NCI Awardee Skills Development Consortium: Program Logistics and Evaluation Coordinating Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA CA 19 011

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA CA 19 011

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), released this funding opportunity (RFA-CA-19-011) to create a central Coordinating Center for the NCI Awardee Skills Development Consortium (NASDC). The NASDC initiative is designed to strengthen the career development of current NCI grantees, with a particular focus on junior faculty and early-stage investigators such as assistant professors, instructors, and research scientists. The basic idea is to help these researchers build practical, career-sustaining skills that directly support the transition to and maintenance of independent academic cancer research careers. This award uses the U24 cooperative agreement mechanism, meaning the recipient would not only carry out the proposed work but would also work closely with NCI staff in an ongoing, collaborative way. Clinical trials are not allowed under this U24.

The Coordinating Center funded under this announcement is not meant to run the educational short courses itself as the primary content provider. Instead, it serves as the operational backbone for a set of Research Education Short Courses that are supported under a separate, companion FOA (the UE5 mechanism referenced as RFA-CA-19-010). In practice, the Coordinating Center is expected to unify and support the overall NASDC program across multiple course providers, ensuring the courses are visible to the right audience, implemented smoothly, and evaluated consistently. The emphasis is on program logistics, coordination, and evaluation rather than developing a single local training program.

Key responsibilities described for the Coordinating Center include working directly with the UE5 short course awardees to advertise the NASDC courses and recruit participants, especially from the pool of current NCI-funded investigators who would benefit from structured skill development. The Center is also expected to provide hands-on logistical support during course implementation, which can include coordinating schedules, facilitating registration and participant communications, managing virtual or in-person logistics, and ensuring that courses run efficiently and consistently across the consortium. Another major duty is supporting NASDC governance by arranging periodic Steering Committee meetings, including in-person meetings and teleconferences, and producing meeting summaries and minutes that document decisions, action items, and progress.

A central deliverable of the U24 is evaluation. The Coordinating Center is described as taking a primary role in evaluating both the individual NASDC courses and the overall program. This generally implies developing or implementing shared evaluation frameworks across courses, collecting standardized feedback and outcome measures, analyzing participation and satisfaction data, and helping NCI and the consortium understand whether the courses are meeting their objectives. The purpose of this evaluation function is to move beyond anecdotal feedback and provide credible evidence about reach (who is being served), quality (how well the courses are delivered), and outcomes (how the training affects participants skills, confidence, career planning, grant readiness, or other relevant indicators). Because the program spans multiple course providers, a consistent evaluation approach is especially important for comparing results across offerings and improving the consortium over time.

In terms of who can apply, eligibility is broad and includes many types of domestic organizations and governmental entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, city/township, and special district governments; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The announcement also highlights additional eligible categories 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), as well as faith-based or community-based organizations and certain eligible federal agencies. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and non-U.S. institutions are explicitly not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible. However, foreign components, as defined under NIH policy, are allowed, which typically means a U.S. applicant may include specific, justified foreign elements within the project under NIH rules even though a foreign organization cannot be the applicant.

Administratively, this is a discretionary education/health opportunity under CFDA 93.398 and uses a cooperative agreement structure, reinforcing that NCI expects active involvement in shaping and monitoring the Coordinating Center activities. The original closing date listed for the opportunity was April 1, 2019, and the FOA was created on February 1, 2019. While the summary information provided does not specify an award ceiling or the expected number of awards, the overall scope clearly points to a single central function: to coordinate, operationalize, and evaluate a national skills-development short course program aimed at helping NCI-funded early-career cancer researchers gain the professional and methodological skills needed to succeed as independent investigators.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NCI Awardee Skills Development Consortium: Program Logistics and Evaluation Coordinating Center (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): 93.398.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-02-01.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-04-01. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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 CA 19 011

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