other considerations described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
Pre-award costs are allowable only as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
7. Other Submission Requirements and Information
Applications must be submitted electronically following the instructions described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide. Paper applications will not be accepted.
Applicants must complete all required registrations before the application due date. Section III. Eligibility Information contains information about registration.
For assistance with your electronic application or for more information on the electronic submission process, visit How to Apply Application Guide. If you encounter a system issue beyond your control that threatens your ability to complete the submission process on-time, you must follow the Dealing with System Issues guidance. For assistance with application submission, contact the Application Submission Contacts in Section VII.
Important reminders:
All PD(s)/PI(s) must include their eRA Commons ID in the Credential fieldof the Senior/Key Person Profile form. Failure to register in the Commons and to include a valid PD/PI Commons ID in the credential field will prevent the successful submission of an electronic application to NIH. See Section III of this FOA for information on registration requirements.
The applicant organization must ensure that the unique entity identifier (DUNS number or UEI as required) provided on the application is the same number used in the organization’s profile in the eRA Commons and for the System for Award Management. Additional information may be found in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.
See more tips for avoiding common errors.
Upon receipt, applications will be evaluated for completeness and compliance with application instructions by the Center for Scientific Review and responsiveness by NIDA, NIH. Applications that are incomplete, non-compliant and/or nonresponsive will not be reviewed.
Post Submission Materials
Applicants are required to follow the instructions for post-submission materials, as described in the policy. Any instructions provided here are in addition to the instructions in the policy.
1. Criteria
Only the review criteria described below will be considered in the review process. Applications submitted to the NIH in support of the NIH mission are evaluated for scientific and technical merit through the NIH peer review system.
Reviewers will provide an overall impact score to reflect their assessment of the likelihood for the project to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research field(s) involved, in consideration of the following review criteria and additional review criteria (as applicable for the project proposed).
Reviewers will consider each of the review criteria below in the determination of scientific merit, and give a separate score for each. An application does not need to be strong in all categories to be judged likely to have major scientific impact. For example, a project that by its nature is not innovative may be essential to advance a field.
Does the project address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field? Is the prior research that serves as the key support for the proposed project rigorous? If the aims of the project are achieved, how will scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice be improved? How will successful completion of the aims change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive this field?
Does the proposed coordinating center ?
Are the PD(s)/PI(s), collaborators, and other researchers well suited to the project? If Early Stage Investigators or those in the early stages of independent careers, do they have appropriate experience and training? If established, have they demonstrated an ongoing record of accomplishments that have advanced their field(s)? If the project is collaborative or multi-PD/PI, do the investigators have complementary and integrated expertise; are their leadership approach, governance and organizational structure appropriate for the project?
Are the PD(s)/PI(s) and other personnel well suited to their roles in the coordinating centercenter]? Does the applicant have experience overseeing selection and management of subawards, if needed?
Does the application challenge and seek to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions? Are the concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions novel to one field of research or novel in a broad sense? Is a refinement, improvement, or new application of theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions proposed?
Does the application propose novel approaches to
Are the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project? Have the investigators included plans to address weaknesses in the rigor of prior research that serves as the key support for the proposed project? Have the investigators presented strategies to ensure a robust and unbiased approach, as appropriate for the work proposed? Are potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success presented? If the project is in the early stages of development, will the strategy establish feasibility and will particularly risky aspects be managed? Have the investigators presented adequate plans to address relevant biological variables, such as sex, for studies in vertebrate animals or human subjects?
If the project involves human subjects and/or NIH-defined clinical research, are the plans to address 1) the protection of human subjects from research risks, and 2) inclusion (or exclusion) of individuals on the basis of sex/gender, race, and ethnicity, as well as the inclusion or exclusion of individuals of all ages (including children and older adults), justified in terms of the scientific goals and research strategy proposed?
Are the overall strategy, operational plan, and organizational structure well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the goals of the research human subjects?
Will the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success? Are the institutional support, equipment and other physical resources available to the investigators adequate for the project proposed? Will the project benefit from unique features of the scientific environment, subject populations, or collaborative arrangements?
Will the institutional environment in which the coordinating enter] benefit from unique features of the institutional environment, infrastructure, or personnel? Are resources available within the scientific environment to support electronic information handling?
As applicable for the project proposed, reviewers will evaluate the following additional items while determining scientific and technical merit, and in providing an overall impact score, but will not give separate scores for these items.
For research that involves human subjects but does not involve one of the categories of research that are exempt under 45 CFR Part 46, the committee will evaluate the justification for involvement of human subjects and the proposed protections from research risk relating to their participation according to the following five review criteria: 1) risk to subjects, 2) adequacy of protection against risks, 3) potential benefits to the subjects and others, 4) importance of the knowledge to be gained, and 5) data and safety monitoring for clinical trials.
For research that involves human subjects and meets the criteria for one or more of the categories of research that are exempt under 45 CFR Part 46, the committee will evaluate: 1) the justification for the exemption, 2) human subjects involvement and characteristics, and 3) sources of materials. For additional information on review of the Human Subjects section, please refer to the Guidelines for the Review of Human Subjects.
When the proposed project involves human subjects and/or NIH-defined clinical research, the committee will evaluate the proposed plans for the inclusion (or exclusion) of individuals on the basis of sex/gender, race, and ethnicity, as well as the inclusion (or exclusion) of individuals of all ages (including children and older adults) to determine if it is justified in terms of the scientific goals and research strategy proposed. For additional information on review of the Inclusion section, please refer to the Guidelines for the Review of Inclusion in Clinical Research.
The committee will evaluate the involvement of live vertebrate animals as part of the scientific assessment according to the following criteria: (1) description of proposed procedures involving animals, including species, strains, ages, sex, and total number to be used; (2) justifications for the use of animals versus alternative models and for the appropriateness of the species proposed; (3) interventions to minimize discomfort, distress, pain and injury; and (4) justification for euthanasia method if NOT consistent with the AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals. Reviewers will assess the use of chimpanzees as they would any other application proposing the use of vertebrate animals. For additional information on review of the Vertebrate Animals section, please refer to the Worksheet for Review of the Vertebrate Animal Section.
Reviewers will assess whether materials or procedures proposed are potentially hazardous to research personnel and/or the environment, and if needed, determine whether adequate protection is proposed.
Not Applicable.
For Renewals, the committee will consider the progress made in the last funding period.
Not Applicable.
As applicable for the project proposed, reviewers will consider each of the following items, but will not give scores for these items, and should not consider them in providing an overall impact score.
Not Applicable.
Reviewers will assess the information provided in this section of the application, including 1) the Select Agent(s) to be used in the proposed research, 2) the registration status of all entities where Select Agent(s) will be used, 3) the procedures that will be used to monitor possession use and transfer of Select Agent(s), and 4) plans for appropriate biosafety, biocontainment, and security of the Select Agent(s).
Reviewers will comment on whether the following Resource Sharing Plans, or the rationale for not sharing the following types of resources, are reasonable: (1) Data Sharing Plan; (2) Sharing Model Organisms; and (3) Genomic Data Sharing Plan (GDS).
For projects involving key biological and/or chemical resources, reviewers will comment on the brief plans proposed for identifying and ensuring the validity of those resources.
Reviewers will consider whether the budget and the requested period of support are fully justified and reasonable in relation to the proposed research.
2. Review and Selection Process
Applications will be evaluated for scientific and technical merit by (an) appropriate Scientific Review Group(s) convened by NIDA in accordance with NIH peer review policy and procedures, using the stated review criteria. Assignment to a Scientific Review Group will be shown in the eRA Commons.
As part of the scientific peer review, all applications will receive a written critique.
Applications may undergo a selection process in which only those applications deemed to have the highest scientific and technical merit (generally the top half of applications under review) will be discussed and assigned an overall impact score.
Appeals of initial peer review will not be accepted for applications submitted in response to this FOA.
Applications will be assigned to the appropriate NIH Institute or Center. Applications will compete for available funds with all other recommended applications submitted in response to this FOA. Following initial peer review, recommended applications will receive a second level of review by the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse (NACDA) . The following will be considered in making funding decisions:
- Scientific and technical merit of the proposed project as determined by scientific peer review.
- Availability of funds.
- Relevance of the proposed project to program priorities.
3. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates
After the peer review of the application is completed, the PD/PI will be able to access his or her Summary Statement (written critique) via the eRA Commons. Refer to Part 1 for dates for peer review, advisory council review, and earliest start date.
Information regarding the disposition of applications is available in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
1. Award Notices
If the application is under consideration for funding, NIH will request "just-in-time" information from the applicant as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
A formal notification in the form of a Notice of Award (NoA) will be provided to the applicant organization for successful applications. The NoA signed by the grants management officer is the authorizing document and will be sent via email to the recipient's business official.
Recipients must comply with any funding restrictions described in Section IV.6. Funding Restrictions. Selection of an application for award is not an authorization to begin performance. Any costs incurred before receipt of the NoA are at the recipient's risk. These costs may be reimbursed only to the extent considered allowable pre-award costs.
Any application awarded in response to this FOA will be subject to terms and conditions found on the Award Conditions and Information for NIH Grants website. This includes any recent legislation and policy applicable to awards that is highlighted on this website.
Institutional Review Board or Independent Ethics Committee Approval: Recipient institutions must ensure that protocols are reviewed by their IRB or IEC. To help ensure the safety of participants enrolled in NIH-funded studies, the recipient must provide NIH copies of documents related to all major changes in the status of ongoing protocols.
2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements
All NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards include the NIH Grants Policy Statement as part of the NoA. For these terms of award, see the NIH Grants Policy Statement Part II: Terms and Conditions of NIH Grant Awards, Subpart A: General and Part II: Terms and Conditions of NIH Grant Awards, Subpart B: Terms and Conditions for Specific Types of Grants, Recipients, and Activities, including of note, but not limited to:
- Federalwide Research Terms and Conditions
- Prohibition on Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment
- Acknowledgment of Federal Funding
If a recipient is successful and receives a Notice of Award, in accepting the award, the recipient agrees that any activities under the award are subject to all provisions currently in effect or implemented during the period of the award, other Department regulations and policies in effect at the time of the award, and applicable statutory provisions.
Should the applicant organization successfully compete for an award, recipients of federal financial assistance (FFA) from HHS must administer their programs in compliance with federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age and, in some circumstances, religion, conscience, and sex (including gender identify, sexual orientation, and pregnancy). This includes ensuring programs are accessible to persons with limited English proficiency and persons with disabilities. The HHS Office for Civil Rights provides guidance on complying with civil rights laws enforced by HHS. Please see https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-providers/provider-obligations/index.html and https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/nondiscrimination/index.html
HHS recognizes that research projects are often limited in scope for many reasons that are nondiscriminatory, such as the principal investigator’s scientific interest, funding limitations, recruitment requirements, and other considerations. Thus, criteria in research protocols that target or exclude certain populations are warranted where nondiscriminatory justifications establish that such criteria are appropriate with respect to the health or safety of the subjects, the scientific study design, or the purpose of the research. For additional guidance regarding how the provisions apply to NIH grant programs, please contact the Scientific/Research Contact that is identified in Section VII under Agency Contacts of this FOA.
- Recipients of FFA must ensure that their programs are accessible to persons with limited English proficiency. For guidance on meeting the legal obligation to take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to programs or activities by limited English proficient individuals see https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/special-topics/limited-english-proficiency/fact-sheet-guidance/index.html and https://www.lep.gov.
- For information on an institution’s specific legal obligations for serving qualified individuals with disabilities, including reasonable accommodations and making services accessible to them, see http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/understanding/disability/index.html.
- HHS funded health and education programs must be administered in an environment free of sexual harassment, see https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/sex-discrimination/index.html. For information about NIH's commitment to supporting a safe and respectful work environment, who to contact with questions or concerns, and what NIH's expectations are for institutions and the individuals supported on NIH-funded awards, please see https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/harassment.htm.
- For guidance on administering programs in compliance with applicable federal conscience protection and associated anti-discrimination laws see https://www.hhs.gov/conscience/conscience-protections/index.html and https://www.hhs.gov/conscience/religious-freedom/index.html.
Please contact the HHS Office for Civil Rights for more information about obligations and prohibitions under federal civil rights laws at https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/about-us/contact-us/index.html or call 1-800-368-1019 or TDD 1-800-537-7697.
In accordance with the statutory provisions contained in Section 872 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2009 (Public Law 110-417), NIH awards will be subject to the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) requirements. FAPIIS requires Federal award making officials to review and consider information about an applicant in the designated integrity and performance system (currently FAPIIS) prior to making an award. An applicant, at its option, may review information in the designated integrity and performance systems accessible through FAPIIS and comment on any information about itself that a Federal agency previously entered and is currently in FAPIIS. The Federal awarding agency will consider any comments by the applicant, in addition to other information in FAPIIS, in making a judgement about the applicant’s integrity, business ethics, and record of performance under Federal awards when completing the review of risk posed by applicants as described in 45 CFR Part 75.205 and 2 CFR Part 200.206 Federal awarding agency review of risk posed by applicants. This provision will apply to all NIH grants and cooperative agreements except fellowships.
The following special terms of award are in addition to, and not in lieu of, otherwise applicable U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) administrative guidelines, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) grant administration regulations at 45 CFR Part 75, 2 CFR Part 200, and other HHS, PHS, and NIH grant administration policies.
The administrative and funding instrument used for this program will be the cooperative agreement, an "assistance" mechanism (rather than an "acquisition" mechanism), in which substantial NIH programmatic involvement with the recipients is anticipated during the performance of the activities. Under the cooperative agreement, the NIH purpose is to support and stimulate the recipients' activities by involvement in and otherwise working jointly with the award recipient(s) in a partnership role; it is not to assume direction, prime responsibility, or a dominant role in the activities. Consistent with this concept, the dominant role and prime responsibility resides with the recipient(s) for the project as a whole, although specific tasks and activities may be shared among the recipients and the NIH as defined below.
The PD(s) PI(s) will have the primary responsibility for:
The PD(s)/PI(s) of the coordinating center (CC) in consult with the NIDA staff will provide the overall leadership, oversight and coordination of the cohort research projects. Each individual cohort research project acts independently to accomplish its research goals.
Under this FOA, the CC will establish a virtual repository for storing all the behavioral, clinical, and laboratory data including virologic, immunologic, genetics and other relevant biological data collected from the NIDA-funded cohorts that can be shared between and among the cohort program directors and their current and future collaborating investigators.
- In close consultation with NIDA staff, the CC PD(s)/PI(s) will have the primary responsibility to convene an annual meeting where all the cohort directors and their co-investigators will share their current research efforts mutually beneficial to the cohort program.
- In close consultation with NIDA staff, the PD(s)/PI(s) of the CC will have the primary responsibility to closely work with the cohort directors to facilitate the development of new research programs at the cohort study sites.
- The CC will have the primary responsibility for identifying opportunities for engaging the research cohorts in addressing common methodological and technical challenges and issues.
- The PD(s)/PI(s) of the CC will have the primary responsibility for disseminating its findings via appropriate mechanisms such as professional scientific conferences and peer-reviewed journals that will mutually benefit the cohorts and NIDA.
- The CC will present its progress report with its research findings annually to NIDA staffs so that the individual cohort PD(s)/PI(s) and their respective collaborators can initiate new research studies or make the necessary modifications in their ongoing studies.
- The PD/PI agrees to accept close coordination, cooperation, and participation of NIDA staff in those aspects of scientific and technical management of the CC as stated in these terms and conditions.
NIH staff have substantial programmatic involvement that is above and beyond the normal stewardship role in awards, as described below:
The cooperative agreement will be assigned to a NIDA Project Scientist (PS). The PS will have substantial programmatic involvement that is above and beyond the normal stewardship role in the award and will be named in the award notice. The responsibilities of the PS include involvement during conduct of the activity, through technical assistance, advice, coordination, and/or other assistance activities that is above and beyond normal program stewardship for grants. The PS will participate in the definition of objectives and approaches used by the Coordinating Center (CC) Director in coordinating activities of the NIDA-funded cohort studies.
Areas of Joint Responsibility include:
The PD(s)/PI(s) and the PS will work closely in evaluating the most appropriate methods used to coordinate activities of the NIDA-funded cohorts and study effectiveness of the virtual repository developed under this U24 cooperative agreement.
A Steering Committee (SC), composed of the principal investigator of the CC, as well as the PD(s)/PI(s) of the various cohort studies, and NIDA Project Scientist. As the components of the SC may be geographically dispersed, the SC should meet with at least monthly conference calls, supplemented as deemed necessary by face to face meetings. Each full member will have one vote. Recipient members of the Steering Committee will be required to accept and implement all policies governing the studies approved by the established Governance Committee.
Given the nature of the activities of the coordination center where the CC Director works with several NIDA-funded cohort directors, it is recognized that timelines and interim objectives may require revision and renegotiation during the course of the project period. The Program Director/Principal Investigator and NIDA Program Officer must agree to all such revisions.
Dispute Resolution:
Any disagreements that may arise in scientific or programmatic matters (within the scope of the award) between award recipients and the NIH may be brought to Dispute Resolution. A Dispute Resolution Panel composed of three academic members who are not involved in the study will be convened. This special dispute resolution procedure does not alter the recipient's right to appeal an adverse action that is otherwise appealable in accordance with PHS regulation 42 CFR Part 50, Subpart D and DHHS regulation 45 CFR Part 16.
3. Reporting
When multiple years are involved, recipients will be required to submit the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) annually and financial statements as required in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
A final RPPR, invention statement, and the expenditure data portion of the Federal Financial Report are required for closeout of an award, as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement. NIH FOAs outline intended research goals and objectives. Post award, NIH will review and measure performance based on the details and outcomes that are shared within the RPPR, as described at 45 CFR Part 75.301 and 2 CFR Part 200.301.
The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Transparency Act), includes a requirement for recipients of Federal grants to report information about first-tier subawards and executive compensation under Federal assistance awards issued in FY2011 or later. All recipients of applicable NIH grants and cooperative agreements are required to report to the Federal Subaward Reporting System (FSRS) available at www.fsrs.gov on all subawards over the threshold. See the NIH Grants Policy Statement for additional information on this reporting requirement.
In accordance with the regulatory requirements provided at 45 CFR 75.113 and 2 CFR Part 200.113 and Appendix XII to 45 CFR Part 75 and 2 CFR Part 200, recipients that have currently active Federal grants, cooperative agreements, and procurement contracts from all Federal awarding agencies with a cumulative total value greater than $10,000,000 for any period of time during the period of performance of a Federal award, must report and maintain the currency of information reported in the System for Award Management (SAM) about civil, criminal, and administrative proceedings in connection with the award or performance of a Federal award that reached final disposition within the most recent five-year period. The recipient must also make semiannual disclosures regarding such proceedings. Proceedings information will be made publicly available in the designated integrity and performance system (currently FAPIIS). This is a statutory requirement under section 872 of Public Law 110-417, as amended (41 U.S.C. 2313). As required by section 3010 of Public Law 111-212, all information posted in the designated integrity and performance system on or after April 15, 2011, except past performance reviews required for Federal procurement contracts, will be publicly available. Full reporting requirements and procedures are found in Appendix XII to 45 CFR Part 75 and 2 CFR Part 200 Award Term and Condition for Recipient Integrity and Performance Matters.
We encourage inquiries concerning this funding opportunity and welcome the opportunity to answer questions from potential applicants.
eRA Service Desk (Questions regarding ASSIST, eRA Commons, application errors and warnings, documenting system problems that threaten submission by the due date, and post-submission issues)
Finding Help Online: http://grants.nih.gov/support/ (preferred method of contact)
Telephone: 301-402-7469 or 866-504-9552 (Toll Free)
General Grants Information (Questions regarding application instructions, application processes, and NIH grant resources)
Email: GrantsInfo@nih.gov (preferred method of contact)
Telephone: 301-480-7075
Grants.gov Customer Support (Questions regarding Grants.gov registration and Workspace)
Contact Center Telephone: 800-518-4726
Email: support@grants.gov
Richard A. Jenkins, PhD
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Telephone: (301) 443-1923
E-mail: jenkinsri@mail.nih.gov
Dharmendar Rathore, PhD
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Telephone: 301-402-6965
Email: dharmendar.rathore@nih.gov
Pamela Fleming
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Telephone: 301-480-1159
Email: pfleming@nih.gov
Recently issued trans-NIH policy notices may affect your application submission. A full list of policy notices published by NIH is provided in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts. All awards are subject to the terms and conditions, cost principles, and other considerations described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
Awards are made under the authorization of Sections 301 and 405 of the Public Health Service Act as amended (42 USC 241 and 284) and under Federal Regulations 42 CFR Part 52 and 45 CFR Part 75 and 2 CFR Part 200.
and Human Services (HHS)
