Research Project Grants (RPGs)
During fiscal year 2021,
- Over 72% of competing dollars supported grants awarded within the established payline and RFAs and the remainder supported grants as an exception to the fundable range.
- RFA funds accounted for 13.1% of the FY 2021 competing dollars.
- A total of 1,331 competing RPGs were funded.
The FY 2020 figures include FY 2020 Cancer Moonshot funds and the FY 2021 figures include FY 2021 Cancer Moonshot funds.
The FY 2021 competing RPG average cost calculation includes multi-year funded grants with a 1 year average cost estimation.
Number of RPG Awards
Includes Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Awards.
Fiscal years 2017 through 2021 includes Cancer Moonshot funding appropriated that fiscal year and excludes all carryover obligations for fiscal years 2018 through 2021.
RPGs Summary, FY 2020-2021
| RPG Awards Funded | 2020 No. or % | 2020 Amount | 2021 No. or % | 2021 Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Funding for RPGs | 5,070 | 2,771,666 | 5,210 | 2,822,415 |
| SBIR/STTR | 217 | 151,141 | 238 | 158,269 |
| Funding for RPGs without SBIR/STTR Program | 4,853 | 2,620,526 | 4,972 | 2,664,145 |
| Continuation or Noncompeting Grants Funded | 3,636 | 1,814,161 | 3,641 | 1,886,072 |
| Competing Grants Funded | 1,217 | 681,401 | 1,331 | 640,878 |
| Administrative Supplements | 221 | 30,503 | 283 | 40,531 |
| Partial Assessment for DHHS Program Evaluation | 94,460 | 96,664 |
| Grant Category | R01 or Share | 2020 No. or % | 2020 Amount | 2021 No. or % | 2021 Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants within Paylines | 933 | 409,440 | 1,007 | 440,021 | |
| Traditional R01 | 714 | 352,832 | 733 | 376,081 | |
| RFA Grants | 93 | 143,328 | 151 | 83,636 | |
| Share of Competing Grant Funds | 21.0% | 13.1% | |||
| Exception Grants | 284 | 271,961 | 324 | 200,857 | |
| Share of Competing Grant Funds | 39.9% | 31.3% |
| Statistical Measure | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| *Excludes SBIR/STTR | ||
| **The FY 2021 competing RPG average cost calculation includes multi-year funded grants with a 1 year average cost estimation. | ||
| FY 2020 figures include FY 2020 Cancer Moonshot funds. | ||
| FY 2021 figures include FY 2021 Cancer Moonshot funds. | ||
| Total Competing Application Requests* | 9,538 | 9,601 |
| Funding Success Rate | 13% | 14% |
| Percentile Funding for R01 Grants | 10th & 15th | 11th & 16th |
| Average Cost-Competing** | $503 | $486 |
| Average Reduction from Recommended/Requested Levels | -14% | -14% |
RPGs Funding Mechanisms
The "Other" category includes DP1, DP2, DP5, R00, R37, U01, U19, UH2, UH3, UG3, UA5, R50, UM1, R15, R55 and R56 grant activities.
Includes fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Cancer Moonshot funding and excludes all carryover obligations
| RPG Mechanism | 2020 | 2021 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| *SPL = Scientific Program Leaders (NCI) | |||
| R01 Traditional Grants | 10th & 15th | 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 | 26 | 28 | Impact Score |
| R43/R44 SBIR | 25 | 22 | Impact Score |
RPGs Requested and Awarded
The following table displays requested and awarded RPGs and the success rate for fiscal years 2019 and 2020. 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.
| Fiscal Year | Type | Number Requested | Amount Requested | Number Awarded | Amount Awarded | Success Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Includes Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Awards. | ||||||
| Success rate is the number of awarded grants divided by the number of awards requested. | ||||||
| Fiscal years 2017 through 2021 includes Cancer Moonshot funding appropriated that fiscal year and excludes all carryover obligations for fiscal years 2018 through 2021. | ||||||
| 2020 | Competing New | 10,361 | $4,866,693 | 1,210 | $595,825 | 12.4% |
| Competing Renewal | 463 | 385,101 | 136 | 161,312 | ||
| Competing Supplement | 28 | 7,485 | 4 | 885 | ||
| Competing Subtotal | 10,852 | 5,259,279 | 1,350 | 758,022 | ||
| Non-Competing | 3,720 | 2,013,645 | ||||
| FY 2020 RPG Total | 5,070 | $2,771,666 | ||||
| 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 | ||||
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.
| 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. | |||
| 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 2021. | |||
| **Fiscal year 2021 includes multi-year funded grants with a 1 year average cost estimation. | |||
| 2011 | 5,019 | $2, 088,352 | $416 |
| 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 | $514 |
| **2021 | 5,210 | $2,725,751 | $523 |
| Grant Code | 2020 Number |
2020 Amount |
2021 Number | 2021 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 | 3,316 | $1,555,105 | 3,448 | $1,622,714 |
| DP1 | 1 | 1,197 | 0 | 0 |
| DP2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DP5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| P01 | 93 | 187,766 | 96 | 196,613 |
| R00 | 95 | 23,566 | 78 | 18,841 |
| R37 | 156 | 71,569 | 220 | 100,632 |
| *RFA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| U01 | 300 | 257,018 | 304 | 238,270 |
| U19 | 2 | 6,335 | 6 | 10,052 |
| UH2 | 7 | 1,573 | 7 | 1,603 |
| R35 | 154 | 145,771 | 166 | 158,472 |
| R50 | 96 | 15,799 | 77 | 12,889 |
| UH3 | 36 | 20,106 | 29 | 19,204 |
| UA5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UM1 | 23 | 102,669 | 15 | 55,880 |
| UG3 | 8 | 4,387 | 13 | 10,917 |
| R03 | 119 | 11,689 | 93 | 8,383 |
| R21 | 387 | 92,517 | 367 | 89,334 |
| R33 | 37 | 19,351 | 34 | 16,535 |
| R15 | 22 | 9,299 | 18 | 7,018 |
| R55 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| R56 | 1 | 345 | 1 | 122 |
| RC2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SBIR/STTR | 217 | 151,141 | 238 | 158,269 |
| Total | 5,070 | $2,677,206 | 5,210 | $2,725,751 |