In a press release issued last Tuesday the NIH reported a record number of grants submitted on April 27th in response to the Challenge Grant RFA. Each of the 20,000 applications will be reviewed by 3 scientific reviewers and a summary statement compiled. This process will require more than 18,000 scientists to complete. To put it into perspective the NIH reviews approximately 16,000 applications in each of 3 rounds annually. Each round requires 8,000 reviewers.
The NIH estimates it will review approximately 40,000 applications in direct response to either the Challenge Grant or other ARRA associated funding. This process is going to require more than 28,000 reviewers.
The outcome? Approximately 200 Challenge Grants will be selected and $200 Million awarded.
If you are patiently waiting for your summary statement they are estimated to be available in August. Check your eRA Commons account.