Funding Opportunity Announcements

Questions and Answers Table of Contents

What is a FOA?

A funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is a notice in Grants.gov of a federal grant funding opportunity. Grants.gov lets organizations apply for grants for over 1,000 grant programs from 26 federal agencies. NIH FOAs can be program announcements or requests for applications.

Each FOA has an application package with forms as well as general instructions that are in the Grant Application Guide. A FOA's synopsis page links to an NIH Guide announcement, which gives you opportunity-specific information and instructions.

By the time NIH finishes transitioning to electronic applications, every NIH mechanism (e.g., R01, R03, T32) will have a parent program announcement in Grants.gov with its own Grant Application Package.

In addition to the NIH parent, institutes may issue their own FOAs in high-priority scientific areas. This topic is complex; see the questions below for more information.

Which funding opportunities are posted as FOAs in Grants.gov?

All NIH opportunities are in Grants.gov as funding opportunity announcements, even grant types that still require paper submission.

Should I read the Guide announcement or the FOA?

Both. You must find the instructions you need in two places: the NIH Guide and the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) in Grants.gov. Read more in Where can I find resources to explain electronic application?

How will NIH handle investigator-initiated applications such as the R01?

NIH issues a broad announcement, called a "parent," for each investigator-initiated mechanism, including the R01. See the NIH Parent Announcements.

Be aware that for some investigator-initiated mechanisms, such as the R21, not all institutes accept applications in any scientific topic. See the next set of questions.

When do I use an NIH parent versus an NIAID announcement?

Every grant mechanism e.g., R01, R03, will likely have two types of funding opportunity announcements (FOA):

• One NIH "parent" program announcement.
  • Called a parent announcement, though there are no "children" or other relatives.
  • It allows investigator-initiated applications but may be limited to scientific areas of interest to an institute.
  • Before writing the application, call a program officer to see if the institute is interested in the topic.
  • Not all institutes participate -- check the FOA to see which do.
• One or more institute-specific FOAs.
  • Analogous to the program announcements and requests for applications NIAID and other institutes have traditionally issued.
  • Specify an area of scientific interest, have special administrative requirements, or both.

The NIAID Funding Opportunities List lets you know which FOA to use.

What is NIAID's approach to program announcements?

For existing and future program announcements (PA):

• NIAID is retiring most of our PAs. To apply in an area that no longer has its own PA, use the NIH-wide FOA after checking NIAID's statement of interest -- more on that below.
• Rarely, NIAID publishes an Institute-specific FOA for a specialized area, e.g., Non-Antibiotic Selectable Markers for Biodefense (R21).

Why should I read the statement of interest for a parent PA?

The Institute statement of interest in the parent program announcement lets you know in which areas of science we will accept applications. As an example, see the NIAID R21 statement of interest in NIH R21 Parent Program Announcement Contacts and Special Interests.

You can find a direct link to this statement under each parent PA on the NIAID Funding Opportunities List.

You can also find the statement of interest in the NIH Guide announcement. However you get there, check it when ready to apply to make sure it's current.

What's the best way to find NIH funding opportunities?

You have three options: Grants.gov, the NIH Guide, and the NIAID Funding Opportunities List. We recommend using either of the latter two.

NIH Guide

• The NIH Guide houses the full announcements for all NIH grant opportunities.
• If a grant type requires electronic application, the Guide announcement includes an "Apply for Grant Electronically" button, which takes you to Grants.gov's application package download page. Then click the "download" link on the lower right.
• If the grant type uses paper, the "apply" button won't appear in the Guide announcement. Use the PHS 398 to submit a paper application.

NIAID's Funding Opportunities List

• The NIAID Funding Opportunities List links to the most relevant information source.
• It includes important information, for example, if there is a FOA to come or special AIDS receipt date, or whether to use a parent or institute-specific announcement.
• The list tells you how to apply -- paper or electronic -- for each announcement.
• It lets you know whether to use an NIH-wide or an NIAID announcement and includes a shortcut to the NIAID statement of interest for each parent program announcement.
• Click the column headers to sort the NIAID list, or search titles for science terms using Control-F. If you need a full-text search to see all announcements that mention tuberculosis, for example, use the NIH Guide or Grants.gov.

How do I find the Guide announcement associated with a FOA?

There are several ways to find Guide announcements:

• Go directly to the NIH Guide.
• In Grants.gov, use "Link to Full Announcement" at the bottom of the Synopsis page.
• For NIAID's opportunities, each funding opportunity announcement on the NIAID Funding Opportunities List includes the link.

When I click the Full Announcement button in a FOA, why does it say "no attached files?"

The middle button at the top of a funding opportunity announcement is labeled "Full Announcement," but due to default settings in Grants.gov, doesn't send you to the NIH Guide.

Instead, scroll down to the "Link to Full Announcement" header on the Synopsis page. The link below that header will take you to the NIH Guide announcement.

Where can I find more questions and answers about grant applications?

See Signing Up to Apply Electronically and General Info and Planning for Electronic Applications for the next sets of questions and answers on electronic grant applications. Also go to Applying for a Grant, Writing a Great Grant Application, and other Application questions and answers.

What if my question wasn't answered here, or I'd like to suggest a question?

Email deaweb@niaid.nih.gov with the title of this page or its URL and your question or comment. We answer questions by email and post them here. Thanks for helping us clarify and expand our knowledge base.