The Florida Department of Health recently surveyed all 2009-2010 registrants for the James & Esther King Biomedical Research Program and the Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program funding opportunities. The purpose of the survey was to gather feedback related to the funding application process. The information will be used to make improvements to the application process and to enhance the overall application experience. The survey was administered to 159 registrants and we received 90 responses, for a 57 percent response rate. Eighty-four percent were satisfied or very satisfied with the on-line application system.

Based on the survey results and comments, the focus of our short-term improvements are:

1) Consider changing the interface to allow sectional uploading similar to the NIH system and separating out instructions by mechanism to reduce confusion.
2) Address page limit and file size concerns and improve the clarity of this information within the Call for Applications.
3) Explore possible improvements to the Question & Answer process and timelines to reduce the delay between the ask and the answer.
4) Review the application requirements related to key personnel and other support to reduce paperwork requirements and streamline the process.

The Florida Department of Health would like to thank those who completed the survey. Your comments and suggestions are appreciated and will help us as we strive to continually improve the Florida Biomedical Research Programs.