Final NOFO - Economic Empowerment (002).docx

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

U.S. EMBASSY NAIROBI, PUBLIC AFFAIRS SECTION

Notice of Funding Opportunity

CFDA Number: 19.040 – Public Diplomacy Programs Total Amount Available: $50,000 (pending availability of funds)

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Public Affairs Nairobi invites proposals to design and implement an innovative program to provide business training, mentorship, and a business plan competition for business owners with disabilities. All programs must include an American cultural element, or 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 Regions: Northern and Coastal Kenya

Purpose of Grant: The purpose of the grant is to increase the capacity of Kenyan business owners with disabilities to do business with the United States and improve the business environment for disabled people. The project implementers will identify people with disabilities who own small- and medium-sized enterprises and train them in business skills, provide formal networking and mentorship programs, and hold a business plan competition. The project must include connections to U.S. businesses, either with U.S. companies operating in Kenya, American businesspeople and mentors, U.S. business organizations or guilds, and/or virtual interactions with U.S. businesses. Project implementers are encouraged to use American Corners in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Lamu where applicable.

Key Program Components: Proposals should include the following key program components.

· Training: Participants will receive a minimum of 60 hours of instruction in concepts that will directly help their businesses grow and succeed. Instructors must be recognized experts in their field and have minimum three years prior teaching experience. Instruction must be in-person but does need to take place in a classroom. Program implementers must measure effectiveness through knowledge checks. By the end of the training, all participants should be able to put together a solid, realistic business plan.

· Mentorship program: All participants will be matched with mentors from U.S.-owned or U.S.-based companies or with mentors who are disabled and are in executive positions in large companies in Kenya. The mentorship component will include at a minimum bimonthly contact (in-person, by video conferencing, or phone) and the program implementers will provide structured guidelines on the mentor-mentee relationship. All mentors will be encouraged to meet in-person with their mentees if feasible.

· Business plan competition: At the culmination of the program, each participant should have a business plan that is based on the business they own and incorporates concepts they learned from the training and mentorship programs. Participants will compete in a business plan competition. The competition will include a business pitch for a panel of judges and a fair-style expo open to the public. Judges must be regional or international angel investors.

Priority Program Areas:

· Promote U.S.-Kenyan Shared Economic Interests: Promote U.S. trade and investment, improve economic governance and the enabling business environment, achieve inclusive, market-driven, environmentally sustainable economic growth.

· Reinforce U.S.-Kenyan Shared Values: Reinforce U.S.-Kenyan shared values through funding proposals that explore and expand on historical and contemporary connections between U.S. and Kenyan institutions and groups.

· Support Kenya’s Ability to Advance Sustainable Development: Strengthen health and human capacity, enable livelihoods, reduce suffering, and strengthen resilience.

Participants and Audiences: The target audience should be at least 300 people with disabilities who own businesses, with a majority of participants having businesses operating in Northern or Coastal Kenya.

The following types of programs are not eligible for funding:

· Programs relating to partisan political activity

· Charitable or development activities

· Construction programs

· Programs that support specific religious activities

· Fund-raising campaigns

· Lobbying for specific legislation or programs

· Scientific research

· Programs intended primarily for the growth or institutional development of the organization; or

· Programs that duplicate existing programs.

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

This notice is subject to availability of funding.

C. ELIGILIBITY INFORMATION

1. Eligible Applicants:

Public Affairs Section encourages applications from U.S. and Kenyan:

· Registered not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society/non-governmental organizations with programming experience

· Non-profit or governmental educational institutions

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

2. Cost Sharing or Matching: Cost sharing is not required but is considered favorably.

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.

· Bidding organizations must already possess a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number, formerly referred to as a DUNS (Data Universal Numbering System) number, and an active SAM.gov registration prior to submitting a full application. Please see Section D.2 for information on how to obtain these registrations.

D. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

1. Address to Request Application Package

Application forms required below are available at the U.S. Embassy website and on www.grants.gov

2. All applications must be submitted by email to nairobipas@state.gov. Mailed or faxed proposals will not be considered

3. Content and Form of Application Submission;

Please follow all instructions below carefully. Proposals that do not meet the requirements of this announcement or fail to comply with the stated requirements will be ineligible.

Content of Application Please ensure:

· 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 and

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

The following documents are required:

1. Mandatory application forms

· SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance – organizations)

· SF424A (Budget Information for Non-Construction programs)

· SF424B (Assurances for Non-Construction programs)

2. Summary Page: Cover sheet stating the applicant name and organization, proposal date, program title, program period proposed start and end date, and brief purpose of the program.

3. Proposal (10 pages maximum): The proposal should contain sufficient information that anyone not familiar with it would understand exactly what the applicant wants to do. You may use your own proposal format, but it must include all the items below.

· Proposal Summary: Short narrative that outlines the proposed program, including program objectives and anticipated impact.

· Introduction to the Organization or Individual applying: A description of past and present operations, showing ability to carry out the program, including information on all previous grants from the U.S. Embassy and/or U.S. government agencies.

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

· Program Goals and Objectives: The “goals” describe what the program is intended to achieve. The “objectives” refer to the intermediate accomplishments on the way to the goals. These should be achievable and measurable.

· Program Activities: Describe the program activities and how they will help achieve the objectives.

· Program Methods and Design: A description of how the program is expected to work to solve the stated problem and achieve the goal. Include a logic model as appropriate.

· Proposed Program Schedule and Timeline: The proposed timeline for the program activities. Include the dates, times, and locations of planned activities and events.

· Key Personnel: Names, titles, roles and experience/qualifications of key personnel involved in the program. What proportion of their time will be used in support of this program?

· Program Partners: List the names and type of involvement of key partner organizations and sub-awardees.

· Program Monitoring and Evaluation Plan: This is an important part of successful grants. Throughout the timeframe of the grant, how will the activities be monitored to ensure they are happening in a timely manner, and how will the program be evaluated to make sure it is meeting the goals of the grant?

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

4. Budget Justification Narrative: After filling out the SF-424A Budget (above), use a separate sheet of paper to describe each of the budget expenses in detail. See section H. Other Information: Guidelines for Budget Submissions below for further information.

5. Attachments:

· 1-page CV or resume of key personnel who are proposed for the program

· Letters of support from program partners describing the roles and responsibilities of each partner

· If your organization has a NICRA and includes NICRA charges in the budget, your latest NICRA should be included as a PDF file.

· Official permission letters, if required for program activities

· Application forms for organizations: SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance – organizations) and SF-424A (Budget Information for No-Construction programs)

2. Required Registrations:

All organizations applying for grants (except individuals) must obtain these registrations. All are free of charge:

· Unique entity identifier from Dun & Bradstreet (DUNS number)

· NCAGE/CAGE code

· www.SAM.gov registration

Step 1: Apply for a DUNS number and an NCAGE number (these can be completed simultaneously)

DUNS application: Organizations must have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number from Dun & Bradstreet. If your organization does not have one already, you may obtain one by calling 1-866-705-5711 or visiting http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform

NCAGE application: Application page here: https://eportal.nspa.nato.int/AC135Public/scage/CageList.aspx Instructions for the NCAGE application process:

https://eportal.nspa.nato.int/AC135Public/Docs/US%20Instructions%20for%20NSPA%20NCAGE.pdf

For NCAGE help from within the U.S., call 1-888-227-2423 For NCAGE help from outside the U.S., call 1-269-961-7766 Email NCAGE@dlis.dla.mil for any problems in getting an NCAGE code.

Step 2: After receiving the NCAGE Code, proceed to register in SAM.gov by logging onto: https://www.sam.gov. SAM registration must be renewed annually.

To finalize your registration or if you need further assistance in connection with registration in www.sam.gov, you may contact the Federal Service Desk at https://www.fsd.gov/fsd-gov/home.do

· Please note that the full registration process may take from several days up to several weeks, so applicants are advised to start the registration process early.

· Please also note that your information in DUNS and NCAGE registrations must match exactly or else you will encounter errors registering in www.sam.gov .

· If your organization has a DUNS and/or NCAGE number and/or is registered in www.sam.gov, please check that the registrations are valid, and the data is correct.

3. Submission Dates and Times Proposals: The deadline to submit proposals is:

March 31, 2020

4. Funding Restrictions: The following types of funding requests are typically not supported:

· Fees and travel cost to attend conferences in the United States

· Ongoing salary costs not related to project activities

· Office equipment

· Paying to complete activities begun with other funds; and

· Refreshments (exception: expenses for coffee breaks and working lunches which are essential to the realization of the program might be funded).

· Costs of alcoholic beverages are unallowable.

· Furthermore, award funds cannot be used for construction projects, vehicle purchases, real estate purchases or other similar purposes or for costs which are determined as unallowable in 2 CFR 200.

5. Other Submission Requirements: All questions about this Notice of Funding Opportunity should be addressed to nairobipas@state.gov .

E. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

1. Criteria: Each application will be evaluated and rated on the basis of the evaluation criteria outlined below. The criteria listed are closely related and are considered as a whole in judging the overall quality of an application.

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

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

· Goals and objectives: Goals and objectives are clearly stated, and program 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 Nairobi’s priority areas or target audiences.

· Budget: The budget justification is detailed. Costs are reasonable in relation to the proposed activities and anticipated results. The budget is realistic, accounting for all necessary expenses to achieve proposed activities.

· Monitoring and evaluation plan: Applicant demonstrates it is able to measure program success against key indicators and provide milestones to indicate progress toward goals outlined in the proposal. The program includes output and outcome indicators and shows how and when those will be measured.

· Sustainability: Program activities will continue to have positive impact after the end of the program.

2. Review and Selection Process: A Grants Review Committee will evaluate all eligible applications.

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 (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 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

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.

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 program expenses beginning on the start date shown on the grant award document signed 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 Department of State. Issuance of this Notice of Funding Opportunity 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. If a proposal is selected, Public Affairs Nairobi reserves the right to reduce, revise, and/or increase the proposal budget in accordance with the needs of the program and availability of funds.

Payment Method: Payments will be made in installments as needed to carry out the program activities. Organizations whose proposals will not be funded will also be notified via email.

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements Terms and Conditions: Before submitting a proposal, 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 here. Note the U.S Flag branding and marking requirements in the Standard Terms and Conditions.

1. Reporting Requirements: Recipients will be required to submit financial reports and program reports. The award document will specify how often these reports must be submitted.

G. FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY CONTACTS

If you have any questions about the grant application process, please contact Public Affairs at: nairobipas@state.gov . Note: We do not provide any pre-consultation for proposal-related questions that are addressed in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Once a proposal has been submitted, 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.

H. OTHER INFORMATION

· Guidelines for Budget Justification Personnel: Describe the wages, salaries, and benefits of temporary or permanent staff who will be working directly for the applicant on the program, and the percentage of their time that will be spent on the program.

· Travel: Estimate the costs of travel and per diem for this program. If the program involves international travel, include a brief statement of justification for that travel.

· Equipment: Describe any machinery, furniture, or other personal property that is required for the program, which has a useful life of more than one year (or a life longer than the duration of the program), and costs at least $5,000 per unit. Describe disposition plans for all equipment at the conclusion of the grant performance period.

· Supplies: List and describe all the items and materials, including any computer devices, that are needed for the program. If an item costs more than $5,000 per unit, then put it in the budget under Equipment.

· Contractual: Describe goods and services that the applicant plans to acquire through a contract with a vendor. Also describe any sub-awards to non-profit partners that will help carry out the program activities.

· Other Direct Costs: Describe other costs directly associated with the program, which do not fit in the other categories. For example, shipping costs for materials and equipment or applicable taxes. All “Other” or “Miscellaneous” expenses must be itemized and explained.

· Indirect Costs: These are costs that cannot be linked directly to the program activities, such as overhead costs needed to help keep the organization operating. If your organization has a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate (NICRA) and includes NICRA charges in the budget, attach a copy of your latest NICRA. Organizations that have never had a NICRA may request indirect costs of 10% of the modified total direct costs as defined in 2 CFR 200.68.

· “Cost Sharing” refers to contributions from the organization or other entities other than the U.S. Embassy. It also includes in-kind contributions such as volunteers’ time and donated venues.

· Alcoholic Beverages: Please note that award funds cannot be used for alcoholic beverages.