Good news if you are an entrepreneur or partner with a small business: NIH issued 2022 parent funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants. For those and other SBIR/STTR FOAs in which NIAID participates, go to Find Funding on the SEED website.
U.S. small business concerns may apply if they meet the Small Business Eligibility Criteria.
NIH will host an informational webinar for all four Omnibus FOAs soon. Keep an eye on NIH's Events page for news about the upcoming webinar.
Identify a Research Topic
Of the four Omnibus FOAs, NIAID supports only the two that do not allow clinical trials:
- PA-22-176—PHS 2022-2 Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH, CDC, and FDA for Small Business Innovation Research Grant Applications (Parent SBIR [R43/R44], Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
- PA-22-178—PHS 2022-2 Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH for Small Business Technology Transfer Grant Applications (Parent STTR [R41/R42], Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Find NIAID’s topics of interest starting on page 17 of the Program Descriptions and Research Topics for NIH, CDC, and FDA.
Request An Appropriate Budget
For the Omnibus FOAs, your total SBIR or STTR funding support (direct costs, indirect costs, and fees) normally may not exceed $275,766 for Phase I awards and $1,838,436 for Phase II awards. However, NIH has a waiver from the Small Business Administration to exceed these total award amount hard caps if your application fits any NIH Topics for Budget Waivers. Find NIAID’s budget cap waiver topics starting on page 4.
For waiver topics, NIAID will allow:
- Phase I applications with budgets of up to $300,000 total costs each year for up to two years.
- Phase II or Phase IIB applications with budgets of up to $1 million total costs each year for up to three years.
You should propose a project budget and duration that is reasonable and appropriate for your research project.
NIAID strongly encourages Phase IIB SBIR applicants to secure substantial, independent third-party investor funds to help validate the commercial potential of their proposed product.
Omnibus Application Due Dates, Advice, and More
The next application deadline for the Omnibus FOAs is September 5, 2022. Subsequent deadlines follow NIH’s Standard Due Dates. There are no separate due dates for AIDS and AIDS-related applications.
Follow the Omnibus application instructions carefully. You must apply electronically using NIH ASSIST (preferred), Grants.gov Workspace, or a System-to-System alternative. We encourage you to start the registration and application process promptly as described at NIH’s How To Apply.
Find guidance on NIAID’s Small Business Grant Application Process and get application advice and answers from the NIAID Small Business Program Team.
Learn more on the NIAID Small Business Programs website. You can also Subscribe for NIAID Email Updates and choose the Small Business category under Research Funding Opportunities.
Other Small Business Opportunities
In addition to the two Omnibus FOAs we covered in this article, NIAID supports other funding opportunities for small businesses, which you can find at the following links:
Additionally, for clinical trial research in NIAID’s scientific areas of interest, use our SBIR Phase II Clinical Trial Implementation Cooperative Agreement (U44, Clinical Trial Required) FOA. Follow the instructions at Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trial Resources.
As with the Omnibus FOAs, contact the NIAID Small Business Program Team for guidance and answers to your questions.