ITCR Collaborative Set-Aside Funds

The Steering Committee meets quarterly on the last Monday of the month from 1:00-3:00pm Eastern Time. ITCR PIs are encouraged to submit their set aside proposal in advance so the project has been reviewed and approved in time for the Notice of Award for the next budget period to be issued. 

• Proposals are due by March 20, 2026 for review at the meeting Monday April 27, 1-3pm ET.
• Proposals are due by June 18, 2026 for review at the meeting Monday July 27, 1-3pm ET.
• Proposals are due by September 18, 2026 for review at the meeting Monday October 26, 1-3pm ET.
• Proposals are due by December 10, 2026 for review at the meeting Monday January 25, 1-3pm ET. 

These dates will be updated as future meetings are scheduled. PIs who submit a proposal will be invited to attend the Steering Committee meeting to listen to the committee's questions, provide clarifications, and respond to any concerns directly.

Updated February 2026

Set-Aside Funds are funds dedicated for collaborative activities and correspond to 10 percent of the annual budget of each ITCR Cooperative Agreement, beginning in Year 2 of the award. This structure is intended to provide a novel and essential approach to advancing the utility and/or interoperability of ITCR-supported technologies.

For the purpose of this mechanism, a collaboration is defined as bringing together two or more distinct research groups towards a mutually-beneficial goal that will ultimately benefit the research community the informatics tool is intended to serve. 

Proposals for collaborative studies must be budgeted using the set-aside funds for the parent ITCR Cooperative Agreement award. The use of set-aside funds must be reviewed and recommended by the ITCR Steering Committee (SC) and approved by the NCI.

Release and Use of Set-Aside Funds

A Principal Investigator may only apply for the set-aside funds within his/her Cooperative Agreement award. Set-aside funds may only be used for collaborative projects that complement and expand the scope of the Cooperative Agreement award and abide by the terms and conditions of the parent U01 or U24 award. These projects are meant to enhance the utility and/or interoperability of the ITCR-supported technology. The applications for the release of set-aside funds are reviewed by the SC at their quarterly meetings.

Collaborative projects could be:

• With non-ITCR parties, or between/among ITCR investigators
  • If multiple awards request release of their set aside funds for one multi-site collaborative project, each team must submit a proposal
• For the release of one or two years of set aside funds
  • Two-year projects are subject to annual approval by verifying success in annual progress reports (RPPRs)

Set-aside funds may be allocated as appropriate to support the collaborative project requirements. For example, they may be fully or partially sub-awarded to the collaborator or they may stay with the parent ITCR award. 

Application Requirements for Release of Set-Aside Funds

The proposal for use of set-aside funds should be organized and submitted as follows:

1. Title Page - PHS Form page 1, signed by institution official.
2. Budget - cannot exceed allocated set-aside funds for the project as specified in the U01 or U24 Notice of Award and must comply with NIH policies for allowable costs.
   • Describe how the set-aside budget will be allocated, specifying whether any funds will be subawarded to the collaborating institution.
   • Budget justification - briefly describe the qualifications and experience of those working on the project, as well as the specific tasks they will be doing. If there are personnel making significant contributions who are not receiving budget from the set aside funds (for example are being paid through the parent project), their role in the project and their expertise should also be described. This should include the collaborators, regardless of whether funds are sub-awarded.
3. Specific Aims - optional, up to 1 page.
4. Research strategy - 3-6 pages.
   • Describe the goals of the collaboration. Describe the innovation, significance, and approach of the project, including how the tool from the parent project will be advanced through the collaboration to address unmet needs in cancer research. Delineate what parts of the project that will be done by the applicant team and the parts that will be done by the collaborators.
   • Describe how the proposed collaborative activity relates to the aims of the parent grant. Members of the Steering Committee do not have access to the parent application, so the set-aside proposal should be clear on the scope of the parent project and how the collaborative project complements and is distinct from those activities.
   • Include a timeline and milestone plan.
5. Bibliography - optional, up to 1 page.
6. Letter of support - include a letter of commitment from the collaborators

Electronic copies of the proposal, signed by an Authorized Institutional Official, should be submitted to the NCI Program Director (PD) assigned to the parent ITCR U01/U24 grant as well as to the ITCR Program Coordinators (Kelly Crotty at kelly.crotty@nih.gov and Michelle Berny-Lang at michelle.berny-lang@nih.gov). 

ITCR Steering Committee Composition

The ITCR Steering Committee (SC) is established for the purpose of reviewing the collaborative set-aside proposals. The SC will be comprised of six ITCR PIs and the NCI Coordinator, for a total of seven members. The ITCR PI members are selected by NCI and serve a 1-year term, with half the committee turning over every six months. The selection of committee members will be based on a diverse representation of scientific expertise and academic rank. The Chair of the SC will rotate every meeting. NCI Staff will manage the operations of the committee. 

ITCR Steering Committee Meeting Schedule and Quorum

The ITCR Steering Committee will meet via teleconference on a quarterly basis (April, July, October, January). Meeting dates will be scheduled at the start of each year of service for a given group of SC members. Proposals will be due 1 month prior to the scheduled meeting date. Proposals not received by the deadline will be deferred to the next scheduled SC meeting.

At least five of the seven SC members must be in attendance for a regularly-scheduled meeting to proceed. If the Chair is unable to attend, they may delegate Chair responsibilities to another (non-NCI) member.

Review Criteria

Investigators are encouraged to propose activities that enhance the utility, adoption, and/or interoperability of the informatics technology being supported through their ITCR award. These expansion activities are intended to further the impact of the technology that is the subject of the award. Review criteria for release of set-aside funds are based on the following considerations:

• Significance
  • Potential impact of the proposed project on cancer research
  • Impact of the collaboration on each collaborating unit
  • How the proposed work will enhance the goals of the parent ITCR project
  • How the proposed work fulfills the goals of ITCR to enhance the utility and/or interoperability of informatics tools and resources
• Innovation
  • The novelty or uniqueness of the collaboration
  • How the collaboration will address unmet needs
• Approach
  • Whether the proposal has a well-reasoned and appropriate strategy to accomplish the aims of the project, including alternative strategies and plans for benchmarking and user testing, as appropriate
  • Whether the proposal has a sound and quantitative milestone plan
  • If the proposal has a realistic scope of work given the time and budget requested
  • The contributions of each collaborative unit are articulated and effective
• Collaborative Team
  • Whether the parties involved in the collaboration are appropriate for the project
  • The willingness of the investigators to collaborate and share information
  • Whether the project represents a mutually-beneficial collaboration

A project does not have to be strong in all review categories to be considered meritorious.

NOTE: The use of generative artificial intelligence to review ITCR collaborative set-aside proposals is prohibited, in alignment with NOT-OD-23-149. 

Steering Committee Review 

Each set aside proposal will be assigned to Steering Committee members who will prepare written comments on the project ahead of the SC meeting. If the committee lacks specific expertise for a particular project, written feedback will be collected from non-committee members who have the requisite expertise and then shared with the committee to assist in their review.

PIs who submit set aside proposals are invited to attend the SC meetings. At the beginning of the discussion of each application, the PI (or representative of the project) may introduce the collaborative project by briefly summarizing the objectives and approach. The assigned SC members then provide their comments on the major strengths and weaknesses of the project. As the committee discusses the project, the PIs may provide clarifications and respond to any concerns directly. 

In a closed session, the Steering Committee members discuss each application. The Chair calls on each member to vote on each project with one of the three recommendations: 

1. Approve As Written: The committee recommends approval of the collaborative project as written
2. Requires Modifications: Investigators are asked to modify their project to address major concerns and return their proposal with modifications within 3 weeks. The material is reviewed by the ITCR program coordinator and program director assigned to the parent grant for final approval.
3. Disapprove: The committee does not recommend the proposed collaboration. NCI staff will prepare a summary of feedback to be provided to the investigator outlining the reasons for this decision. The investigators must provide a new collaborative proposal for review at the next quarterly SC meeting

In the event of a tie (in the case when an even number of SC members is present), the Chair will serve as the tiebreaker. If a SC member has a proposal for consideration that round, either as the PI or a collaborating partner, they will recuse themselves from the closed session discussion and voting of that proposal (only). However, they will participate in the review of other proposals that round.

NCI staff notifies investigators of the SC decision via email within 48 hours of the SC meeting. For applications requiring modifications, final approval will be determined within 1 week of receipt of the revised proposal.

The SC recommendation is provided to the NCI Program Director for a final approval decision for the release of the restricted funds. The official release of restricted funds will be made by NCI staff. 

Code of Conduct

Steering Committee members and external reviewers will be asked to adhere to a general code of conduct with the following principles:

• Confidentiality of reviews and review discussions
• While Conflict of Interest Rules associated with competitive funds do not apply here, SC members and reviewers are expected to conduct reviews in an impartial manner, maintaining focus on scientific rigor and impact

Appeals

If an investigator proposing a set-aside proposal disagrees with a Disapprove decision, they may submit a rebuttal of the comments to NCI. NCI ITCR program staff will review the rebuttal and determine whether to bring to the SC for reconsideration.

Change Control

Changes to the process outlined in this document may be proposed to NCI by the SC. Change requests will be reviewed by the ITCR Program Staff and if approved, the Policies and Procedures document will be updated and communicated to the ITCR investigators.