Sustainable Software Tools for Open Science (SSTOS)

Sustainable Software Tools for Open Science (SSTOS) is an NIH Office of Data Science Strategy program under the NIH Office of the Director. It is run as a cross-institute effort involving 19 NIH institutes and centers, and it exists to keep biomedical research software sustainable enough to support open science, reuse, and long-lived scientific workflows. The program uses two delivery routes. One is the annual administrative supplement line that supported 125 awards across FY2020 to FY2023; the other is a set of dedicated ODSS funding opportunities, including RFA-OD-24-010 for Building Sustainable Software Tools for Open Science and RFA-OD-24-011 for the NIH Research Software Engineer Award. The active mechanisms include an R03 small grant and an award route for exceptional research software engineers contributing to NIH-funded tools and algorithms. SSTOS fits teams that can show real software maintenance discipline, community engagement, and alignment with FAIR principles for software. The supplement route requires an existing NIH parent award, while the newer RFAs give the program a more direct path for software sustainability work. Applicants do best when the proposal is specific about the tool, the user community, and the long-term scientific use of the software.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.