Limited Competition: Data Coordinating Center for the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (U24) | RFA HL 17 019

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA HL 17 019

This grant opportunity is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for a cooperative agreement (U24) to support the Data Coordinating Center (DCC) for the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN). In plain terms, NIH is seeking continued support for the central hub that manages and coordinates the data, operations, and related infrastructure needed to run the BMT CTN's clinical trials. Because it is a cooperative agreement, the work is expected to be carried out with substantial NIH involvement rather than as a completely investigator-directed project; the DCC functions as a core network resource that NIH actively partners with to keep the trials system running smoothly and consistently.

A defining feature of this FOA is that it is a limited competition. Eligibility is restricted to only the current awardees of the BMT CTN DCC, meaning that new organizations that are not already holding the existing DCC award are not permitted to apply. The listing also contains a broad set of organization types generally recognized as eligible applicants under federal grant programs (for example state, county, and city governments; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments; certain nonprofit and for-profit entities; and small businesses). It additionally highlights categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions, Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions. However, those categories do not override the core restriction: only the current DCC awardee(s) can actually submit an application under this limited competition.

The FOA is explicit about foreign participation restrictions. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components (as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement) are not allowed. In other words, the applicant organization must be U.S.-based and the proposed work must not include foreign components under NIH definitions, reinforcing that the coordinating center activities are intended to be managed entirely within the domestic framework of the network.

Administratively, the opportunity is identified as RFA-HL-17-019 and is categorized as discretionary funding. The activity falls under Education and Health, and it is associated with CFDA numbers 93.395 and 93.839, reflecting the NIH program areas that support this kind of clinical research infrastructure. The agency is NIH, and the original closing date listed is November 10, 2016, with a creation date of August 18, 2016. The summary provided does not specify an award ceiling or the expected number of awards, indicating those fields were either not set in the source record or not included in the excerpt.

Functionally, what NIH is funding here is the operational and data backbone of the BMT CTN clinical trials enterprise. A DCC in a multi-center clinical trials network typically handles trial coordination across participating sites, manages data collection and quality control, maintains databases and reporting systems, supports statistical and analytic activities, helps ensure protocol compliance and consistent procedures, and provides centralized project management that keeps trials on schedule and aligned with regulatory and sponsor expectations. Even though the excerpt does not enumerate these tasks in detail, the DCC designation and U24 cooperative agreement mechanism strongly signal that the award is meant to sustain a mature, network-wide coordinating infrastructure rather than a single standalone research study.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Limited Competition: Data Coordinating Center for the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (U24)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.395, 93.839.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-08-18.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-11-10. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA HL 17 019

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