Recovery Act Limited Competition: Core Facility Renovation, Repair, and Improvement (G20)

Description

This FOA issued by the National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health, solicits applications from institutions that propose to renovate, repair, or improve core facilities.  For the purpose of this FOA, a core facility is defined as a centralized shared resource that provides access to instruments or technologies or services, as well as expert consultation to investigators supported by the core.  The major objective of this FOA is to upgrade core facilities to support the conduct of PHS supported biomedical and/or behavioral research.  Support can be requested to alter and renovate (A&R) the core facility as well as to improve the general equipment in the core facility or to purchase general equipment for specialized groups of researchers. Specialized equipment over $100,000 in cost cannot be requested as part of this FOA.  In situations when similar core facilities exist in different departments at an institution, funding can be requested in support of centralizing these core facilities. This FOA is issued under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), Pub. L. No. 111-5.  It is expected that all awards will be expended expeditiously and that applicants will consider the use of “green” technologies and design approaches.  Awards are expected to create and/or maintain American jobs. This FOA will utilize the G20 grant mechanism.

The biomedical and behavioral research community needs broad access to technologies that facilitate the research enterprise.  Core facilities are key components in support of that access.  At some research institutions, multiple similar core facilities have been established over time.  In some cases, these facilities are currently fully utilized and/or the cores provide specialized services to subsets of the research community on campus.  In other cases, core consolidation could create a more robust core facility for the institution. This FOA is meant to support core alterations and renovations in either situation.

In addition to funds for alterations and renovations, this FOA anticipates support for general equipment for core facilities.  Such equipment could include autoclaves, dishwashers, cold rooms or other common general equipment. Equipment that is needed by a particular community of researchers who may not be served by an existing core facility also can be requested.  Examples include dental chairs, dental lighting, core clinical instruments, dental instrument sterilization bays, or digital radiographic capabilities to serve the needs of dental and craniofacial researchers.  Equipment needed by researchers in other areas such as, but not limited to, nursing, pharmacy, and allied health professions also can be requested. Specialized equipment that costs more than $100,000 such as mass spectrometers, confocal microscopes, or magnetic resonance imagers may not be requested in this FOA.

Eligible Entities

The following organizations/institutions are eligible to apply: 

• Public/State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
• Non-profit Private Institutions of Higher Education
• Non-profit Hispanic-serving Institutions
• Non-profit Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
• Non-profit Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs)
• Non-profit Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions
• Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
• Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
• Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Federally Recognized)
• Indian/Native American Tribally Designated Organizations
• Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized)
• Regional Organizations

Available Funds

The Recovery Act has made $1.0B available for grants to construct, renovate, or repair existing non-Federal research facilities.  Recovery Act funds will be allocated to awards under this FOA and RFA-RR-09-008. In addition, the Recovery Act has made $300M available for  shared instrumentation and other capital research equipment.  Those funds will be allocated to equipment requested under this FOA, to equipment requested under the high end instrumentation program PAR-09-118, and to equipment requested under the shared instrument program (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-09-028.html).

Budgets for direct costs between $1M and $10M may be requested.  The budget may include a request for general purpose equipment, for alteration and renovation funds, or both.  The total project period for an award made in response to this FOA may not exceed five years.

Cost Sharing

This program does not require cost sharing as defined in the current NIH Grants Policy Statement.

Facilities and Administrative Costs

No facilities and administrative (F&A) costs or continuation costs will be awarded.

Key Dates

• Release/Posted Date: March 5, 2009
• Opening Date: August 17, 2009 (Earliest date an application may be submitted to Grants.gov)
• NOTE: On-time submission requires that applications be successfully submitted to Grants.gov no later than 5:00 p.m. local time (of the applicant institution/organization).
• Application Due Date(s): September 17, 2009
• Peer Review Date(s): February 2010
• Council Review Date(s): May 2010
• Earliest Anticipated Start Date(s): July 2010
• Additional Information To Be Available Date (Activation Date): Not Applicable
• Expiration Date: September 18, 2009

More Info + Submissions

Agency: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Expires: September 17, 2009

Submissions for this opportunity are not handled by RI STAC or RI EPSCoR. Please follow the link below for more information on the opportunity and how to submit a response.

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