Today, NAVREF submitted formal comments to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in response to a Request for Information (RFI) on the framework for the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2027–2031 (NOT-OD-26-047). Our response makes the case that VA research — and the NPC network that supports it — deserves an explicit seat at the table in NIH's next five-year vision.

The NIH-Wide Strategic Plan sets the agency's overarching priorities and guides how it invests in research, workforce, and operations across the entire biomedical enterprise. It doesn't dictate funding for specific diseases or replace Institute-level plans — but it does shape the policy environment that affects all of us: grant eligibility, indirect cost frameworks, workforce development investments, and cross-agency coordination.

Our comments were organized around NIH's three priority areas:

On Research Areas (Priority 1): We pushed back on the tendency to treat VA research as a parallel system rather than an integrated part of the biomedical ecosystem. Veterans carry a disproportionate burden of the exact conditions NIH prioritizes — cardiovascular disease, cancer, TBI, mental health — and VA's longitudinal patient data and embedded clinical infrastructure offer research conditions that are genuinely hard to replicate elsewhere. We called on NIH to address the structural misalignments that prevent VA-affiliated investigators and NPC-administered projects from fully accessing NIH research investments.

On Research Capacity (Priority 2):  WOC and IPA credentialing delays, centralized hiring bottlenecks, and compliance processes designed for academic institutions — not VA — are actively suppressing research capacity across our member community. We made clear that NPCs are research infrastructure, not administrative overhead, and that NIH's workforce and infrastructure goals will fall short if they don't account for the operational backbone that makes VA-based research function. We also highlighted the NPC network's potential as a regional innovation anchor, particularly in rural communities where VA facilities are often the only research infrastructure available.

On Research Operations (Priority 3): We called for genuine interagency coordination between NIH and VA — not parallel planning, but joint investment mechanisms and shared accountability for research outcomes. We also made the case that in a moment when public trust in science is under pressure, VA research is a high-return story to tell: it serves a visible, broadly supported population, and its outcomes have direct, demonstrable impact on Veterans and their families. NPCs' existing accountability structures should be recognized and leveraged, not buried under duplicative reporting requirements.

In the span of one week, NAVREF delivered testimony before two separate Congressional bodies — making the case that veterans' research is in crisis and that Congress must act to protect it.

Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Workforce Roundtable

On May 19, NAVREF Board Vice Chair and NCIRE CEO Rebecca Rosales testified at a Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Roundtable on VA Workforce and Hiring, representing NAVREF and the nationwide network of VA-affiliated nonprofit research and education foundations.

NAVREF Board Vice Chair and NCIRE CEO, Rebecca Rosales, and SVAC Ranking Member Senator Blumenthal

Her message was direct: VA's centralized hiring system, rolled out for research positions in 2024, has become an emergency for the veterans' research enterprise.

Before the transition, hiring timelines at NCIRE — one of the largest VA-affiliated nonprofits, administering approximately $69 million in research annually at the San Francisco VA — averaged 17 days. Today, that number stands at 167 days. Nearly a year after implementation, the system has not delivered the improvements VA leadership promised.

The consequences are not abstract. At the Seattle VA, an NPC-administered traumatic brain injury study has been on hold since December 2024 because a single essential staff member cannot be hired. At the San Francisco VA, eight clinical trials for heart failure treatments with a combined expected enrollment of around 150 patients are being canceled due to lack of staff. At the Boston VA, an Alzheimer's study remains on hold after two researcher candidates abandoned their applications after months of waiting with no end in sight.

These are not administrative inconveniences. They are veterans losing access to clinical trials and innovative therapies that are unavailable anywhere else.

Rebecca called on Congress to require VA to publicly report monthly hiring time metrics, tie leadership accountability to performance on workforce issues, and fund the centralized HR system at a level sufficient to actually deliver on its promises. When Senator Blumenthal opened the roundtable by citing NAVREF's own data on the 17-to-167-day timeline shift, it was clear the message had already landed before Rebecca said a word.

Senate Appropriations: Protecting NIH and Indirect Costs

NAVREF also submitted written testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies, urging the Subcommittee to sustain robust NIH funding and protect the integrity of the negotiated indirect cost rate process.

The testimony made a point that is easy to miss in broader policy debates: VA-affiliated NPCs are not universities. They do not have access to tuition revenue, state appropriations, endowments, or diversified clinical margins. The median negotiated indirect cost rate among NPCs is approximately 31.5 percent — far below the roughly 55 percent average at major research universities — and that rate reflects the true, audited cost of running compliant research operations.

Proposals to cap indirect cost recovery at 15 percent would not create efficiency. They would create collapse. Indirect cost recovery funds the grants administration, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, data systems, and clinical trial operations that make federally funded research possible. Cut that infrastructure and you don't save money — you lose the $135.8 million in NIH funding that NPCs administered in FY2024, along with the veteran-focused research it supports.

NAVREF's asks to the Subcommittee: fund NIH at $49.9 billion, protect the negotiated indirect cost rate process, and require transparent reporting on VA research hiring failures.

Read our full testimony here: Senate Subcommittee for Labor-HHS Testimony

On May 14, NAVREF and the Friends of VA Research (FOVA) co-hosted the Veterans Research Symposium: Advancing Discovery for Those Who Served at the Capitol Visitors Center. Less than 24 hours later, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Appropriations Act, 2027 that directly addressed what the room had spent the day fighting for.

The bipartisan amendment, championed by Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA-46) and Jack Bergman (R-MI-01), highlighted the importance of sustaining funding for VA medical research and is a direct response to a proposed $45 million cut to the VA Medical and Prosthetics Research account in the FY2027 bill. That account funds research on cancer, traumatic brain injury, prosthetics, psychedelic-assisted therapies for PTSD, and decades of other innovation that has transformed medicine not just for veterans, but for all Americans.

Rep. Correa was among those who joined NAVREF and FOVA at the Symposium the day before the vote.

The Symposium convened researchers, clinicians, advocates, and policymakers around a simple but urgent argument: veterans' research is not optional. It is how America fulfills its obligation to understand, prevent, and treat the conditions borne by those who serve.

MITRE participating in the Research Showcase

Panels explored new frontiers in mental health therapeutics, precision medicine and cancer care, and the future of veterans' research — including a presentation on the ProGRESS study, a clinical trial using data from VA's Million Veteran Program to develop precision prostate cancer screening, with more than 3,000 veterans already enrolled across every U.S. state and territory. This is exactly the kind of work that depends on stable funding and the infrastructure that NPCs provide.

Left to Right: Rashi Romanoff, Dr. Rachel Yehuda, Dr. Manish Agrawal 

NAVREF also used the Symposium to underscore a critical data point: NPCs bring in 1 of every 4 dollars invested in veterans' research. The $350 million administered annually by VA-affiliated nonprofits doesn't come from the federal budget — it is leveraged from NIH, pharmaceutical companies, foundations, and other external partners. Cut the infrastructure that makes that possible and you don't just lose the infrastructure. You lose the funding it unlocks.

Left to Right: Hawk Tran, Rep. Lou Correa (CA-46), Rashi Romanoff

NAVREF CEO Rashi Romanoff said it plainly after the amendment passed:

"NAVREF commends Representatives Lou Correa and Jack Bergman on championing the restoration of funding for VA Medical and Prosthetics Research. Their leadership sends a powerful message: That America must continue investing in the scientists, clinicians, and discoveries that honor veterans not just with words, but with action. We urge other Members of Congress to move swiftly and support VA research as a national asset."

The work isn't finished. The Senate must still act, and NAVREF will continue pushing for full restoration of VA research funding, protection of the negotiated indirect cost rate process, and accountability for VA's ongoing research hiring crisis. But May 14 and 15 were proof that showing up matters — and that when the veterans' research community speaks with one voice, Congress listens.

NAVREF expresses serious concern over the proposed $45 million reduction to the VA Medical and Prosthetic Research program included in the FY27 House MilCon-VA appropriations legislation. The bill funds the program at $900 million, a 4.8% cut that reverses prior year gains.  

VA's research workforce is already under mounting strain, from HR bottlenecks to hiring delays that are actively slowing research and the pace of discovery. This reduction risks widening the gap between veterans and the cutting-edge treatments they need and deserve.

Read more in our statement here.

NAVREF recently submitted comments in response to the General Services Administration’s proposed revisions to the System for Award Management (SAM) Registration Requirements for Financial Assistance Recipients (OMB Control No. 3090-0290; Docket No. 2026-0001; Sequence No. 2). The notice was published in the Federal Register on January 28, 2026, with comments due March 30, 2026.

In its letter, NAVREF raised concerns that the proposal could create significant legal uncertainty and administrative burden for VA-affiliated nonprofit research and education corporations (NPCs), which rely on efficient and predictable grant processes to support clinical trials, research infrastructure, and workforce capacity. NAVREF also emphasized that unclear certification language, particularly around diversity, equity, and inclusion activities, could create confusion for organizations operating in complex research partnerships and potentially discourage participation in federally supported research.

NAVREF urged the General Services Administration to ensure that any certification requirements are clearly defined, narrowly tailored, and aligned with existing statutory and regulatory frameworks, so that they do not undermine the collaborative research infrastructure that supports better care and better outcomes for Veterans.

NAVREF recently submitted comments to the National Research Advisory Council (NRAC) in advance of its March 24, 2026 meeting, providing input on ongoing challenges affecting the VA research enterprise. NRAC serves as a federal advisory body to the Department of Veterans Affairs on research priorities and program direction, and the meeting notice is available in the Federal Register: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/02/17/2026-03079/national-research-advisory-council-amended-notice-of-meeting

In its submission, NAVREF emphasized that persistent workforce and hiring barriers are continuing to strain research operations across VA medical centers. Over the past two years, the transition to a centralized human resources structure within VA’s Office of Research and Development has introduced new layers of review, evolving requirements, and inconsistent timelines that have made it more difficult to recruit, onboard, and retain research staff. These challenges have been further compounded by the 2025 hiring freeze and broader staffing shortages, contributing to significant backlogs and uncertainty across the system.

NAVREF’s comments underscore that these issues are not simply administrative inefficiencies but have direct consequences for the ability of VA research programs to function effectively. Delays in hiring and onboarding can slow study start-up, disrupt research teams, and weaken the VA’s ability to compete for and sustain high-quality research.

NAVREF also noted its ongoing engagement with VA’s Office of Research and Development to address these concerns and acknowledged progress to date, while emphasizing that continued attention is needed to ensure consistent implementation across the system. Improving transparency in hiring processes, clarifying personnel requirements, strengthening coordination between centralized HR and local operations, and increasing visibility into process data will be critical to ensuring that recent changes translate into meaningful improvements for research programs.

A strong VA research enterprise depends on a workforce system that enables programs to operate efficiently and maintain continuity. Addressing these workforce barriers is essential to protecting the long-term strength and competitiveness of VA research and ensuring that veterans continue to benefit from its impact.

NAVREF is pleased to release its 2026 Industry Partner Consortium (IPC) Annual Report, Accelerating Impact: Strategic Actions to Power Up VA’s Research Partnerships for Veterans. The report outlines concrete, actionable recommendations to strengthen VA–industry collaboration and expand access to high-impact clinical trials for veterans nationwide. 

As the VA enters its second century of research, and amid unprecedented private-sector interest in partnering with the Department, this year’s report highlights the VA’s unique strengths: a nationally integrated healthcare system, more than 9 million enrolled veterans, world-class clinician-investigators, and unparalleled real-world data infrastructure. 

Drawing on insights from NAVREF’s IPC members, the report focuses on three strategic priorities: 

• Streamlining legal and regulatory processes to accelerate clinical trial start-up and reduce uncertainty for sponsors 

• Leveraging VA site-level data to improve trial design, site selection, and veteran access 

• Optimizing EHR modernization to enhance trial matching, recruitment, and engagement 

These recommendations aim to position the VA as the nation’s leading environment for inclusive, efficient, and veteran-centered clinical research while delivering faster access to innovative therapies. 

NAVREF extends its gratitude to its IPC members—AstraZeneca, BCG, BioAffinity Technologies, Booz Allen Hamilton, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cognition Therapeutics, Eli Lilly & Company, Genentech, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Siemens Healthineers, Smith+Nephew, and Takeda—whose support and collaboration have been instrumental in advancing this work. 

To view the full report, click here.

The National Association of Veterans’ Research and Education Foundations (NAVREF) submitted formal comments in response to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Request for Information (RFI) on the proposed Tech Labs Initiative.

In its submission, NAVREF highlighted the unique role of VA-affiliated nonprofit research and education corporations (NPCs) as a nationwide network of independent research organizations embedded within the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system. The comments emphasized how this existing infrastructure supports outcomes-driven research, real-world validation, and technology translation aligned with Veteran health and care delivery.

NAVREF’s response underscored that Veterans experience a disproportionate burden of chronic and complex conditions, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, mental health conditions, traumatic brain injury, and chronic pain. Addressing these challenges requires research organizations that operate at the intersection of clinical care, innovation, and deployment — a role NPCs were established by Congress to fulfill.

The submission also noted that leveraging established independent research organizations could enable Tech Labs teams to launch rapidly, reduce start-up friction, and accelerate progress toward NSF’s strategic objectives, while delivering meaningful impact for Veterans and broader communities.

NAVREF appreciates NSF’s engagement with stakeholders as it shapes the Tech Labs Initiative and welcomes continued dialogue on how VA’s research enterprise can inform the program’s design and implementation.

In our response to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), National Association of Veterans’ Research and Education Foundations (NAVREF) emphasized a simple but critical point: strengthening U.S. scientific leadership takes more than increased funding alone. It requires predictable partnership pathways, modern research infrastructure, and the operational capacity to translate discovery into real-world impact for patients and communities.

These are precisely the elements that the Department of Veterans Affairs’ nationwide network of nonprofit research corporations (NPCs) was designed to support.

Drawing on the VA’s nationally integrated healthcare and research system, NAVREF highlighted several priorities essential to accelerating innovation:

• A powerful national research platform. The Department of Veterans Affairs is one of the nation’s most robust research ecosystems, serving more than 9 million Veterans across 1,200+ sites nationwide.

• NPCs as the innovation engine. VA-affiliated nonprofit research corporations enable clinical trials, public-private partnerships, and faster translation from discovery to care by providing the administrative and operational backbone that research demands.

• An anchor for rural innovation. With its nationwide footprint, VA is uniquely positioned to lead in telehealth, decentralized clinical trials, AI-enabled care, and workforce development, especially in rural and hyper-rural communities that are often left out of traditional innovation hubs.

• Predictable partnerships lower barriers. Trusted intermediary models like VA NPCs make it easier for startups and emerging biotech companies to engage with federal research, reducing friction and accelerating collaboration.

The VA research enterprise shows what’s possible when scale, data-rich environments, and trusted intermediary models come together—and when policies support speed, flexibility, and long-term sustainability. This model doesn’t just advance science; it ensures that breakthroughs reach Veterans and communities faster.

NAVREF appreciates OSTP’s leadership in examining how federal policy can better support the full research lifecycle and looks forward to continued engagement as these important discussions move forward.

Read our full public comment here.