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NIH has a standing contract with the National Academies that allows Institutes, Centers, and offices in the OD to quickly and easily fund Academy activities. The contract is not a source of funds. Rather, it is an agreement that NIH will fund future Academy activities. The contract allows NIH to issue task orders for the performance of activities and issuing a task order is simpler than creating a new contract.
The steps involved in using the contract include:
- Obtaining a proposal from the National Academies (Proposals can be solicited by NIH, instigated by the Academies, or mandated by Congress.)
- Identifying an NIH staff member to oversee the activity (the “task leader”)
- Conducting a technical evaluation of the proposal
- Resolving all questions about the scope, approach, deliverables, and cost of the activity
- Preparing and signing a “task order”
- Transferring funds from the funding IC or OD office to the contract
- Monitoring conduct of the task
The National Academies is a group of organizations including the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council. The National Academies conduct policy studies (typically consensus reports and surveys of disciplines) and host roundtables and forums.
Examples of recent studies supported under the contract include:
- Reaping the Benefits of Genomic and Proteomic Research: Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation, and Public Health
- Treating Infectious Diseases in a Microbial World: Report of Two Workshops on Novel Antimicrobial Therapeutics
- Examining the Health Disparities Research Plan of the National Institutes of Health: Unfinished Business
- Advanced Research Instrumentation and Facilities
If you plan to enlist the services of the National Academies and are interested in using the task-order contract to expedite funding, please contact Anne Scanley at ScanleyA@od.nih.gov or 301/594-7740.
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