ANG-ARDF-FY23-01 NOFO.pdf

U.S. Department of State

U.S. Embassy Luanda

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)

Funding Opportunity Title: Promoting Press Freedom in Angola

Total Amount Available: $250,000

Anticipated Number of Awards: 1 or 2

Deadline for Applications: August 28, 2023

Anticipated Program Start Date: October 1, 2023

Notification of Approval and Award Signing: By September 30, 2023

Program Performance Period: October 2023 – September 2024

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The U.S. Embassy to Angola and Sao Tome e Principe in Luanda is pleased to announce the availability of an open competition funding opportunity to carry out a project seeking to support an open media environment and to diversify media voices in remote areas of Angola. The project aims to respond to journalists requests to improve skills related to the scope and quality of investigative reporting on issues such as corruption, human rights, and social inclusion.

The project will build the capacity of journalists through training in technical areas such as investigative journalism, use of digital media, and strategies for reaching populations in remote parts of the country, which often only have access to state-affiliated media sources. The project will also teach techniques to empower journalist advocacy toward government and regulatory bodies for a more open press environment.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

Objective 1: Develop and implement a project providing specialized investigative training to journalists in the areas of anticorruption, human rights, social inclusion, and recognized norms for journalism and press freedom. Project activities should provide journalists with an understanding of the legal limits on media and press freedom and awareness of legal assistance available to journalists over free press issues. Project activities could include workshops and seminars on specialized areas of journalism training and areas of law including investigative journalism, technology in journalism, and the role of journalists in countering disinformation.

Objective 2: Empower journalists to be advocates for free speech, engaging government and regulatory bodies as agents of change. Project proposals should have a strong component of advocacy for journalism and a free press environment in Angola. Proposed projects should seek to mobilize like-minded voices from civil society and business to lobby government and regulatory bodies to relax regulations that restrict free press. Potential activities include roundtable dialogues, public debates, and op-ed commentaries on press freedom, as well as encouraging engagement with key officials on free press issues.

Objective 3: Provide journalists with strategies and methodologies for reaching populations in remote parts of the country. Projects could use a hybrid approach to accomplish this objective including training journalists in remote regions of

Angola and teaching journalists in urban areas innovative methods for using non-traditional media strategies to penetrate underserved areas.

Note: Project activities are encouraged to be designed to meet multiple objectives where feasible and practical. This project should complement and build upon prior and ongoing work in these areas by international organizations, or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), but ideally would seek to meet challenges not currently being addressed by other projects.

ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES

The project should be designed so that participating journalists will acquire new skills and knowledge, leading to more in-depth investigations, clear understanding of press freedom legal limits, and better-quality reporting. By understanding their legal limits and engaging with other elements of society that support press freedoms, journalists will be empowered to improve reporting and bolster transparency in government and society. The project should also result in a deeper penetration of media into rural and underserved areas of Angola.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Successful proposals will infuse diversity and inclusion provisions and strategies into proposed projects, seeking to include the widest possible participation, especially among historically marginalized sectors of society. Projects should seek to include participants from a wide geographic distribution across Angola, involving journalists from diverse social, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS AND MONITORING

Proposals must include a list of projected performance indicators and a monitoring plan. Competitive proposals will forecast which metrics will be collected to illustrate program performance and diversity such as: expected number of participants for each event, along with data showing sex, age, and rural/urban breakdown of participants. The proposal should include other measures for estimating performance such as post-project surveys.

FEDERAL AWARD APPLICATION INFORMATION

For all application documents, please ensure that all documents are in English and all costs are in U.S. dollars.

• Applicants should submit ONE project proposal that does not exceed 20 pages;

• All documents are 1.5 spacing, 14-point Calibri font;

• All pages are numbers including budgets and attachments;

• Each proposal MUST include also a one-page summary that includes an executive summary, outlining the project goals, objectives, proposed cost, and activities.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

Proposal applications are welcomed from U.S.-based and foreign-based non-profit organizations/nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and public international organizations; private, public, or state institutions of higher education; and for-profit organizations or businesses. Entities with prior experience working in Sao

Tome e Principe and implementing projects of this nature are preferred, but not required.

Preference is to work with non-profit entities; however, there may be some occasions when a for-profit entity is best suited. Applications submitted by for-profit entities may be subject to additional review following the panel selection process. Additionally, the Department of State prohibits profit to for-profit or commercial organizations under its assistance awards. For more information see

2 CFR 200.307 regarding program income; Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) at

48 CFR 30 regarding Cost Accounting Standards Administration; and 48 CFR 31

Contract Cost Principles and Procedures.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Requests must include the following requirements:

• Project Description: description of the proposed program detailing planned activities and how each of them will meet the above objective; a list of specific expected outcomes, including how outcomes will be measured; a monitoring plan; geographic areas of planned activities; key leaders/expected sub-grantees (if any); and any additional supporting information, space pending.

• Detailed Budget of planned activities;

• Timeline of planned activities;

• Identification of appropriate entity (local NGO) responsible for implementation

/ management of the project funds (including legal name and address);

• Organizational UEI number and SAM.gov registration;

• Copy of organization’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)-compliant

Code of Conduct.

REQUIRED REGISTRATIONS

All prime organizations, whether based in the United States or in another country, must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and an active registration with the

SAM.gov before submitting an application. A 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. All organizations applying for grants (except individuals) must obtain this registration. Registration is free of charge. Note: As of April 2022, a DUNS number is no longer required for federal assistance applications.

The 2 CFR 200 requires that sub-grantees obtain a UEI number. Please note the

UEI for sub-grantees is not required at the time of application but will be required before the award is processed and/or directed to a sub-grantee.

Note: The process of obtaining or renewing a SAM.gov registration may take anywhere from 4-8 weeks. Please begin your registration as early as possible.

Organizations based in the United States or that pay employees within the

United States will need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the Internal

Revenue Service (IRS) and a UEI number prior to registering in SAM.gov. Please note that as of February 2023, organizations based in the United States that do not intend to apply for U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) awards are no longer required to have a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code to apply for non-DoD foreign assistance funding opportunities.

If an applicant organization is mid-registration and wishes to remove an NCAGE code from their SAM.gov registration, the applicant should submit a help desk ticket (“incident”) with the Federal Service Desk (FSD) online at www.fsd.gov using the following language: “I do not intend to seek financial assistance from the Department of Defense. I do not wish to obtain a CAGE code. I understand that I will need to submit my registration after this incident is resolved in order to have my registration activated.”

Organizations based outside of the United States and that do not pay employees within the United States do not need an EIN from the IRS, but do need a UEI number prior to registering in SAM.gov. Please note that as of December 2022, organizations based outside of the United States that do not intend to apply for

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) awards are no longer required to have a NATO

CAGE (NCAGE) code to apply for non-DoD foreign assistance funding opportunities.

○ If an applicant organization is mid-registration and wishes to remove an NCAGE code from their SAM.gov registration, the applicant should submit a help desk ticket (“incident”) with the Federal Service Desk (FSD) online at www.fsd.gov using the following language: “I do not intend to seek financial assistance from the Department of Defense. I do not wish to obtain an NCAGE code. I understand that I will need to submit my registration after this incident is resolved in order to have my registration activated.”

Organizations based outside of the United States and that DO NOT plan to do business with the DoD should follow the below instructions:

Step 1: Proceed to SAM.gov to obtain a UEI and complete the SAM.gov registration process. SAM.gov registration must be renewed annually.

Organizations based outside of the United States and that DO plan to do business with the DoD should follow the below instructions:

Step 1: Apply for an NCAGE code by following the instructions on the NSPA NATO website linked below:

NCAGE Homepage:

https://eportal.nspa.nato.int/AC135Public/sc/CageList.aspx

NCAGE Code Request Tool (NCRT):

https://eportal.nspa.nato.int/Codification/CageTool/home

For NCAGE help from within the United States, call +1 (888) 227-2423.

For NCAGE help from outside the United States, call +1 (269) 961-7766.

Or, email NCAGE@dlis.dla.mil for any problems in applying for an NCAGE code.

Step 2: After receiving an NCAGE code, proceed to SAM.gov to obtain a UEI and complete the SAM.gov registration process. SAM.gov registration must be renewed annually.

All prime organizations must also continue to maintain active SAM.gov registration with current information at all times during which they have an active

Federal award or application under consideration by a federal award agency.

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 and to maintain that active registration. If an applicant has not fully complied with the requirements at the time of application, the applicant may be deemed technically ineligible to receive an award and use that determination as a basis for making an award to another applicant.

Please refer to 2 CFR 25.200 for additional information.

Note: SAM.gov is not the same as SAMS Domestic. It is free of charge to register in both systems, but the registration processes are different.

Information is included on the SAM.gov website to help international registrations, including “Quick Start Guide for International Registrations” and

“Helpful Hints.” Navigate to www.SAM.gov, click “HELP” in the top navigation bar, then click “Explore” and “New to SAM.gov?” for general information. Please note, guidance on SAM.gov and the guidance on GSA’s website about requirement for registering in SAM.gov is subject to change and is currently being updated.

Applicants should review the website for the most up-to-date guidance.

The attached “AQM Guidance for NCAGE-SAM.gov for Grant Applicants as of Dec.

2022” is a compilation of resources gathered by the Department’s Office of

Acquisitions Management (AQM). Any content shown from SAM.gov is not owned by the Department of State. This guidance and instruction are to the best of our knowledge based at the time of posting this solicitation. Where guidance in these attachments differs from the SAM.gov website, SAM.gov prevails and the applicant is encouraged to seek and document responses provided by the

SAM.gov help desk.

Any applicant listed on the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) 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.”

Additionally, no entity listed on the EPLS can participate in any activities under an award. All applicants are strongly encouraged to review the EPLS in SAM to ensure that no ineligible entity is included.

FUNDING ALLOCATION

Funding will be limited to a maximum of $250,000 per implementation period of

October 2023 – September 2024. The award can be split into multiple awards at the discretion of the grant selection committee. 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 Department of State. Funding comes from the Department of State, Bureau of African Affairs, Africa Regional Democracy

Fund, FY 2023.

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.

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 program expenses beginning on the start date shown on the grant award document signed by the

Grants Officer.

Unsuccessful applicants will be informed through an email notification from

LuandaGrants@state.gov by October 2023.

APPLICATION SUBMISSION PROCESS

Applications are due on or before August 28, 2023.

Electronic submission of proposals is preferred. Proposals should be sent as attachments to the email address below, as well as any questions about the grant process: LuandaGrants@state.gov

OTHER INFORMATION

The following is not eligible for funding:

• Projects relating to partisan political activity. While this funding is intended to promote women and youth participation in government and leadership, including politics, it is not intended to promote the political agenda of any party.

Proposals must be inclusive of persons regardless of political affiliation or lack thereof; • Purchase and set up of surveillance equipment; • Duplication of other

U.S. Government programs; • Projects that would benefit, either personally or politically, to any employee (e.g. direct hire, contractor, part-time) of the U.S.

Government, or the spouse or family member of a U.S. Government employee; •

Production of agricultural commodities for export that can be expected to have a significant impact on competing U.S. exports; • Contributing to the violation of internationally recognized rights of workers; • Charitable or donation related activities; • Projects that support specific religious or military activities, as well as those relating to police, prisons, or other law enforcement; •Fund-raising campaigns; • Projects intended primarily for the growth or institutional development of the implementing organization; • Projects that duplicate existing mailto:LuandaGrants@state.gov mailto:LuandaGrants@state.gov efforts; • Support for private businesses, private crèches, or public/government schools; • Purchase or production of toxic or otherwise unsafe products such as pesticides or hazardous chemicals; • Assisting any individual or entity involved in illegal drug trafficking as noted in Section 487 of the Foreign

Assistance Act; •Support, benefit, or other services associated with those persons or entities listed under Executive Order 13224, or determined to be subject to this order or other subsequent laws or orders, who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism; • Support for any activity barred under the Foreign Assistance

Act and legislation appropriating funds for foreign assistance; • Purchase of luxury goods and gambling equipment.

PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND VIDEO

SURVEILLANCE SERVICES OR EQUIPMENT

Non-Federal entities are prohibited from obligating or expending grant funds for covered telecommunications equipment or services to:

(1) procure or obtain, extend or renew a contract to procure or obtain;

(2) enter into a contract (or extend or renew a contract) to procure; or

(3) obtain the equipment, services, or systems. Covered telecommunications equipment and services mean any of the following: (i) Telecommunications equipment produced by Huawei Technologies Company or ZTE Corporation (or any subsidiary or affiliate of such entities). (ii) For the purpose of public safety, security of government facilities, physical security surveillance of critical infrastructure, and other national security purposes, video surveillance and telecommunications equipment produced by Hytera Communications

Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, or Dahua

Technology Company (or any subsidiary or affiliate of such entities). (iii)

Telecommunications or video surveillance services provided by such entities or using such equipment. (iv) Telecommunications or video surveillance equipment or services produced or provided by an entity that the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Director of the National Intelligence or the Director of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation, reasonably believes to be an entity owned or controlled by, or otherwise connected to, the government of a covered foreign country.