Part 1. Overview Information

Key Dates

February 10, 2026 by 11:59 PM Eastern Time.

February 8, 2028 by 11:59 PM Eastern Time.

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.

Applicants should be aware that on-time submission means that an application is submitted error free (of both Grants.gov and eRA Commons errors) by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on the application due date.  
 

All applications are due by 11:59 PM Eastern Time.

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.

No late applications will be accepted for this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).

Not Applicable

May 2026: May 2028

September 2026; September 2028

Not Applicable

Conformance to all requirements, both in the the Research (R) Instructions How to Apply - Application Guide and in the NOFO, is required and strictly enforced. Applicants must read and follow all application instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide as well as any program-specific instructions noted in Section IV of this NOFO or an applicable related Notice posted to the Guide for Grants and Contracts. When the program-specific instructions deviate from those in the How to Apply - Application Guide, follow the program-specific instructions.

Applications that do not comply with these instructions may be delayed or not accepted for review.

There are several options available to submit your application through Grants.gov to NIH and Department of Health and Human Services partners. You must use one of these submission options to access the application forms for this opportunity.

1. Use the NIH ASSIST system to prepare, submit and track your application online.
2. Use an institutional system-to-system (S2S) solution to prepare and submit your application to Grants.gov and eRA Commons to track your application. Check with your institutional officials regarding availability.
   
   
3. Use Grants.gov Workspace to prepare and submit your application and eRA Commons to track your application.



Table of Contents
Part 1. Overview Information
Key Dates
Part 2. Full Text of Announcement
Section I. Notice of Funding Opportunity Description
Section II. Award Information
Section III. Eligibility Information
Section IV. Application and Submission Information
Section V. Application Review Information
Section VI. Award Administration Information
Section VII. Agency Contacts
Section VIII. Other Information

Part 2. Full Text of Announcement

Section I. Notice of Funding Opportunity Description

1. Research Objectives

1.A. Background

The FDA Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD) was created to identify and promote the development of orphan products. Orphan products are drugs, biologics, medical devices, and medical foods that are indicated for rare diseases or conditions. Rare diseases, as generally defined in the US Orphan Drug Act (ODA), are diseases or conditions with a prevalence of fewer than 200,000 persons in the US.  Approximately 30 million Americans are affected by more than 10,000 known rare diseases but only a few hundred have approved treatments. Unlike common diseases, there is little existing knowledge on the initial manifestations, major symptoms and limitations of day-to-day function, which makes drug development challenging. To address this, it is critical to study the natural history of rare diseases.

Per the March 2019 FDA Draft Guidance for Industry and Other Stakeholders entitled, Rare Diseases: Natural History Studies for Drug Development: The natural history of a disease is traditionally defined as the course a disease takes in the absence of intervention in individuals with the disease, from the disease’s onset until either the disease’s resolution or the individual’s death.  A natural history study is a preplanned observational study intended to track the course of the disease.  Its purpose is to identify demographic, genetic, environmental, and other variables (e.g., treatment modalities, concomitant medications) that correlate with the disease’s development and outcomes. Natural history studies are likely to include patients receiving the current standard of care and/or emergent care, which may alter some manifestations of the disease.

Information obtained from a natural history study plays an essential role at every stage of product development, such as identifying the patient population, identifying or developing clinical outcome assessments and biomarkers, and when appropriate, serving as external controls. Natural history studies are observational/non-interventional in nature and may be retrospective or prospective.

To ensure that natural history studies provide optimal support for rare disease product development, it is critical to have standardized approaches to ensure data quality. Natural history studies should have well-defined and documented protocols before study initiation, while potentially incorporating flexible and innovative approaches in study design as the understanding or treatment of the disease evolves. Further, given the limited number of patients affected by a given rare disease and the potential for patients to be geographically dispersed or considering enrollment in other natural history studies or clinical trials, collaborative and efficient approaches are fundamental.   

Development of Biomarkers and COAs in conjunction with Natural history study:

The development and/or validation of biomarkers and clinical outcome assessments for rare diseases in conjunction with a prospective natural history study are also essential for clinical trial design and identification of appropriate endpoints.

• Biomarkers are a defined characteristic that is measured as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or responses to an exposure or intervention, including therapeutic interventions. Molecular, histologic, radiographic, or physiologic characteristics are types of biomarkers. A digital biomarker is a characteristic or set of characteristics, collected from digital health technologies, that is measured as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or responses to an exposure or intervention, including therapeutic interventions. A biomarker is not an assessment of how an individual feels, functions, or survives. They can be used to diagnose disease or define disease subtypes, determine susceptibility/risk, assess prognosis, monitor disease, predict therapeutic response. FDA encourages applicants to refer to the FDA Resources About Biomarkers and Qualification for biomarker FAQs and guidance.
• A COA is a measure that describes or reflects how a patient feels, functions, or survives. Types of COAs include Patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures; Observer-reported outcome (ObsRO) measures; Clinician-reported outcome (ClinRO) measures; and Performance outcome (PerfO) measures. COAs are used to capture data which measure treatment benefit or risk in medical product clinical trials. FDA encourages applicants to refer to FDA Resources About COAs for FAQs and guidance.

This FOA is intended to support prospective or retrospective, efficient, and innovative natural history studies with a focus on collaborative and standardized approaches to ensure data quality and interpretability. FDA encourages consideration of assessment timings that will be used in future clinical trials when planning natural history.  Applicants should refer to "Rare Diseases: Natural History Studies for Drug Development, Guidance for Industry" for guidance on the conduct of a natural history study, considerations to enhance interpretability of study results, and discussion on data collection standards and data quality and integrity. FDA encourages applicants to refer to "Rare Diseases: Considerations for the Development of Drugs and Biological Products" for guidance on conducting more efficient and successful drug development programs. Applicants are also encouraged to refer to Guidance Documents for Rare Disease Drug Development for selected guidances relevant to rare disease drug development and information on the Orphan Products Grants Program website before applying for this opportunity.

1.B. Research Objectives
 

FDA is interested in supporting natural history studies that address unmet needs in rare diseases. To that end, and based on the criteria outlined below, FDA has identified the following areas of interest for the purpose of this NOFO: 

1. Ability to exert a significant impact in the field of rare diseases for future clinical trials.

2. Inclusion of high quality, interpretable data using well-defined protocols with a rigorous and standardized approach to data collection and analysis, utilization of common data elements, plans for minimization of bias, data sharing across sites, data dissemination and collaborative use of data.

3. Use of existing infrastructure, resources, and collaboration among stakeholders in industry, academia, and patient organizations.

Innovative and Efficient Trial Approaches:

FDA is interested in supporting innovative and efficient trial designs supporting the advancement of drug development for rare diseases and will allow for additional funding with justification for applications proposing the use of one or more of the following:

• Prospective natural history studies collecting longitudinal clinical data in conjunction with the development of drug development tools such as clinical outcome assessments and/or biomarkers.
• Natural history studies using machine learning and/or data modeling and simulation to enhance trial population enrichment through a better understanding of such things as susceptibility/risks to disease outcomes, disease progression, and defining disease subtypes.

These approaches may hold significant promise for the advancement of therapeutic treatments for rare diseases through all phases of product development. Early engagement with FDA review divisions to discuss the use of these innovative approaches is highly recommended prior to submitting a grant application (e.g., preIND, INTERACT, other meetings).

See Section VIII. Other Information for award authorities and regulations.

Section II. Award Information

HHS grants policies as described in the HHS Grants Policy Statement will apply to the applications submitted and awards made from this NOFO.

Section III. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants

Higher Education Institutions

• Public/State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
• Private Institutions of Higher Education

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 

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 Organizations)

Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations) are eligible to apply.

Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are 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 How to Apply - 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. Failure to complete registrations in advance of a due date is not a valid reason for a late submission, please reference the HHS Grants Policy Statement for additional information

• 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. The same UEI must be used for all registrations, as well as on the grant application.
• eRA Commons - Once the unique organization identifier is established, organizations can register with eRA Commons in tandem with completing their 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 their organization to develop an application for 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 How to Apply - Application Guide. 

Multiple PDs/PIs 
The decision of whether to apply for a grant with a single PD/PI or multiple PDs/PIs is the responsibility of the investigators and applicant organizations and should be determined by the scientific goals of the project. Applications for grants with multiple PDs/PIs will require additional information, as outlined in the instructions below. More than one PD/PI (i.e., multiple PDs/PIs), may be designated on the application for projects that require a team science approach and therefore clearly do not fit the single-PD/PI model. Additional information on the implementation plans and policies and procedures to formally allow more than one PD/PI on individual research projects is available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/multi_pi.

When multiple PDs/PIs are proposed, FDA requires one PD/PI to be designated as the "Contact PI, who will be responsible for all communication between the PDs/PIs and the FDA, for assembling the application materials outlined below, and for coordinating progress reports for the project. The contact PD/PI must meet all eligibility requirements for PD/PI status in the same way as other PDs/PIs, but has no other special roles or responsibilities within the project team beyond those mentioned above.

Information for the Contact PD/PI should be entered in item 14 of the SF424 (R&R) form. All other PDs/PIs should be listed in the Research & Related Senior/Key Person Profile and assigned the project role of PD/PI. Please remember that all PDs/PIs must be registered in the eRA Commons prior to application submission. The Commons ID of each PD/PI must be included in the Credential field of the Research & Related Senior/Key Person component. Failure to include this data field will cause the application to be rejected.  All projects proposing Multiple PDs/PIs will be required to include a new section describing the leadership plan approach for the proposed project.

Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan
For applications designating multiple PDs/PIs, a new section of the research plan, entitled Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan [item 7 of the PHS 398 Research Plan] must be included. A rationale for choosing a multiple PD/PI approach should be described.  The governance and organizational structure of the leadership team and the research project should be described, and should include communication plans, process for making decisions on scientific direction, and procedures for resolving conflicts. The roles and administrative, technical, and scientific responsibilities for the project or program should be delineated for the PDs/PIs and other collaborators.

If budget allocation is planned, the distribution of resources to specific components of the project or the individual PDs/PIs should be delineated in the Leadership Plan. In the event of an award, the requested allocations may be reflected in a footnote on the Notice of Award (NoA).

Applications Involving a Single Institution
When all PDs/PIs are within a single institution, follow the instructions contained in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

Applications Involving Multiple Institutions
When multiple institutions are involved, one institution must be designated as the prime institution and funding for the other institution(s) must be requested via a subaward to be administered by the prime institution. When submitting a detailed budget, the prime institution should submit its budget using the Research & Related Budget form. All other institutions should have their individual budgets attached separately to the Research & Related Subaward Budget Attachment(s) Form. See Section R.310 of the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide for further instruction regarding the use of the subaward budget form.

2. Cost Sharing

This NOFO does not require cost sharing as defined in the HHS 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 FDA 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 FDA 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).

Section IV. Application and Submission Information

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 NOFO. 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 How to Apply - Application Guide except where instructed in this notice of funding opportunity to do otherwise. Conformance to the requirements in the How to Apply - 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 FDA staff to estimate the potential review workload and plan the review. No responsiveness decision will be made based on the letter of intent.

By the date(s) 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), email 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 via electronic mail as a PDF file with the NOFO Number and the Institution's Name in the message subject heading to:

Katherine Needleman
Director, Orphan Products Grants Program
Email:  [email protected]

Page Limitations

All page limitations described in the How to Apply - Application Guide and the Table of Page Limits must be followed, with the following exceptions or additional requirements:

For this specific NOFO, the Research Strategy section is limited to 12 pages.

A resubmission application must include an Introduction Section of the Research Strategy (1 page maximum) addressing the most recent objective review critique (Summary Statement). 

The following section supplements the instructions found in the How to Apply - Application Guide and should be used for preparing an application to this NOFO.

SF424(R&R) Cover

All instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide must be followed.

Applicable only to Resubmission, Renewal, and Revision Applications:

• For field 4. a. Federal Identifier - The Federal Identifier is required.  Include only the IC and serial number of the previously assigned award number (e.g., use FD007777 from 1U01FD007777-01).
• For field 8. TYPE OF APPLICATION - select one of the following:
• Resubmission- Check this option when submitting a revised (altered or corrected) or amended application.  Please see additional Resubmission requirements under the Research Strategy.
• Renewal - Check this option if you are requesting additional funding for a period subsequent to that provided by a current award. Please see additional Renewal requirements under the Research Strategy.
• Revision- Check this option for competing revisions and non-competing administrative supplements. 

SF424(R&R) Project/Performance Site Locations

All instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide must be followed.

SF424(R&R) Other Project Information

All instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide must be followed.

SF424(R&R) Senior/Key Person Profile

All instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide must be followed.

R&R Budget

All instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide must be followed.

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed with the following additional instructions:

• Applications requesting multiple years of support must complete and submit a separate detailed budget breakdown and narrative justification for each year of financial support requested.
• Applications requesting additional funding (up to $200,000 total costs per year) for innovative and efficient trial approaches must submit a clear description and justification as to how they have met the requirements as outlined in the Appendix Section below (limited to 3 pages).  This description and justification must be included as an appendix to the application. Applications not meeting these requirements may be requested to reduce their budget. 
• Description of any additional funds expected to be contributed by other sources (including the applicant) to the study prior to FDA grant funding and those to be used during the proposed funding period should be included and described in the budget justification section separate from FDA request justification. Details should be provided on total amounts, location of sources, and confirmation if these funds have been secured.
• If an applicant is requesting indirect costs as part of their budget, a copy of the most recent Federal indirect cost rate or F&A agreement must be provided as part of the application submission.  This agreement should be attached to the RESEARCH & RELATED Other Project Information Component as line #12 ‘Other Attachments’
• If the applicant organization has never established an indirect cost rate and/or does not have a negotiated Federal indirect cost rate agreement, a de minimis indirect cost rate of 10 percent (10%) of modified total direct costs (MTDC) will be allowed.  MTDC means all direct salaries and wages, applicable fringe benefits, materials and supplies, services, travel, and subaward and subcontracts up to the first $25,000 of each subaward or subcontract.  MTDC excludes equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, rental costs, tuition remission, scholarships and fellowships, participant support costs and the portion of each subaward and subcontract in excess of $25,000.
• Indirect/F&A costs under grants to foreign and international organizations will be funded at a fixed rate of 8 percent of modified total direct costs (MTDC), exclusive of tuition and related fees, direct expenditures for equipment, and subawards in excess of $25,000. (With the exception of the American University of Beirut and the World Health Organization, which are eligible for full F&A cost reimbursement). Awards to domestic organizations with a foreign or international consortium participant may include 8 percent of MTDC, exclusive of tuition and related fees, direct expenditures for equipment, and subawards in excess of $25,000.
   

R&R Subaward Budget

All instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide must be followed.

PHS 398 Cover Page Supplement

All instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide must be followed.

PHS 398 Research Plan

All instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide must be followed, with the following additional instructions:

Research Strategy: The following sections should be included under the Research Strategy following the guidelines in Section V. Application Review Information:

1. Rationale
2. Study Design including Data Quality and Interpretability
3. Inclusion of Patient Input
4. Investigator(s), Infrastructure and Financial Resources
5. Ability to Advance the Current Field

Rare Disease Prevalence:
The Rationale Section of the Research Strategy should also include a subsection with the specific heading “Rare Disease Prevalence.”  This subsection should include documentation to support that the estimated prevalence of the orphan disease or condition in the United States is rare. The term rare disease or condition is defined in 21 U.S.C. 360ee. Generally, FDA considers drugs, devices, and medical foods potentially eligible for grants under this grant program if they are indicated for a disease or condition that has a prevalence of fewer than 200,000 people in the United States or in the case of an acute disease (i.e., less than 1 year duration), an annual incidence of less than 200,000 per year.  For studies proposing assessing multiple rare diseases, supportive prevalence data for each rare disease is required.

Additional information may be required upon request, for example, regarding population estimate and rationale. This additional information may be required, in part, to assure that human clinical trials of drugs are eligible to receive funding under the OOPD Grants Program.  21 U.S.C. 360ee(b)(1)(A). See Section VIII, Other Information - Required Federal Citations, for policies related to this announcement.

Support of Product Development:
The Rationale Section of the Research Strategy should also include a subsection with the heading “Support of Product Development.” This subsection should include an explanation of how the proposed study will address critical knowledge gaps, to remove major barrier(s) to progress in the field, exert a significant and broad impact on a specific rare disease or multiple rare diseases with similar pathophysiology, and meet data standards to inform rare disease product development. If the proposal is for multiple products or multiple rare diseases, a plan as to how the applicant intends to proceed with product development in collaboration with multiple sponsors should be provided in the grant application.

Resubmissions:
FDA will not accept any application in response to this FOA that is essentially the same as one currently pending initial merit review unless the applicant withdraws the pending application.  However, the FDA will accept a resubmission application addressing the criteria in this announcement. A resubmission application must include an Introduction Section of the Research Strategy (1 page maximum) addressing the most recent objective review critique (Summary Statement).  The Summary Statement issued from OOPD must be included as an Appendix in the resubmission application. A resubmission application must otherwise also be complete and stand-alone from previous versions. Resubmissions are intended for those applications that were previously submitted to OOPD, reviewed and received a score on the application.   

Study Monitoring Plan:
The Study Design/Data Quality and Interpretability Section of the Research Strategy should include a further subsection with the heading "Study Monitoring Plan."  This subsection should include a proposed plan for monitoring. This subsection should include a proposed plan for monitoring. The specific approach to monitoring will depend on features of the clinical trial to be conducted e.g., several levels of monitoring: Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), Study Monitoring Committee (SMC), and Independent Medical Monitor (IMM). Monitoring activities should be appropriate to the study, study phase, population, research environment, and degree of risk involved.  Guidance is available at: https://www.fda.gov/media/116754/download. This section will detail the parties responsible for monitoring, what will be monitored, and the frequency (which will depend on such factors as the study design, interventions and anticipated recruitment rate). The plan will specify individual and study "stopping guidelines" and other criteria for the monitors to follow.  Guidance on these topics is available at: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/RegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM127073.pdf

Renewals
For Renewal applications, the Research Strategy should include a brief Progress Report that summarizes Progress to Date and accomplishments achieved during the current funding period. The Progress Report should include a summary of the specific aims of the previous project period and the importance of the findings, progress made towards achievements, explanation on any significant changes to the specific aims and any new directions.

Letters of support:
Letters of support should not be included as part of the Research Strategy and instead should be uploaded to line 9 on the PHS 398 Research Plan Form.

Letters of support should be included for the following areas:

1) Study Sites: The leader(s) of the existing clinical research institutions that will conduct the study should describe their site support, including relevant resources and study infrastructure, and an estimate of the number of patients with the target rare disease(s) who would be eligible for the study;

2) Patient Engagement: There must be evidence that patient input has been obtained in a meaningful way. A current letter(s) from patient(s)/caregiver(s)/patient organizations describing early and ongoing engagement in trial design should be provided.

Resource Sharing Plan: Individuals are required to comply with the instructions for the Resource Sharing Plans as provided in the How to Apply - Application Guide.

with the following modification: 

All applications, regardless of the amount of direct costs requested for any one year, should address a Data Management and Sharing Plan.

Other Plan(s): Note: Effective for due dates on or after January 25, 2023, the Data Management and Sharing Plan will be attached in the Other Plan(s) attachment in FORMS-H application forms packages.

All instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide must be followed, with the following additional instructions:

• All applicants planning research (funded or conducted in whole or in part by the FDA) that results in the generation of scientific data are required to comply with the instructions for the Data Management and Sharing Plan. All applications, regardless of the amount of direct costs requested for any one year, must address a Data Management and Sharing Plan. 

Appendix:

Only limited Appendix materials are allowed. Follow all instructions for the Appendix as described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide with the following additional requirements:

Do not use the Appendix to circumvent page limits.

The Appendices should include the following, as appropriate for the proposed study:

1. Protocol: The full final protocol must be provided in an appendix section.
2. Informed Consent: Consent forms, assent forms, and any other information given to a subject must be provided. The applicant is referred to HHS and FDA regulations at 45 CFR 46.116 and 21 CFR 50.25 for details regarding the required elements of informed consent.
3. Drug Development Tools: Any relevant protocols or questionnaires related to clinical outcome assessment development, biomarker development, or machine learning/data modeling or simulation.
4. Innovative and Efficient Approach: Applications requesting additional funding (up to $200,000   total costs per year) for innovative and efficient trial approaches must submit a clear description and justification as to how the requirements as outlined below are met (limited to 3 pages)

• Prospective natural history studies collecting longitudinal clinical data in conjunction with the development of drug development tools such as clinical outcome assessments and/or biomarkers.
• Natural history studies using machine learning and/or data modelling and simulation to enhance trial population enrichment through a better understanding of such things as susceptibility/risks to disease outcomes, disease progression, and defining disease subtypes.

These approaches may hold significant promise for the advancement of therapeutic treatments for rare diseases through all phases of product development. Early engagement with FDA review divisions to discuss the use of these innovative approaches is highly recommended prior to submitting a grant application (e.g., preIND, INTERACT, other meetings).

5. Summary Statement: Resubmissions must provide the previous OOPD Summary Statement in an appendix section and should include a point-by-point rebuttal to those critiques.

PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information

When involving human subjects research, clinical research, and/or FDA-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 How to Apply - 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 How to Apply - Application Guide must be followed.

PHS Assignment Request Form

All instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide must be followed.

Foreign Organizations

Foreign (non-U.S.) organizations must follow policies described in the HHS Grants Policy Statement, and procedures for foreign organizations described throughout the How to Apply Application Guide.

3. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM)

See Part 2. 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. 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, FDA's electronic system for grants administration. FDA 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. Late applications will not be accepted for this FOA.

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 How to Apply - Application Guide.

5. Intergovernmental Review (E.O. 12372)

This initiative is not subject to intergovernmental review.

6. Funding Restrictions

All FDA awards are subject to the terms and conditions, cost principles, and other considerations described in the HHS Grants Policy Statement.

Pre-award costs are allowable only as described in the HHS Grants Policy Statement. 

Additional funding restrictions may be part of the Notice of Award. 

Protection of Human Research Subjects

 
All institutions engaged in human subject research financially supported by HHS must file an assurance of protection for human subjects with the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) (45 CFR 46). See Office of Human Research Protections for guidance on human subject protection issues. Federal regulations (45 CFR 46) require that applications and proposals involving human subjects must be evaluated with reference to the risks to the subjects, the adequacy of protection against these risks, the potential benefits of the research to the subjects and others, and the importance of the knowledge gained or to be gained.

The requirement to file an assurance applies to both awardee and collaborating performance site institutions. Awardee institutions are automatically considered to be engaged in human subject research whenever they receive a direct HHS award to support such research, even where all activities involving human subjects are carried out by a subcontractor or collaborator. In such cases, the awardee institution bears the responsibility for protecting human subjects under the award.

The awardee institution is also responsible for, among other things, ensuring that all collaborating performance site institutions engaged in the research hold an approved assurance prior to their initiation of the research. No awardee or performance site institution may spend funds on human subject research or enroll subjects without the approved and applicable assurance(s) on file with OHRP. An awardee institution must, therefore, have a single IRB and assurance. The single IRB may be an IRB already being used by one of the performance sites, but it must specifically be registered as the single IRB with OHRP.

For further information, applicants should review the section on human subjects in the application instructions as posted on the Grants.gov application Web site. The clinical protocol should comply with ICHE6 Good Clinical Practice Consolidated Guidance which sets an international ethical and scientific quality standard for designing, conducting, recording, and reporting trials that involve the participation of human subjects. All human subject research regulated by FDA is also subject to FDA's regulations regarding the protection of human subjects (21 CFR part 50 and 21 CFR part 56 and Guidance for Institutional Review Boards and Clinical Investigators). Applicants are encouraged to review the regulations, guidance, and information sheets on human subject protection and good clinical practice available at FDA's site on Clinical Trials and Human Subject Protection.

Key Personnel and Human Subject Protection Education 

The awardee institution is responsible for ensuring that all key personnel receive appropriate training in their human subject protection responsibilities. Key personnel include all principal investigators, co-investigators, and performance site investigators responsible for the design and conduct of the study. HHS, FDA, and OOPD do not prescribe or endorse any specific education programs. Many institutions have already developed educational programs on the protection of research subjects and have made participation in such programs a requirement for their investigators. Other sources of appropriate instruction might include the online tutorials offered by the Office of Human Subjects Research, NIH at http://ohsr.od.nih.gov/ and by OHRP at https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/education-and-outreach/index.html.

Within 30 days of the award, the principal investigator should provide a letter to FDA's grants management office that includes the names of the key personnel, the title of the human subjects protection education program completed for each key personnel, and a one-sentence description of the program. This letter should be signed by the principal investigator and cosigned by an institution official and sent to the Grants Management Specialist whose name appears on the official Notice of Grant Award (NGA). 

7. Other Submission Requirements and Information

Applications must be submitted electronically following the instructions described in the How to Apply - 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 field of 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 the FDA. See Section III of this NOFO for information on registration requirements.

The applicant organization must ensure that the unique entity identifier provided on the application is the same identifier used in the organization's profile in the eRA Commons and for the System for Award Management. Additional information may be found in the How to Apply - Application Guide.

See more tips for avoiding common errors.

Upon receipt, applications will be evaluated for completeness and compliance with application instructions by the assigned FDA Grants Management Specialist and responsiveness by components of participating organizations. Applications that are incomplete, non-compliant and/or nonresponsive will not be reviewed. 

Mandatory Disclosure

Recipients or subrecipients must submit any information related to violations of federal criminal law involving fraud, bribery, or gratuity violations potentially affecting the federal award. See Mandatory Disclosures, 2 CFR 200.113 and HHS Grants Policy Statement.

Send written disclosures to the FDA Chief Grants Management Officer listed on the Notice of Award for the IC that funded the award and to the HHS Office of Inspector Grant Self Disclosure Program at [email protected]. 

Post Submission Materials

Post-submission materials are those submitted after submission of the grant application but prior to objective review. They are not intended to correct oversights or errors discovered after submission of the application. FDA accepts limited information between the time of initial submission of the application and the time of objective review. Applicants must contact the assigned Grants Management Specialist to receive approval, prior to submitting any post submission materials. Acceptance and/or rejection of any post submission materials is at the sole discretion of the FDA. Any inquiries regarding post submission materials should be directed to the assigned Grants Management Specialist.

In unusual circumstances, additional information may be considered, on a case by case basis, for inclusion in the objective expert panel review, however, the FDA cannot assure inclusion of any information after the receipt date other than evidence of final IRB approval, and FWA or assurance. 

Section V. Application Review Information

1. Criteria

Only the review criteria described below will be considered in the review process.  Applications submitted to the FDA in support of the FDA mission are evaluated for scientific and technical merit through the FDA objective review system.

General Information

FDA grants management and program staff will review all applications sent in response to this funding opportunity announcement. To be responsive, an application must be submitted in accordance with the requirements of this notice. Applications found to be non-responsive will receive notice that the application will not be reviewed.

Program Responsiveness Review Criteria

The following criteria will be used to decide whether or not an application is responsive to this RFA.

1. Applications must propose an observational/non-interventional natural history study for rare diseases or conditions. These natural history studies can be either prospective or retrospective.

2. The Rationale Section of the Research Strategy section of the application must contain information documenting that the disease or condition to be treated meets the definition of a rare disease or condition, as defined in 21 U.S.C. 360ee.  Prevalence calculations should be provided along with citations. For studies proposing to assess multiple rare diseases, supportive prevalence data for each rare disease is required.

3.  The Rationale Section of the Research Strategy section of the application must include an explanation of how the proposed study will address critical knowledge gaps, to remove major barrier(s) to progress in the field, exert a significant and broad impact on a specific rare disease or multiple rare diseases with similar pathophysiology, and meet data standards to inform rare disease product development.

4. The requested time must not exceed 4 years for a prospective study or 2 years for a retrospective study.

5. Appropriate documentation is needed including the study protocol, informed consent and assent form, and any other pertinent drug development tools or protocols.  These should be submitted as appendices to the application.  Letters of support regarding study sites and patient engagement are also required.

6.  Page limits, font size and margins should comply with the Application Guide, Electronic Submission of Grant Applications. (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/how-to-apply-application-guide.html), with the exceptions noted in the Page Limitations section above for Resubmissions.

7.  Additional information may be required upon request after submission of an application to determine responsiveness, for example, regarding population estimate and rationale. This additional information may be required, in part, to assure that the proposal is eligible to receive funding under the OOPD grant program.  21 U.S.C. 360ee(b)(1)(A).

Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact FDA to resolve any questions about criteria before submitting their application. Please direct all questions of a technical or scientific nature to the OOPD program staff and all questions of an administrative or financial nature to the grants management staff (see Agency Contacts in Section VII of this document).

Responsive applications will be reviewed and evaluated for scientific and technical merit by a panel of experts in rare diseases/natural history studies. Consultation with experts in the subject field including FDA experts may also occur during this phase of the review to determine whether the proposed study will provide acceptable data that could contribute to product approval. Funding decisions will be made by the Commissioner of Food and Drugs or his designee. By submitting an application in response to this RFA, applicants understand and agree that members of the objective review panel of experts may be provided access to non-public information contained in the grant application, as necessary for evaluation of the application and subject to necessary restrictions on the further disclosure of the information.

A score will be assigned to each application based on the scientific/technical review criteria. The review panel may advise the program staff about the appropriateness of the proposal to the goals of this OOPD grant program.

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. 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. In addition, an application with moderate correctable weaknesses in a criterion may still receive a high overall impact score because one or more of the other review criteria are critically important to the research and have significant strengths. The relative importance of strengths and weaknesses, not simply the number of strengths and weaknesses, are considered in developing the impact score.

Additional Review Criteria

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.

Study Timeline

Specific to applications involving clinical trials

Is the study timeline described in detail, taking into account start-up activities, the anticipated rate of enrollment, and planned follow-up assessment? Is the projected timeline feasible and well justified? Does the project incorporate efficiencies and utilize existing resources (e.g., CTSAs, practice-based research networks, electronic medical records, administrative database, or patient registries) to increase the efficiency of participant enrollment and data collection, as appropriate?

Are potential challenges and corresponding solutions discussed (e.g., strategies that can be implemented in the event of enrollment shortfalls)?

Protections for Human Subjects

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.

Biohazards

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.

Resubmissions

For Resubmissions, the committee will evaluate the application as now presented, taking into consideration the responses to comments from the previous scientific review group and changes made to the project. Resubmission applications must include an Introduction addressing the previous objective review critique (Summary Statement). The Summary Statement issued from OOPD must also be included as an Appendix in the resubmission application.

Renewals

For Renewals, the committee will consider the progress made in the last funding period.

Revisions

For Revisions, the committee will consider the appropriateness of the proposed expansion of the scope of the project. If the Revision application relates to a specific line of investigation presented in the original application that was not recommended for approval by the committee, then the committee will consider whether the responses to comments from the previous scientific review group are adequate and whether substantial changes are clearly evident.

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.

Applications from Foreign Organizations

Reviewers will assess whether the project presents special opportunities for furthering research programs through the use of unusual talent, resources, populations, or environmental conditions that exist in other countries and either are not readily available in the United States or augment existing U.S. resources.

Select Agent Research

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).

Resource Sharing Plans

Reviewers will comment on whether the Resource Sharing Plan(s) (i.e., Sharing Model Organisms) or the rationale for not sharing the resources, is reasonable.

Authentication of Key Biological and/or Chemical Resources:

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.

Budget and Period of Support

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 Objective Review Committee convened by the FDA, using the stated review criteria.

As part of the objective review, all applications will receive a written critique.

Appeals of objective review will not be accepted for applications submitted in response to this NOFO.

Applications will compete for available funds with all other recommended applications submitted in response to this NOFO. The following will be considered in making funding decisions:

• Scientific and technical merit of the proposed project as determined by objective review.
• Availability of funds.
• Ability to start study.
• Relevance of the proposed project to program priorities.

3. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates

Successful applicants will be notified of additional information that may be required or other actions leading to an award. The decision not to award a grant, or to award a grant at a particular funding level, is discretionary and is not subject to appeal to any FDA or HHS official or board.

Information regarding the disposition of applications is available in the HHS Grants Policy Statement. 

Section VI. Award Administration Information

1. Award Notices

A Notice of Award (NoA) is the official authorizing document notifying the applicant that an award has been made and that funds may be requested from the designated HHS payment system or office. The NoA is signed by the Grants Management Officer and emailed to the recipient’s business official.

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.

Recipients must comply with any funding restrictions described in Section IV.6. Funding Restrictions. Any pre-award costs incurred before receipt of the NoA are at the applicant's own risk.  For more information on the Notice of Award, please refer to the HHS Grants Policy Statement.

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 FDA-funded studies, the recipient must provide FDA copies of documents related to all major changes in the status of ongoing protocols.

Individual awards are based on the application submitted to, and as approved by, the FDA and are subject to the IC-specific terms and conditions identified in the NoA.

ClinicalTrials.gov: If an award provides for one or more clinical trials. By law (Title VIII, Section 801 of Public Law 110-85), the "responsible party" must register and submit results information for certain applicable clinical trials on the ClinicalTrials.gov Protocol Registration and Results System Information Website (https://register.clinicaltrials.gov). The FDA expects registration and results reporting of all trials whether required under the law or not. For more information, see the HHS Grants Policy Statement.

Data and Safety Monitoring Requirements: The FDA policy for data and safety monitoring requires oversight and monitoring of all FDA-conducted or supported human biomedical and behavioral intervention studies (clinical trials) to ensure the safety of participants and the validity and integrity of the data. Further information concerning these requirements is found at the HHS Grants Policy Statement and in the application instructions (SF424 (R&R) and PHS 398).

Investigational New Drug or Investigational Device Exemption Requirements: Consistent with federal regulations, clinical research projects involving the use of investigational therapeutics, vaccines, or other medical interventions (including licensed products and devices for a purpose other than that for which they were licensed) in humans under a research protocol must be performed under a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigational new drug (IND) or investigational device exemption (IDE).

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

All FDA grant and cooperative agreement awards include the HHS Grants Policy Statement as part of the NoA.

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.

HHS recognizes that research projects are often limited in scope for many reasons , 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 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 FDA grant programs, please contact the Scientific/Research Contact that is identified in Section VII under Agency Contacts of this NOFO.

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), FDA 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 judgment 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 “Federal awarding agency review of risk posed by applicants.”  This provision will apply to all FDA grants and cooperative agreements.

FDA considers the sharing of research resources developed through FDA-sponsored research an important means to enhance the value and further the advancement of research. When research resources have been developed with FDA funds and the associated research findings published, those findings must be made readily available to the scientific community.

Upon acceptance for publication, scientific researchers must submit the author’s final manuscript of the peer-reviewed scientific publication resulting from research supported in whole or in part with FDA funds to the NIH National Library of Medicine's (NLM) PubMed Central (PMC). FDA defines the author's final manuscript as the final version accepted for journal publication, which includes all modifications from the publishing peer review process. The PMC archive is the designated repository for these manuscripts for use by the public, health care providers, educators, scientists, and FDA. Please see the FDA Public Access Policy.

Termination provisions in 2 CFR 200.340 (a) (1-4) are applicable to awards issued under this Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Additional terms and conditions regarding FDA regulatory and OOPD programmatic requirements may be part of the Notice of Award.

Standard Terms and Conditions of Award

Reporting Requirements:

All FDA grants require both Financial and Performance reporting.

Financial Reporting:

A. Financial Expenditure Reports

A required Federal Financial Report (FFR) must be submitted annually. All annual FFRs must be submitted electronically using the Payment Management System (PMS). This includes all initial FFRs being prepared for submission and any revised FFRs being submitted or re-submitted to FDA. Paper expenditure/FFR reports will not be accepted.

Annual FFRs must be submitted for each budget period no later than 90 days after the end of the calendar quarter in which the budget period ended. The reporting period for an annual FFR will be that of the budget period for the particular grant; however, the actual submission date is based on the calendar quarter. If a grant is under expanded authorities, the grantee must indicate the carryover amount in Section 12. Remarks of the annual FFR.

Performance Progress Reporting:

When multiple years (more than one budget period) are involved, awardees will be required to submit the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) annually as required in the Notice of Award. Annual RPPRs must be submitted using the RPPR module in eRA Commons. The annual RPPR must include a detailed budget.  Annual RPPRs are due no later than 60 days prior to the start of the next budget period.

Failure to submit timely reports may affect future funding. Additional Financial and Performance Progress reports may be required for this award. Any additional reporting requirements will be listed under Section IV – Special Terms and Condition of the Notice of Award.

Salary Caps:

None of the funds in this award shall be used to pay the salary of an individual at a rate in excess

of the current Executive Level II of the Federal Executive Pay Scale.

Certificates of Confidentiality – 42 U.S.C. 241(d):

Awardees are responsible for complying with all requirements to protect the confidentiality of identifiable, sensitive information that is collected or used in biomedical, behavioral, clinical, or other research (including research on mental health and research on the use and effect of alcohol and other psychoactive drugs) funded wholly or in part by the Federal Government.  See 42 U.S.C. 241(d).  All research funded by FDA, in whole or in part, that is within the scope of these requirements is deemed to be issued a “Certificate of Confidentiality” through these Terms and Conditions.   Certificates issued in this manner will not be issued as a separate document.

Awardees are expected to ensure that any investigator or institution not funded by FDA who receives a copy of identifiable, sensitive information protected by these requirements, understand they are also subject to the requirements of 42 U.S.C. 241(d). Awardees are also responsible for ensuring that any subrecipient that receives funds to carry out part of the FDA award involving a copy of identifiable, sensitive information protected by these requirements understand they are also subject to subsection 42 U.S.C. 241(d).

Acknowledgment of Federal Support:

When issuing statements, press releases, publications, requests for proposal, bid solicitations and other documents --such as tool-kits, resource guides, websites, and presentations (hereafter “statements”)--describing the projects or programs funded in whole or in part with FDA federal funds, the recipient must clearly state:

1. the percentage and dollar amount of the total costs of the program or project funded with federal money; and,

2. the percentage and dollar amount of the total costs of the project or program funded by non-governmental sources.

When issuing statements resulting from activities supported by FDA financial assistance, the recipient entity must include an acknowledgment of federal assistance using one of the following statements.

If the FDA Grant or Cooperative Agreement is NOT funded with other non-governmental sources:

This [project/publication/program/website, etc.] [is/was] supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award [FAIN] totaling $XX with 100 percent funded by FDA]/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by FDA/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

If the FDA Grant or Cooperative Agreement IS partially funded with other nongovernmental sources:

This [project/publication/program/website, etc.] [is/was] supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award [FAIN] totaling $XX with XX percentage funded by FDA/HHS and $XX amount and XX percentage funded by non-government source(s). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by FDA/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

The federal award total must reflect total costs (direct and indirect) for all authorized funds (including supplements and carryover) for the total competitive segment up to the time of the public statement.  Any amendments by the recipient to the acknowledgment statement must be coordinated with FDA.  If the recipient plans to issue a press release concerning the outcome of activities supported by FDA financial assistance, it should notify FDA in advance to allow for coordination.

Additional prior approval requirements pertaining to Acknowledgement of Federal Support, publications, press statements, etc. may be required, and if applicable, will be listed under Section IV – Special Terms and Condition of the Notice of Award.

Prior Approval:

All prior approval requests must be submitted using the Prior Approval module in eRA Commons. Any requests involving budgetary issues must include a new proposed budget and a narrative justification of the requested changes. If there are any questions regarding the need or requirement for prior approval for any activity or cost, the grantee is to contact the assigned Grants Management Specialist prior to expenditure of funds.

For grant awards not covered under Expanded Authorities, Carryover and No Cost Extension (NCE) requests will require prior approval.  All Carryover and NCE requests should be submitted using the Prior Approval module in eRA Commons.  ****Please review the section on Expanded Authorities to determine if this award is covered/not covered under Expanded Authorities and whether prior approval is needed for carryover and no cost extension requests.****

The following activities require prior approval from FDA on all awards:

1.         Change in Grantee Organization

2.         Significant Rebudgeting

3.         Change in Scope or Objectives

4.         Deviation from Terms and Conditions of Award

5.         Change in Key Personnel which includes replacement of the PD/PI or other key personnel as specified on the NoA.

6.         Disengagement from the project for more than three months, or a 25 percent reduction in time devoted to the project, by the approved PD/PI. No individual may be committed to more than 100% professional time and effort. In the event that an individual's commitment exceeds 100%, the grantee must make adjustments to reduce effort. For FDA-sponsored projects, significant reductions in effort (i.e., in excess of 25% of the originally proposed level of effort) for the PD/PI and key personnel named on this Notice of Award must receive written prior approval from FDA.

Additional prior approval requirements may be required for this award, and if applicable, will be listed under Section IV – Special Terms and Condition of the Notice of Award.

Audits and Monitoring:

Audit Requirements:

1. Recipients of Federal funds are subject to annual audit requirements as specified in 45 CFR 75.501 (https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=1&SID=8040c4036b962cc9d75c3638dedce240&ty=HTML&h=L&r=PART&n=pt45.1.75#se45.1.75_1501). Grantees should refer to this regulation for the current annual Federal fund expenditure threshold level which requires audit.

2. Foreign recipients are subject to the same audit requirements as for-profit organizations (specified in 45 CFR 75.501(h) through 75.501(k).

3. For-profit and foreign entities can email their audit reports to [email protected] or mail them to the following address:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Audit Resolution Division, Room 549D

Attention: Robin Aldridge, Director

200 Independence Avenue, SW

Washington, DC 20201

Monitoring:

Recipients are responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of grant-supported activities using their established controls and policies, as long as they are consistent with Federal, DHHS and FDA requirements. However, to fulfill their role in regard to the stewardship of Federal funds, FDA monitors our grants to identify potential problems and areas where technical assistance might be necessary. This active monitoring is accomplished through review of reports and correspondence from the recipient, audit reports, site visits, and other information available to FDA.

1. Desk review: FDA grants monitoring specialists will periodically reach out to recipients to request information for the completion of desk reviews. Requested information may include:

• Policies and procedures
• List of grant expenditures
• Accounting records
• Supporting documents (e.g., invoices, receipts, paystubs, timesheets, contracts, etc.)
• Financial statements
• Audit reports
• Other related documentation

Not applicable

3. Data Management and Sharing

Consistent with the FDA Policy for Data Management and Sharing, when data management and sharing is applicable to the award, recipients will be required to adhere to the Data Management and Sharing requirements as outlined in the HHS Grants Policy Statement. Upon the approval of a Data Management and Sharing Plan, it is required for recipients to implement the plan as described.

4. 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 HHS 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 HHS Grants Policy Statement. FDA NOFOs outline intended research goals and objectives. Post award, FDA 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 awardees of Federal grants to report information about first-tier subawards and executive compensation under Federal assistance awards issued in FY2011 or later.  All awardees of applicable FDA 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 HHS Grants Policy Statement for additional information on this reporting requirement.

In accordance with the regulatory requirements provided at 45 CFR 75.113 and Appendix XII to 45 CFR Part 75, 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 Conditions for Recipient Integrity and Performance Matters.

Monitoring Activities

The guidelines below are intended to provide information for principal investigators who are conducting clinical trials. The procedures outlined herein are in addition to (and not in lieu of) Institutional Review Board (IRB), Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP), other Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Good Clinical Practices requirements.

It is an OOPD policy that data and safety monitoring of a natural history study is to be commensurate with the risks posed to study participants and with the size and complexity of the study. Risks imposed by natural history studies include mainly privacy issues and adverse events associated with invasive clinical procedures. The OOPD requires that a Grantee and any third party engaged in supporting the clinical research be responsible for oversight of data and safety monitoring, ensuring that monitoring systems are in place, that the quality of the monitoring activity is appropriate, and that the OOPD Program Official is informed of recommendations emanating from monitoring activities.

Oversight Activities

The program official will monitor grantees periodically. The oversight may be in the form of telephone conversations, e-mails, or written correspondence between the program official/grants management officer or specialist and the principal investigator. Information including, but not limited to, information regarding study progress, enrollment, problems, adverse events, changes in protocol, study monitoring activities, new collaborations, publications, financial and data leveraging, and changes in clinical guidelines based on the project will be requested. Periodic grant evaluations (teleconference or on-site) with officials of the grantee organization may also occur. To ensure that funded studies support the long-term goal of product approval, regulatory milestone meetings will be initiated as needed. OOPD may request information related to the impact of this study on future approvals and other outcomes such as publications or data leveraging. The results of these monitoring activities will be recorded in the official grant file and will be available to the grantee upon request consistent with applicable disclosure statutes and with FDA disclosure regulations. Also, the grantee organization must comply with all special terms and conditions of the grant, including those which state that future funding of the study will depend on recommendations from the OOPD program official. The scope of the recommendations will consider the following: (1) progress toward enrollment, based on specific circumstances of the study; (2) adequate supply of the product/device; and (3) compliance with applicable FDA and HHS regulatory requirements for the trial.

Documentation of assurances with the Office of Human Research Protection (OHRP) (see Section IV.5.A of this document) must be on file with the FDA grants management office before an award is made. Any institution receiving Federal funds must have a single institutional review board (IRB) even if that institution is overseeing research conducted at other performance sites. To avoid funding studies that may not receive or may experience a delay in receiving IRB approval, documentation of IRB approval and Federal Wide Assurance (FWA) for the single IRB for all performance sites must be on file with the FDA grants management office before an award to fund the study will be made.

Section VII. Agency Contacts

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: https://www.era.nih.gov/need-help (preferred method of contact)
Telephone: 301-402-7469 or 866-504-9552 (Toll Free)

Grants.gov Customer Support (Questions regarding Grants.gov registration and Workspace)
Contact Center Telephone: 800-518-4726
Email: [email protected]

Katherine Needleman
Director, Orphan Products Grants Program
Office of Orphan Products Development
Food and Drug Administration
10903 New Hampshire Avenue
WO32-5295
Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002
Phone: 301-796-8660
E-mail: [email protected]

Kimberly Pendleton
Office of Acquisitions & Grants Services (OAGS)
Food and Drug Administration
Telephone: 240-402-7610
Email: [email protected]

Kimberly Pendleton
Office of Acquisitions & Grants Services (OAGS)
Food and Drug Administration
Telephone: 240-402-7610
Email: [email protected]

Section VIII. Other Information

Recently issued policy notices may affect your application submission. A full list of policy notices is provided in the Guide for Grants and Contracts. All awards are subject to the terms and conditions, cost principles, and other considerations described in the HHS Grants Policy Statement. 

Awards are made under the authorization of Sections 301 of the Public Health Service Act as amended (42 USC 241), section 573(b) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 USC 360ccc-2(b)) and under Federal Regulations 42 CFR Part 52, 45 CFR Part 75, and 2 CFR Part 200.

Awards are made under the authorization of Section 301 of the Public Health Service Act as amended (42 USC 241) and under Federal Regulations 42 CFR Part 52 and 45 CFR Part 75, and 2 CFR Part 200. All grant awards are subject to applicable requirements for clinical investigations imposed by sections 505, 512, and 515 of the act (21 U.S.C. 355, or 360e) or safety, purity, and potency for licensing under section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (the PHS Act) (42 U.S.C. 262), section 351 of the PHS Act, including regulations issued under any of these sections.  The 21st Century Cures Act [Pub. L. No. 114-255] specifically authorized the FDA to fund prospectively planned and designed observational studies and other analyses conducted to assist in the understanding of the natural history of a rare disease or condition and in the development of a therapy.

All human subject research regulated by FDA is also subject to FDA's regulations regarding the protection of human subjects (21 CFR Parts 50 and 56). Applicants are encouraged to review the regulations, guidance, and information sheets on human subject protection and Good Clinical Practice available on the Internet at http://www.fda.gov/oc/gcp/.

The applicant is referred to HHS regulations at 45 CFR 46.116 and 21 CFR 50.25 for details regarding the required elements of informed consent.