NIH Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) Program: FIRST Coordination and Evaluation Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA RM 21 019

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 21 019

The NIH Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) Program: FIRST Coordination and Evaluation Center (CEC) funding opportunity (RFA-RM-21-019) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement (U24) intended to support a single, centralized entity that will coordinate, align, and evaluate the broader NIH FIRST initiative. The core purpose of this CEC is to work closely with institutions funded under the FIRST Cohort awards to jointly develop evaluation strategies and then carry out a comprehensive, program-wide assessment of how FIRST is being implemented and what outcomes it produces. Because it is a U24 cooperative agreement, the awardee should expect substantial NIH involvement during the project period, with NIH staff participating in planning, oversight, and coordination activities rather than operating as a hands-off funder.

The opportunity is categorized as a discretionary health-related award under CFDA 93.310 and was created on February 24, 2021, with an original application due date of April 23, 2021. NIH anticipated making one award, with an annual award ceiling of $840,000. In practical terms, this reflects NIH's intent to designate one organization to serve as the hub for coordination and evaluation across the entire FIRST network, rather than funding multiple competing evaluation centers.

Functionally, the CEC is meant to be the connective tissue of the FIRST program. Its responsibilities are oriented around building shared approaches with the FIRST Cohort awardees, ensuring that evaluation questions, metrics, and data collection methods are coherent across sites, and facilitating the use of consistent definitions and reporting practices so that results can be interpreted across institutions. The emphasis on "coordinate and facilitate the development of strategies" signals that the CEC is not simply collecting data after the fact; it is expected to help design the evaluation in partnership with the cohort institutions, support implementation of that evaluation, and integrate findings at the program level to determine whether FIRST is achieving sustainable transformation in faculty recruitment and related institutional practices.

The notice specifies "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," which means applications should not propose clinical trials as part of the work supported under this U24. The work is expected to be centered on coordination, program evaluation, and related research and analytic activities rather than interventional clinical research involving human subjects as clinical trial participants.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of domestic organizations that could credibly serve as a national coordination and evaluation center. Eligible applicants listed include federal recognized tribal governments and tribal organizations, state and local governments, public and private institutions of higher education, independent school districts, special district governments, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofit organizations (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), and small businesses, with additional eligibility clarification referenced in the full opportunity text. This wide eligibility suggests NIH was open to a range of potential leads, such as universities with strong evaluation cores, research organizations specializing in program evaluation, or other entities with demonstrated capacity to manage multi-site coordination and complex evaluation efforts.

Overall, this grant is best understood as an infrastructure and evaluation award designed to ensure the NIH FIRST program is implemented coherently across participating institutions and assessed rigorously. The single expected award, substantial budget ceiling, and cooperative agreement mechanism all underscore that NIH intended the CEC to play a central, ongoing role in convening stakeholders, standardizing approaches, guiding evaluation execution, and synthesizing evidence about the program's effectiveness and lessons learned.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, 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 Feb 24, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 23, 2021. (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 $840,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• 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 (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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