ARPA-H Opportunities

Because of the unique award terms and conditions that may come with ARPA-H awards, NC State ORI is asking that White Papers / Preproposals are captured in PINS as Pre-proposals. 

Select “Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)” as your Primary Sponsor (not NIH). If you are submitting a Full Proposal, subsequent to an invited Abstract, include the linked RADAR/PINS #s from your Abstract submission. 

Refer to the instructions in the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) or Notification of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for specific information. If your proposal requires submission through a system other than eRA Commons/grants.gov, such as the NIH eCPS, reach out to your College Research Office well in advance to set up new log-in credentials. Establishing log-in credentials in new agency portals can take several weeks. Also, per NC State SPARCS Standard Operating Procedures, all applications (which includes ARPA-H abstracts) should be submitted by someone with delegated authority to submit applications. Therefore, even if the system would physically allow PIs to submit applications, it is important to have an authorized CRO AOR actually submit the proposals.  

In general, each option will trigger different compliance requirements, but in all three options, the expectation is that the Federal Program Manager will be more heavily engaged in the research than a team might expect from a traditional grant. In all cases, the Government Contracting Officers/Agreements Officers/Other Transaction Agreements Officers shall have sole discretion to select award instrument type, regardless of the instrument type proposed, and to negotiate all instrument terms and conditions with NC State.  

It is highly recommended that investigators meet with their College Research Office and SPARCS Negotiations team, prior to submitting a request for one mechanism or another.  In most cases, NC State will encourage teams to use a cooperative agreement. Some things to consider:

Cooperative Agreements are federal assistance mechanisms. Typically, they will invoke standard terms and conditions (such as the NIH Grants Policy Statement or 2 CFR 200), and have a research product intended for the public good. Because cooperative agreements are the most similar to traditional grant mechanisms, this may be the least complicated option if privacy/transparency or IP ownership are not significant concerns for the given project. 

An Other Transaction (OT) is like a Cooperative Agreement, but invokes non-standard terms and conditions. While this may provide more flexibility to the research team over the course of the project, there will be a considerable negotiation period up front.

Contracts are federal acquisition mechanisms. Typically they are used when the government is interested in purchasing/owning some technology. They will invoke the Federal Acquisition Regulations, rather than the Uniform Grants Guidance, and may be especially relevant when areas such as IP management are in consideration.

The Research Development Office has several standing arrangements with organizations such as UNC School of Medicine, Lineberger Cancer Center, and the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute. If you are interested in assistance in reaching out to local medical organizations, you can contact Jonathon Horowitz or Pradip Pramanik in RDO.

At this point, the NC State Limited Submissions Office is not treating this as a limited submission project, because ARPA-H will accept unlimited NC State submissions until three have been awarded. 

However, we recognize that teams do not want to spend time working on a proposal that has no chance of being funded because the cap is met. Therefore, we encourage all teams to: 1) create a PINS record early in the process, indicating ARPA-H as the primary sponsor so that ORI units are aware of your interest. 2) Reach out to the Proposal Development Unit for a consultation during the initial Abstract phase, to get an assessment of competitiveness. 3) Reach out to your College Research Offices to help conduct a RADAR search of currently active NC State ARPA-H awards. 4) Consider a Cooperative Agreement mechanism, rather than a Contract mechanism, as the 3-award cap specifically applies to FAR-based contracts.  

While both agencies fund biomedical research, NIH is focused on building the foundational knowledge base of human health and biomedical science, while ARPA-H is focused on high-impact innovations to potentially shift the paradigm of human health. Some questions to ask yourself: 1) Would this project require a long-term investment, such as a 10-year longitudinal study? (If so, consider NIH.) 2) Would go/no-go milestones make sense as a way to assess this project? (If no, this would not be appropriate for ARPA-H.) 3) Am I worried that other researchers in my field may “scoop” this project? (If so, this may indicate NIH-style incremental research). 4) Is this project very specific to a single disease or condition? (If so, consider NIH.)

If you are not sure, both NIH and ARPA-H would strongly recommend you reach out to Program Officers/Program Managers and have a conversation about your goals and research interests. Additionally, NC State researchers can request a consultation with the PDU if they would like help talking through their options and planning to contact Program Officers.

ARPA-H will not be utilizing the standard NIH Center for Scientific Review peer review groups. Rather, ARPA-H Program Managers will be responsible for reviewing each application, soliciting subject matter expertise as necessary. Teams should not expect to receive a standard Summary Statement back from review; rather they will either be declined or invited to submit/negotiate an award. Teams should take this review model into consideration when writing their proposals.