The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act a.k.a. the “Stimulus Bill” provides approximately $21 Billion for federal research and development activities and identifies very specific research areas for this funding which will be outlined on each of the agency’s websites. Agencies are required to have their Agency Recovery Plan in place no later than May 1, 2009.
Please note that there will be additional and frequent reporting requirements — both fiscal and programmatic. Reporting on job creation and contribution to economic recovery should be expected in terms and conditions of Stimulus Funding in additional to typical reporting requirements.
In many cases ARRA funds are to be obligated by September 20, 2010. This means project expenditures on the ARRA funds must be made in a timely fashion (or risk them being taken away). As with our current policy the PI must charge at least 1% of their effort to the project.
Links:
Research.gov – Information on ARRA and will eventually contain the reporting information about ARRA funds (both fiscal and programmatic reports).
- Agency Recovery links: http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/agencies
Funding Opportunities
Search for funding opportunities using www.cos.com searching “ARRA.”
DOE
R&D Alternative Isotope Production Techniques
Applications of Nuclear Science & Technology
Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E):
Funding Opportunity Announcement No. DE-FOA-0000065
DOC/NOAA
NOAA Coastal and Marine Habitat Restoration Project Grants
NIH
High-End Instrumentation Grant Program
Extramural Research Facilities Improvement Program
Core Facility Renovation, Repair & Improvement
NCRR Shared Instrumentation Grant Program
NIH Challenge Grants in Health & Science Research
Recovery Act Limited Competition for NIH Grants: Research and Research Infrastructure “Grand Opportunities” (please note: the NIDDK and the NEI are NOT participating in this solicitation)
Three supplements: (see below for details)
Competitive Revision Applications to Active NIH Grants
Administrative Supplements to Active NIH Grants
Administrative Supplements Providing Summer Research Experiences for Student & Science Educators
ARRA Agency Information
National Science Foundation:
NSF has published guidance on their policies, procedures and Frequently Asked Questions at the following websites:
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has officially confirmed the outline of the plans for the $3 billion NSF received in stimulus funding through a letter released on March 18 by the NSF Director, Arden Bement. Research Funding Focused on Raising the Success Rate: $2 billion will be distributed among the research directorates and offices. Most of this funding will go to raising the success rate in ongoing competitions, so the focus will be on proposals that were or will be reviewed and/or awarded between October 1, 2008 and September 30, 2009. There will be no research solicitations or competitions specifically for stimulus funding; the additional awards of stimulus funds will be made through existing NSF programs. Priority will be placed on funding for new investigators and high-risk, high-return research.
Infrastructure and Instrumentation: There is $300 million for the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program. (This is in addition to the $115 million supporting the MRI competition that had proposals due in January.) NSF will issue a new solicitation this spring to allow organizations to apply for this new tranche of funding. There is also $200 million for the Academic Research Infrastructure program. This is a new program for renovation of research facilities; NSF will issue a solicitation this spring.
Education: There is $100 million in funding targeted at specific education programs, including $15 million to establish a new program to facilitate the creation or improvement of Professional Science Master’s degree programs. A solicitation will be issued this spring
Dr. Bement’s letter is online at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/issuances/in131.jsp.
Department of Energy
DOE Announces Plans for $1.2 billion of its Stimulus Funding; Support Included for National Laboratories, Energy Frontier Research Centers, and Core Research and Students. On March 23, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the allocation of $1.2 billion of the $1.6 billion in economic stimulus funding provided to the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. About half of the funding for the Office of Science, $830.2 million, will be directed to DOE national laboratories for construction, infrastructure, equipment acquisition and other research efforts. Within this amount, $330 million will be devoted to operations and equipment at Office of Science major scientific user facilities.
In addition, $277 million in stimulus funding will be allocated to the new Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs).
Of particular interest is $90 million that DOE intends to devote to core research, providing support for graduate students, post docs, and Ph.D. scientists across the nation.; This funding meets two criteria by which science funding was evaluated in that it will create jobs in the near term and stimulate the economy, as well as help lay the foundation for long-term economic recovery through scientific advancements. Secretary Chu did not offer details on the programs through which DOE will provide these funds.
Secretary Chu also announced that DOE will provide $69 million in stimulus funding to create a national scale, prototype 100-gigabit per second data network linking research centers across the nation. DOE expects the effort to enhance the Office of Science’s networking capabilities and benefit the commercial telecommunications sector. The complete details of Secretary Chu’s announcement are at http://www.energy.gov/news2009/7083.htm.
Department of Energy: Update on DOE Plans for EFRCs and Single-Investigator and Small-Group Research Initiative
New information has been released about the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science’s plans for Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) and the associated new initiative to support Single-Investigator and Small-Group Research (SISGR). These opportunities were announced last year, but progress on making awards has been delayed due to uncertainty about what levels of funding would be available for the programs.
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs): DOE received $100 million in regular fiscal year (FY) 2009 appropriations for the EFRCs. This will enable them to fund 25 EFRCs.In addition, $277 million in stimulus funding will be allocated to making 12 additional EFRCs awards. (The stimulus funding will provide five years of funding for these 12 awards, while the 25 other awards will get annual funding via regular appropriations each year.) Overall, DOE will make 37 awards out of the 261 proposals submitted. Award announcements are expected in April.
Single-Investigator and Small-Group Research (SISGR): DOE plans to provide $60 million in FY 2009 to SISGR awards on basic research challenges to developing abundant, clean, and economical new sources of energy. DOE Basic Energy Sciences (BES), which is running the program, solicited white papers last year and received 879 responses.By the end of March, DOE intends to invite the submission of full proposals; these proposals will be due to BES in April. Following the peer review process, DOE hopes to make SISGR awards in June.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
NIH has advised potential Stimulus funds awardees that a previously submitted R01 with a modular budget will require a full and complete budget prior to awarding.
NIH ARRA Award Terms (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/NIH_HHS_ARRA_Award_Terms.pdf)
NIH Supplemements:
As the NIH continues to roll out initiatives for allocating new funds received by the agency under the ARRA, it announced that it is allocating at least $1 billion for administrative and competitive revision applications to supplement already funded NIH grants.
- Turnaround times wil be very short — applications due in late April and May 2009.
- There are no limits on number of requests per investigator or institution.
- Flexible applicability for no-cost extensions
- A wide variety of funding mechanisms are eligible.
- Specific guidance by each NIH Institute/Center should be heeded and additional details from the individual institutes are still emerging.
- Applicants are encouraged to contact their program administrators and/or grant specialist prior to submission.
Thanks to the Office of Federal Releations for the Agency update!