Implementing the HIV Service Cascade for Justice-Involved Populations (U01 Clinical Trial Required) | RFA DA 20 028

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DA 20 028

Implementing the HIV Service Cascade for Justice-Involved Populations (U01 Clinical Trial Required) is a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), NIH funding opportunity (RFA-DA-20-028) that supports research focused on improving how HIV and opioid use disorder (OUD) services are delivered to people who are involved with the criminal legal system in the United States. The core intent is to close practical research gaps around integrated care for HIV and OUD and to strengthen treatment management and real-world implementation across the points where justice-involved individuals are most likely to fall out of care. Because this is a U01 cooperative agreement, awardees should expect substantial NIH program involvement and collaboration during the project, and because it is marked "Clinical Trial Required," the supported work is expected to include a clinical trial component rather than being purely observational or pre-clinical.

The public health rationale behind the program is that the justice system is a major touchpoint for HIV prevention and treatment. NIDA highlights that roughly a quarter of people living with HIV pass through the justice system each year, which makes jails, prisons, probation/parole, and re-entry settings critical places to identify unmet needs and connect people to care. The period immediately after release back into the community is emphasized as especially high risk, with increased chances of opioid relapse and overdose death, increased HIV risk behaviors, and disruption or discontinuation of HIV treatment. In practical terms, the opportunity is aimed at strengthening the full "HIV service cascade" for justice-involved populations, meaning the sequence from screening and diagnosis, to linkage to care, to initiation of appropriate prevention or treatment medications, to retention and long-term viral suppression or sustained prevention engagement.

A central scientific and implementation focus is on people who inject drugs (PWID) who are justice-involved, since overlapping risks related to opioid use, injection practices, unstable housing, and disrupted access to healthcare can compound during incarceration and re-entry. The opportunity calls for research that prioritizes screening and linkage to the full continuum of evidence-based HIV prevention and treatment services. Specifically mentioned are pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for people at risk of acquiring HIV and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for people living with HIV, alongside integrated approaches to address OUD treatment needs. The program also signals interest not only in whether interventions can work in principle, but in how well they work as actually received in this population, accounting for real-world constraints in justice and community settings.

Another major theme is improving and evaluating the methods used to deliver these services, not just the clinical interventions themselves. NIDA explicitly points to service delivery strategies such as navigation and mobile services, which could include patient navigation during re-entry, peer linkage programs, mobile health clinics, telehealth-supported follow-up, or other implementation supports designed to keep individuals engaged in both HIV and OUD care. The underlying question is how to make integrated care feasible, acceptable, and durable across transitions: from incarceration to community, from jail/prison health units to community clinics, and across fragmented systems that often have different funding streams, data systems, and eligibility rules.

Administratively, this opportunity falls under the discretionary category and uses the cooperative agreement mechanism (U01). The activity area is listed under education and health, with CFDA number 93.279. The agency is NIH (through NIDA). The opportunity was created on 2020-02-19 and had an original closing date of 2020-11-13. While an award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided source text, applicants would typically consult the full announcement for budget limits, project period expectations, and any required milestones or cooperative agreement terms.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations and includes many public and private entity types. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city/township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; Native American tribal organizations other than federally recognized governments; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with and without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education in those nonprofit categories); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. The listing also explicitly mentions additional eligible applicant categories such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs), as well as faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions.

Foreign participation is explicitly restricted. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement are not allowed. In effect, the work and organizational structure must remain within allowable U.S.-based parameters, which aligns with the program's focus on the U.S. justice system and U.S. implementation contexts.

Overall, the grant opportunity is designed to produce actionable evidence on how to build and maintain an effective HIV prevention and treatment continuum for justice-involved people, particularly those affected by opioid use and injection drug use. The emphasis is on integrated HIV and OUD service delivery, strong linkage and retention strategies during and after incarceration, and careful evaluation of both clinical outcomes and implementation methods that can realistically be adopted by correctional and community health systems.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Implementing the HIV Service Cascade for Justice-Involved Populations (U01 Clinical Trial Required)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.279.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-02-19.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-11-13. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA DA 20 028

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