Emergency Awards: HEAL Initiative-Limited Competition: HEAL Initiative Resource Centers for the Pain Management Effectiveness Research Network (ERN) (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA TR 22 012

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA TR 22 012

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), released this funding opportunity as an emergency response tied to the nationwide public health emergency declaration related to the opioid crisis. The opportunity is part of the Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative and is aimed at keeping critical research support infrastructure in place for studies focused on better pain management and, when clinically appropriate, lowering reliance on opioid medications. The award mechanism is a U24 cooperative agreement, meaning NIH will have substantial involvement in oversight and coordination, and it is specifically marked "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," indicating the funded activities are meant to support and coordinate trials rather than run a trial directly under this award.

This is a limited-competition continuation opportunity, and eligibility is tightly restricted. Only organizations that were previously funded to operate these Resource Center activities under the earlier FOAs RFA-TR-15-002 and RFA-TR-15-004 can apply. In other words, it is not an open solicitation for new Resource Centers; it is designed to extend and maintain the capabilities of already-established centers that have been serving this network. While the listing of eligible applicant types may include entities such as independent school districts and public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities (and a general "other" category), the controlling eligibility rule is the prior-award requirement tied to those specific earlier funding announcements.

The purpose of the funding is to continue supporting Resource Centers (RCs) that provide shared services for the HEAL Pain Management Effectiveness Research Network (ERN). These Resource Centers underpin comparative effectiveness clinical trials and related studies funded through HEAL ERN initiatives, including studies supported under RFA-NS-19-021 and RFA-NS-20-028. The emphasis is on maintaining a common, networked infrastructure that multiple HEAL pain studies can rely on, rather than having each study recreate its own standalone coordination and data systems. The overarching theme across the supported research is improving pain care and outcomes, strengthening the evidence base for what works in real-world settings, and helping clinicians and patients identify effective approaches that may reduce opioid exposure when that is appropriate and safe.

Functionally, the Resource Centers are expected to deliver several core capabilities. They provide clinical and data coordination across the network, which typically includes developing and maintaining operational workflows, supporting multi-site study execution, coordinating communications among trial sites and investigators, and ensuring consistent implementation of network standards. They also provide biostatistical resources, which can include statistical consultation, analytic planning support, and guidance on common approaches that allow results from different studies to be compared or combined more reliably. Another major role is recruitment and retention support, helping study teams enroll appropriate participants and keep them engaged over time, which is often one of the biggest practical challenges in pain-related clinical research.

A key requirement is continued collaboration with HEAL Data Coordination Resource Centers (DCRCs) to harmonize data elements across studies. In practice, this means aligning common data definitions, measurement standards, and reporting formats so that information collected in separate studies can be aggregated into higher-value combined datasets. The goal is to make future meta-analyses feasible and credible and to increase what can be learned about pain conditions that have historically been understudied. This kind of harmonization is especially important for comparative effectiveness work, where decision-makers benefit from consistent outcome measures and comparable populations across multiple trials and settings.

Several important restrictions are clearly stated. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible. In addition, foreign components, as NIH defines them in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed under this FOA. While the opportunity notes that faith-based or community-based organizations, tribal governments that are not federally recognized, and regional organizations may be considered among eligible applicant categories in general NIH terms, the practical reality remains that only prior awardees under the specified earlier RFAs can submit an application here.

Administrative details from the source information include the opportunity number RFA-TR-22-012, categorized as discretionary funding and using the cooperative agreement instrument. The activity category is health, and the CFDA numbers associated with the program include 93.213, 93.350, 93.846, and 93.866. The FOA was created on January 19, 2022, with an original closing date of March 15, 2022. The award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided source fields, which often means applicants need to consult the full FOA text or related NIH budget guidance for funding levels and project period details.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as an emergency, continuity-focused extension of the HEAL ERN support backbone. It is meant to preserve and strengthen the shared coordinating, statistical, recruitment, and data-harmonization functions that enable multiple HEAL pain management studies to operate efficiently and generate results that are easier to compare, combine, and translate into better pain care with reduced unnecessary opioid reliance.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Emergency Awards: HEAL Initiative-Limited Competition: HEAL Initiative Resource Centers for the Pain Management Effectiveness Research Network (ERN) (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, 93.350, 93.846, 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-01-19.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-03-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Independent school districts, Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Others.

Apply for RFA TR 22 012

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