DoD Kidney Cancer, Concept Award | W81XWH 19 KCRP CA

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 19 KCRP CA

The DoD Kidney Cancer Research Program (KCRP) Concept Award (FY19) is a small, early-stage research grant meant to spark genuinely new directions in kidney cancer research. It is specifically designed for bold, untested ideas that could be groundbreaking, including concepts that come from unexpected or serendipitous observations. The program makes it clear that this mechanism is not for incremental extensions of an existing project or a next logical step along an established line of work. Just as important, preliminary data are not allowed, which reinforces that the goal is to fund high-risk, high-reward exploration rather than well-developed projects that already have supporting evidence.

Applicants are expected to explain, in a convincing way, how their new idea would expand what is known about kidney cancer or open an innovative new line of investigation. While the work is “preliminary” in nature, the intended payoff is practical: the results should ideally position the investigator to generate the kind of initial findings that could support a larger follow-on proposal in the future. The program also points applicants to the Congressionally mandated Metastatic Cancer Task Force recommendations and encourages proposals that align with those ideas, as long as they fit the KCRP priorities and the specific limits of this award. Across all topics, the proposed research must be relevant to active duty Service members, Veterans, military beneficiaries, and/or the general public.

A notable feature of this opportunity is that the scientific review is blinded. Reviewers will not know who the principal investigator (PI) is, who the collaborators are, or what institution is submitting the application. Because of that, the application must be written in a way that avoids any identifying information in key sections such as the Project Narrative and several required statements (including the Impact and Innovation statements). If the application includes identifying references to people or organizations in those blinded sections, it can be administratively rejected without being reviewed on its scientific merits. In practice, that means proposals have to be carefully edited to remove institutional names, lab identifiers, self-citations framed in a revealing way, and any language that effectively “outs” the research team.

From a compliance standpoint, the award is limited to preliminary investigations and places strict boundaries around human research. Clinical trials are not allowed under this announcement, and the program uses a definition of a clinical trial that hinges on prospectively assigning human subjects to interventions to measure health-related outcomes. If a project involves human subjects or human specimens, it must qualify as exempt under 32 CFR 219.104(d) or be eligible for expedited review under the applicable federal regulations (32 CFR 219.110 or 21 CFR 56.110). Projects that do not meet exempt or expedited criteria will be withdrawn, so applicants need to plan study designs accordingly and avoid activities that would push the work into full-board review territory. Local IRB approval is not required at the time of submission, but exemption or expedited status is first determined by the IRB of record, and investigators are expected to understand and follow their institution’s process for making that determination.

For any DoD-funded work involving human anatomical substances, human subjects, or human cadavers, there is an additional layer of review beyond the local IRB or ethics committee. The U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command’s Office of Research Protections, through the Human Research Protection Office (HRPO), must review and approve the work before research can begin. This HRPO administrative review can take a minimum of 2 to 3 months, and international work can take longer. The program also cautions applicants to write protocols that match the DoD-supported scope as a stand-alone effort where possible, because submitting broader protocols that mix DoD and non-DoD aims can expand what HRPO reviews and may trigger DoD human-subject protection requirements being applied more widely than anticipated. If human subject recruitment is involved, the application must include quarterly enrollment targets across all sites in the Statement of Work attachment, and funded teams should expect to coordinate with USAMRAA to establish recruitment milestones. Continued support is tied to meeting agreed milestones and demonstrating satisfactory progress.

Animal research is also subject to layered oversight. In addition to local IACUC review, the Animal Care and Use Review Office (ACURO) must review and approve any DoD-funded animal work before it starts, including amendments. Like HRPO, ACURO review commonly requires at least 2 to 3 months. IACUC approval is not required at submission, but if selected for funding the PI will need to provide the animal use protocol, proof of IACUC approval, and the required animal-use documentation.

Financially, this is a modest award intended to fund early exploration rather than a full-scale project. The anticipated maximum for direct costs over the entire period of performance is $75,000. Program-wide, CDMRP expected to allocate about $0.96 million total to make roughly 8 awards, though final numbers depend on federal funding availability and the competitiveness and quality of the applications. Awards are issued as assistance agreements, meaning either grants or cooperative agreements. Which one is used depends largely on how much involvement the DoD anticipates during the project; if substantial involvement is expected (such as active collaboration or participation), the mechanism may be a cooperative agreement rather than a standard grant.

Administratively, the opportunity was released by the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, through USAMRAA, under funding opportunity number W81XWH-19-KCRP-CA, with CFDA 12.420. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted in general terms (open to many entity types, subject to any specific eligibility language in the full announcement). The original closing date was October 1, 2019, and awards were expected to be made no later than September 30, 2020. The announcement also notes that FY19 funds supporting these awards were anticipated to remain available for obligation for a limited time, with an expiration for use of September 30, 2025.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Kidney Cancer, Concept Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 31, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 01, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 8 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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