Applications for the NIH Contract solicitation are due at 5 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Nov. 7. The NIH Contract solicitation is released only once yearly, and contains a list of topics pertinent to each agencies mission. Unlike the grant solicitation, contracts are for specific work on a topic that has been pre-defined. Topics available in this year’s solicitation range from Wireless Telemetry for MRI to Rapid Point-of-Care tests for Fungal Diagnosis. Topics are highly specific and only proposals matching the published topics will be accepted; no investigator-initiated applications will be allowed. Budgets are also strictly enforced, and are limited to $150,000 for a Phase I and $1M for a Phase II. And, unlike other applications to the NIH, this solicitation must be submitted in paper form and received, as verified by time stamp, at the agency by the deadline above. Detailed information, including program contacts, detailed topic descriptions, and instructions for preparing proposals, are available in the solicitation.
Participating agencies, with the approximate number of contracts each expects to award:
NIH: National Cancer Institute (37); National Center for Research Resources (1-2); National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute (18 – 29); National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism 2-4); National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (1); National Institute on Drug Abuse (15 – 21).
Centers for Disease Control: Center for Global Health (2); National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (1); National Center for Emerging Zoonotic & Infectious Diseases (2); National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, SDT, & TB Prevention (3) ; Office of Public Health Preparedness & Response (1).
Proposals will be reviewed between February and June 2012, with award dates between July and September 2012, depending on the awarding unit (see the solicitation for details).