Questions and Answers Table of Contents
Where can I find basic information on RFAs, RFPs, and PAs?
Find basic information on RFAs, RFPs, and PAs, see the SOPs on Requests for Applications, Request for Proposals, and Program Announcements. Also read Application Approach: What Are Your Choices? and Compare FOAs in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
Where can I find RFAs, RFPs, and PAs?
NIH publishes most institute initiatives -- requests
for applications (RFA), requests
for proposals (RFP),
and program
announcements (PA) -- in the NIH
Guide. RFAs and PAs are also published as funding
opportunity announcements in Grants.gov.
Find RFPs at FedBizOpps.gov,
the Federal Business Opportunities Web site.
To find NIAID's active initiatives, go to the NIH Funding Opportunities Relevant to NIAID. For more on the Guide, see the Creating NIH Guide Notices SOP.
If my R01 application
does not get an award as part of an RFA,
can I resubmit it as an investigator-initiated R01 application?
Yes. If your application does not get an award as part of a request
for applications (RFA), you can resubmit it as a new investigator-initiated R01 application.
When preparing your application, do not include
an introduction describing the changes and improvements that you
make. While you should consider the peer review comments you received
when you responded to the RFA, your
application must meet new application
requirements.
Also read If my investigator-initiated application
was not funded, may I resubmit it in response to an RFA?
Do PAs have special receipt and expiration dates?
As investigator-initiated research, program announcements
follow NIH's Standard Due Dates for Competing Applications. They
expire after three years, unless the institute decides to extend them.
See Parent PA and Institute-Specific PA in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
Where are program announcements and requests
for applications reviewed?
For most program
announcements,
the most appropriate study
section in the Center
for Scientific Review will conduct the initial
peer review. Potentially,
many review committees could review applications responding to a
single program announcement.
Program
announcements that identify a location of peer review (PAR)
are an exception. Most PARs are
reviewed by special
emphasis panels.
Requests
for applications are
reviewed by the lead institute sponsoring the RFA. At NIAID, one
or more special
emphasis panels may
review the applications. Read more in Compare FOAs in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
Do RFAs and PAs have set aside funds?
Some program
announcements (PAs) do
-- a PAS is
a program announcement
with set
aside funds. PAs that do not have set-aside monies are funded
as investigator-initiated grants, usually within the NIAID payline.
Requests
for applications,
in contrast, always come with funds set aside to pay for the awards,
and applications responding
to an RFA compete
only with each other for funding. See Compare FOAs in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal. For payline information,
go to Paylines and Budget.
Do RFAs and PAs often have special requirements?
Yes. Always read the NIH
Guide announcement carefully to see what area of research it defines and special requirements for applicants, including review criteria.
Are RFAs more competitive than PAs?
See Compare FOAs in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
For advice on how your research strengths suit an initiative, contact
the program
officer
listed
in the announcement.
For RFAs, will there be reviewers with expertise
in my field?
Yes. For every request
for applications (RFA),
NIAID assembles a panel of experts to
review the applications received in the scientific
areas defined in the RFA. Depending on the number
of applications received, NIAID may have
more than one panel conducting the review.
If you're responding to an RFA, you will have
the advantage of an audience that is fluent in the particulars of your
field that also makes them savvy readers of your application.
For more information,
see Primary and Secondary
Reviewers Make Your Case in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal and Will
most reviewers understand my science? in our Writing
a Great Grant Application questions and answers.
Am I better off applying
for an investigator-initiated award or responding to an RFA?
Read Application Approach: What Are Your Choices? and Compare FOAs in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal
Also see If
my R01 application does not get an award as part of an RFA,
can I resubmit it as
an investigator-initiated R01 application? and May
I respond to an RFA with an application that was not funded as an investigator-initiated
application?
Where can I find more questions and answers about funding opportunities?
See RFAs and NIAID's Peer Review
Process and NIAID
Program Project (P01) Applications 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. |