Limited Competition: Research Resource for Human Organs and Tissues (U42) | RFA OD 17 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA OD 17 001

The Limited Competition: Research Resource for Human Organs and Tissues (U42) funding opportunity (RFA-OD-17-001) is an NIH cooperative agreement designed to keep a national-scale infrastructure in place for making human organs and tissues reliably available to biomedical researchers across the United States. The central goal is not to fund a typical hypothesis-driven research project, but to support an ongoing, service-oriented resource that can consistently obtain, preserve, and distribute human biospecimens so researchers can use them for a wide range of biomedical studies. In practice, the award supports an organization that functions as a hub for coordinating tissue and organ acquisition, maintaining high-quality preservation and handling standards, and providing qualified investigators with access to specimens in a timely, ethical, and well-documented manner.

The resource is expected to cover the full operational pipeline needed to supply human tissues and organs for research use. That includes procurement (building and sustaining relationships and processes to obtain tissues and organs ethically and legally), preservation (using validated methods to maintain specimen integrity and usability for downstream research), and distribution (shipping and delivering materials to eligible researchers while maintaining required conditions and documentation). Because the end users are biomedical researchers, the resource must emphasize quality assurance, traceability, and consistency, helping ensure that investigators receive specimens that are appropriately characterized and handled in ways that support rigorous and reproducible science. While the provided text does not list specific technical requirements, the nature of a national research resource typically implies robust standard operating procedures, careful recordkeeping, and systems that support controlled access for qualified research requests.

This opportunity uses the U42 cooperative agreement mechanism, which generally indicates substantial NIH involvement compared to a standard grant. In a cooperative agreement, the awardee runs the day-to-day operations, but NIH program staff commonly have an active partnership role in oversight, coordination, and ensuring the resource meets program goals. The funding opportunity is categorized as discretionary and is tied to NIH CFDA numbers 93.351 and 93.847, placing it within NIH health-related support programs.

Eligibility is the defining feature of this announcement because it is a limited competition. Although the NIH lists many organization types that can be eligible applicants in general (including state, county, and local governments; public and private institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and several other categories), this specific FOA restricts who can actually apply. Only grantees that were previously funded under RFA-OD-13-002 are eligible to submit an application. That means this competition is essentially a continuation or successor opportunity aimed at maintaining continuity of an existing NIH-supported human tissue and organ resource, rather than opening the program to brand-new applicants.

The announcement also clarifies how foreign involvement is treated. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply directly. However, foreign components are allowed as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement. Practically speaking, that means a U.S.-based eligible applicant could potentially include certain foreign elements in the project structure when justified and compliant with NIH policy, but a foreign institution cannot be the applicant organization and foreign-based components of U.S. organizations are not eligible in the way domestic components are.

The FOA explicitly lists additional applicant types that NIH recognizes in its broader eligibility framework, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISIs, faith-based or community-based organizations, Hispanic-serving institutions, HBCUs, tribally controlled colleges and universities, and U.S. territories or possessions, among others. Those categories can matter for NIH programs generally, but in this case they do not override the limited competition restriction tied to prior funding under RFA-OD-13-002.

From an administrative standpoint, the funding opportunity was created on 2016-11-25, had an original closing date of 2018-01-26, and anticipated making a single award (ExpectedAwards: 1). No award ceiling is specified in the provided data, which usually means applicants would need to consult the full Funding Opportunity Announcement for budget guidance, allowable costs, and any expectations about the scale of operations NIH intends to support.

Overall, this FOA supports a national biomedical research enabling resource focused on the practical, high-stakes work of ensuring human organs and tissues are available to qualified U.S. researchers. It emphasizes continuity, infrastructure, and responsible stewardship of human biospecimens, and it limits eligibility to a prior cohort of NIH-funded awardees to preserve stability and reliability in a resource that many investigators may depend on for ongoing research.

• The National Institutes of Health in the food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Limited Competition: Research Resource for Human Organs and Tissues (U42)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.351, 93.847.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-11-25.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-01-26. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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.

Apply for RFA OD 17 001

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