ARPA-H 101

Primers on how ARPA-H (and other ARPAs) are different than your typical NIH/NSF research programs and proposals

I’ve had my head down working hard on an ARPA-H proposal the last few weeks. If you’re not familiar with ARPA-H, it’s like DARPA or IARPA, but for health. I.e., moonshot projects, aggressive schedules, big budgets, and academic + industry partnerships essentially required to win one of these awards. I’ve proposed to and performed on my share of programs at the ARPAs. They’ve very different than your traditional NIH/NSF grants. The proposal process is different. The award is different (OTs, not grants). The research execution is different (milestone-driven, objectives, deliverables). The ideas you can propose must be different: if you’re coming from the NIH/NSF world, where you have to be innovative (but not too innovative), you’ll have to de-condition yourself to not think incrementally. Incremental advancements are strictly out of scope. Think revolutionary, not evolutionary. I think it was the current director of DARPA BTO who told me something like (paraphrasing), if you’re in a conference room full of your expert colleagues and 90% of the people think it’s a crazy idea and laugh you out of the room, it’s probably a good fit for DARPA.

I got an email today from ARPA-H with the subject, “Next on your summer reading list: the ARPA-H 101 series 🏖️”. If you’re ARPA-curious (ARPA-H specifically, but the advice is applicable to DARPA and IARPA as well), read through some of the links below to get a sense of how things work here.

You can sign up for the ARPA-H Vitals emails here.

Doing business with the agency: Working with ARPA-H differs from traditional grant-funding federal agencies. The expectations for continued performance are high, the timelines are aggressive, and receiving continued funding is dependent on milestone achievement. See how you can rise to the challenge.

Preparing for Proposers’ Day: These big events set the stage at the launch of most ARPA-H programs. Ready to make the most of networking and teaming opportunities? Study up and arrive prepared.

Assembling a research team: ARPA-H programs ask performers to offer solutions that are not evolutionary but revolutionary. That often means assembling teams of talented groups and individuals. Learn how we help connect them.

Transformative research needs Other Transactions (OTs): An OT is a type of federal contract that provides a more flexible way to fund innovative research and development. ARPA-H uses OTs to compress research timelines and speed real health impact. Explore the basics of this nimble funding mechanism.

The lifecycle of an ARPA-H program: The ARPA model, championed originally by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), centers ambitious ideas, accelerated research timelines, and breakthrough advances. Not familiar with this transformative model and how programs move through it? Read on.

Understanding proposal evaluation criteria: ARPA-H was created to close the gap between scientific findings and the urgent need for real patient outcomes. That means the bar looks different from a traditional grant application for other federal research funding agencies. Here’s what to expect.