The National Cancer Institute (NCI), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is forecasting a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) Community Sites. This initiative represents one of three coordinated NOFOs aimed at promoting cancer research through community-based participation. The NCORP program is designed to expand access to clinical trials and cancer-related studies to diverse populations by integrating community hospitals and oncology practices into the clinical research infrastructure.
NCORP Community Sites are composed of consortia involving community hospitals and/or oncology practices. These sites are expected to participate in studies involving cancer control, prevention, treatment, and care delivery. Although participation in care delivery studies is optional, applicants who include this component must have a minimum of three cancer care delivery protocols open annually. The Community Sites will not be allowed to conduct clinical trials but are expected to contribute to the research infrastructure by recruiting participants and offering insights into clinical significance, local care disparities, and protocol feasibility.
A critical requirement for NCORP Community Sites is to meet or exceed an annual accrual of 70 new, unique participants distributed evenly across cancer control, prevention, screening, post-treatment surveillance trials, and treatment and imaging trials. These efforts aim to ensure that research findings are generalizable across diverse community populations, improving the dissemination and applicability of cancer research outcomes.
This forecasted grant has an estimated total program funding of $73 million, with approximately 50 awards expected. It will be offered as a cooperative agreement, emphasizing collaboration between the grant recipients and NCI. While specific award ceilings and floors are not provided, there is no cost-sharing or matching requirement for applicants.
Eligible applicants include a range of entities such as state and county governments, nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions), higher education institutions (both public and private), for-profit organizations including small businesses, and Native American tribal organizations and governments. However, institutions that are NCI National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) – Network Lead Academic Participating Sites funded by the NCI Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis are not eligible to apply.
The anticipated post date for the official NOFO is August 29, 2025, with applications due by November 14, 2025. Awards are expected to be made by August 1, 2026, which is also the projected project start date. For further inquiries, applicants may contact Dr. Brandy Heckman-Stoddard at heckmanbm@mail.nih.gov or 240-276-7048.
