Stakeholder Engagement and Program Coordination Center (SEPCC) (U2C) | RFA RM 17 014

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 17 014

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced this funding opportunity to create a Stakeholder Engagement and Program Coordination Center (SEPCC) under a cooperative agreement mechanism (U2C). The center is meant to serve as the coordination and engagement hub for the Common Fund Metabolomics Program Consortium. At its core, the SEPCC is expected to organize the consortium's required cross-cutting activities, connect the metabolomics community with NIH-supported consortium efforts, and make sure information flows in more than one direction between researchers, tool/resource developers, and the broader set of metabolomics stakeholders.

The main purpose of the SEPCC is to strengthen community engagement around metabolomics as it is applied to biomedical research. NIH is positioning engagement and ongoing, multi-directional communication as a practical way to address remaining barriers that limit metabolomics adoption and impact. In practice, the center would convene and support stakeholders to identify persistent concerns in the field (for example, challenges that affect confidence, consistency, and usability of metabolomics data and methods in biomedical studies) and then help develop and coordinate strategies to tackle those concerns. A second major emphasis is outreach and promotion: the SEPCC should increase awareness and use of consortium resources by the broader biomedical research community, not only by metabolomics specialists.

This opportunity falls under the Health funding activity category and is tied to CFDA number 93.310. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically means NIH expects substantial involvement with the awardee during the project period, including coordination, shared planning, and ongoing interaction with NIH program staff as the consortium activities evolve. The announcement is labeled as a discretionary opportunity and was published with the identifier RFA-RM-17-014.

A wide range of applicant types were eligible. Eligible applicants included various levels of government (state, county, city/township, and special district governments), independent school districts, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments, tribal organizations that are not federally recognized, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, and both nonprofit and for-profit organizations (including small businesses). The FOA also explicitly welcomed applications from organizations serving historically underrepresented communities and specific institution types, 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). It also listed faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions among eligible groups.

On the foreign eligibility side, the FOA drew a clear line: non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations and foreign institutions) were not eligible to apply as the primary applicant. However, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations were eligible to participate, and foreign components (as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement) were allowed. In other words, the award needed to be held by an eligible U.S.-based applicant, but the project could include certain foreign activities or collaborations if they met NIH policy requirements.

Key administrative details included an original application closing date of October 20, 2017, and an award ceiling listed at $300,000. The posting was created on August 1, 2017. While the opportunity description emphasizes consortium-wide coordination and stakeholder engagement outcomes, the practical expectation is that the SEPCC would function as a central organizing body that helps align consortium efforts, gathers and synthesizes stakeholder input, and actively drives dissemination and adoption of metabolomics resources for the benefit of the wider biomedical research ecosystem.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Stakeholder Engagement and Program Coordination Center (SEPCC) (U2C)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.310.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-08-01.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-10-20. (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 $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.

Apply for RFA RM 17 014

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