Local and Regional Food Aid Procurement Program

The Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service Local and Regional Food Aid Procurement Program is a civilian sub-agency that administers federal grant funding for local and regional food-assistance activities, typically channeled through international and domestic relief organizations as Cooperative Agreements.

Grant activity is modest and episodic. The program has obligated $83.7 million in federal grant funding across 9 awards to 6 distinct recipients since 2017, with the most recent award closing in September 2022. Annual award cadence has been light: 2 awards in 2017, 2 in 2018, 2 in 2019, 1 in 2020, and 2 in 2022, with no recorded grant awards since 2022. All awards are structured as Cooperative Agreements.

Grant recipient concentration is highly concentrated. Catholic Relief Services–United States Conference of Catholic Bishops accounts for 1 award and $58 million in obligated federal dollars—69 percent of all federal dollars across the five-year window. United Nations World Food Programme holds 1 award with federal dollars not reported in source data. Four additional recipients hold the remaining awards, none of which report federal dollar figures separately in the source portfolio.

No recent federal grant opportunities are recorded against the agency or its descendant offices. No contract awards, contract opportunities, or grant opportunities are present in the source data. The program's grant-making activity appears to have paused since September 2022; potential business development interest should track whether solicitations resume or whether the program transitions to a different transactional structure.