Published
Working with an Advanced Research Projects Agency differs from traditional grant-funding federal agencies. At ARPA-H, the expectations for continued performance are high, the timelines are aggressive, and receiving continued funding is dependent on milestone achievement. If you’re ready to explore ways to participate in ARPA-H research programs, read on!
In search of: Innovative Solutions
ARPA-H typically employs a solicitation mechanism called an Innovative Solution Opening (ISO). You can find agency ISOs on SAM.gov by searching for “ARPA-H” or with the name or notice ID number of the specific effort.
The ISO contains the technical requirements for proposals, including key dates and deadlines, eligibility and teaming information, examples of in- or out-of-scope work, evaluation criteria and other metrics, and application templates. Contract awards are usually in the form of Other Transactions (OTs), which are not procurement contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements). OTs allow for flexible contracting and negotiations. You can learn more about this type of contracting instrument in the Other Transaction Community.
ARPA-H Programs are open for a limited time, so be on the lookout for new funding opportunity announcements. The competitive application process typically involves submission of a Solution Summary (a short abstract) followed by a full Proposal, if your submission receives encouraging feedback. Program Managers (PMs) expect researchers to establish multidisciplinary teams to reach the ambitious goals of their programs. Collaborators might be from fields outside traditional biomedicine. Importantly, ARPA-H seeks revolutionary work that demonstrates either cutting-edge proof of concept or establishes market readiness, depending on the ISO. Basic research, incremental improvements, educational programming, and infrastructure are not part of ARPA-H’s focus areas.
Focus on health outcomes
ARPA-H is divided into four research Mission Offices. Rather than focus on particular diseases, the agency seeks high-impact platform technologies that might have applications across indications. Furthermore, ARPA-H explores unexpected solutions that might not be traditionally considered in biomedical research.
The Health Science Futures Office is interested in restoring healthy function through repair and regrowth. Solutions under this Mission Office might include computational modeling of biology, AI platforms, regenerative medicine, and robotics.
The Proactive Health Office seeks to prevent people from becoming patients. Solutions from this Mission Office might include unique delivery methods of personalized healthcare or population-level approaches to boost adoption of healthy behaviors.
The Resilient Systems Office is interested in improving robustness, both of healthy bodies and the healthcare system overall. Solutions under this Mission Office include interoperability, digital platforms for secure data management, and ways to mitigate disruptions to healthcare access.
The Scalable Solutions Office seeks to address the technical barriers that prevent interventions from reaching as many people as possible. Solutions from this Mission Office could include novel biomanufacturing, economies of scale, and last-mile delivery.
Period of Performance
If selected for negotiations, you’ll negotiate the project terms and conditions with ARPA-H. Depending on the ISO’s details, you may be asked to modify your original proposal to account for adjusted budgets, milestones, or timeline(s).
Since most ARPA-H agreements involve milestone-based payments, you must regularly demonstrate progress against the deliverables outlined in the agreement. PMs work closely with performer teams to evaluate progress and troubleshoot research roadblocks. If a result fails to measure up, a performer’s work may be adjusted or stopped. This is a key part of the ARPA-H research model. In our stewardship of taxpayer dollars, we seek to invest only in the most promising work. It is expected that not all efforts will fully succeed.
Most programs and other efforts run for two to six years. ARPA-H expects that successful research projects that ‘graduate’ from the agency will find support elsewhere. In fact, the ARPA-H Office of Commercialization (OC) is designed to help successful solutions ‘survive in the wild.’ The OC supports PMs and performer teams with connections to venture capital, entrepreneurial training, and overall guidance on navigating regulatory approval pathways.
For even more detail on how to navigate the application process, check out all of our submission resources.
To stay up to date on the latest ARPA-H opportunities, subscribe to the Vitals newsletter, or follow the agency on X/Twitter and LinkedIn.