Limited Competition: Facility and Building System Upgrades Support for the Regional Biocontainment Laboratories (G20 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA AI 21 022

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This funding opportunity, RFA-AI-21-022, is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) discretionary grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) focused specifically on the Regional Biocontainment Laboratories (RBLs) that NIAID previously established. The core goal is not to launch new research projects or expand programs in the abstract, but to help these existing RBLs modernize and strengthen the physical environments where high-consequence infectious disease research is conducted. In practical terms, the announcement is aimed at facility and building system upgrades that improve readiness, safety, reliability, and capability for biomedical research involving infectious agents, including work that may be necessary during infectious disease outbreaks.

The emphasis on "facility and building system upgrades" signals that NIAID is looking to support improvements to the infrastructure that makes specialized containment research possible. That typically means investments in critical building systems and facility components that directly affect containment performance and operational continuity, such as ventilation and air handling, pressure control and monitoring, filtration, decontamination-related systems, physical security features tied to containment areas, building automation and control systems, backup power and other resilience-related utilities, and other structural or mechanical upgrades that keep containment laboratories functioning safely and consistently. The intention is to ensure these laboratories can continue to operate effectively as national resources, particularly when outbreak-driven demands increase and facilities need to maintain strict performance standards under stress.

This is a limited competition, meaning it is not broadly open to all potential applicants and is intended for a defined set of laboratories within the RBL network. The eligible applicant type listed includes public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, which reflects the fact that many RBLs are housed at major public universities or similar public entities. At the same time, the eligibility language is very strict about geography and organizational structure: non-U.S. (foreign) institutions are not eligible, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components (as NIH defines them in the NIH Grants Policy Statement) are not allowed. In other words, the work, the applicant, and the participating components must be fully domestic under NIH policy, reinforcing that this opportunity is designed to strengthen U.S.-based biocontainment infrastructure rather than support international buildouts or overseas facility upgrades.

The announcement is categorized under the health funding activity area, with CFDA number 93.855, which aligns with NIH/NIAID infectious disease and allergy/immunology-related authorities. The title includes "G20 Clinical Trial Not Allowed," which indicates that clinical trials are not permitted under this funding mechanism. That restriction matters because it clarifies that the supported activities should remain in the realm of facility and systems improvements for research environments, rather than human subject clinical testing. While the upgraded facilities may ultimately support preclinical and laboratory-based research that informs future interventions, the grant itself is not meant to fund clinical trial activities.

Key administrative details included in the source information show the original closing date as April 16, 2021, with a creation date of February 19, 2021. The funding instrument is a grant, and the opportunity is listed as discretionary. The excerpted data does not provide an award ceiling or expected number of awards, so those specifics would need to be confirmed in the full funding announcement text. Overall, the opportunity can be understood as a targeted federal investment in keeping an existing national network of high-containment research facilities up to date, resilient, and capable of supporting urgent infectious disease research needs, including surge demands that can arise during outbreaks, while limiting eligibility to domestic RBL-associated institutions and excluding any foreign components.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Limited Competition: Facility and Building System Upgrades Support for the Regional Biocontainment Laboratories (G20 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): 93.855.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-02-19.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-04-16. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

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