RAPID Frequently Asked Questions

All participants will be included in presentations throughout the day. A poster session will be available for in-person participants only. Virtual participants will join through a webinar link. There will be no individual meetings for in-person or virtual participants.

In-person participants may present a poster and are encouraged to network with other event participants. Potential performers are not able to help with Proposers’ Day arrangements.

Yes, your group can also attend Proposers’ Day. The content is designed for potential technical proposers as well as collaborators in the collection and aggregation of rare disease data. An overview of the program, including Phases I and II will be provided at both events. 

Yes, you may submit a similar Solution Summary to ARPA-H for consideration, even if you have submitted it to an ARPA-H Mission Office ISO. However, the offeror must disclose that a similar Solution Summary was submitted to the Mission Office ISO to ensure transparency and avoid any duplication of effort.

As stated in the draft Program Solicitation, ARPA-H will prioritize awards to entities (organization and/or individuals) that will conduct funded work in the United States. However, non-U.S. entities may participate to the extent that such participants comply with any necessary nondisclosure agreements, security regulations, export control laws, and other governing statutes applicable under the circumstances. See the Draft Program Solicitation, specifically the section on Eligibility Information, for additional details. 

No. If you are a prime or subrecipient on a Technical Area (TA) proposal, you are not eligible to also serve as a Patient Experience (PX) Partner.

However, to maximize participation opportunities:
Organizations may apply as part of a TA proposal team without immediately forfeiting their eligibility for the PX Partner role.
If an organization is not selected for a TA award, it may still be considered as a PX Partner (PX Partner selections will occur after TA proposal selections).

But, if an organization is part of a successful TA proposal, it will no longer be eligible for the PX Partner role.

In certain circumstances, FFRDCs and Government Entities may have unique capabilities that are not available to proposing teams through any other resource. Accordingly, the following principles will apply to this solicitation:   
- FFRDCs and Government entities, including federal Government employees, are not permitted to respond to this solicitation as a prime or sub-performer on a proposed performer team.  
- If a potential prime performer believes an FFRDC has a unique capability without which their solution is unachievable, they may provide documentation as part of their Solution Summary submission demonstrating they have exhausted all other options. 
- If an FFRDC or Government entity has a unique research idea that is within the scope of this solicitation; OR, if an FFRDC or Government entity, including a federal Government employee, is interested in working directly with the RAPID team, contact RAPID@ARPA-H.gov.

Solution Summary submission instructions will be included with the RAPID ISO that will be published on SAM.gov and the RAPID program page. 

The scientific review panel will encompass federal employees with the requisite background and expertise to readily grasp the scientific concepts stated in RAPID. The composition of the review team is confidential. Please address your proposal materials to a broad scientific audience. Specific review criteria will be included in the RAPID ISO published on SAM.gov and the RAPID program page. 

Solution summaries and other submitted documents will not be in the public domain.

The RAPID team is unable to accommodate meetings with potential proposers, or to discuss abstract feedback or potential approaches to RAPID technical areas. All solution summaries will receive feedback. 

We will evaluate and provide feedback on technical concepts once they have been officially submitted as solution summaries/proposals.

If your proposal is not a good fit for the RAPID program, the Mission Office Innovative Solutions Openings (ISOs) pursue innovative high-impact biomedical and health research proposals.

Feedback will be provided on all responsive solution summaries; we will provide brief comments on overall scientific and technical merit.

We will also provide one of two decisions:
ARPA-H encourages the proposer to submit a full proposal.
ARPA-H discourages the proposer from submitting a full proposal.

Solution Summaries are due February 14, 2025, at 5:00 PM EST; we aim to provide feedback and notice of decisions a few weeks after that date.

While those that were discouraged during the Solution Summary phase are eligible to submit a proposal, it is strongly discouraged. 

No, ARPA-H will only evaluate a full proposal for the proposers who submit a solution summary.

Feedback will be provided for all full proposals; see the ISO for the full selection criteria.

We aim to make selections by July; however, we expect many high-quality proposals and will take the time necessary to ensure we consider them thoroughly.

We are unable to accommodate individual meeting requests. However, the RAPID Innovative Solution Opening posted on SAM.gov contains all the details you might need.

Teams can work on an individual TA or on multiple TAs.

Teams should consist of relevant experts to accomplish the work that is proposed, though there is not a specific make-up (academic versus commercial) of these entities that is preferred. 

No. Teams can have participants from any mix of institutions.

No, but be sure to include detailed budget information for each institution as per the ISO and include in your proposal a program management structure that explains how the teams will be coordinated.

It is permissible to join as many proposals as you would like within each RAPID program TA or across TAs. While there is statutory language that may suggest ARPA-H is limited in the number of awards it may make to one entity, there are circumstances in which ARPA-H may make more than three awards to a particular person or organization. ARPA-H encourages organizations to submit their research ideas notwithstanding this perceived limitation.

This guidance supersedes the limitation noted in an earlier version of the FAQs published on the RAPID program webpage and in the Proposers' Day video. Both resources have been updated accordingly.

No, there will be ONE (1) PI, the rest will be Co-Investigators.

Teaming changes may be allowed with ARPA-H’s approval in response to specific needs arising from the program’s progress. Requests will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

We are glad that you are looking to assemble a diverse and capable team! We cannot make introductions for you, but we encourage you to use our teaming website, where you can submit your profile and find the contact information for potential teammates.

Collaboration between TA1, 2, and 3 will begin at kick-off. Data sharing should begin as early as possible to establish protocols. See program Milestones from the Proposer's Day deck for key dates and 2.6 of the ISO for additional information.

We want you to work hard to meet them. We aim to set our goals high, with the understanding that advancements in science cannot be made without failures along the way. 

We have two Phases, and not all offerors are guaranteed to continue to subsequent phases. However, the metrics are not necessarily rigid Go/No-Go criteria and instead are used to help make decisions about whether sufficient progress has been made. In other words, the answer to these questions will depend on the state of the technical program and how much progress has been made.

Yes, absolutely, provided you are meeting/exceeding all technical metrics and guidelines.

We will entertain all approaches that are proposed, if they fit within the TA guidelines and can be used to satisfy the metrics proposed in the ISO.

We are open to other approaches that would define success in each TA as long as they are a logical fit to satisfy the TA.

There is not a budget cap or expected range for each TA. Proposers are encouraged to submit their best ideas with a commensurate budget. 

ARPA-H complies with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) salary cap for Executive Level II. For Calendar Year 2024, this limit is $221,900. A cost spreadsheet is provided and encouraged.

Only the summary table provided in the Solution Summary template is requested for the BOE. 

We are not able to provide budgetary details for RAPID or a target number for your budget.

No budget ceiling has been established; Proposers are encouraged to propose a realistic, justifiable, comprehensive, and reasonable budget that aligns with the proposed solution. The proposed budget should align with the technical scope. 

ARPA-H discourages strategies such as using only junior staff or proposing only low-risk ideas to cut costs.

Since 1990, Congress has legislatively mandated a limitation on direct salary for individuals under NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-328) restricts the amount of direct salary to Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale. Effective January 1, 2023, the salary limitation is $221,900. 

This means that the maximum for any one person in one year, for any labor category, and any level of effort, the maximum is $221,900.

The RAPID ISO will only award Other Transactions which are different from both traditional contracts and grants. Profit is allowable and negotiable.

We do not have what we consider to be a typical program, but all awards are public.

You should plan and budget the use of vendors separately. However, potential cost saving strategies (e.g., utilizing existing vendor relationships) should be noted in the proposal as these may be discussed at the contract negotiation phase.

ARPA-H funds a group for the completion of a specific project and goal outlined in the solicitation, funding is dependent on the successful completion of specific milestones and metrics. Funding is allocated through an Other Transaction (OT) vehicle, and does not own a stake in company or product developed.

Generally, the government does not take ownership of intellectual property produced under awards.  

Under Cooperative Agreements, performers retain ownership of IP created under an award, but the government receives a license to use the IP for federal purposes.  
For Other Transaction Agreements, there is more flexibility, and IP will be subject to negotiations between the proposer and ARPA-H. RAPID will only utilize OTAs.

At a minimum, ARPA-H wants to ensure that IP restrictions do not keep breakthrough technologies from the people who can benefit from those technologies.

Please refer to the ISO Section 2.7.2. 

IP for novel technology/products developed under this program is open for negotiation, but should conform with stated goals. It is desired that all non-commercial software (including source code), software documentation, and technical data generated by the project are provided as deliverables to the Government with open-source or unlimited rights, as lesser rights may negatively impact the potential for this biomedical data ecosystem to become self-sustaining. Prior IP should also be listed in the application. Refer to section 2.7.2: 1 of the ISO for more information.

Although proposals should address a TA in its entirety, there is opportunity for teaming to contribute features of a solution as part of a larger team or proposal. Please refer to the teaming page for more information.

Solutions should determine and justify a proposed set of multimodal data elements to be collected through a scalable digital interface to meet program goals and metrics, including justifications of the target data types such as the potential of being a novel diagnostic indicator of a given disease.

In addition to collecting multimodal data, proposals should outline methods for obtaining additional patient medical data, including EHR or -omics data, to bolster downstream R&D.

Incoming data to TA3 should be available in, but not limited to, its original form to enable sustainable, standardized data processing and harmonization pipelines. TA1/2 performers will transfer data to TA3 in whichever formats are available, preferred TA1/2 solutions will obtain data in both its original form as well as processed formats (e.g., OMOP, HPO) to support TA3 pipeline validation and to enable additional information extraction. Refer to the section 2.5.1: 4.b.2 of the ISO for more information.

Each disease must be entered separately with its corresponding prioritization rationale, which can be based on either disease-specific criteria or a broader multi-disease framework. 

In order to maintain consistency across submissions, please use the standardized values or fields, additional information can be included in the designated optional fields.

Initial – Priority diseases for immediate data collection and aggregation.

Expanded – Diseases scheduled for later-phase data collection (e.g., Phase 2).

Potential – Diseases to be considered for collection based on technical feasibility, partnership development, or other external factors.

RAPID aims to achieve demographic and regional representation aligned with U.S. Census Bureau metrics by aggregating data from all regions of the U.S. to ensure comprehensive geographic coverage. The regional distribution metric evaluates how well the collected data reflects the U.S. population across states, urban and rural areas, and Census-defined regions.

To achieve this, RAPID performers will collect data from all four U.S. Census Bureau regions (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West). While regional representation is the primary benchmark, the use of Census Bureau divisions or finer-grained geographic metrics (e.g.,urban-rural) is also encouraged to further enhance geographic representation. The program has set progressive targets to reduce the margin of error from Census benchmarks, starting at ≤30% in Year 1 and improving to ≤10% by Year 5.

By aligning data collection with these Census regions and divisions, RAPID aims to ensure broad and representative coverage across the U.S. This metric only applies to U.S. patient data.

Sample size requirements and margins of error (MoE) are calculated proportionally based on population groups relative to the minimum requirement.

For example, given:

- Minimum requirement: 20 total cases with 10% MoE

- Population distribution: Group A (20%) and Group B (80%)

The minimum sample sizes would be:

- Group A: 4 cases (20% of 20, with ±2% MoE)

- Group B: 15 cases (80% of 20, with ±8% MoE)

Collecting more cases than the minimum (e.g., 4 cases from Group A and 30 from Group B) still meets the requirements, as long as the minimum thresholds for each group are maintained.

Methods to ensure security and stability of the platform should be described as part of the proposed solution.

Proposed solutions should include detailed plans for continued maintenance and updating of the system. This may involve the establishment of dedicated support and development teams, regular security audits and penetration testing, and the implementation of robust backup and disaster recovery procedures. (See ISO 2.5.2 Section-3.d.3)

RAPID is open to either approach, however solutions will need to be completed to within the timeframe of the program and will need to meet the yearly metrics outlined in the solicitation.

Rare diseases is defined in the US as <200,000 people.

Heritable and somatic genetic diseases, polygenic conditions, rare cancers, and infectious diseases with complex or prolonged diagnostic pathways are in scope.

Diseases where AI-driven decision support systems can meaningfully reduce the time to diagnosis are in scope.

Note: Diseases that are rapidly identifiable, have clear exposure histories, or have straightforward diagnostic tests are less relevant, whereas those that frequently require complex differential diagnosis due to nonspecific, overlapping, or chronic symptoms are strong candidates for inclusion.

DUA's should at a minimum allow data to be used by other program performers, and proposed DUA's alignment with program goals can be a factor in the selection process. For data generated under this program, unlimited Government Rights are preferred to maximize program impact, though not required. Refer to the section 2.5.4: 1 of the ISO for more information.

Yes.

There is not a prescribed architectural pattern for data infrastructure, solutions should propose a planned data infrastructure to support proposed solutions and achieve program goals.

Proposed solutions should address the whole set of requirements for a TA, submissions for multiple TAs should therefore address each TA in its entirety. Potential overlap between solutions can be addressed during the contract negotiation phase. Please refer to the Milestones in the Proposers' Day deck for information about the anticipated progress of each TA over time.

The aims for the distinct TAs are: 

- TA1: systems for scalable aggregation and annotation of data

- TA2: systems to proactively collect multimodal data

- TA3: a platform to ingest, normalize, and enable data for AI focused R&D (starting with output data from TA1 & TA2)

TA1 & TA2 performers are responsible for obtaining data, and therefore for obtaining informed consent. TA3 performers are responsible for the  processes and infrastructure of the developed data commons that ensure compliance with informed consent procedures and DUAs established by data providers (i.e., TA1 and TA2). Refer to the section 2.5.3: 3.b.4 of the ISO for more information.

TA3 proposals should include methods to de-identify data as part of the data processing capabilities - even if TA1/2 performers provide de-identified data - to ensure scalability beyond the life of the RAPID program. TA1/2 proposals that include the ability to obtain or actively de-identify data should be highlighted as part of the submission.

Industry partnerships are not required and there are no preferred vendors. Integrating industry partnerships as a strategy to ensure sustainability should be highlighted in the proposed solution, as should plans to leverage existing vendor relationships or plans to choose a specific vendor.