Military Medical Research and Development

Through the support of basic, applied, and advanced biomedical research: (1) to transform health care for Service Members and the American public through innovative and impactful research; (2) to investigate medical solutions for the battlefield wit

This Assistance Listing supports a varying number of R & D assistance sub-programs within the Defense Health Program, including congressionally-directed medical research, each year. Overall, awards are expected to range from $100,000 to $20M (consortium) depending on the funding priorities, anticipated number of awards, and project activity/scope within each sub-program for an award period, on average, of 3 to 4 years. The maximum award amount, if any, is specified in each Notice of Funding Opportunity or Broad Agency Announcement.

See each NOFO for requirements specific to that announcement.

Federal, State, and local governments; public, State, and private institutions of higher education, Federally Recognized Indian Tribal government, U.S. territory or possession, small business, profit organization, private nonprofit institution/organization, quasi-public nonprofit institution/organization, other private institution/organizations, and Native American organizations.

Grant and cooperative agreement awards provide funds to develop science and technology capabilities in specific areas of interest identified in each funding opportunity announcement. Notices of funding opportunity may be called Broad Agency Announcements or Program Announcements. Recipients must strictly conform to all applicable Federal, Department of War (DoD) and War Health Agency (DHA) requirements for conducting research, including regulatory requirements involving human subjects, human anatomical substances, human cadavers, and animals.

The maximum period acceptable for a research project is specified in each notice of funding opportunity. However, the maximum initial period of performance for any award is five years. The length of time for which support is requested should be consistent with the nature and complexity of the proposed research. Depending on the source of funding, some awards will be fully funded at the time of award, while others will be incrementally funded.

Preapplication coordination is required. Each notice of funding opportunity specifies applicable pre-application requirements. Notices of funding opportunity typically require the applicant's Principal Investigator to submit a pre-application through the Electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP, available at https://eBRAP.org/). Pre-applications are screened for military relevance and technical merit against criteria stated in each notice of funding opportunity. Following pre-application screening, the applicant's Authorized Organization Representative and Principal Investigator will be notified regarding whether the applicant is invited to submit a full application. Environmental impact information is not required for this program. This program is excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372.

All applications are reviewed for technical merit and relevance to the mission of the DHA and its programs. Also, additional specific evaluation criteria will be included in each funding opportunity announcement.

All invited applications are evaluated by DHA scientists, other Federal agency representatives, outside scientists with diverse expertise, clinicians, consumers, or combinations thereof, using a two-tier review process. The first tier is a peer review of applications against criteria stated in each notice of funding opportunity to determine technical merit. The second tier is a programmatic review that makes recommendations for funding based on technical merit, military relevance, the specific intent of the funding opportunity, and any other criteria specified in the notice of funding opportunity. The best-scoring applications from the first tier of review are not automatically recommended for funding. Award amount will be negotiated for those applications recommended for funding. Awards depend upon the availability of funding and priorities which DHA determines to exist at the time of award. Only the Grants Officer has the authority to issue awards and obligate funds on behalf of the Federal government.

Several Program Announcements are issued through the year for this Assistance Listing. See the individual Program Announcement or Broad Agency Announcement for deadlines associated with that particular program. Current Program Announcements and Broad Agency Announcements are available at: https://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/prgdefault.

Pre-applications are normally reviewed within 30 to 60 days from submission deadline or, if no deadline, within 120 days from date of receipt. Full applications are usually reviewed and notifications whether or not applications have been recommended for funding issued within 180 days from submission deadline or, if no deadline, from date of receipt. Awards are normally made within 9-12 months from funding notification.

An award may be extended one time up to 12 months with no additional funds. Additional extensions may be considered. Follow on awards are treated as new awards. Once an award ends, if continued funding is desired, a new application must be submitted under an applicable funding opportunity announcement and competitively reviewed. If selected for funding, a new award will be issued.

If an application is not recommended for funding and the Principal Investigator believes that a factual or procedural error was made by the reviewers, (s)he can submit an inquiry. Each notice of funding opportunity will include instructions for submitting an inquiry and the timeframe for submission.