Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) Pilot Project Award (SC2 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | PAR 20 040

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 20 040

The Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) Pilot Project Award (SC2 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed), funding opportunity number PAR-20-040, is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant program meant to help strengthen research capacity and improve the competitiveness of faculty at institutions that have a clear mission, or a recent proven track record, of educating and graduating students from groups that are underrepresented in biomedical research. It is positioned as a developmental award, meaning it is intended to build momentum, research skills, and an institution's overall research base rather than simply funding already well-established, highly resourced research environments.

A central feature of this opportunity is the institutional eligibility requirement. To qualify, an institution must award science degrees at the undergraduate level (B.S. or B.A.) and/or at the graduate level (M.S. or Ph.D.). In addition, the institution must have a relatively low level of recent NIH R01 funding: specifically, it must have received less than 6 million dollars per year in NIH R01 support (in total costs) in each of the last two fiscal years. This funding threshold is used to focus SCORE resources on institutions that are building their research infrastructure and portfolio, rather than those that already receive substantial NIH research support.

The program explicitly includes several categories of institutions that often serve high proportions of students from underrepresented backgrounds, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs). While the eligibility list in the source data also references common applicant organization types (such as public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, and certain nonprofit organizations), the SCORE-specific requirements around degree granting, mission/track record, and the NIH R01 funding cap are key gatekeepers for whether an institution can actually apply under this announcement.

This particular SCORE mechanism is the SC2 Pilot Project Award, with the additional restriction that clinical trials are not allowed. In practical terms, applicants need to propose research activities that fit within NIH's definition of non-clinical-trial research for this funding mechanism. Projects that meet NIH's clinical trial definition would be out of scope for this opportunity and would need to be directed to a different funding announcement that allows clinical trials.

From a funding perspective, the opportunity is categorized as a discretionary grant with an award ceiling of 100,000 dollars. That ceiling signals that projects are expected to be pilot in nature: focused, feasible, and designed to generate preliminary data, strengthen investigator capability, and position the research team for future, larger applications. The listing does not specify the number of expected awards in the provided source fields, so prospective applicants would typically look to the full announcement or NIH Institute/Center guidance for any additional expectations about award volume or competitiveness.

Administratively, the sponsoring agency is the National Institutes of Health, and the opportunity is associated with multiple CFDA numbers (93.121, 93.173, 93.847, 93.853, 93.855, 93.859, 93.866), reflecting that various NIH Institutes or programs may participate or that the mechanism maps across multiple NIH funding lines. The original closing date shown is May 7, 2021, and the record creation date is October 24, 2019, which is useful for context if someone is reviewing historical opportunities or looking for successor announcements.

In summary, this SCORE SC2 pilot grant is designed to help faculty at eligible, mission-driven or track-record-proven institutions that serve underrepresented students build research capacity and compete more effectively for future funding, with a modest budget cap and a clear prohibition on clinical trials, and with eligibility rules that prioritize institutions with relatively limited recent NIH R01 funding.

• The National Institutes of Health in the food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) Pilot Project Award (SC2 - 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): 93.121, 93.173, 93.847, 93.853, 93.855, 93.859, 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-10-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-05-07. (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 $100,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, 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, Others.

Apply for PAR 20 040

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