DSFederal is pleased to announce the award of the new Scientific and Program Support contract for the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER). With a mission to “support the entire NIH extramural research community by providing policy, guidance, systems, and other support to the recipient community,” OER offers a wide variety of services, helping investigators understand federal policies and procedures governing grant funding, and serving as caretaker for the NIH extramural research portfolio. OER also serves the 24 NIH Institutes and Centers that provide extramural grant funding.
Under its contract to the Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) program DSFederal has been a trusted partner to OER since 2015. DSFederal’s RCDC team members have received RCDC Office of the Director awards recognizing their contributions to the program, and a number of our team members have transitioned to Federal government roles. As prime contractor on this new OER program, DSFederal will lead a team of experienced, well-respected NIH service providers including ICF, NETE, EnDyna, Master Key, UberResearch, and Deloitte.
The OER Scientific and Program Support contract will encompass research support and administrative tasks previously covered under RCDC and other contracts, serving as an umbrella for a variety of OER support services. DSFederal's team will provide highly qualified professional staff such as senior Scientific Information Analysts (SIAs), Scientific Text Analysts (STA) with expertise in NLP/text analytics, financial analysts to support the NIH Loan Repayment Program (LRP), and other technical and scientific SMEs.
CEO Sophia Parker writes, “OER serves both the public and the NIH research community by supporting efforts to fund promising research and ensuring that research spending complies with federal laws and regulations. Research support is foundational to DSFederal’s work, and we have many years of experience providing support services to NIH and its Institutes and Centers. We are delighted to have the opportunity to continue serving OER in its role as steward of NIH research funding.”