Tag Archives: Military Science

United States Military Academy Broad Agency Announcement

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The US Military Academy (USMA) at West Point’s mission is “to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.” USMA executes research to enhance the education of cadets, develop the faculty professionally, and address important issues facing the Army and the Nation. In addition, the Academy conducts research and analysis in emerging fields that may realize novel or vastly improved Army capabilities. 

At West Point, research is organized and administered through centers and institutes, most of which reside within academic departments. These centers and institutes, affiliated with each other through the Academy Research Council (ARC), coordinated and supported by the Academic Research Division (ARD), provide the infrastructure necessary to tackle the nation’s and the world’s most challenging problems. Our research centers and institutes bring context to the classroom, are central to our vibrant and pioneering faculty, and are one way West Point connects to the Army and to the Nation. In addition to applied research, there are centers and institutes at West Point that focus on other aspects of the USMA mission.

The USMA BAA identifies topics of interest to the USMA departments, directorates, and research centers and institutes. These groups focus on executing in-house research programs, with a significant emphasis on collaborative research with other organizations. The groups fund a modest amount of extramural research in certain specific areas, and those areas are described in this BAA.

The USMA BAA seeks proposals from institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, state and local governments, foreign organizations, foreign public entities, and for-profit organizations (i.e., large and small businesses) for research based on the following campaigns: Socio-Cultural; Information Technology; Ballistics, Weapons, and Protections; Energy and Sustainability; Materials, Measurements, and Facilities; Unmanned Systems and Space; Human Support Systems; and Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Quantum Technologies.

Proposals are sought for cutting-edge innovative research that could produce discoveries with a significant impact to enable new and improved Army technologies and related operational capabilities and related technologies. The specific research areas and topics of interest described in this document should be viewed as suggestive, rather than limiting.

DoD FY21 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP)

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The Department of Defense (DoD announces the Fiscal Year 2021 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP).

DURIP is designed to improve the capabilities of accredited United States (US) institutions of higher education to conduct research and to educate scientists and engineers in areas important to national defense, by providing funds for the acquisition of research equipment or instrumentation. For-profit organizations are not eligible for DURIP funding. We refer to eligible institutions of higher education as universities in the rest of this announcement.

DURIP is part of the University Research Initiative (URI).

This program will be supplemented by additional funding provided by the Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR). Additional awards may be made to principal investigators in DEPSCoR eligible states as defined in 10 U.S.C. 2358, as amended by Pub. L. 115 91, div. A, title II, sec. 219.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Applicants should be alert for any amendments that may modify the announcement. Amendments to the original funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will be posted to the Grants.gov Webpage.

The DURIP Announcement has been amended. Amendment 2 corrects section D.5.f. on page 21 to reflect that Bibliography and References Cited are included in the page count. This amendment supersedes previous versions of this FOA. Click on the box below and navigate to the “Related Documents” tab for the full program announcement.

Defense Health Program – Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20)

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The FY20 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding to the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) to support to support medical research projects of clear scientific merit and direct relevance to military health. As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency J9, Research and Development Directorate manages the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The FY20 PRMRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the Grants.gov website.   

The vision and mission of the PRMRP is improve the health, care, and well-being of all military Service members, Veterans, and beneficiaries by encouraging, identifying, selecting, and managing medical research projects of clear scientific merit and direct relevance to military health.

Congressionally Directed Topic Areas: All applications submitted to the PRMRP must address at least one of the FY20 PRMRP Congressionally directed topic areas. The FY20 PRMRP Topic Areas are as follows:

Arthritis Burn Pit Exposure
Chronic Migraine Post-Traumatic Headache
Congestive Heart Disease Diabetes
Dystonia Eating Disorder
Emerging Viral Disease Endometriosis
Epidermolysia Bullosa Familial Hypercholesterolemia
Fibrous Dysplasia Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis
Food Allergies Fragile X
Frontotemporal Degeneration Hepatitis B
Guillain-Barre Syndromemorrhage Control Immunomonitoring of Intestinal Transplants
Hydrocephalus Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Interstitial Cystitis Metals Toxicology
Mitchondrial Disease Musculoskeletal Health
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Myotonic Dystrophy Nutrition Optimization
Pancreatitis Pathogen-Inactivated Blood Products
Plant Based Vaccines Polycystic Kidney Disease
Pressure Ulcers Pulmonary Fibrosis
Resilience Training Respiratory Health
Rheumatoid Arthritis Sleep Disorders and Restriction
Spinal Muscular Atrophy Sustained Release Drug Delivery
Vascular Malformations Women’s Heart Disease

Discovery Award – Letter of Intent due April 16, 2020

Postdoctoral fellow or clinical fellow (or equivalent) and above:

  • Supports the exploration of a highly innovative new concept or untested theory.
  • Not intended to support the logical progression of an already established line of questioning.
  • Clinical trials will not be funded.
  • Reviewers will be blinded to the identity of the Principal Investigator (PI), collaborators, and their organization(s).
  • Maximum of $200,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance of 2 years.

Focused Program Award – Pre-proposal due April 23, 2020

Full Professor level or above (or equivalent):

  • Pre-proposal submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports a synergistic, multidisciplinary research program of at least four distinct but complementary projects addressing an overarching goal.
  • Projects should work together to answer critical questions, resolve differing hypotheses, and translate laboratory findings to clinical applications.
  • Projects may range from exploratory/hypothesis-developing through small-scale clinical trials that together will address the overarching goal/question.
  • Research team of highly qualified, multidisciplinary project leaders should be led by a PI with demonstrated success in directing large, focused projects.
  • Maximum of $7.2 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance of 4 years.

Investigator-Initiated Research Award – Pre-proposal due April 23, 2020

Assistant Professor level or above (or equivalent):
  • Pre-proposal submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports research that will make an original and important contribution to the field of research or patient care in the topic area(s) of interest.
  • Partnering PI Option available.
  • Clinical trials will not be funded.
  • Maximum of $1.6 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum of $2 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs) for applications including a Partnering PI Option.
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years.

Technology/Therapeutic Development Award – Pre-proposal due April 23, 2020

Assistant Professor level or above (or equivalent):

  • Pre-proposal submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports the translation of promising pre-clinical findings into clinical applications for prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment, or quality of life.
  • Product-oriented (e.g., device, drug, clinical guidelines). The product(s) to be developed may be a tangible item such as a pharmacologic agent (drugs or biologics) or device, or a knowledge-based product.
  • Clinical trials will not be funded.
  • Maximum of $4 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years.

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website.  The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all CDMRP and other USAMRDC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420. 

For email notification when Program Announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage at https://eBRAP.org.  For more information about the PRMRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website.

Point of Contact: CDMRP Help Desk
301-682-5507
help@eBrap.org

Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative

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This FY 2021 Air Force Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI) competition is open only to, and proposals are to be submitted only by, US institutions of higher education (universities) with degree-granting programs in science and/or engineering, including DoD institutions of higher education. To the extent that it is a part of a US institution of higher education and is not designated as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) or other University Affiliated Laboratory (UAL) is eligible to submit a proposal to this MURI competition and/or receive MURI funds. Ineligible organizations (e.g., industry, DoD laboratories, FFRDCs, and foreign entities) may collaborate on the research but may not receive MURI funds directly or via sub award. When additional funding for an ineligible organization is necessary to make the proposed collaboration possible, such funds may be identified via a separate proposal from that organization. This supplemental proposal shall be attached to the primary MURI proposal and will be evaluated in accordance with the MURI review criteria by the responsible Research Topic Chief. If approved, the supplemental proposal may be funded using non-MURI or non-Government funds.

DOD’s MURI program addresses high-risk basic research and attempts to understand or achieve something that has never been done before. The program was initiated over 25 years ago and it has regularly produced significant scientific breakthroughs with far reaching consequences to the fields of science, economic growth, and revolutionary new military technologies. Key to the program’s success is the close management of the MURI projects by Service program officers and their active role in providing research guidance.

Detailed descriptions of the topics and the Topic Chief for each can be found in Section II. I, entitled, “SPECIFIC MURI TOPICS,” (page 39 of 79 in the FOA document). The detailed descriptions are intended to provide the applicant a frame of reference and are not meant to be restrictive to the possible approaches to achieving the goals of the topic and the program. Innovative ideas addressing these research topics are highly encouraged.

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA) for Extramural Biomedical Research and Development

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This BAA is intended to solicit extramural research and development ideas using the authority provided by United States Code, Title 10, Section 2358. This BAA is issued under the provisions of the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-369), as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.102(d) (2) and 35.016 and in DoD Grant and Agreement Regulations (DoDGARs) 22.315. In accordance with FAR 6.102, projects funded under this BAA must be for basic and applied research to support scientific study and experimentation directed toward advancing the state-of-the-art or increasing knowledge or understanding rather than focusing on development of a specific system or hardware solution. Research and development funding through this BAA are intended and expected to benefit and inform both military and civilian medical practice and knowledge.

This BAA provides a general description of USSOCOM’s research and development programs, including research areas of interest, evaluation and selection criteria, pre-proposal/pre-application and full proposal/application preparation instructions, and general administrative information. Submission of a pre-proposal/pre-application is required. After review, if the USSOCOM is interested in receiving a full proposal/application, the Applicant or Offeror will be invited to submit a full proposal or full application. Specific submission information and additional administrative requirements can be found in the document titled “General Submission Instructions” available in Grants.gov along with this BAA.

USSOCOM utilizes the tools and processes provided by Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). The CDMRP manages the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) system and retrieval and processing of full proposal/application submissions from Grants.gov. Refer to Section II.G, Agency Contacts, for additional information.