Limited Competition: NIH-DoD-VA Pain Management Collaboratory - Coordinating Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA AT 24 002

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AT 24 002

The funding opportunity "Limited Competition: NIH-DoD-VA Pain Management Collaboratory - Coordinating Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" (RFA-AT-24-002) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement intended to continue support for a single Coordinating Center that provides national leadership for the NIH-DoD-VA Pain Management Collaboratory (PMC). The PMC focuses on advancing evidence-based, non-pharmacological approaches to pain management for U.S. veterans, active-duty military personnel, and/or their family members, with an emphasis on carrying out research in real-world health care delivery settings connected to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD). As a U24 cooperative agreement, the award is structured for substantial NIH involvement in the program, and it is explicitly designated as "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," meaning the Coordinating Center itself is not proposing or running an independent clinical trial as its primary activity.

At its core, the Coordinating Center is meant to function as the operational and scientific backbone of the broader collaboratory. The NOFO lays out three major responsibilities. First, the Coordinating Center must develop, adapt, and promote technical and policy guidance and best practices that make it easier to conduct high-quality research in partnership with health care systems serving veterans and military communities. This includes practical guidance on common barriers in embedded or pragmatic research, such as working within clinical workflows, handling multi-site operational differences, aligning research procedures with health system policies, and addressing issues that come up when research is tightly integrated into routine care. Second, the Coordinating Center must collaborate directly with the PMC Demonstration Project teams by providing hands-on support across study design and implementation. This support is geared toward helping demonstration teams develop and execute pragmatic trial protocols within participating health care settings, including assistance with methodological planning, operational troubleshooting, and harmonizing approaches across projects when appropriate. Third, the Coordinating Center is responsible for broad dissemination of the collaboratory's endorsed policies, best practices, and lessons learned from the demonstration projects so that methods and tools developed through PMC can be used by other researchers and health systems interested in implementing non-pharmacological pain management research in routine care environments.

Beyond the technical and scientific support functions, the Coordinating Center also serves as the central administrative and coordination hub for the PMC program. A key part of that role is supporting the PMC Steering Committee and its subcommittees, which typically involves organizing meetings, maintaining documentation, facilitating cross-project communication, and ensuring consistent processes for decision-making and collaborative work. In other words, the Coordinating Center is expected to keep the collaboratory functioning as a cohesive national program rather than a collection of unrelated projects, while also strengthening the infrastructure and shared playbook for doing embedded pain management research across NIH-DoD-VA contexts.

Eligibility is broad across many U.S.-based organization types, including state, county, and local governments; special districts; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments; tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits (with or without 501(c)(3) status); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses, among others. The NOFO also highlights additional eligible applicant categories such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), as well as faith-based or community-based organizations and U.S. territories or possessions. However, the opportunity is restricted to domestic applicants: non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations and foreign institutions) cannot apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement are not allowed.

Key administrative details included in the source information are that this is a discretionary funding opportunity under a cooperative agreement mechanism, in the health and education activity category, associated with CFDA numbers 93.213, 93.273, and 93.361. The listed award ceiling is $1,300,000, and the original application closing date was August 31, 2023 (with the record created June 28, 2023). Overall, the opportunity is designed to sustain a centralized coordinating infrastructure that improves how pragmatic, health-system-partnered research on non-drug pain management is designed, implemented, and shared across NIH, DoD, and VA settings, ultimately supporting scalable improvements in pain care for service members, veterans, and their families.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Limited Competition: NIH-DoD-VA Pain Management Collaboratory - Coordinating 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): 93.213, 93.273, 93.361.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-06-28.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-08-31. (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 $1,300,000.00 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.

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