ACFP - NOFO PD Small Grants FY2024.docx

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

U.S. EMBASSY KINGSTON

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO):

FY2024 Public Diplomacy Grants Program

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The U.S. Embassy Kingston Public Diplomacy Section (PDS) is pleased to announce that funding is available through its Public Diplomacy Grants Program. This notice of funding opportunity outlines the funding priorities, strategic themes, and the application submission procedures. The deadline allows for sufficient time to process and award programs in advance of the end of the U.S. Department of State fiscal year on September 30, 2024. Please carefully follow all instructions below.

Purpose of funding: Project proposals should aim to strengthen ties between the United States and Jamaica by highlighting shared values and promoting bilateral cooperation. Proposals must convey an American element, which supports a priority program area (see below) or includes a connection with American expert(s), organization(s) or institution(s) in a specific field that will promote increased understanding of U.S. policy and perspectives.

Priority program areas include:

· Climate, Environment, and Energy

· For example, addressing the climate crisis, responding to natural disasters, conserving nature, water security, sustainable agriculture, reducing harmful pollutants, energy resilience, and renewable energy.

· Combating Financial Scamming and Other Criminal Activity

· For example, addressing corruption and money laundering, improving police-public relations, appreciation of the law, teaching digital literacy, detecting financial scamming, and promoting behaviors that increase community safety.

· Programs for At-Risk Youth

· For example, diversion programs to prevent youth violence, educational programs for critical life skills, and parent/family interventions.

· Economic Prosperity

· For example, business development, closing skills gaps in local communities, human resources, infrastructure, cybersecurity, resource development, and trade.

· Global Health

· For example, managing contagious and infectious diseases, public health workforce development, and public health policy and management.

· Gender Issues

· For example, women’s empowerment, improving outcomes for marginalized male youth, addressing gender-based violence, and LGBTQIA+ issues.

· Human Rights and Democracy

· For example, addressing fundamental human rights, human trafficking, immigration, refugees, governance, the role of civil society, and freedom of the press/media.

Additional details on these policy priorities are available at https://www.state.gov/policy-issues/

Target participants/audiences:

· Women and/or youth in underserved communities

· Business leaders and entrepreneurs

· Community leaders and influencers

· Academic and/or cultural institutions

· Journalists and/or media organizations

The following types of projects are not eligible for funding:

· Projects relating to partisan political activity

· For-profit activities

· Charitable or development activities

· Construction projects

· Projects that support specific religious activities

· Fundraising campaigns

· Lobbying for specific legislation or projects

· Scientific research

· Projects that duplicate existing projects

Authorizing legislation, type, and year of funding: Funding authorities applicable are the Smith-Mundt Act and Foreign Assistance Act for FY2024 Public Diplomacy funds.

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

· Length of performance period: Three to twelve months

· Number of awards anticipated: Amount pending funds availability

· Award amounts: Between $10,000 to $25,000

· Total available funding: Amount pending funds availability

· Type of Funding: Fiscal Year 2024 Public Diplomacy Funding

· Anticipated project start date: September 2024

· This notice is subject to availability of funding.

· Funding Instrument Type: Grant / Fixed Amount Award

Project Performance Period: Proposed projects should ideally be planned for a period of as short as 3 months and no longer than 12 months.

C. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. Eligible Applicants

The Public Diplomacy Section encourages prospective applicants with program/project management experience from:

· Registered not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks, community-based organizations, and civil society/non-governmental organizations

· Individuals

· U.S. exchange alumni

· Non-profit or governmental educational institutions

· Governmental institutions

· For-profit or commercial entities are not eligible to apply.

2. Cost Sharing or Matching Cost sharing is not required.

3. Other Eligibility Requirements Applicants are only allowed to submit one proposal per organization. If more than one proposal is submitted from an organization, all proposals from that institution will be considered ineligible for funding.

To be eligible to receive an award, all organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number issued via SAM.gov and a valid registration on SAM.gov. Please see Section D.3 for more information. Individuals are not required to have a UEI or be registered in SAM.gov.

Please note that the U.S. Embassy cannot assist with SAM.gov registrations.

D. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

1. Address to Request/ Submit Application Package Application forms must be submitted via email. Concept notes (Round 1) and invited full proposals (Round 2) should be emailed to kingstongrants@state.gov with the subject line as follows:

‘[Organization name of Applicant] – FY2024 Public Diplomacy Grant Application’.

Applications are to be in English only, and final grant agreements will be in English. Applicants will receive a confirmation e-mail from Embassy Kingston to indicate receipt of concept notes and full proposals.

2. Content and Form of Application Submission Follow all instructions below carefully. Concept notes and proposals that do not meet the requirements of this announcement or fail to comply with the stated requirements will be ineligible.

Round One: Project Concept Notes (3 pages maximum) Concept note submissions must include the following:

1. Due date: April 22, 2024

2. Project summary

a. Title

b. Project dates

c. Priority program area

d. Proposed project location and participants.

3. Applicant information

a. Contact details

b. UEI number

c. SAM.gov registration status

4. Total grant request Formatted

a. 8.5 x 11 paper

b. Single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, with minimum of 1-inch margins

Round Two: Full Proposals Upon favorable review of the project concept notes, applicants will be invited to submit full project proposals. Full proposal submissions must include the following:

1. SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance – organizations) or SF-424-I (Application for Federal Assistance --individuals)

2. SF-424A (Budget Information for Non-Construction programs)

3. SF-424B (Assurances for Non-Construction programs)

4. Summary Cover Sheet (1 page maximum)

a. Applicant’s name and organization

b. Proposal date

c. Project title

d. Project start and end date (period of performance)

e. Purpose of the project

f. American element

5. Proposal (8 pages maximum): All items below must be included:

a. Proposal Summary: Description of the proposed project, including project goals/activities and anticipated impact and requested funding amount.

b. Organization/Individual: Description of past and present operations, showing ability to carry out the project, including information on all previous grants from the U.S. Embassy and/or U.S. government agencies.

c. Problem Statement: Clear, concise, and well-supported statement of the problem to be addressed and why the proposed project is needed.

d. Project Goals/Objectives: Explanation of what the project intends to achieve and how the U.S.-Jamaican partnership will be improved, supported by SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timebound) objectives detailing targeted accomplishments of the project.

e. Promotion and Marketing Plan: Outlines the marketing to promote the activities of the program in traditional and/or digital media; includes description of how partnership with U.S. Embassy will be highlighted (additional information on required branding will be provided if awarded).

f. Project Activities: Description of the project’s activities that meet the project goals/objectives.

g. Program Methods and Design: Description of how the project is expected to solve the stated problem and achieve the goals/objectives.

h. Proposed Project Schedule: Proposed timeline for the project activities, including dates, times, and locations of planned activities.

i. Key Personnel: Names, titles, roles, and experience/qualifications of key personnel involved and amount of time that will be used in support of the project.

j. Project Partners: List of key partner organizations and type of involvement.

k. Project Monitoring and Evaluation Plan: How activities will be monitored to ensure they are happening in a timely manner and how the program will be evaluated to ensure its meeting project goals

l. Risk Assessment: Describe any potential or foreseeable risks associated with the project and/ or target audience.

m. Future Funding or Sustainability: Applicant’s plan for continuing the program beyond the grant period, or the availability of other resources, if applicable

n. Budget Justification Narrative: In addition to the SF-424A Budget, include a separate document explaining each of the budget line-item expenses in detail:

i. Personnel: Wages, salaries, and benefits of temporary or permanent staff who will be working directly for the applicant on the project, and the percentage of their time that will be spent on the project.

ii. Travel: Justification for travel and estimated costs of travel and per diem.

iii. Equipment: Machinery, furniture, or other personal property costing more than $5,000 per unit that is required for the project and has a useful life of more than one year (or a life longer than the duration of the project).

iv. Supplies: All the items and materials, including any computer devices, that are needed for the project; if an item costs more than $5,000 per unit, then put it in the budget under Equipment.

v. Contractual: Goods and services that the applicant plans to acquire through a contract with a vendor; any sub-wards to non-profit partners that will help carry out the project activities.

vi. Other Direct Costs: Any other costs directly associated with the project which do not fit in the other categories (e.g., marketing and promotional activities, shipping costs for materials and equipment or applicable taxes, food and beverage); award funds cannot be used for alcoholic beverages.

vii. Indirect Costs: Costs that cannot be linked directly to the project activities, such as overhead costs needed to help keep the organization operating.

1. Organizations with a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate (NICRA) and including NICRA charges in the budget: Attach a copy of your latest NICRA

2. Organizations that have never had a NICRA: You may request indirect costs of 10% of the modified total direct costs as defined in 2 CFR 200.68.

viii. Cost Share: Any contributions from the organization or other entities other than the U.S. Embassy, including in-kind contributions such as volunteers’ time, donated venues, food, or supplies; cost sharing does not apply to Fixed Amount Awards

6. Attachments:

o. One-page CV or resume of key personnel on the project.

p. Letters of support from project partners describing the roles and responsibilities of each partner.

q. Official permission letters, if required for project activities with program partners.

Content of Application

· The proposal clearly addresses the goals and objectives of this funding opportunity.

· All documents are in English.

· All budgets are in U.S. dollars.

· All pages are numbered, including budgets and attachments.

· All documents are formatted to 8.5 x 11 paper.

· All Microsoft Word documents are single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, with minimum of 1-inch margins.

Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM.gov) All organizations applying for grants (except individuals) must obtain these registrations. All are free of charge.

Required Registrations:

· SAM.gov registration which will generate a UEI #.

Any applicant with an exclusion in the System for Award Management (SAM) is not eligible to apply for an assistance award in accordance with the OMB guidelines at 2 CFR 180 that implement Executive Orders 12549 (3 CFR, 1986 Comp., p. 189) and 12689 (3 CFR, 1989 Comp., p. 235), “Debarment and Suspension.”

The Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) is one of the data elements mandated by Public Law 109-282, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA), for all Federal awards. SAM.gov is the Federal government's primary database for complying with FFATA reporting requirements. OMB designated SAM.gov as the central repository to facilitate applicant and recipient use of a single public website that consolidates data on all federal financial assistance. Under the law, it is mandatory to register in SAM.gov.

Starting April 2023, The UEI will be assigned when an organization registers or renews its registration in SAM.gov. To access SAM.gov, an organization is required to have a Login.gov account. Organizations can create an account at https://sam.gov/ As a reminder, organizations need to renew its SAM.gov registration annually.

New Foreign assistance applicants are not required to have an NCAGE code. Previous applicant organizations that have a NCAGE code on record, must ensure this code is active and renew it every five years. Organizations are required to register/or renew their CAGE or NCAGE codes prior to registering or renewing SAM.gov. Both registration and renewals for both CAGE and NCAGE can take up to 10 days. Organization’s legal address in NCAGE/CAGE must mirror SAM.gov.

SAM.gov requires all entities to renew their registration once a year in order to maintain an active registration status in SAM.gov. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure it has an active registration in SAM.gov.

If an organization does not have an active registration in SAM.gov prior to submitting an application, the application will be deemed ineligible. All organizations applying for grants (except individuals) must obtain these registrations, that are free of charge.

Note: As of April 2022, a DUNS number is no longer required.

SAM registration must be renewed annually.

E. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

1. Criteria Each application will be evaluated and rated by a review panel composed of members from relevant sections across the mission based on the evaluation criteria outlined below:

· Organizational capacity and record on previous grants: The organization has expertise in its stated field and PAS is confident of its ability to undertake the project. This includes a financial management system and a bank account.

· Goals and objectives: Goals and objectives are clearly stated, and the project approach is likely to provide maximum impact in achieving the proposed results.

· Embassy priorities: Applicant has clearly described how stated goals are related to and support U.S. Embassy Kingston’s priority areas or target audiences.

· Quality and feasibility of the program idea: The program idea is well developed, with detail about how project activities will be carried out. The proposal includes a reasonable implementation timeline.

· Budget: The budget justification is detailed and realistic. Costs are reasonable in relation to the proposed activities and anticipated results.

· Monitoring and evaluation plan: Applicant demonstrates ability and intent to measure program success against key indicators/milestones. The project includes output and outcome indicators and shows how and when those will be measured.

· Sustainability: Project activities will continue to have positive impact after the end of the project. This can include building institutional partnerships during the grant program.

Once an application has been submitted, U.S. State Department officials and staff — both in the Department and at embassies overseas — may not discuss this competition with applicants until the entire proposal review process is completed.

Organizations whose applications were shortlisted but will not be funded will be notified via email.

3. FAPIIS

For any Federal award under a notice of funding opportunity, if the Federal awarding agency anticipates that the total Federal share will be greater than the simplified acquisition threshold on any Federal award under a notice of funding opportunity may include, over the period of performance (see §200.88 Simplified Acquisition Threshold), this section must also inform applicants:

I. That the Federal awarding agency, prior to making a Federal award with a total amount of Federal share greater than the simplified acquisition threshold, is required to review and consider any information about the applicant that is in the designated integrity and performance system accessible through SAM.gov (currently FAPIIS) (see 41 U.S.C. 2313);

II. That an applicant, at its option, may review information in the designated integrity and performance systems accessible through SAM.gov and comment on any information about itself that a federal awarding agency previously entered and is currently in the designated integrity and performance system accessible through SAM.gov;

III. That the Federal awarding agency will consider any comments by the applicant, in addition to the other information in the designated integrity and performance system, in making a judgment about the applicant's integrity, business ethics, and record of performance under Federal awards when completing the review of risk posed by applicants as described in §200.205 Federal awarding agency review of risk posed by applicants.

4. Anticipated Announcement and Federal Award Dates Announcement these awards and the federal award dates will be publicized to the successful applicants no later than September 30, 2024.

F. FEDERAL AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

1. Federal Award Notices The grant award or cooperative agreement will be written, signed, awarded, and administered by the Grants Officer. The assistance award agreement is the authorizing document, and it will be provided to the recipient for review and signature by email. The recipient may only start incurring project expenses beginning on the start date shown on the grant award document signed by the Grants Officer unless otherwise notified by the Grants Officer.

If a proposal is selected for funding, the Department of State has no obligation to provide any additional future funding. Renewal of an award to increase funding or extend the period of performance is at the discretion of the U.S. Department of State.

Issuance of this NOFO does not constitute an award commitment on the part of the U.S. government, nor does it commit the U.S. government to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of proposals. Further, the U.S. government reserves the right to reject any or all proposals received.

Payment Method: Payments will be made via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) to commercial banks. Funds may only be used to carry out the project activities. Funds not used towards approved project activities will be requested to be returned. Funds must be deposited to a $USD bank account; funds cannot be deposited to a $JMD bank account.

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

Terms and Conditions: Before applying, applicants should review all the terms and conditions and required certifications, which will apply to this award, to ensure that they will be able to comply. These include:

2 CFR 200, 2 CFR 600, Certifications and Assurances, and the Department of State Standard Terms and Conditions, all of which are available at: https://www.state.gov/about-us-office-of-the-procurement-executive/.

3. Reporting

Reporting Requirements: Recipients will be required to submit financial reports and program reports. The award document will specify the requirements of these reports.

G. FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY CONTACTS

If you have any questions about the grant application process, please contact kingstongrants@state.gov image1.png