the fy21 defense appropriations act provides funding to the department of defense combat readiness – medical research program (crrp) to support military-relevant advanced technology and therapeutic research related to forward-deployable solutions that can promptly address life-threatening injuries, medical threats, and treatments for service members in current and future battlefield settings.  the managing agent for the anticipated funding opportunity is the congressionally directed medical research programs (cdmrp) at the u.s. army medical research and development command (usamrdc).

applications submitted to the fy21 crrp must address one or more of the following focus areas:

• solutions to enhance warfighter readiness, such as solutions to address:

○       infectious diseases

○       sleep disorders

○       myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome

○       service-related post-traumatic arthritis

• solutions to enhance combat care delivery throughout the far-forward environment, such as:

○       telemedicine solutions that enable medical capabilities at far-forward battlespace locations worldwide

○       medical simulation technology that supports sustainment of critical skills and medical decision-making

○       freeze-dried plasma and platelets

○       ruggedized oxygen generation systems

○       solutions for the assessment of mild traumatic brain injury, to include portable devices

• wound-care solutions for complex trauma and tissue regeneration that span the operational medical care continuum or roles of care (e.g., acute through chronic care), such as:

○       multi-modal wound-care solutions that provide a combination of hemostasis, wound healing, infection prevention, and/or analgesia

○       traumatic wound care to prevent sepsis

○       repair and restoration of genitourinary injury and tissue damage

the areas of encouragement were identified as capability and knowledge gaps that are of high priority and programmatic relevance and can be found appended to the fy21 rapid development and translational research award funding opportunity announcement.  investigators are strongly encouraged to propose research ideas that specifically address one of the fy21 areas of encouragement within each focus area (if applicable).

https://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/crrp

rapid development and translational research award – preapplication due august 31, 2021

extramural and intramural applicants:

independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent).

• submission of a preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
• supports high impact research that will accelerate the movement of promising ideas into clinical applications, including healthcare products, technologies, and/or practice guidelines.
• proposed research must have the potential for rapid development and translation of applicable advances for improving medical readiness, mitigating fatalities, optimally treating life-threatening injuries, and promoting positive long-term outcomes for military health and medicine, as well as the general public.
• supports preclinical research, clinical research, and small-scale clinical trials (e.g., first in human, phase 1/1b). fundamental basic research, phase 2/3 clinical trials are not supported under this funding opportunity.
• proposed research must address at least one of the fy21 crrp focus areas.
• different funding options are available. applicants may apply for either the rdtra, or the rdtra with option. it is the responsibility of the principal investigator to select the funding option that is most appropriate for the research proposed. o for applications proposing an rdtra with option, each phase of research must be a distinct research effort with non-overlapping period of performance, research outcomes/milestones, and budget. research products from the rdtra base award shall be leveraged in the subsequent option phase.
• exercise of the option is contingent on the availability of sufficient future congressional appropriations to the crrp, alignment of the proposed research during the option to that fiscal year’s congressional language, and acceptable performance by the recipients.

rdtra:

• maximum funding of $1,800,000 for total costs (to include direct and indirect costs).

• maximum period of performance is 2 years.

rdtra with option:

• maximum funding of $1,800,000 (rdtra) and 1,000,000 (option) for total costs (to include direct and indirect costs).

• maximum period of performance is 2 years for the rdtra base award and 1 year for the option.

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 funding opportunity announcement and general submission instructions/general application instructions available for electronic downloading from the grants.gov website.  the application package containing the required forms for the award mechanism will also be found on grants.gov.  a listing of all cdmrp and other usamrdc extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the grants.gov website by performing a basic search using cfda number 12.420. 

for email notification when the funding opportunity announcement is released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “email subscriptions” on the ebrap homepage at https://ebrap.org.  for more information about the crrp or other cdmrp-administered programs, please visit the cdmrp website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

point of contact:

cdmrp help desk
301-682-5507
help@ebrap.org