Limited Competition: Resources and Workforce Development for the Regional Biocontainment Laboratories
🏛 National Institutes of Health (HHS-NIH11)
✓ Free, no account · Source: Grants.gov · Last verified Jul 15, 2026
Can you apply?
This grant is for institutions operating or supporting Regional Biocontainment Laboratories (RBLs) that provide BSL-2/3 biosafety facilities. Eligible organizations must be able to maintain and operate biocontainment facilities and provide workforce training. This is a limited competition—only pre-identified eligible organizations will be invited to apply. The funding supports facility operations, maintenance, and biosafety-specific personnel training across multi-year periods.
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Key dates
- Jun 24, 2026 Applications open
- Sep 30, 2027 Application deadline in 441 days
- Aug 1, 2028 Award announced
- Aug 1, 2028 Project start
Program description
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) seeks to advance its mission by providing critical resources, staff and facilities support for the Regional Biocontainment Laboratories (RBLs). The RBLs provide biosafety level 2 and 3 (BSL-2/3) biocontainment facilities for research on infectious diseases. They play a critical role in public health emergency response by facilitating key activities related to infectious disease outbreaks and biosafety/biosecurity concerns. Congress has denoted the RBLs a NIAID research priority. This program will provide multi-year funding for facility maintenance, operations and biocontainment-specific training for personnel to maintain a capable BSL-3 level workforce in the United States. This is a Forecast for a Limited Competition that will invite application(s) from eligible organization(s) to apply. Please see the Eligibility Section for additional information. In accordance with NIH standard peer-review processes, the application(s) will be peer-reviewed, and only meritorious application(s) will be considered for funding. Grant authorities that allow NIAID to forecast this opportunity are as follows: Sections 301 and 405 of the Public Health Service Act as amended (42 USC 241 and 284) and under Federal Regulations 42 CFR Part 52 and 2 CFR Part 200.
Who can apply
Eligible applicants
How to apply
Application links
Key dates & requirements
Required documents
- SF-424 (Federal application form)
- Project Narrative/Statement of Work
- Budget and Budget Justification
- Institutional Biosafety Committee approval documentation
- Facility description and BSL-2/3 certification
- Workforce development plan
- NIH Biosketch for key personnel
Program contact
- 👤 NIAID RBL-NBL (Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases)
- 📧 NIAIDRBL-NBL@mail.nih.gov
- 📞 Please contact via email.
Funding track record
Recent awards under CFDA 93.855 from the last 3 years — real organizations that won funding through this same program.
Top 10 Largest Recent Awards
-
$246,626,852
-
$201,437,825
-
$185,816,804
-
$180,737,624
-
$136,265,880
-
$116,817,868
-
$93,394,862
-
$89,845,851
-
$74,456,241
-
$72,987,380
Top States by Funding
- CA 8 awards $696.2M
- MA 6 awards $602.8M
- NY 6 awards $335.0M
- TX 3 awards $280.9M
- GA 5 awards $257.9M
Source: USAspending.gov — federal spending transparency. Data covers last 3 years.
Funding history
Annual funding for this program — Federal obligations (CFDA 93.855). How funding has trended year over year.
| 2024 | $4,073,812,529 | |
| 2025 | $4,378,235,639 | |
| 2026 est. | $4,299,426,996 |
FAQ
Who can apply for this grant?
Only eligible organizations pre-selected by NIAID for this limited competition. Standard NIH institutional requirements apply.
What is the deadline?
The deadline is September 30, 2027. This is a fixed deadline.
What activities does this funding support?
Facility maintenance, operations costs, personnel salaries for biocontainment work, and BSL-3 workforce training programs.
How competitive is this grant?
Very competitive. NIH peer-review applies. All applications undergo merit review and only strong proposals are funded.
What is the funding range?
Specific award amounts are not disclosed in this forecast. Total program funding is $36 million across all RBL awards.
💡 Tips for applicants
- Demonstrate current capability to operate BSL-2/3 facilities and maintain safety protocols. Detail your facility infrastructure clearly.
- Show strong workforce development plans. Biocontainment training is a core funding priority for NIAID.
- Explain how your RBL supports public health emergency preparedness. NIAID values outbreak response capacity.
- Budget multi-year costs realistically. This is long-term facility funding, not project-specific grants.
- Align with NIAID infectious disease research priorities. Reference current relevant threats and research needs.
⚠️ Common mistakes
Weak workforce development plans. NIAID prioritizes training BSL-3 capable personnel. Underestimating operations costs or failing to justify multi-year budgets realistically. Unclear connection between your facility work and public health emergency response capacity.
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