Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program Infrastructure for Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR)(U54) | PAR 17 304

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 17 304

The Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program Infrastructure for Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR) (U54) funding opportunity (PAR-17-304) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement designed to strengthen clinical and translational research capacity in IDeA-eligible states. Rather than primarily funding individual research projects, the program focuses on building and expanding the shared infrastructure, services, and statewide coordination needed to make high-quality clinical and translational research more feasible and more competitive in states that historically receive a smaller share of NIH research funding. The core idea is to create resources that individual investigators typically cannot build through standard, single-lab or single-project grants, and to use those resources to raise the overall level of research readiness, productivity, and external grant competitiveness across participating institutions.

A central expectation of the IDeA-CTR award is the establishment of a statewide network. Applicants are required to organize a coordinated set of collaborating and partnering institutions and organizations within the state, creating an integrated “center” model that functions across campuses, health systems, and other relevant entities. While the emphasis is statewide, the FOA also allows institutions or organizations outside the state to be included when they strengthen the network or extend its reach in a meaningful way. This network requirement reflects the program’s infrastructure mission: the award is meant to knit together people, facilities, systems, and expertise so that investigators across the state can access clinical research support, translational resources, and professional development opportunities that would otherwise be fragmented or unavailable.

The award mechanism is a U54 cooperative agreement, which signals that NIH expects substantial programmatic involvement compared with a standard grant. In practice, this typically means the funded center operates with defined goals, milestones, and coordinated components, and works in partnership with NIH on oversight and progress. The funding activity category is Health, and the CFDA number listed is 93.859. The opportunity was created on 2017-06-06, with an original closing date of 2018-01-24. The listed award ceiling is $4,000,000, indicating the maximum anticipated yearly budget level per award (as stated in the source information). The FOA notes that only one award will be made per IDeA-eligible state, and as a result only one application should be submitted per state. This creates a strong incentive for in-state collaboration and alignment, since competing applications from the same state would run counter to the program’s one-per-state structure.

In terms of eligibility, the FOA is open to a broad set of domestic organizational types commonly eligible for NIH infrastructure-focused awards, including public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (and nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status), and other eligible entities as specified. The opportunity also explicitly highlights several categories of institutions that may apply if otherwise eligible, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs). At the same time, foreign participation is tightly restricted: non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities 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.

The expected outcome of an IDeA-CTR center is a durable, shared platform that improves the state’s ability to plan, conduct, and grow clinical and translational research. The FOA frames success in terms of “added value” to biomedical research efforts at participating institutions, specifically by supporting activities that are difficult to sustain through typical project-based awards. In practical terms, the infrastructure emphasis is meant to translate into stronger investigator pipelines, better access to core resources and expertise, more efficient research operations across institutions, and ultimately increased competitiveness for additional clinical and translational research funding beyond the IDeA-CTR award itself.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program Infrastructure for Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR)(U54)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.859.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-06-06.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-01-24. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $4,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, 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, Others.

Apply for PAR 17 304

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