Opportunity: NCI/NIH RFA-CA-27-021, Sustained Support for Informatics Technologies for Cancer Research and Management (U24 Clinical Trial Optional).
Deadline: October 19, 2026 at 5:00 PM local time of the applicant organization. The NOFO expires October 20, 2026.
Funding: NCI intends to commit approximately $1.8 million in FY2027 to fund approximately 2 awards. Application budgets are limited to $600,000 in direct costs, excluding consortium F&A, per year for a project period of up to 5 years. Cost sharing is not required.
Purpose: Sustain operations, improve user experience and availability, and continue the evolution of existing, widely adopted informatics tools and resources that address needs across the cancer research continuum. Responsive applications must document the existing resource, demonstrated impact and utilization, end-user engagement, support and training, technical validity and performance, security, milestones, and a credible long-term sustainment strategy.
Key restrictions: This is not an early-stage technology-development program. Applications centered on exploratory or early-stage tools, primarily applying existing analysis methods, or generating new data above the NOFO limit are nonresponsive. The NOFO requires substantial PI effort, collaborative-program participation, and a budget set-aside beginning in Budget Period 2 for collaborative activities.
Eligibility: Eligible organizations include U.S. higher education institutions, nonprofits, state and local governments, eligible Tribal organizations, independent school districts, small businesses, and other for-profit organizations, among other listed entity types. Dr. Miltie is structurally eligible as a for-profit applicant, but a legitimate direct pursuit requires verified evidence that Dr. Miltie owns or operates a mature, widely adopted cancer informatics resource with demonstrated cancer-research impact and current utilization, together with a qualified PI/team, required NIH registrations, and all scientific and compliance evidence. No such facts may be assumed or fabricated.
Submission: Applications use NIH Research (R) instructions and may be submitted through ASSIST, an institutional system-to-system solution connected to Grants.gov and eRA Commons, or Grants.gov Workspace, with required NIH and eRA registrations completed in advance.
Atlas disposition: Dr. Miltie Direct / Needs Marc Review. If the direct-path maturity and evidence requirements cannot be substantiated, route eligible institutional applicants through applicable state healthcare, cancer-research, and higher-education pathways without duplicating organization-specific outreach.