SSA-ORES-12-1 (Grants.gov Opportunity Number: DRC-DRC-12-001)

OVERVIEW

Federal Agency :

Social Security Administration, Office of Research Evaluation and Statistics (ORES)

Title:

Disability Research Consortium (DRC)

Announcement Type:

New Announcement

Funding Opportunity Number:

SSA-ORES-12-1 (Grants.gov Opportunity Number: DRC-DRC-12-001)

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number:

CFDA 96.007, Research and Demonstration

Dates:

The opening date of this announcement is the date of publication. The closing date for receipt of grant applications under this announcement is April 30, 2012.

Funding Opportunity Description

As authorized under section 1110 of the Social Security Act, SSA announces the solicitation of competitive applications for a five year cooperative agreement for a Disability Research Consortium (DRC). SSA seeks applications in support of the DRC that will serve as a national resource fostering high quality research, communication, and education on matters related to disability policy. The DRC is an interdisciplinary extramural policy research program funded by the Social Security Administration (SSA) through a cooperative agreement. In addition to research, the DRC will disseminate research results and train graduate students and junior faculty. The expectation is that the DRC will foster more collaborative research across federal agencies as well as more collaboration among researchers in the federal government, academia, and research centers. Another important expectation is that research results will help policymakers improve service delivery, enhance coordination of services across programs, build on complementarities across programs, eliminate duplication and waste, and advance cooperation across federal agencies that serve people with disabilities.

Letter of Intent:

Prospective applicants are asked to submit by March 31, 2012, a letter of intent that includes (1) this program announcement number and title; (2) a brief description of the proposed center; (3) the name, postal and e-mail addresses, and the telephone and fax numbers of the center's director; and (4) the identities of the key personnel and participating institutions. The letter of intent is not required, is not binding, and does not enter into the review process of a subsequent application. The sole purpose of the letter of intent is to allow SSA staff to estimate the potential review workload and avoid conflicts of interest in the review. The letter of intent should be sent to: Richard E. Chard, DRC Letter of Intent, Office of Retirement and Disability Policy, Social Security Administration, 500 E St., SW., ITC Room 934, Washington, DC 20254-0001. E-mail: richard.chard@ssa.gov.

Pre-application Activities:

As questions come in regarding the programmatic content of this RFA, we will be posting a running list of questions and answers on the web at http://www.ssa.gov/policy/drc/faq.html. Submit questions to DRC.ORES@ssa.gov. All potential applicants should monitor the website frequently to ensure that they have the latest updates and answers.