Integration, Dissemination, and Evaluation (BRIDGE) Center for the NIH Bridge to Artificial Intelligence (Bridge2AI) Program (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA RM 21 023

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 21 023

The NIH funding opportunity RFA-RM-21-023 supports the creation of an Integration, Dissemination, and Evaluation (BRIDGE) Center under the NIH Common Fund Bridge2AI program. Bridge2AI is aimed at tackling major biomedical and behavioral research challenges by producing "flagship" data sets and establishing best practices for collecting, curating, and preparing data that are genuinely ready for modern artificial intelligence and machine learning methods. In other words, it is not only about generating more data, but about generating higher-quality, well-documented, well-standardized data that can be reused across the research community and can support reliable AI/ML development.

This FOA specifically funds a single coordinated center (via a U54 cooperative agreement mechanism) that serves as the connective tissue across multiple Bridge2AI Data Generation Projects. Rather than acting as another data-producing project, the BRIDGE Center is designed to integrate what the data-generation teams are doing, identify cross-cutting needs, and turn lessons learned into broadly useful products and guidance. The center is expected to coordinate and align activities across projects so that the overall program produces consistent, interoperable resources and shared approaches instead of disconnected outputs that vary by project.

A major part of the BRIDGE Center's mission is dissemination. That includes getting Bridge2AI products, best practices, and guidance into the hands of the broader community, not just the funded teams. Dissemination also includes developing and sharing skill-building and workforce development materials and activities, reflecting NIH's emphasis on making sure researchers, data stewards, and practitioners can actually adopt the standards, tools, and workflows that Bridge2AI promotes. The goal is to lower the barrier for others to collect and prepare AI/ML-ready biomedical data using proven methods.

Another core responsibility is evaluation of the Bridge2AI program as a whole. The BRIDGE Center is expected to assess progress and effectiveness across program activities and to incorporate feedback from external stakeholder communities. This emphasizes accountability and continuous improvement, with evaluation informed not only by internal program goals but also by the needs and perspectives of communities likely to use or be affected by the resulting data sets, standards, and tools.

Structurally, the BRIDGE Center is described as bringing together several "cores" of expertise. These include administration (to manage the cooperative agreement and coordination functions), team science (to support effective cross-team collaboration), ethics (to ensure responsible data practices and address issues like consent, privacy, and fairness), standards (to promote harmonization and interoperability), tools optimization (to improve or align tools and workflows used across projects), and skills and workforce development (to train and support adoption). The combined emphasis makes it clear NIH is looking for a center that can operate both as a program integrator and as a practical engine for translating project-level work into reusable community resources.

The award is a cooperative agreement (U54), meaning NIH expects substantial involvement in the project beyond normal grants management, with ongoing collaboration between the awardee and NIH staff to shape and coordinate program activities. The FOA is labeled "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," signaling that the funded work should not include clinical trials as defined by NIH policy, and should focus instead on coordination, infrastructure, best practices, and program evaluation related to AI/ML-ready data resources.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations and government entities, such as state, county, and local governments; special districts; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and certain other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (other than IHEs); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); small businesses; and other eligible entities. The FOA also explicitly highlights categories of institutions and organizations often emphasized in federal funding for broad participation, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISIs, Hispanic-serving institutions, HBCUs, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations and foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible. However, "foreign components" as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement are allowed, meaning a U.S. applicant may include certain internationally based elements under NIH rules even though a foreign organization cannot be the applicant.

Key administrative details from the listing include the funding instrument (cooperative agreement), activity category (health), CFDA number 93.310, and the original closing date of August 20, 2021. The listing does not specify an award ceiling or expected number of awards in the provided fields, but the intent is clearly to fund a central, program-wide integration and evaluation hub that supports and amplifies the impact of the Bridge2AI Data Generation Projects by producing shared deliverables, shared practices, broad dissemination, and credible program evaluation.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Integration, Dissemination, and Evaluation (BRIDGE) Center for the NIH Bridge to Artificial Intelligence (Bridge2AI) Program (U54 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 2021-06-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-08-20. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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 21 023

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