The overall goal of SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge) is to recruit, engage and retain a research community of at least 50,000 individuals in the United States with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), along with their family members. The SPARK research cohort includes children and adults with ASD who span the full spectrum of autism. Since its national launch in April 2016, SPARK has recruited over 130,000 participants. This includes over 50,000 individuals with ASD, of whom close to 13,000 have enrolled and provided saliva samples their biological parents and, if applicable, an unaffected sibling.

SPARK participants contribute medical and behavioral information online, collect and mail in saliva samples for DNA analysis, and have the opportunity to participate in additional research studies through the study’s research match program. Individuals who enroll in SPARK have access to both aggregate and individual behavioral results from their participation, and can elect to receive genetic results should a genetic cause of their autism be identified. SPARK also publishes timely articles on the latest in autism research and hosts monthly interactive webinars or Facebook live events.

Through this request for applications (RFA), SFARI supported additional U.S.-based clinical sites for the purpose of recruiting individuals with ASD and their family members to participate in SPARK. Selected sites received funding on an annual basis. Selected sites were responsible for the following: recruitment planning, outreach and recruitment, return of results, data entry, and tracking progress over time.

The deadline for application submission is Friday, November 30, 2018, at 5:00 p.m. EDT.

proposalCENTRAL Login Information
Applications must be submitted via proposalCENTRAL (pC). To start an application in pC, users must first login to their pC account.

To submit a full application, you must complete the following proposalCENTRAL sections:

1. Title Page: Enter the proposal title in this section. 
2. Download Templates and Instructions: Templates can be found under Templates and Instructions or Proposal Attachments.
3. Enable Other Users to Access This Proposal: This module allows you to give other users access to your grant application. You can give them one of three levels of permission: view, edit or administrator.
4. Applicant/PI: The principal investigator (PI) should be listed here. While someone other than the PI can submit the application, this section must be filled in for the intended PI on the project. For grants with multiple PIs, the contact PI should be listed here.
5. Organization/Institution: Enter the contact information for the signing official and the financial/fiscal officer from your institution. Select from the menu or enter new names.
6. Key Personnel: Indicate key personnel, including but not limited to: PIs, co-investigators, consultants and postdoctoral research associates. In rare circumstances, the applicant organization may designate multiple PIs who share the authority and responsibility for leading and directing the project, intellectually and logistically. For more information on the responsibilities of PIs or co-investigators, please refer to the personnel definitions in the Clinical Site Network RFA FAQ.
7. Budget Period Detail: Enter your budget period detail in this section.
   1. Award start date: Proposals selected for funding will be announced by January 11, 2019, and funding will begin on March 1, 2019.
   2. Indirect costs (IDCs): IDCs are limited to 20 percent of direct costs. The following items may not be claimed as indirect costs: equipment, tuition, and any subcontracts with budgets including IDCs. IDCs paid to a subcontractor may not exceed 20 percent of the direct costs paid to the subcontractor. While IDCs on most equipment are not allowable, IDCs on small equipment (costing up to $10,000) are permissible.
   3. Equipment: The Simons Foundation (SF) will own equipment purchased with SF grant funds with a unit cost of $50,000 or more. At the end of the grant funding period or in the case of grant termination for any reason, SF reserves the right to retain ownership or cede ownership to the PI’s institution. Equipment with a unit cost of less than $50,000 shall be the property of the institution.
   4. Budget: Please complete a budget for years 1–3 on the individual budget tabs provided in the online application. Budgets should not exceed $200,000 per year, which includes 20 percent indirect costs.
   5. Multiple PIs:
      1. SFARI discourages applications with multiple sites, multiple PIs and/or subcontracts for this RFA. Applications from multiple sites, multiple PIs and/or subcontracts will be considered under rare circumstances.
      2. Please note that the applicant PI will be the designated contact PI for the project. The contact PI will be responsible for directing the project and will coordinate all administrative deliverables.
         1. Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions who would like to be paid separately must upload in the Proposal Attachments section:
         2. Signed signature page for each PI (available for download in the Proposal Attachments and Download Templates and Instructions sections).
         3. Budget Template & justification for each non-applicant PI (available for download in the Proposal Attachments and Download Templates and Instructions sections).
         4. The direct costs for all non-applicant PIs, which must be included in section 7 (Budget Period Detail) in the Consortium & Contractual Direct section, and indirect costs for all non-applicant PIs, which should be included in the Indirect Costs section. Please add a separate line for direct costs and one for indirect costs for each non-applicant PI.
      3. Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions who will be paid directly by the contact PI’s institution are considered subcontracts. Please refer to the subcontract instructions in section 7f below.
      4. Applications with multiple PIs from the same institution do not need to submit additional materials. Additional non-applicant PIs should be listed as key personnel in section 6 (Key Personnel) and section 7 (Budget Period Detail), and only one signature page is needed.
   6. Subcontracts:
      Applications with subcontracts (including PIs who will be paid directly by the contact PI’s institution) must submit:
      1. Subcontract detailed budget & justification(available for download in the Proposal Attachments and Download Templates and Instructions sections) for each subcontract.
      2. Subcontract direct costs, which must be included in the Consortium & Contractual Direct section, and subcontract indirect costs, which should be included in the Indirect Costs section. Please add a separate line for direct costs and one for indirect costs for each subcontract.
8. Budget Summary: The Budget Summary will populate from the saved detailed budget. 
9. Proposal Attachments: The following documents are to be uploaded in this section, where they are also available for download:
   1. Completed application form, including:
      1. Patient population and enrollment estimates across catchment area.
      2. Waiver ceding IRB oversight to central IRB.
      3. Recruitment objectives.
      4. Site experience.
      5. Other site capabilities.
   2. Recruitment plan: Description of how site plans to recruit participants and partner with local organizations for outreach/recruitment (one page).
   3. Activity timeline: Month-to-month description of activities with clear start and end dates (one page).
   4. Budget: Should include cost estimates for components listed above; budgets are limited to up to $200,000 per year for up to three years, inclusive of 20 percent indirect costs.
   5. Budget justification (one page).
   6. Biographical sketch of key personnel (PI, site coordinator and all clinical or research staff who will be supported by the award).
   7. Research environment and resources: Investigators should demonstrate access to appropriate resources for accessing clinical data.
   8. Signed signature page.
   9. Optional: Letters of support from community organizations (up to three).
   10. Optional: Additional documents for multiple PIs and/or subcontracts:
       1. Budget & justification for additional PI (only if additional PI will be paid separately).
       2. Signed signature page from additional PI’s institution (only if additional PI will be paid separately).
       3. Subcontract budget template.
       4. Subcontract budget justification.
10. PI data sheet: Your professional profile will populate this section of the application. If revisions are required, please select “Edit Professional Profile” and go to section 4 (Personal Data for Applications).
11. Validate: You must click the “Validate” button to check for any missing required information or files. All missing required information will be listed on the screen. Please correct any missing information before proceeding to the next step.
12. Signature page(s): The signed signature page is available for download in the Signature Page section and must be signed by the applicant and signing official, then re-uploaded in the Proposal Attachments section. Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions who would like to be paid separately must submit a signed signature page for each PI institution.
13. Submit: You will be unable to submit if you have not provided all the required information. Any missing information will be listed on the screen. If your submission is successful, you will receive a confirmation message on the screen and a confirmation email.