DoW Spinal Cord Injury, Clinical Trial Award

The fiscal year 2026 Spinal Cord Injury Research Program Clinical Trial Award, solicited under HT942526SCIRPCTA by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Acquisition Activity, seeks to support high-impact clinical trials aimed at advancing the treatment and management of spinal cord injury. Applicants must propose research that includes at least two community partners with lived experience or representation from SCI organizations to ensure the study design reflects real-world needs. A distinctive feature of this opportunity is the Early-Career Partnership Option, which permits two Principal Investigators, one of whom must be an early-career investigator; both must submit full applications, though only the initiating PI submits a pre-application, and each receives a separate award if funded. Applications must be submitted via Grants.gov or eBRAP by the November 12, 2026 deadline, and must include a comprehensive set of attachments such as a Statement of Work, Regulatory Strategy, Study Population Recruitment and Safety Plan, Community Collaboration Plan, and required representations. The award carries a maximum direct cost limit of $4.8 million for single-PI applications and $4.96 million for early-career partnerships, with a maximum performance period of four years. The proposed research must adhere to regulatory requirements including IND/IDE submissions when applicable, comply with DoD Instruction 3200.12 for data management and security, and meet standards for human subject protections, inclusion of women and minorities, and use of standardized clinical data elements. All key personnel must be clearly defined with roles and effort levels documented, and institutional affiliations, including potential international collaborators, must be disclosed. Applicants are required to have an active Unique Entity Identifier, complete mandatory socioeconomic and size status representations, and may be subject to additional federal compliance reviews if working with military or VA populations or exceeding $10 million in cumulative federal awards. Evaluation emphasizes personnel and communication team composition, followed by ethical considerations and regulatory strategy, with scoring based on merit and program alignment rather than price, under a trade-off selection process conducted through peer and programmatic review.