Hi Kavita,
To add more data to your pool: HHF determines the number of awards each year based on available funding (related to the organizational budget, but also restricted funded HHF has received). Reviewers are not told how many awards will be funded. (Later stages of review by our scientific council and board are conducted with knowledge of the number of awards available). We have a ceiling going in to the process, but we could end up awarding fewer grants than was planned, in the case that we do not receive meritorious proposals for a specific award type for which there is restricted funding.
While there’s no written rule, it’s been fairly consistent in the past few years that only proposals scoring above 3.0 on the NIH scale make the shortlist for the second round of peer review.
Best,
Christopher