Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government

Research Project Grants (RPGs)

In Fiscal Year 2022, 1,357 competing RPGs were funded. 73% of competing dollars supported RFAs and grants within the established payline. RFA funds accounted for 12.5% of the FY 2022 competing dollars.

Number of RPG Awards

Download the Data

Includes Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Awards.
*Fiscal years 2017 through 2022 includes Cancer Moonshot funding appropriated that fiscal year and excludes all carryover obligations for fiscal years 2018 through 2022.

RPGs Summary, FY 2021-2022

Download the Data

RPG Awards Funded
(Dollars in Thousands)
RPG Awards Funded 2021 No. or % 2021 Amount 2022 No. or %  2022 Amount
Total Funding for RPGs 5,210 2,822,415 5,497 2,966,486
SBIR/STTR 238 158,269 207 151,396
Funding for RPGs without SBIR/STTR Program 4,972 2,664,145 5,290 2,815,090
Continuation or Noncompeting Grants Funded 3,641 1,886,072 3,933 2,013,233
Competing Grants Funded 1,331 640,878 1,357 665,061
Administrative Supplements 283 40,531 325 34,325
Partial Assessment for DHHS Program Evaluation   96,664   102,471
Funds Set Aside Within Competing Dollars
(Dollars in Thousands)
Grant Category R01 or Share 2021 No. or % 2021 Amount 2022 No. or % 2022 Amount
Grants within Paylines   1,007 440,021 992 430,938
Traditional R01 733 376,081 710 371,261
RFA Grants   151 83,636 139 82,897
Share of Competing Grant Funds 13.1%   12.5%  
Exception Grants   324 200,857 365 234,123
Share of Competing Grant Funds 31.3%   35.2%  
Competing RPGs
Statistical Measure 2021 2022
*Excludes SBIR/STTR
Traditional R01 includes R37 grants that have been converted to R01s.
2022 figures include FY 2022 Cancer Moonshot funding and exclude all carryover obligations for fiscal years 2017 through 2021.
2021 figures include FY 2021 Cancer Moonshot funding and exclude all carryover obligations for fiscal years 2017 through 2020.
Total Competing Application Requests* 9,601 8,932
Funding Success Rate 14% 15%
Percentile Funding for R01 Grants 11th & 16th 11th & 16th
Average Cost-Competing** $486 $490
Average Reduction from Recommended/Requested Levels -14% -14%

RPGs Funding Mechanisms

Download the Data

The "Other" category includes DP1, DP2, DP5, R00, R37, U01, U19,UH2, UH3, UG3, UA5, R50, UM1, R15, R55, R56 and R61 activities.

Grant Funding Paylines
RPG Mechanism 2021 2022 Description
*SPL = Scientific Program Leaders (NCI)
R01 Traditional Grants 11th & 16th 11th & 16th Percentile
P01 Program Projects 17% Reduction 17% Reduction SPL Selected*
R03 Small Grants 25 25 Impact Score
R15 Academic Research 25 25 Impact Score
R21 Exploratory Phase I 9th 9th Percentile
R33 Exploratory Phase II N/A N/A SPL Selected*
R41/R42 STTR 28 24 Impact Score
R43/R44 SBIR 22 24 Impact Score

RPGs Requested and Awarded

The following table displays requested and awarded RPGs and the success rate for fiscal years 2021 and 2022. These numbers include Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBTT) awards. The Download the Data link contains data for the prior ten years.

Download the Data

RPGs Requested, Awarded, and Success Rate
(Dollars in Thousands)
Fiscal Year Type Number Requested Amount Requested Number Awarded Amount Awarded Success Rate
Includes Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Awards.
Success rate is the number of awarded grants divided by the number of awards requested.
*Fiscal years 2017 through 2022 includes Cancer Moonshot funding appropriated that fiscal year and excludes all carryover obligations for fiscal years 2018 through 2022.
2021
 
Competing New 10,080 $4,935,665 1,336 $630,816 14.1%
 
Competing Renewal 409 289,208 141 93,308
Competing Supplement 39 16,065 9 2,875
Competing Subtotal 10,528 5,240,938 1,486 726,998
Non- Competing     3,724 2,095,416
FY 2021 RPG Total     5,210 $2,822,415
2022 Competing New 9,580 $4,902,539 1,324 $635,623 14.8%
  Competing Renewal 431 335,464 154 107,730
  Competing Supplement 28 8,867 12 3,363
  Competing Subtotal 10,039 5,246,870 1,490 746,715
  Non- Competing     4,007 2,219,770
  FY 2022 RPG Total     5,497 $2,966,485

RPG Awards by Grant Activity Codes

This table displays awarded research project grants (RPG) data by grant activity code and count. Please visit NIH Activity Codes for more information on the descriptions.

Download the Data

RPGs Average Cost, FY 2012-2022
(Dollars in Thousands)
Year Total No. Awarded Total Amount Average Cost
RPG Activity Codes with a "0" count displayed for No. are grants where NCI did not take the grant award count for the funding since NCI was not the Primary IC funding the award.
Starting in FY 2017, RFAs will be accounted for in the actual grant mechanism categories under which they fall.
*Fiscal years 2017 through 2022 includes Cancer Moonshot funding appropriated that fiscal year and excludes all carryover obligations for fiscal years 2018 through 2022.
**Fiscal year 2021 includes multi-year funded grants with a 1 year average cost estimation. 
2012 5,021 $2,075,295 $413
2013 4,816 $1,924,803 $400
2014 4,814 $1,939,623 $403
2015 4,767 $2,019,308 $424
2016 4,666 $2,068,869 $443
*2017 4,663 $2,195,184 $471
*2018 4,780 $2,366,530 $495
*2019 4,984 $2,456,156 $493
*2020 5,070 $2,677,206 $528
**2021 5,221 $2,739,345 $525
*2022 5,497 $2,864,015 $521
RPG Awards by Grant Activity Codes, FY 2021-2022
(Dollars in Thousands)
Grant Code 2021 Number 2021 Amount 2022 Number 2022 Amount
RPG Activity Codes with a "0" count displayed for No. are grants where NCI did not take the grant award count for the funding since NCI was not the Primary IC funding the award.
From FY 2017 onward, RFAs will be accounted for in the actual grant mechanism categories under which they fall.
Fiscal years 2017 through 2021 includes Cancer Moonshot funding appropriated that fiscal year and excludes all carryover obligations for fiscal years 2018 through 2020.
Fiscal year 2021 includes multi-year funded grants with a 1 year average cost estimation. 
R01 3,452 $1,625,672 3,584 $1,737,550
DP1 0 0 0 0
DP2 0 0 0 526
DP5 0 0 0 0
P01 97 198,889 98 200,007
R00 78 18,841 93 22,788
R37 220 100,632 277 128,583
*RFA 0 0 0 0
U01 308 242,331 325 239,325
U19 7 13,333 7 12,400
UH2 7 1,603 10 2,117
R35 166 158,472 152 146,781
R50 77 12,889 72 12,716
UH3 30 19,974 26 16,703
UM1 15 55,880 14 52,568
UG3 13 11,167 10 9.020
R03 93 8,383 115 9,244
R21 367 89,334 445 97,456
R33 34 16,535 33 12,809
R15 18 7,018 24 10,620
R55 0 0 0 0
R56 1 122 4 969
R61 0 0 1 437
RC2 0 0 0 0
SBIR/STTR 238 158,269 207 151,396
Total 5,221 $2,739,345 5,497 $2,864,015
  • Updated:
Email