Office of Research and Analysis (ORA) Grants/Cooperative Agreements to Meet Food, Nutrition and Heal
The grantees and recipients would work cooperatively with FNS to:
- Support researcher-initiated projects that use a common approach to reporting findings to ensure transparency and facilitate a meta-analysis of all projects;
- Coordinate activities among researchers;
-Effectively use technology and digital media to achieve desired outcomes; and
- Advance communication and coordination to improve target behaviors.
The grants and cooperative agreements are to enable FNS to be more responsive to to program needs and the food, nutrition and health needs of FNS program participants.
Established in 1862, the Department of Agriculture serves all Americans through anti-hunger efforts, stewardship of nearly 200 million acres of national forest and rangelands, and through product safety and conservation efforts. The USDA opens markets for American farmers and ranchers and provides food for needy people around the world.
Program Accomplishments
Not Applicable.
Uses and Use Restrictions
Cooperative Agreement Grants will be made to State and local governments, universities, hospitals, and non-profit organizations for awarding cooperative agreements, and grants to design, develop and evaluate innovate approaches for Food and Nutriton Service (FNS) programs, such as WIC, to meet FNS program needs and to strengthen their impact on the food, nutrition and health of program eligible participants.
The grant and cooperative agreement recipient is task with:
- making sub-grants,
- coordinating efforts among sub-grantees,
- evaluating impact of FNS programs, such as WIC, on food, nutrition and health,
- providing a summary and syntheses of these and related efforts, such as meta-analysis on the results,
- composing and coordinating conference on observations and findings, and
- providing FNS with cost neutral approaches to improving FNS programs.
FNS" primary objective for these grants and cooperative agreements is to support interest in exploring better ways to improve and assess Food and Nutrition Service program needs and their impact on the food, nutrition and health of program eligible participants.
The grants should enhance knowledge and further research activities by the academic community, FNS and others.
See the RFP.
The grant and cooperative agreement funds will be provided to recipients (grantees) who will be responsible to spend the funds in accordance with what is set forth in the grant or cooperative agreement, and applicable Federal circulars such as A-110.
The source and use of the funds for the grants and cooperative agreements will be tied to a project of interest to one or more of FNS" program areas.
FNS has the discretion to select (through competition) what institution will receive the funds and to what research endeavors they will be applied, assuming that research is not specified in the law or other directive.
Eligibility Requirements
Applicant Eligibility
The assistance is to be used to establish grants and cooperative cooperative agreements to identify, develop and undertake projects to meet Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) program needs and the food, nutrition, and health of program eligible participants.
Beneficiary Eligibility
Cooperative agreements are to be awarded to State and local governments, hospitals, non-profit organizations and accredited colleges/universities offering advanced degrees at the PhD level in biological and social sciences such as sociology, psychology, education, nutrition, public health and economics. This is a requirement for the selected recipient of the grants and cooperative agreements, not the sub-grantees. Cooperative agreement recipients are to award sub-grants to researchers to identify, develop and evaluate interventions and innovative approaches to strengthen the impact of Food and Nutrition Service programs, such as WIC, on the food, nutrition and health of program eligible participants.
Credentials/Documentation
OMB Circulator No. A-87 applies to this program. OMB Circular No. A-87 applies to this program.
Aplication and Award Process
Preapplication Coordination
Preapplication coordination is not applicable.
Environmental impact information is not required for this program.
This program is excluded from coverage under E.O.
12372.
Application Procedures
OMB Circular No. A-102 applies to this program. OMB Circular No. A-110 applies to this program. Applicants are required to submit a grant or cooperative agreement proposal, along with an Application for Federal Assistance SF-424(R&R). Requirements, (such as submission, formatting, budget, etc. requirements) for the grant or cooperative agreement proposal are specified in the Request for Application.
All applications must be submitted electronically through www.grants.gov. Applicants may submit paper-copy applications under extenuating circumstances, such as outages of the Grants.gov website that can be substantiated by a valid case number with the Grants.gov support center.
Award Procedures
Proposals will be evaluated on the criteria of research merit, overall approach, feasibility, and staffing/budget/time line. Based on the responses to the criteria, applications will be reviewed and scored by panel evaluators. The proposals will be ranked by score starting with the highest score and presented to selecting officials based on this ranking. Selecting officials will consider the panel rankings and comments, recommendations from Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) staff, and other pertinent information before deciding which proposals to fund. FNS selecting officials reserve the right to fund proposals out of rank order based on written assessments made by evaluation panel members, information provided by regional office staff, and agency priorities.
Deadlines
Contact the headquarters or regional office, as appropriate, for application deadlines.
Authorization
National Agriculture Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, Section 1403(8), 7 U.S.C. 3102, Section 1403(8), 7 U.S.C 3102.
Range of Approval/Disapproval Time
Contact the Headquarter"s contact mentioned at the end of this description.
Appeals
As specified in the RFP.
Renewals
As specified in the RFP.
Assistance Considerations
Formula and Matching Requirements
Statutory formulas are not applicable to this program.
Matching requirements are not applicable to this program.
MOE requirements are not applicable to this program.
Length and Time Phasing of Assistance
The total time period for which a grant or cooperative agreement is awarded may not exceed 60 months. See the following for information on how assistance is awarded/released: Funding will be made to successful recipients as specified in the terms of the grant or cooperative agreement with Food and Nutrition Service or as applicable under federal regulation requirements.
Post Assistance Requirements
Reports
Program reports are required according to the terms of the grant or cooperative agreement with Food and Nutrition Service or as applicable under federal regulation requirements.
Report SF-PPR is to be filed by the recipient according to the terms of the grant or cooperative agreement.
Cash reports are not applicable.
Progress reports are required according to the terms of the grant or cooperative agreement with Food and Nutrition Service or as applicable under federal regulation requirements.
Expenditure reports are required according to the terms of the grant or cooperative agreement with Food and Nutrition Service or as applicable under federal regulation requirements.
Report SF 425 is to be filed by the recipient according to the terms of the agreement or as applicable under federal regulation requirements.
Performance monitoring reports are required to be filed by the recipient according to the terms of the cooperative agreement with Food and Nutrition Service or as applicable under federal regulation requirements.
Audits
In accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular No. A-133 (Revised, June 27, 2003), "Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations," nonfederal entities that expend financial assistance of $500,000 or more in Federal awards will have a single or a program-specific audit conducted for that year. Nonfederal entities that expend less than $500,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in Circular No. A-133.
Records
Records (financial/administrative/grant) are to be maintained according to the time requirements specified in the terms of the grant, or cooperative agreement with Food and Nutrition Service or as applicable under federal regulation requirements.
Financial Information
Account Identification
00-0000-0-0-000 - To be supplied at time of grant or cooperative agreement award.
Obigations
(Salaries) FY 10 Not Available; FY 11 $3,500,000; FY 12 Estimate Not Available(Exp: Contingent on grants and coopera)
Range and Average of Financial Assistance
Amount of grant or cooperative agreement is contingent on availability of qualified proposals and funding request from recipient.
Regulations, Guidelines, and Literature
Not Applicable.
Information Contacts
Regional or Local Office
None.
Headquarters Office
Steve Carlson 3101 Park Center Drive, Alexandria, Virginia 22302 Email: Steve.Carlson@fns.usda.gov Phone: 703-305-2017 Fax: 703-305-2576
Criteria for Selecting Proposals
Proposals will be evaluated on the criteria of research merit, overall approach, feasibility, and staffing/budget/time line. Based on the responses to the criteria, applications will be reviewed and scored by panel evaluators. The proposals will be ranked by score starting with the highest score and presented to selecting officials based on this ranking. Selecting officials will consider the panel rankings and comments, recommendations from Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) staff, and other pertinent information before deciding which proposals to fund. FNS selecting officials reserve the right to fund proposals out of rank order based on written assessments made by evaluation panel members, information provided by regional office staff, and agency priorities.
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