Program Announcements describe ongoing NIH priorities for funding through usual NIH funding mechanisms. Applications responding to a PA may request full-scale research projects, small research projects (if supported by that Institute), program projects, or possibly other standard NIH funding programs. Deadlines for most PA's are the normal NIH review and award cycles: October 1, February 1, and June 1 (HIV related projects and resubmissions have a somewhat different schedule). This means that you will have several chances to respond to a PA, and will have several options for the size and scope of the project you propose. PA's are usually geared toward original and innovative approaches to the problem described. Since PA's stay open for several years, you should know how to search the NIH Guide Archive for PA's which were announced in the past and are still available.

Requests for Applications are special announcements of opportunities which may or may not recur. An RFA tends to be focused, with suggested approaches to the problem described in the announcement. The deadline, the scope of the project and the size of potential awards are specific to each RFP. Often these are large projects requiring multidisciplinary and multi-institutional response. As with PA's, innovative approaches are valued, along with demonstrable ability to carry out the project. The applicant must show a track record in the field of investigation and must show support from all the persons and entities necessary to complete the work.

Requests for Proposals are requests for bids on fully defined contracts (contracts for the whole federal government are announced in Commerce Business Daily and on some agencies' individual sites, such as that for the Centers for Disease Control. The work scope and research design to be used will be outlined in the RFP. These announcements are not seeking a great deal of innovation from individual investigators. Rather, they are intended to locate researchers and institutions with the skills and resources to carry out a portion of a large-scale, usually national program. Awards of contracts through RFP's will depend on demonstrating these skills and resources. Awards may also depend on the ability of the researchers to access certain populations.

Deciding whether to respond to one of these opportunities will depend on your own professional goals and interests. PA's are the most flexible, allowing the most room for innovation and the most lead time to complete the application. RFA's are often the opportunity to do an ambitious project that might not be feasible through any other mechanism. Often an RFA will allow no more than 6 or 8 weeks to respond. RFP's can be an opportunity to acquire information about the population the researcher serves, can be a good introduction to a network of researchers, and can also be a chance to become familiar with the methods of large-scale multi-site research. Many RFP's require a rapid response, often within 4 weeks of the announcement.