Pilot Services Research Grants Not Involving Interventions (R34 Clinical Trial Optional) | PAR 18 267

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 18 267

The Pilot Services Research Grants Not Involving Interventions (R34 Clinical Trial Optional) opportunity, listed as PAR 18 267, is a discretionary grant program from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), aligned with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) priorities in mental health services research. Its central aim is to fund early-stage, pilot research projects that can move the field forward even when those projects are not directly leading into the immediate development or experimental testing of a specific services intervention. NIMH has increasingly emphasized intervention studies that follow an experimental therapeutics approach, but this FOA is designed to support important services research questions that sit outside that framework while still offering strong potential to improve how mental health care is accessed, delivered, financed, and evaluated.

The FOA highlights three main categories of work it wants to support. First, it encourages studies that identify mutable (changeable) factors influencing mental health service access, service use, quality of care, financing, patient outcomes, disparities in outcomes, and the scalability of services. In practice, this could include pinpointing system-level, organizational, workforce, policy, or patient-facing factors that can realistically be changed and later become targets for future intervention development. Second, it supports the development and testing of new research tools, measures, or methods that strengthen the ability of researchers and systems to study services and outcomes with better precision, reliability, or practicality in real-world settings. Third, it invites feasibility studies focused on combining or integrating existing data sources (for example, linking administrative claims, electronic health records, registry data, or other large datasets) to better understand what drives access, quality, and outcomes in mental health care. Overall, the emphasis is on generating foundational evidence, methods, and infrastructure that can enable more effective future research and, ultimately, better service systems.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a grant mechanism under the R34 activity code, with the funding activity category listed as Health and the CFDA number 93.242. The opportunity lists an award ceiling of $225,000. The original closing date shown is 2019-02-21, and the creation date is 2017-11-17, which indicates this specific posting is not current for new submissions under that closing date, though it can still be useful as a reference for understanding the scope and intent of the program or for tracking successor announcements. The “Clinical Trial Optional” label signals that applicants may propose certain types of clinical trial-related work if appropriate, but the core purpose remains pilot services research that is not positioned as an immediate precursor to intervention development and testing.

Eligibility is broad and intentionally inclusive, spanning many types of organizations that might conduct or support services research. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township governments; 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; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions in those nonprofit categories); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other entities. The FOA also explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant types such as 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), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, Indian/Native American tribal governments that are not federally recognized, and even non-U.S. (foreign) organizations. This wide eligibility reflects the reality that meaningful services research often requires partnerships across academic, community, healthcare system, governmental, and cross-jurisdictional settings.

In short, this FOA is geared toward strengthening the evidence base and research capacity for mental health services by funding pilot work that clarifies what can be changed in service systems, improves the measurement and methods needed to study those systems, and tests whether existing datasets can be integrated to answer high-value questions about access, quality, outcomes, disparities, and scalability. It is meant to fill a gap by supporting high-impact services research that contributes to NIMH objectives without requiring the project to be framed as an intervention study under an experimental therapeutics model.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Pilot Services Research Grants Not Involving Interventions (R34 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.242.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-11-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-02-21. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $225,000.00 in funding.
• 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 PAR 18 267

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: