Call for Proposals

WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES?

The Large-Scale Institutional Endeavours component of the RHF is designed for large-scale research hospital-based projects that require mostly space and other research infrastructure to support excellent research, training, and knowledge translation in one or more research themes of strategic importance to the hospital.

Who is eligible to apply?

Only research hospitals (i.e. a corporate entity) are eligible to apply to the RHF. In accordance with the Funding Agreement with the Government of Canada, the CFI will approve a hospital as an eligible recipient if it is a public hospital (as defined by provincial legislation) which has a demonstrable capacity (e.g. a research institute associated with a hospital) to support and conduct research and research training. Specifically, it must demonstrate that it:

• has a research and research training mission;
• has its own researchers or has developed an arrangement with a university for the appointment of researchers, and provides them with the time to conduct research - these researchers must be fully qualified to carry out independent research and have a track record in research;
• has no institutional constraints on the publication of research results;
• has the resources, including on going operating funds, basic facilities, and services to enable its principal researchers to carry out research;
• receives research funding of at least $500,000 per year;
• has in place administrative structures, policies (e.g. ethical review), and resources necessary to administer research funding or has made arrangements with a university for the administration of these funds.

Hospitals and regional health authorities that are uncertain about their eligibility under these criteria should contact the CFI.

Institutions or organizations that do not qualify as eligible institutions to receive CFI funding can participate as collaborators or partners of eligible institutions.

An eligible hospital may submit a proposal directly or apply through another institution (e.g. a university) when this is the normal practice for the purposes of administering research funds. In this latter case, the CFI requires that both the university president and the hospital president sign the proposal. By signing the proposal, the hospital president is attesting that the institutional initiative directly serves the research and research training missions of the hospital and its affiliated research institutes.

¹ A corporate entity refers to the entity responsible for the management of the research hospital's clinical services and research activities. In some cases it will be a single-site hospital and in others, a regional health authority (RHA) responsible for a multi-site or multi-campus hospital. The determining factor is whether the entity has its own Board of Directors or equivalent governing body. In the case of RHA, the Board of Directors must be at the RHA level, not in the hospitals under its purview.

CAN THE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT BE LOCATED OUTSIDE A RESEARCH HOSPITAL?

RHF projects will normally be located in a research hospital. Exceptionally, there may be instances where the objectives of the project are better served by locating the infrastructure outside a research hospital. In such cases, the president of the eligible hospital must attest in writing that the proposed approach best serves the needs of the hospital, and is more effective and cost efficient than locating the research infrastructure in the hospital. In those cases, the ownership and control of CFI-funded infrastructure will remain with the original recipient.

HOW MUCH FUNDING IS AVAILABLE?

The CFI will contribute between $300-350M for Large-Scale Institutional Endeavours. In addition, the CFI will contribute an amount equivalent to 30% of the CFI funding awarded to the institution towards the operation and maintenance costs of the infrastructure.

HOW DO PROJECTS FIT INTO THE HOSPITALS’ STRATEGIC RESEARCH PLANS?

Each research hospital submitting a proposal must provide an overall Strategic Research Plan (SRP) summary as part of the application form. The plan must include:

• An outline of the major research themes of strategic importance to the hospital, focusing on those themes for which support is requested in the proposal;
• A description of how the hospital will support these priority areas (e.g. institutional resources to capitalize on the infrastructure, creation of new academic staff positions, research chairs, etc.);
• A description of the hospital’s current and projected research space requirements for the next five years;
• An explanation of how this infrastructure project will help build capacity in the hospital’s strategic research priority areas, including:
  1. how it will enhance the attraction and retention of highly qualified researchers;
  2. how this investment will enhance the hospital’s capacity to support research, training and knowledge translation; and,
  3. how this support will build regional or national capacity for innovation and increase international competitiveness in these areas;
• A description of the planning and approval process for the SRP at the hospital.

HOW SHOULD HOSPITALS ENGAGE THEIR KEY PARTNERS, IN PARTICULAR THEIR PROVINCES?

Hospitals are required to provide evidence that key partners, in particular their provinces, are engaged in the planning of the project. Provinces are recognized to be key partners in research infrastructure projects in hospitals. As such, there must be close interactions between the institutions and their provincial government from the beginning of the process to take into consideration provincial priorities and opportunities.

Hospitals are therefore required to demonstrate that they have discussed their proposed initiative upfront with their respective provinces, including their business plan. At the full application stage, institutions will be required to provide evidence of provincial support in the form of a letter, signed by the appropriate provincial authority, such as a deputy minister or assistant deputy minister, indicating that the proposed project is aligned with provincial health strategy(ies) and will be feasible once appropriate partner support is found.

WHAT ARE ELIGIBLE COSTS?

The CFI will provide funding for up to 40% of the eligible infrastructure costs of a project. Partner contributions and cash expenditures by the institution themselves must have taken place after February 19, 2003.

Eligible costs include those described in the CFI Program Guide. In addition, the following costs are also eligible:

• Building space beyond that which is essential to house equipment and use research infrastructure. This includes new and different research space to take full advantage of state-of-the-art equipment, new ways of conducting research, and hospitals’ increased research capacity as a result of hiring highly qualified research personnel (e.g. office space for researchers, administrative staff and students, space for meeting/conference rooms and space for integrated facilities).
• Communication infrastructure used for research collaboration, the dissemination of research results and research training.

Given that construction or renovation are expected to constitute a very significant component of the projects, and that institutions are expected to have all but completed the planning and development phase of their projects, the CFI expects institutions to start the construction/renovation phase of the projects within 18 months following the award announcement. This means that contracts for construction or renovation must have been finalized, and the work begun.

It is important to demonstrate in the proposal that sufficient research and operating funds will be available to capitalize on the full potential of the infrastructure.

WHAT IS THE APPLICATION PROCESS?

Under the LSIE component of the RHF, the CFI will accept a single application per hospital (i.e. a corporate entity), but this application can include one or several themes of research.

Eligible hospitals will submit:

• By April 20, 2007: an electronic Notification of Intent (NOI), as well as a signed paper copy and a signed “Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information” form.

  For eligible hospitals that will be submitting a proposal through their affiliated university, the electronic submission of the proposal will be done by the university, as for any other CFI competition. Eligible hospitals that intend to submit an application on their own should ensure that they have submitted an up-to-date Institutional Agreement to the CFI. Once the Institutional Agreement has been received by the CFI, the institution’s online account information (which will allow them to submit their proposal electronically) will be sent to the designated contacts by email.

  If an up-to-date Institutional Agreement has been previously submitted, the institution can contact marianne.wallans@innovation.ca or 613-996-3109 to obtain its online account information.

• By September 11, 2007: a complete electronic application, as well as one complete paper copy of the application, including floor plans for construction. In addition, the applicant must provide a letter of support, signed by the appropriate provincial authority, indicating that the proposed project is aligned with provincial health strategy (ies) and will be feasible with appropriate partner support. In this regard, letters from partners confirming their cash contributions to the project are also required.

See Annex A for full competition schedule.

How will the CFI use Notifications of Intent (NOIs)?

The CFI will use the information in the NOI to plan its review process.

What will be expected for full proposals?

The full proposal may include a number of research themes. There is a section for each theme in the application form where the institution will be able to expand on which infrastructure support is sought and the research that it will support. Although themes may be linked or independent of each other, the onus will be on the hospital to make the case as to why the infrastructure requested for each theme is essential to support its overall vision and priorities.

Themes will:

• take a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to allow for better health research, knowledge translation, technology development and improvements in health; and,
• bring researchers and highly qualified personnel together in new and innovative ways.

All infrastructure components requested in the application- whether space or other- have to be justified on the basis of the overall research activities involved and their potential benefits.

Institutions that submit proposals to both this call for proposals and the National/Regional Clinical Research Initiatives (RHF-CRI) component of the Research Hospital Fund will be asked to reference their RHF-CRI in a specific section of the application form for the Large-Scale Institutional Endeavours and vice versa.

Finally, the CFI recognizes that innovative research may require multidisciplinary approaches and contributions from individuals from a variety of institutions or sectors. The development of partnerships and cooperative arrangements within the institution and with other public or private organizations should help establish clusters and networks of related infrastructure. This will allow for better research, more effective and efficient use of available research resources, and more opportunities for knowledge translation.

WHAT IS THE REVIEW PROCESS?

Assessment Criteria

In reviewing the complete proposals to the LSIE, the CFI will apply the following three criteria:

1. Quality of research and need for the infrastructure

• Quality, innovation and transformative potential of the research;
• Research contributions of the principal users and their potential to capitalize on innovative research opportunities;
• Appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of the infrastructure in supporting the proposed research, housing equipment, or bringing researchers and highly qualified personnel together in new and innovative ways;
• Effective management, operation and maintenance of the infrastructure on an ongoing basis.

2. Contribution to strengthening the capacity for innovation by:

• Enhancing the institutional capacity to support excellent research, training and knowledge translation in one or more themes;
• Building institutional, regional or national capacity for innovation and for international competitiveness;
• Increasing institutional capacity by attracting and retaining the best researchers or those with the highest potential;
• Creating a stimulating and enriched environment for training highly qualified personnel;
• Strengthening multidisciplinary approaches, collaborations among researchers (and, where appropriate, collaborations or partnerships with other institutions and sectors) to allow for better research, knowledge translation, and technology development, and for a more effective and efficient use of available resources.

3. Potential benefits of the research to Canada

• Potential for groundbreaking discoveries and generation of knowledge that can be translated into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products, and a better health care system;
• Contribution to job creation and economic growth.

To be funded, a proposal must satisfy all three criteria to a degree appropriate to the size and complexity of the proposal.

Review process

The CFI will verify each institution’s proposal for eligibility and completeness, and may request additional material to ensure that all essential information is available for the assessment.

The CFI will use a three stage process to review proposals:

First stage
In the initial stage, proposals will be broken down into their individual themes, and each theme will be separately reviewed by at least three experts in the relevant research area(s)/health issue(s), and/or who use similar platforms/facilities in their research work. These expert reviewers will focus their evaluations on the following criteria:

• the innovativeness and transformative nature of the proposed research;
• the capacity of the proposed research to enable more integrated, multi-disciplinary approaches to health research;
• research contributions of the principal users and their potential to capitalize on innovative research opportunities;
• the potential to attract and retain the best researchers or those with the highest potential;
• the potential to create a stimulating and enriched environment for training HQP;
• the creation and/or strengthening of collaborations between researchers, and partnerships among institutions and sectors; and,
• the appropriateness, efficiency and effectiveness of the infrastructure for the proposed research, and for the development of enhanced, integrated facilities.

The purpose of this stage of review is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the scientific aspects of the themes. In order to increase the degree of consistency among these expert reviewers, the written reports of each reviewer will be returned to all three reviewers who were assigned to a single theme, and the reviewers will be invited to revise their own reports after reading what the other reviewers thought about the merits of the theme. The expert reviewers will also be provided with the hospital’s strategic research plan summary so they can see, and comment on, how well an individual theme fits into the institution’s overall research strategy.

The Expert assessments will then be forwarded to Integrative Review Groups (IRG) which are part of the second stage of the review process.

Second stage
In the second stage of the merit review process, IRGs will be meeting to review a number of full proposals. Each IRG will have broad expertise in health research, research facilities management, and the use of research results and technology. It will review a group of proposals from a region of Canada.

The IRGs will focus their review of the overall proposals on the following criteria:

• the effectiveness of the management, operation and maintenance of the infrastructure on an ongoing basis;
• the project’s potential to enhance the research hospital’s capacity to undertake integrated, multidisciplinary and problem-oriented health research through innovative structures and partnerships;
• the project’s potential for building regional or national capacity for innovation and for international competitiveness in health research;
• the project’s potential for translating research results into improvements to the health and quality of life of Canadians, including the creation of policies and practices, more effective health services and products and a better health care system;
• the project’s potential for contributing to job creation and economic growth; and,
• the likelihood that the construction of the facility will start within 18 months of the official decision announcement.

In evaluating the proposals, the IRGs will rely on the comments of the expert reviewers about the merits of the individual themes that make up each proposal, but will also focus on the complementarities, integration and synergies that become evident when the proposal is viewed in its entirety. The IRGs will also look for regional complementarities or redundancies in the requested infrastructure, the strategic plan of the institution and evidence of secured support from partners, including provinces, in its evaluation of the proposals. IRGs may recommend approval of an entire proposal, or only of certain themes within a proposal.

There will be an opportunity for a face-to-face discussion between representatives of the proposal and the IRG in order to obtain clarification and explanation of issues identified by the IRG. Since the IRG members will be well-acquainted with the content of each proposal, it will not be necessary for the representatives to make a presentation about their proposal to the IRG.

Third stage
The reports and recommendations of the IRGs on each proposal will be considered by a blue-ribbon International Assessment Committee (IAC). The IAC will review the comments and recommendations about each proposal received from the various IRGs, conduct its own discussion about the merits of the proposals, and recommend which proposals in the competition represent the most effective investment in infrastructure in Canada. In making these recommendations, the IAC will consider the degree to which each proposal satisfies the assessment criteria relative to other competing proposals, the strategic plan of the institution and evidence of secured support from partners, including provinces, in its evaluation of the proposals. The Committee will also be informed of the outcome of any related CFI/CIHR – National/Regional Clinical Research Initiatives requests. IAC’s recommendations and rationale will be transmitted to the CFI Board.

Because most Canadian researchers qualified to serve as reviewers are likely to be in some degree in a conflict-of-interest situation, the majority of reviewers at all stages will be working outside Canada. Finally, because our intent is to structure a review process that we think best accommodates the anticipated diverse content of the proposals. CFI may further adjust the details of the review process in light of the actual proposals received, to help ensure that all proposals are given a fair and expert review. Any such adjustments will be communicated rapidly to all applicants and posted on the CFI web site.

HOW WILL THE DECISIONS BE MADE?

The CFI Board of Directors will make the final decision for each proposal. The final decision on an institutional initiative could be for full funding, partial funding or no funding. Note: this means that separate decisions may be made on individual themes.

The Assessment Committee will produce summary comments that will be provided to the institutions for all proposals.

ANNEX A

Schedule for the two RHF competitions

Call for Proposals (Clinical Research Initiatives + Large-Scale Institutional Endeavours)

Mid-February, 2007