DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS
  1. Home
  2. Research Programs
  3. Gulf War Illness
  4. Research Highlights/News
  5. 2017 Gulf War Illness Research Program

Gulf War Illness

NEWS RELEASE

Released: March 2, 2017

Defense Health Program
Department of Defense Gulf War Illness Research Program
Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2017

Due to the current Continuing Resolution, the Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) Defense Appropriations bill has not been passed. Although funds have not been appropriated for the Department of Defense Gulf War Illness Research Program (GWIRP), the GWIRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY17 funding opportunities.

FY17 GWIRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are anticipated to be posted on the Grants.gov website in May 2017. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcements are released.This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the Government, and funding of research projects received in response to these Program Announcements is contingent on the availability of Federal funds appropriated for the GWIRP.

As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency (DHA), J9 Research and Development Directorate manages the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation appropriation. The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

Award Mechanisms:The following mechanisms are planned for release:

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
New for FY17!
Qualitative Research Award		 Independent investigators at all academic levels.
  • Pre-application is required; full application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports qualitative research on 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War (GW) Veterans with Gulf War illness (GWI) for the purpose of developing educational materials for Veterans, family members, caregivers, and health care providers.
  • Qualitative research is defined as a form of social inquiry that seeks to understand the human experience by focusing on understanding the way that people interpret and make sense of their experiences and the world in which they live.
  • Preliminary data are encouraged.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed.
  • Maximum funding of $400,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
New for FY17!
Biospecimen Resource Network Award		 Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) with access to the appropriate facilities.
  • Pre-application is required; full application submission is by invitation only.
  • Provides infrastructure support for the development and maintenance of a GWI biorepository through a collaborative network across multiple institutions that will facilitate the collection of prospective and pre-existing biospecimens and biological data, biospecimen processing, annotation, storage, and distribution.
  • One Coordinating Center and up to four Pathology Resource Sites, including one at the Coordinating Center, will be jointly responsible for developing and maintaining the biospecimen repository for GWI research.
  • Sites must provide plans for quality assurance, bioinformatics and data management, and ethical and regulatory issues.
  • Encourages submissions from investigators with enhanced skills in human biospecimen procurement, human tissue repositories, distribution, and working within a collaborative consortium-type network of multiple institutions.
  • Maximum funding of $2,500,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
New for FY17!
Clinical Consortium Award		 The Operations Center Principal Investigator must be an independent investigator at or above the level of Associate Professor (or equivalent) with experience in developing and running large-scale initiatives such as clinical trials or consortia.
  • Pre-application is required; full application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports a consortium that will conceive, design, develop, and conduct collaborative Phase I and II clinical evaluations of promising therapeutic agents for the management or treatment of GWI.
  • One Coordinating Center and three Clinical Research Sites, including one at the Coordinating Center, will be jointly responsible for proposing, selecting, and conducting trials.
  • Sites must provide plans for accruing Veterans of the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War.
  • Open to any group of institutions with a demonstrated history of collaborative GWI research.
  • Maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $8,000,000 in total costs (direct plus indirect).
  • Indirect costs may not be greater than your institution’s negotiated rate.
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years.
Modified for FY17!
Investigator-Initiated Focused Research Award		 Independent Investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent).
  • Pre-application is required; full application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports research from idea generation through preclinical validation under two tiers:
    • Discovery Tier: Supports basic research and proof of concept research; preliminary data are not required.
    • Applied Research Tier: Supports applied research in GWI aimed at diagnosis or therapeutic advancement. Preliminary data from the field of GWI are required.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed.
  • The maximum period of performance and maximum funding varies by tier:
    • Discovery: $230,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs) over a maximum of 2 years.
    • Applied Research: $700,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs) over a maximum of 3 years.

Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcements are released. A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the CDMRP electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline.

Full 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. All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from Grants.gov. 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.

For email notification when Program Announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage at https://eBRAP.org. For more information about the GWIRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

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


Last updated Thursday, May 26, 2022