Limited Competition: Continued Development of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Data Resource Center (U2C Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA RM 21 014

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 21 014

This NIH funding opportunity (RFA-RM-21-014) is a limited competition cooperative agreement (U2C; clinical trial not allowed) to support the continued development and operation of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Data Resource Center (DRC). The central purpose is to maintain and advance a cloud-based data resource that helps researchers study the genetic causes of pediatric diseases and uncover shared biological pathways across two major focus areas: childhood cancers and structural birth defects. By making high-quality genomic sequencing data and richly described clinical and phenotypic information easier to find, query, analyze, and share, the program aims to speed up discovery and enable cross-disease comparisons that are hard to do when data are scattered across separate projects and institutions.

The DRC is organized into three integrated cores, each with a distinct role. The Data Resource Core is responsible for building and continuously improving the actual cloud-based platform where data are aggregated and made usable to the research community. This includes ensuring that genomic and phenotypic datasets can be brought together, accessed securely, and analyzed in ways that support modern data science and genomics workflows. In practical terms, this core is about the functionality and usability of the resource: enabling researchers to locate relevant cohorts, run queries, connect genotype and phenotype information, and work within a scalable environment that supports sharing and reuse of data across multiple research communities.

The Data Coordination Core focuses on the upstream work required to make the resource valuable and scientifically reliable. It coordinates with Kids First investigators and sequencing centers to facilitate data collection, harmonization, and sharing. That generally means helping ensure that incoming datasets are accompanied by consistent metadata, that phenotypic variables are represented in comparable ways across studies, and that the resulting combined datasets can be interpreted and analyzed across cohorts without constantly reinventing data cleaning and mapping steps. This coordination role is essential for a resource intended to support discovery across many projects, because the usefulness of pooled genomic data depends heavily on standardized descriptions, quality control, and clear provenance.

The Administrative and Outreach Core handles governance, coordination, and community engagement. Administratively, it oversees day-to-day management and program operations and works closely with the NIH Kids First Working Group to align priorities, milestones, and policies. On the outreach side, it provides education and support to researchers on how to use the Data Resource effectively. That includes communicating updates, promoting adoption by relevant scientific communities, and helping users understand how to access and analyze data within the platform. The outreach component matters because a data resource only achieves its intended impact if researchers beyond the original contributing groups can actually discover it, learn it, and use it productively.

From an administrative perspective, this is a discretionary health-related program under CFDA 93.310, run by the National Institutes of Health. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates substantial NIH involvement during the project period, such as collaboration on priorities, coordination, and oversight rather than a hands-off grant structure. The opportunity lists an award ceiling of $4,000,000, and the original application closing date was October 20, 2021. As a limited competition FOA, it is not an open call in the usual sense; it is targeted to a restricted applicant pool or specific eligible participants as defined by NIH for this program.

Eligibility is broad across many organization types, including state, county, city, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; other Native American tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions in those categories); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The FOA also explicitly notes additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISIS institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, non-U.S. entities, and U.S. territories or possessions.

Overall, the opportunity is aimed at sustaining and advancing a national-scale, cloud-enabled pediatric genomics and phenotype data ecosystem that supports broad data sharing and cross-cohort analysis. The emphasis is not on running clinical trials, but on building the infrastructure, coordination processes, and community-facing support needed so that curated Kids First datasets can be used widely to accelerate research into the causes and mechanisms of pediatric cancers and structural birth defects.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Limited Competition: Continued Development of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Data Resource Center (U2C 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): 93.310.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-08-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-10-20. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $4,000,000.00 in funding.
• 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 RM 21 014

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