NIH Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) Program: FIRST Coordination and Evaluation Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA RM 20 023

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 20 023

This NIH funding opportunity, titled "NIH Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) Program: FIRST Coordination and Evaluation Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)," is a discretionary grant competition run by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It uses a cooperative agreement mechanism (U24), which generally means NIH expects to have substantial involvement during the project period, with the awardee working in close coordination with NIH program staff and the funded institutions. The central aim is not to run clinical trials, but to build the infrastructure and shared approach needed to coordinate FIRST program activities across awardees and to carry out a rigorous, comprehensive evaluation of the overall FIRST initiative.

The purpose of the FIRST Coordination and Evaluation Center (CEC) is to serve as the hub that brings the FIRST Cohort awardees together around evaluation planning, coordination, and implementation. In practice, this means the CEC is expected to coordinate and facilitate the development of evaluation strategies jointly with the institutions that receive FIRST Cohort awards. Rather than each institution evaluating its work in isolation, the CEC supports a coherent, program-wide evaluation framework, helps align data collection and metrics, and enables cross-site learning so NIH can understand what is working, for whom, and under what conditions. The emphasis in the description is on comprehensive evaluation of the FIRST program, implying both process and outcomes: how the program is implemented across sites, what strategies institutions use, and what measurable changes occur over time.

The opportunity is listed under Funding Opportunity Number RFA-RM-20-023, with a creation date of December 8, 2020, and an original closing date of April 23, 2021. The activity category is Health, and the associated CFDA number is 93.310. While the notice includes fields for an award ceiling and expected number of awards, those values are not specified in the provided source text, so applicants would typically need to consult the full announcement to confirm budget limits, project period, and the anticipated number of funded awards.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations and government entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, city/township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; Native American tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (when not institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. The announcement also highlights additional eligible applicant categories that NIH explicitly calls out as welcome or applicable, 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), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), eligible federal agencies, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (other than federally recognized), and U.S. territories or possessions.

At the same time, the funding notice draws clear lines around foreign involvement. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations) and non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply. In addition, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply. The announcement also states that foreign components, as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed. In effect, the CEC must be led and carried out entirely within allowable U.S.-based organizational structures, without foreign components.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as a program-level coordination and evaluation award supporting NIH’s FIRST initiative. The funded CEC is expected to function as the organizing and analytic backbone for the FIRST Cohort, helping institutions develop shared evaluation strategies, coordinating implementation of those strategies, and producing a comprehensive understanding of the FIRST program’s performance and impact, all within a non-clinical-trial scope under the U24 cooperative agreement model.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIH Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) Program: FIRST Coordination and Evaluation Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.310.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-12-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-04-23. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), 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, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA RM 20 023

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