Cancer Immunologic Data Commons (CIDC) (U24) | RFA CA 17 006

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA CA 17 006

The Cancer Immunologic Data Commons (CIDC) (U24) funding opportunity (RFA-CA-17-006) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement designed to stand up a single, centralized bioinformatics and data commons resource to support correlative science tied to cancer immunotherapy clinical trials. The core idea is to create an informatics backbone for a broader network that will generate, harmonize, store, and analyze immunologic and related biomarker data coming out of trials, so that results can be compared across studies and used more effectively to understand treatment response, resistance, and patient outcomes. In practical terms, the CIDC is meant to function as a shared platform and service hub that enables consistent data handling and cross-trial analytics for immuno-oncology.

This FOA specifically supports one CIDC award that will operate as part of a larger “Network for correlative studies in clinical trials involving cancer immunotherapy.” That network is structured around two components: (1) the single CIDC funded under this announcement and (2) up to three Cancer Immune Monitoring and Analysis Centers (CIMACs) funded under the companion announcement RFA-CA-17-005. The CIMACs are the laboratory and immune-monitoring engines that generate standardized assay data from clinical trial specimens, while the CIDC is the central bioinformatics, data management, and integration entity that makes those data usable at scale. Because the award mechanism is a cooperative agreement (U24), recipients should expect substantial scientific and programmatic involvement from NIH compared to a standard research grant, including coordination expectations, shared governance, and network-wide deliverables.

From an applicant and eligibility standpoint, the opportunity is broad within the United States and its territories, reflecting NIH’s intent to attract strong academic, nonprofit, governmental, and private-sector capabilities in data commons infrastructure and biomedical informatics. Eligible applicants include state, county, and local 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; and Native American tribal organizations that are not federally recognized tribal governments. It also allows public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) organizations, excluding higher education institutions in those categories), for-profit organizations other than small businesses, and small businesses. The FOA also explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant types such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISISs, Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions.

At the same time, the FOA places clear limits on foreign participation. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations and foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply, and foreign components (as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement) are not allowed. In other words, the CIDC award is intended to be fully U.S.-based in terms of applicant organization and project components, which matters for teams that might otherwise consider hosting infrastructure, staffing, or substantial analytic work outside the U.S.

Key administrative details help frame the scale and timing of the opportunity. The agency is NIH, the opportunity category is discretionary, and it falls under education and health activity categories, with CFDA numbers 93.394 and 93.395. The original posting was created on 2016-12-16, with an original closing date of 2017-03-17. The listed award ceiling is $900,000, indicating the maximum expected annual or total direct cost level as presented in the summary data (applicants typically confirm budget structure and allowable costs in the full FOA text). The summary notes “ExpectedAwards:” but does not provide a number; however, the narrative clarifies that the network will include a single CIDC award under this FOA, so the intent is to fund one main CIDC.

Overall, this grant opportunity is aimed at building a centralized, network-facing immuno-oncology data commons that can reliably support multi-site clinical trial correlative science. It emphasizes shared infrastructure, standardization, and coordinated operations across the CIMAC-CIDC network, with NIH actively involved in oversight and collaboration because of the cooperative agreement structure. The result NIH is looking for is a durable, high-quality bioinformatics and data integration capability that accelerates learning from cancer immunotherapy trials by making immune monitoring and associated clinical and molecular data consistently managed, analyzable, and comparable across studies.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cancer Immunologic Data Commons (CIDC) (U24)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.394, 93.395.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-12-16.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-03-17. (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 $900,000.00 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 RFA CA 17 006

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