Clinical Sites for the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network - 3 (UG1 Clinical Trial Required) | RFA OD 24 008

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA OD 24 008

This funding opportunity (RFA-OD-24-008) comes from the NIH Office of the Director and supports the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network (ECHO ISPCTN). The award mechanism is a UG1 cooperative agreement, which means NIH will have substantial programmatic involvement beyond what is typical for a standard grant. The purpose is to fund organizations in IDeA-eligible states to serve as Clinical Sites within a national, multicenter pediatric clinical trials network focused on interventions that can improve child health.

The ECHO ISPCTN is described as the intervention component of the broader ECHO program, with an emphasis on producing rigorous, generalizable evidence about prevention and treatment strategies that matter to children and families. Clinical Sites funded under this NOFO will work as part of a larger network alongside a separate, companion solicitation that will fund a Data Coordinating and Operations Center (DCOC) located within the IDeA states. Together, the DCOC and the funded Clinical Sites make up the ECHO ISPCTN, with the DCOC typically expected to coordinate trial operations, data systems, and cross-site consistency while the Clinical Sites execute trial activities on the ground.

The network is expected to carry out about five multicenter pediatric clinical trials, and each funded Clinical Site is expected to build and maintain readiness to participate in those trials. The trials will address prevention and/or treatment questions tied to one or more of ECHO's five priority outcome areas: (1) pre-, peri-, and postnatal outcomes, (2) upper and lower airway health, (3) obesity, (4) neurodevelopment, and (5) positive health. Across the set of trials, the program expects coverage of at least two of these five outcome areas, reflecting a portfolio approach rather than a single-disease focus.

Clinical Sites have three core responsibilities. First, they are expected to help develop, conduct, and disseminate findings from multicenter clinical trials, with a specific expectation that children living in rural or otherwise underserved communities in IDeA states are included. This emphasis signals that recruitment, retention, and equitable access to trials are central deliverables, not optional add-ons. Second, sites are expected to build pediatric clinical trial capacity within IDeA states through their participation in the network. In practice, that usually means strengthening staffing, workflow, regulatory capability, recruitment pipelines, and training so the site can repeatedly and reliably deliver high-quality trial performance. Third, Clinical Sites are expected to engage relevant interested parties (for example, community members, nonprofit organizations, and professional societies) to improve the impact, transferability, rigor, and feasibility of the clinical trials. This engagement focus is meant to ensure interventions and trial procedures fit real-world settings and can be adopted beyond the research context if proven effective.

A major underlying goal of the NOFO is to generate valid and broadly applicable answers to pediatric intervention questions by using appropriate scientific methods and by recruiting and retaining enough participants to justify multicenter trials. The multicenter design and the focus on adequate enrollment are highlighted because they support statistical power, diversity of participants and settings, and confidence that results can generalize to different communities, including those often underrepresented in research.

Eligibility is centered on entities located in IDeA-eligible states, and the NOFO lists a wide range of applicant 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 tribal governments; other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); small businesses; and other entities. The opportunity also explicitly notes categories of institutions and organizations that may apply, such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISI institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, HBCUs, tribally controlled colleges and universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions, as applicable under the IDeA eligibility context. At the same time, foreign organizations are not eligible to apply, non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components are not allowed under NIH policy as stated in the announcement.

Key administrative details included in the source information are that the agency is the National Institutes of Health, the instrument is a cooperative agreement, and the original application due date was April 15, 2024. The listed award ceiling in the provided data is $300,000. The NOFO is categorized within the broad activity areas of education, health, and social services, and it references CFDA numbers 93.279, 93.310, 93.859, and 93.865, reflecting the NIH assistance listing programs associated with the funding.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Clinical Sites for the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network - 3 (UG1 Clinical Trial Required)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.279, 93.310, 93.859, 93.865.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-01-19.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-04-15. (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 $300,000.00 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.

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