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NEWS RELEASE

Released: February 23, 2015

Defense Health Program
Department of Defense Orthotics and Prosthetics Outcomes Research Program
Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15)

The Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) Defense Appropriations Act provides $10 million (M) to the Department of Defense Orthotics and Prosthetics Outcomes Research Program (OPORP) to support military-relevant personal assistive technology outcomes research. The goal of the OPORP is to improve our understanding and ultimately advance the implementation of the most effective prescriptions for prosthetic and orthotic devices, treatment, rehabilitation, and secondary health effect prevention options for patients, clinicians, other caregivers, and policymakers.

As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency, Research, Development, and Acquisition (DHA RDA) Directorate manages and executes the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The executing agent for the anticipated Program Announcement/Funding Opportunity is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

The OPORP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications. The FY15 OPORP Program Announcement and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanism are anticipated to be posted on Grants.gov by early May 2015. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcement is released. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the Government.

Applications submitted to the FY15 OPORP must address one or more of the following overarching challenges:

  • Compare different patient care approaches.
  • Include patient-centric outcome assessments.
  • Have the potential to generate new knowledge that can be developed into new clinical practice guidelines, and/or new prescription algorithms for prosthetic and orthotic devices.
  • Have the potential to develop new technology for improved prosthetic and orthotic devices, therefore improving patient outcomes.
  • Provide information on quality of life, reintegration, and/or return to duty/return to work as it pertains to those patients who use a prosthetic or orthotic device due to limb trauma.

Examples of appropriate studies include, but are not limited to, examination of the long-term functional and patient-centered outcomes associated with:

  • The specific time points in the course of patient treatment at which prosthetic and orthotic intervention is most effective.
  • Different treatment algorithms to determine the most appropriate prosthetic/orthotic device.
  • The effect of different orthotic and/or prosthetic devices on achievement of maximal functional ability.
  • Development of outcomes evaluating the prevention of secondary adverse consequences of prosthetic and orthotic device use, including but not limited to falls, skin breakdown, and loss of balance.
  • Improvement of current prosthetic and orthotic materials and techniques to improve quality of life and health outcomes for patients with limb trauma or limb loss.
  • Development of new materials and technologies for use in orthotics and prosthetics to improve quality of life and health outcomes for patients with limb trauma or limb loss.
  • Application of specific rehabilitation interventions to accelerate the time, course, or extent of functional outcomes in Service Members and Veterans using prosthetic and orthotic devices.

Award Mechanism PI Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Orthotics and Prosthetics Outcomes Research Award (OPORA) Independent investigators at all academic levels
  • Supports research that evaluates the comparative effectiveness of and functional outcomes associated with prosthetic and orthotic clinical interventions and/or other rehabilitation interventions for Service Members and Veterans who have undergone limb salvage or limb amputation.
  • Proposed projects should be designed to provide outcomes data regarding orthotic and prosthetic devices, and/or related clinical interventions, and must include the anticipated effect on patient care metrics.
  • Studies should have a clinical focus and may include methodologies and designs such as surveys, retrospective data analyses, simulation modeling, longitudinal observation, cross-sectional observation, case control, or qualitative research study designs.
  • Collaboration with military researchers and clinicians is encouraged, as are joint Department of Defense (DoD)-VA studies, including longitudinal outcome studies.
  • Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
 The FY15 OPORA offers two funding levels:

Funding Level 1:
  • Period of performance not to exceed 2 years.
  • Anticipation is that budgets will not exceed $500,000 in total costs.
Funding Level 2:
  • Period of performance not to exceed 3 years.
  • Anticipation is that budgets will be between $500,000 and $3.5 million in total costs, depending on the individual research project.
  • The requested budget level should be appropriate for the scope of research proposed.

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website. The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all CDMRP funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420.

Applications must be submitted through the federal government's single-entry portal, Grants.gov. Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcements are released. Requests for email notification of the Program Announcements release may be sent to help@eBRAP.org. For more information about the OPORP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://CDMRP.HEALTH.MIL).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-9783
usarmy.detrick.medcom-cdmrp.mbx.cdmrp-public-affairs@mail.mil