cdc-rfa-jg-26-0043_mod.pdf

Division of Global Health Protection

Notice of Funding Opportunity

Application due Friday, October 2, 2026

Expanding global health security through local partnerships in Nigeria Opportunity number: CDC-RFA-JG-26-0043

Contents

Step 1: Review the Opportunity 4

Basic information 5

Eligibility 8

Agency priorities 11

Program description 14

Step 2: Get Ready to Apply 37

Get registered 38

Find the application package 39

Help applying 39

Step 3: Build Your Application 40

Application checklist 41

Application contents and format 43

Step 4: Understand Review, Selection, and Award 55

Application Review 56

Award notices 58

Step 5: Submit Your Application 59

Submission and deadlines 60

Step 6: Learn What Happens After Award 62

Post-award requirements and administration 63

Contacts and Support 68

Before you begin 3

Contents 2

Before you begin If you believe you are a good candidate for this funding opportunity, secure your SAM.gov and Grants.gov registrations now. If you are already registered, make sure your registrations are active and up to date.

SAM.gov registration (this can take several weeks) You must have an active account with SAM.gov. This includes having a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).

See Step 2: Get Ready to Apply

Grants.gov registration (this can take several days) You must have an active Grants.gov registration. Doing so requires a Login.gov registration as well.

See Step 2: Get Ready to Apply

Apply by the application due date Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, October 2, 2026.

To help you find what you need, this NOFO uses internal links. In Adobe Reader, you can go back to where you were by pressing Alt + Left Arrow (Windows) or Command + Left Arrow (Mac) on your keyboard.

Before you begin 3 https://sam.gov/ https://grants.gov/

1. Review 2. Get Ready 3. Build 4. Understand 5. Submit 6. Award Contacts

Step 1:

Review the Opportunity

In this step

Basic information 5

Eligibility 8

Agency priorities 11

Program description 14

Basic information Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Global Health Center

Division of Global Health Protection

Making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous by strengthening global health security through surveillance, prevention, and response with a focus on strengthening National and Sub-national International Health Regulations capacities in Nigeria.

Have questions?

See Contacts and Support.

Key facts

Opportunity name:

Expanding global health security through local partnerships in Nigeria

Opportunity number:

CDC-RFA-JG-26-0043

Assistance listing:

93.318: Protecting and Improving Health Globally: Building and Strengthening Public Health Impact, Systems, Capacity, and Security

NOFO version:

Original

Key dates

Application submission deadline: Friday, October 2, 2026

Expected award and start date:

October 30, 2026

We will inform you of your application status by the end of October 2026.

Summary This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) aims to strengthen Nigerian organizations capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats. Organizations include:

• The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).

• Other Government of Nigeria (GoN) ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).

• Sub-national public health institutions, such as State Ministries of Health and local government authorities.

Nigeria completed its second Joint External Evaluation (JEE) in 2023, which is a multi-sectorial assessment of a country’s capacity to achieve with Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) goals. The results improved significantly from their first JEE, increasing from 39% in 2017 to 54% in 2023. However, several gaps remain. Stronger health systems and a larger workforce will better enable the NCDC and other Nigerian agencies to work together to meet CDC’s global health priorities. Stronger sub-national capacities will improve detection and response to health threats at the local level where they occur.

Step 1: Review the Opportunity 5

Funding details Funding Type: Cooperative agreement

Expected total NOFO funding for Year 1: $15,000,000 This is the expected total Year 1 funding for all awards made under this NOFO.

Expected awards: 2-3 The number of awards is subject to available funds and program priorities.

Exact amounts for each award under this NOFO will be determined upon award.

We plan to award projects for five 12-month budget periods for a five-year period of performance.

Funding strategy

Funding amounts We encourage you to submit an application that includes a budget and work plan for each required component, consistent with the applicable component ceilings. For Year 1, applicants must submit separate budgets and work plans for all three components, not exceeding each component ceiling, although only Components 1, 2, and/or 3 core activities are expected to be funded initially and Components 2 and 3 may be approved but unfunded pending future availability of funds.

Funding amounts for Years 2 through 5 will be set at continuation. We will continue funding based on:

• Availability of funds.

• Evidence of satisfactory progress, as documented in your required reports.

• The determination that continued funding is in the best interest of the federal government.

Component funding Overview

We fund all Global Health Security (GHS) cooperative agreements using component funding. You must apply for all components and include a budget and work plan for each. Note: For the purposes of this NOFO, components 1, 2, and 3 are considered the core components, meaning they support baseline

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GHS activities that are not dependent on emergency funding. This does not change the requirement that applicants apply for all components.

Component funding allows us to provide funding as it becomes available. To do so, we fund sets of activities by project (such as emergency or routine), when necessary.

CDC may fund one or more of your components to start the budget period, and then consider other components based on available funding later. If we can’t yet fund your other components, we will designate the remaining components as “approved but unfunded.” This allows us to award more funding later. We include approved but unfunded components for public health emergencies in all awards. These components are funded when a disease outbreak or other public health emergency requires additional funding.

Components 1, 2, and 3 are for activities related to core global health security priorities. When funding is available, this NOFO will support activities for a moderate (component 4) or a substantial (component 5) response to a disease outbreak or other public health emergency.

The emergency components follow the same logic model, with identical overarching strategies and activities.

Setting up components

You must set up your components in your application. While preparing your application:

• Review the expectations for Year 1 activities in the strategies and activities section.

• Group your activities under the anticipated components. Only include the activities planned for Year 1.

◦ Component 1: Improve and strengthen the Nigerian National Public Health Institute’s management capacity and public health functions

▪ Component 1 Ceiling: $1,000,000

◦ Component 2: Strengthen subnational capacities to implement the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) in Nigeria

▪ Component 2 Ceiling: $2,000,000

◦ Component 3: Strengthen national level capacities to implement the GHSA in Nigeria

▪ Component 3 Ceiling: $2,000,000

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◦ Component 4: Rapid small-scale response to infectious disease outbreaks or other public health emergencies

▪ Component 4 Ceiling: $5,000,000

◦ Component 5: Rapid large-scale response to infectious disease outbreaks or other public health emergencies

▪ Component 5 Ceiling: $10,000,000

For information on how to incorporate component funding into your application, see the following sections:

• Budget narrative

• Component funding instructions for SF-424A

Local partner funding preference This NOFO includes a funding preference for local partners. Your organization will receive 15 extra points during the selection process if you both:

• Meet the local partner definition.

• Document your status as a local partner.

Eligibility Statutory authority This program is authorized under:

• Section 307 of the Public Health Service Act [42 USC 242].

• Section 301(a) [42 USC 241(a)] of the Public Health Service Act.

Eligible applicants Only these types of organizations may apply.

• State governments.

• County governments.

• City or township governments.

• Special district governments.

• Independent school districts.

• Public and state-controlled institutions of higher education.

• Native American tribal governments (federally recognized).

• Public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities.

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• Native American tribal organizations, other than federally recognized tribal governments.

• Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status, other than institutions of higher education.

• Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status, other than institutions of higher education.

• Private institutions of higher education.

• For-profit organizations other than small businesses.

• Small businesses.

• Foreign or non-U.S. based entities.

Other required qualifying factors Delivery location You must conduct the project in Nigeria.

Responsiveness criteria We will review your application to make sure it meets these requirements.

These are the basic requirements you must meet to move forward in the competition. We won’t consider an application that:

• Is from an organization that doesn’t meet all eligibility criteria. See requirements in Eligibility.

• Is submitted after the deadline.

• Proposes research activities. See the definition of research.

• Requests funding that exceeds the applicable Year 1 component ceilings described in the Funding Strategy section.

• Exceeds the 30-page limit for the project narrative (see the Project narrative section for what counts toward the page limit).

• Does not include all components.

• Is not in English.

• Includes a budget or budget narrative that uses a currency other than U.S. dollars.

• Does not respond to or is outside the scope of this NOFO.

See the Application checklist to understand which elements of your application are part of the responsiveness criteria.

1. Review 2. Get Ready 3. Build 4. Understand 5. Submit 6. Award Contacts

Step 1: Review the Opportunity 9 https://www.cdc.gov/grants/additional-requirements/ar-31.html

Application limits You must follow these limits on the number of applications your organization can submit.

Under this NOFO, you may submit only one application under your organization’s UEI.

Cost sharing and matching funds This program has no cost-sharing or matching funds requirement. We will not consider cost-sharing fund contributions during your application review.

However, if you submit voluntary cost-sharing funds and we fund your project, we will require you to report on these funds.

Post-award requirements Before you apply, make sure you understand the requirements that come with an award.

See Step 6: Learn What Happens After Award for information on regulations that apply, reporting, and more.

Step 1: Review the Opportunity 10

Agency priorities Required alignment with CDC priorities The recipient of this award must implement any funds awarded under this NOFO to effectuate program goals or agency priorities in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Priorities when authorized (for a full description of the CDC Priorities, please follow the provided hyperlink).

Funded activities must:

• Align with CDC’s core priorities by demonstrating a commitment to gold-standard science, transparency, and evidence-based practices.

• Support CDC’s mission to protect Americans from infectious and chronic diseases, strengthen public health systems, and advance innovation in health data and infrastructure.

• Contribute to rapid, science-driven responses to health threats, promote global health leadership, and adhere to principles of integrity, accountability, and compliance with applicable laws and federal priorities.

Consistent with CDC’s values, in carrying out any project funded under this NOFO, the recipient must adhere to the following principles where consistent with the authority and scope of the award and its activities:

• A commitment to gold-standard science and ensuring trust, transparency, and credibility: To build trust and improve CDC’s ability to lead during health crises, CDC will increase transparency, be more accountable, and follow strict, gold-standard scientific practices that are open, unbiased, and based on clear evidence.

• A commitment to global leadership: With staff in 63 countries and supporting 20 more, CDC’s Global Health Center:

◦ Works to prevent disease and advance emergency response.

◦ Detect health threats early, sends response teams, trains health workers, and provides personal protective equipment, vaccines, and medicines.

◦ Test disease samples from around the world to prepare for flu and other serious outbreaks.

◦ Has strengthened systems to better protect people at home and abroad after the COVID-19 outbreak.

1. Review 2. Get Ready 3. Build 4. Understand 5. Submit 6. Award Contacts

Step 1: Review the Opportunity 11 https://www.cdc.gov/about/cdc/index.html

• A commitment to ensuring rapid, evidence-based responses to crises:

During public health emergencies, ensuring rapid, science-driven responses is critical to minimizing harm, maintaining public trust, and restoring stability. To meet this goal, CDC must continue to strengthen its emergency response systems by:

◦ Streamlining internal processes.

◦ Improving risk communication strategies.

◦ Ensuring that laboratory capacity is fully equipped and tested—capable of rapidly developing and deploying scalable diagnostics during crises.

◦ Embedding structures for real-time learning, independent after-action reviews, and the application of lessons learned will ensure that each crisis response is smarter, faster, and more effective than the last.

• A commitment to vaccine safety and efficacy research: CDC will apply “gold-standard” science to all of its vaccine safety and effectiveness research. It will make vaccine data, research methods, and related datasets publicly available through simple data use agreements to improve transparency, accountability, and trust.

• A commitment to advancing our understanding of the causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), and chronic disease: CDC conducts research and works with partners to better understand the causes of autism spectrum disorder, neurodevelopmental disorders, and chronic diseases. It will use new and existing data to study the rise in these conditions, including the increase in autism diagnoses from 1 in 150 to nearly 1 in 31 over the past 25 years.

• A commitment to modernizing public health infrastructure and enhancing our approach to health data: CDC will modernize public health infrastructure to create a faster, more efficient health system that can detect and respond to outbreaks in real time. This effort includes:

◦ Replacing data silos with integrated systems.

◦ Using advanced technology.

◦ Strengthening partnerships with states to ensure shared responsibility and strong local health data systems.

◦ Emphasizing collaboration across federal and state partners, resilient and adaptable systems, and accountability for funded programs to ensure they align with these priorities and federal requirements.

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• Conflicts of interest: CDC will not support funding programs with conflicts of interest and ensure its work is based on transparent, unbiased science.

• Immigration: CDC funds will not be used to support or encourage illegal immigration, consistent with federal law.

• Protecting life and the family: CDC funds will not be used to support elective abortions, consistent with the Hyde Amendment, and will promote maternal health, the dignity of life, and strong families.

• Ending disorder on America’s streets: CDC will prioritize evidence-based programs that reduce homelessness, drug use, and public disorder. It will support comprehensive services for people with serious mental illness and substance use disorder. CDC will not support housing first strategies, harm-reduction or safe consumption sites, or related activities. To the extent allowable by federal law, CDC intends to give priority to grantees in States and municipalities that have laws and policies that support and enforce CDC’s priorities.

• Gender ideology and protecting children [PDF]: CDC will not fund medical interventions for minors seeking gender transition and will define sex based on biological criteria.

• DEI: CDC will not support DEI initiatives based on group identity and focus on merit-based, evidence-driven approaches to improve health outcomes.

• Parental rights: CDC will support policies that protect parental authority, promote transparency, and give parents greater control over their children’s education.

The recipient must demonstrate ongoing compliance with the full description and listing of CDC values and priorities, in all programs that are authorized to advance them, through program design, implementation, reporting, and evaluation.

Failure to meaningfully align funded activities with the applicable requirements may result in corrective action, additional reporting requirements, or other enforcement actions consistent with federal grant regulations found at 2 CFR Part 200 and the terms and conditions of this award. The full CDC Priorities Statement can be found here: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Priorities.

1. Review 2. Get Ready 3. Build 4. Understand 5. Submit 6. Award Contacts

Step 1: Review the Opportunity 13 https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2025-11/gender-dysphoria-report.pdf

Program description Background, overview, and related work Nigeria faces infectious disease outbreaks each year, including cholera, meningitis, Lassa fever, and yellow fever, alongside emerging threats like diphtheria and mpox. Several factors combine to worsen these problems:

• Low healthcare funding.

• A growing population.

• Climate change.

• Loss of trained healthcare workers.

• Weak health infrastructure.

Nigeria established the NCDC in 2011 to better prepare for and respond to epidemics by preventing, detecting, and controlling infectious diseases.

Theses NOFO activities aim to strengthen Nigeria’s 7-1-7 capacity. 7-1-7 is a target and accountability metric for detecting, reporting, and responding to disease outbreaks. It proposes to:

• Detect a suspected disease outbreak within 7 days of its emergence.

• Notify public health authorities and begin an investigation within 1 day of detection.

• Put an effective response in place within 7 days of notification.

As of 2024, Nigeria allocated only 4.83% of its total annual budget to healthcare, well below the 15% target set in the Abuja Declaration in 2001.

This funding level severely limits how well the Ministry of Health (MoH), NCDC, other relevant ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), and subnational health authorities can operate. As a result, Nigeria is less able to respond to public health threats.

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and sixth most populous in the world with an estimated population of over 232 million. Its crowded cities, busy international travel and trade, and frequent cross-border movement make it easy for infectious diseases to spread rapidly.

Since 2014, CDC support for the GHSA in Nigeria has strengthened the country’s capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats. In June 2017, Nigeria scored 39% on its first JEE exercise, and received a “not ready” rating. Following that result, Nigeria created the 2018-2023 National

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Action Plan for Health Security, and by August 2023, its second JEE score had improved to 54%.

This NOFO aims to partner with experienced organizations to strengthen Nigeria’s health systems and capacity at the national and local levels. The goal is to improve the country’s public health capacities in tandem with CDC’s global health priorities. These NOFO activities align with gaps identified in the recent JEE and will advance health capacity at all levels of government.

This NOFO builds on CDC-RFA-GH20-2098 and CDC-RFA-GH20-2126, which supported the development of health systems, processes, and policies. Those efforts helped improve Nigeria’s global public health capacities and its 2023 JEE score. This NOFO will continue to provide funding, staff, and technical assistance to address any gaps identified in the 2023 JEE.

Public health priorities and strategies Your funded activities must also align with CDC’s global health priorities.

These priorities guide how we build, carry out, and evaluate our global health work. We use it to measure progress and impact and make informed decisions about global health activities across CDC. The goals include:

• Stop health threats at their source before they spread to the United States and other countries.

• Contain disruptive outbreaks of disease across the globe.

• Use global data to prevent and mitigate disease in the United States and other countries.

• Save lives and improve health globally.

To make progress on these goals, we encourage you to:

• Strengthen national public health bulletins, health alert notices, CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and Health Alert Network, and other emergency risk communication strategies.

• Share timely, credible, useful public health information with healthcare and public health professionals locally and nationally within our partner countries.

• Develop civil registration, vital statistics systems, and mortality surveillance systems so our partner countries know what is causing deaths in their population and whether interventions to reduce them are working.

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• Additionally, the effectiveness of your work should be demonstrated in results from timeliness analyses (like the 7-1-7 framework) for early detection and response. For example, the 7-1-7 target provides a standardized benchmark for evaluating the effectiveness of outbreak detection and response systems globally. The framework outlines a timeline to aim for in response to a suspected outbreak:

◦ Within 7 days of emergency: Detect the outbreak.

◦ Within 1 day of detection: Notify public health authorities and start the investigation.

◦ Within 7 days of notification: Begin responding effectively to the emergency.

• We also recommend using these supporting strategies and frameworks:

◦ CDC’s strategy for improving GHS, based on three core parts of the agency’s mission to protect public health worldwide:

▪ Prevent.

▪ Detect.

▪ Respond.

◦ Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) framework.

◦ The Department of State America First Global Health Strategy.

◦ United States Global Health Security Strategy

1. Review 2. Get Ready 3. Build 4. Understand 5. Submit 6. Award Contacts

Step 1: Review the Opportunity 16 https://www.cdc.gov/global-health/topics-programs/global-health-security.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/security/index.htm https://globalhealthsecurityagenda.org/ https://www.state.gov/america-first-global-health-strategy/ https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/09/america-first-global-health-strategy

Purpose The purpose of this NOFO is to build upon previous CDC investments that strengthen global public health capacities at national and subnational levels.

This includes program implementation, technical assistance, and mentorship in the following areas:

• Laboratory systems.

• Workforce development.

• Surveillance and epidemiology.

• Emergency response and preparedness.

• Antimicrobial resistance.

• Biosafety and biosecurity.

• Zoonotic diseases.

• Infection prevention and control.

• Water sanitation and health.

• Public health evaluations.

• Points of entry.

• Humanitarian response.

• Risk communication.

• Others.

Approach Program logic model The following logic model includes the expected strategies under this NOFO.

The logic model also includes the program’s expected outcomes. Outcomes are the results that you intend to achieve and usually show the intended direction of change, such as increase or decrease.

The asterisked (*) outcomes are those we expect you to achieve or substantially contribute to during the five-year period of performance. You must report on these outcomes.

Not all outcomes apply to all strategies. The table shows how they apply. You will use these outcomes as a guide for developing performance measures.

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Table: Strategies and outcomes

Strategies and activities Short-term outcomes Intermediate outcomes Long-term outcomes

Strategy 1:

Provide technical assistance to build, strengthen, and guide the National Public Health Institute (NPHI), other relevant national MDAs, sub-national health authorities, health facilities and systems, and public health programs in preparation for and in response to public health emergencies in Nigeria.

Developed capacity in epidemiology, disease surveillance, laboratory systems, and across all relevant GHSA technical areas for timely detection and response to health threats in Nigeria.*

A dedicated and functional program management unit is available at the

NPHI.*

Prompt and accurate identification of priority diseases, enabling timely intervention and response, per 7-1-7 metrics, in Nigeria.*

Improved administrative and business processes for efficient management of donor funds and enhanced stakeholder confidence.*

Integrated and harmonized epidemiology and laboratory data systems with improved data quality, use, and interoperability for complete, accurate, and timely surveillance data to guide preparedness and response activities in Nigeria.

Reduced morbidity and mortality attributed to disease outbreaks or other public health threats in Nigeria.

Increased speed of outbreak detection and response for diseases that threaten global health security.

Strategy 2:

Train the public health and multisectoral workforce from relevant animal, human, and environmental sectors in Nigeria to build strategic skills, enhance collaboration, and improve health security through a coordinated One Health approach.

Skilled multisectoral public health workforce in place for efficient mobilization and deployment and effective emergency response efforts in Nigeria.*

Institutionalized trainings and capacity building initiatives across relevant sectors for strengthened health systems and to lead public health emergency response efforts in Nigeria.*

Strategy 3:

Strengthen public health systems to prepare for and respond to public

Standardized tools and systems are available for enhanced preparedness, timely

Prompt and accurate identification of priority diseases, enabling timely intervention and

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Strategies and activities Short-term outcomes Intermediate outcomes Long-term outcomes health emergencies and emerging disease threats.

detection and response to public health emergencies and threats in Nigeria.* response, per 7-1-7 metrics, in Nigeria.*

Standard processes, resources, and information are in place to ensure coordination, characterization, and reporting of disease threats early in Nigeria.*

Strategy 4:

Collaborate across countries, geographical regions, and multilateral organizations to establish networks and resources that support public health emergency response coordination and response support at all levels of the health system during times of public health emergencies.

Improved effective communication and coordinated responses to public health threats through operational information-sharing platforms.

Heightened surveillance and health security at Nigerian borders to mitigate importation/ exportation of public health threats.*

Increased effective communication and coordinated response to public health threats.*

Reduced spread of infectious diseases across national and international borders.*

Increased collaboration among regional and global network for effective response to public health threats of international concern.

Strategy 5:

Conduct assessments, implementation science, or both, to monitor, evaluate, and improve health systems, national institutes, and public health programs.

Enhanced understanding of best practices and quality improvement initiatives by public health professionals, healthcare providers, policymakers, community leaders, and researchers, for public health programming.*

Improved policy decisions contributing to a stronger evidence base for decision-making.*

Increased demand for service delivery programs in community settings.*

Reduction in health disparities and promotion of health equity in healthcare and community settings.

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Strategies and activities This section elaborates on the strategies described in the logic model by providing expected activities for Year 1 and details about how we expect you to implement your program.

Following are strategies and the required and optional activities under this NOFO. You may also propose additional related strategies and activities to achieve the expected outcomes.

Strategy 1 Provide technical assistance to build, strengthen, and guide the NPHI, other relevant national MDAs, sub-national health authorities, health facilities and systems, and public health programs in preparation for and in response to public health emergencies in Nigeria.

• Provide technical assistance to the NCDC to address gaps and weaknesses identified in the 2023 JEE and in Nigeria’s most current National Action Plan for Public Health Security (NAPHS).

• Provide technical assistance to develop NCDC’s competencies relevant to the following technical areas to further build workforce capacity to respond to current and future infectious disease threats:

• Laboratory systems.

• Human resource and workforce development - Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP).

• Human resources/workforce development - non-FETP.

• Surveillance.

• Emergency response operations/preparedness.

• Risk communication.

• Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) (including combatting cholera).

• Infection prevention and control.

• Zoonotic diseases.

• Strengthen administrative and business processes at NCDC and improve efficiency to ensure operational effectiveness.

• Support sub-national emergency preparedness and response (EPR) committees by: running sub-national JEE evaluations; applying 7-1-7 metrics to monitor and track outbreak management performance;

developing after-action reviews (AARs) and the costed state action plan for health security (SAPHS); promoting advocacy; and mobilizing resources.

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• Strengthen the operational capacity of the NCDC’s sub-national support department in alignment with relevant health security strategies and recommendations of the JEE.

Strategy 2 Train the public health and multisectoral workforce from relevant animal, human, and environmental sectors in Nigeria to build strategic skills, enhance collaboration, and improve health security through a coordinated One Health approach.

Train the public health workforce at national and sub-national levels in the following technical areas to further build workforce capacity to respond to current and future infectious disease threats:

• Epidemiology and surveillance.

• Laboratory systems.

• Emergency response operations/preparedness.

• Emergency management.

• Risk communication.

• Infection prevention and control.

• Zoonotic diseases.

• Data analysis.

• Data management.

• Biosafety and biosecurity.

Strategy 3 Strengthen public health systems to prepare for and respond to public health emergencies and emerging disease threats.

• Implement activities to strengthen health systems capacities in affected regions at both national and sub-national levels.

• Work closely with the NCDC, other relevant MDAs, and sub-national health authorities to:

◦ Strengthen surveillance to ensure rapid identification of priority infectious disease threats of human and zoonotic origin.

◦ Ensure that capacity-building efforts are a permanent part of the organization to promote sustainability.

◦ Support and connect information management platforms (e.g., SORMAS, DHIS2, AVADAR, etc.) to allow for better data sharing in the

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One Health sector.

◦ Conduct multi-disciplinary, multi-hazard risk assessments to target community interventions.

• Work closely with relevant national and subnational authorities to strengthen surveillance systems at Points of Entry (POEs) to:

◦ Improve data analysis, interpretation, and dissemination capacity, and make them standard at priority POEs to support real-time decision making.

◦ Roll out electronic disease surveillance information systems, such as SORMAS, and digitize reporting at POEs.

• In collaboration with NCDC, other MDAs, sub-national health authorities, PEPFAR, Global Fund, and other partners, strengthen laboratory systems to enhance disease detection by:

◦ Creating a leveled network of public health laboratories, including laboratory infrastructure upgrades and more staff hires.

◦ Putting in place integrated disease testing and surveillance (IDTS) that focuses on next generation sequencing of priority pathogens of public health importance.

◦ Establishing an integrated sample referral system to improve access to laboratory diagnostic services and reduce test result turn-around-time of priority diseases.

◦ Implementing a laboratory quality management system.

◦ Developing laboratory biosafety and biosecurity systems, including standards and policies to implement bio-risk management following international best practices.

◦ Enhancing the laboratory commodities logistics management system for early disease detection, outbreak preparedness, and response.

◦ Integrating laboratory information management systems with national surveillance data management systems, such as SORMAS, for enhanced integrated disease testing and laboratory-based disease surveillance.

◦ Building public health laboratory leadership and management capacity to develop enough laboratory experts with the necessary managerial and leadership skills essential for a changing public health laboratories network.

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◦ Enhancing laboratory capacity for accurate and timely diagnostics of pathogens of zoonotic origin and facilitating collaboration between laboratories to share best practices and resources.

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• Applying innovative approaches to strengthen key public health laboratory systems, including but not limited to the following in the implementation of the systems interventions noted previously:

◦ Partnership with NCDC, Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), State Ministry of Health (SMOH), bilateral and multilateral donors, laboratory regulatory bodies, laboratory professional associations, and host communities, including the private sector.

◦ Resource coordination across U.S. Government (USG)-funded programs, including the CDC, as well as previous and ongoing investment by GoN and key donors and programs for laboratory systems strengthening, including the private sector.

◦ Host government and communities’ ownership and leadership of public health laboratories systems strengthening.

• Strengthen and put in place emergency response/preparedness operations and emergency management.

• Strengthen risk communication, social mobilization, and community engagement to enhance awareness and gather community support, acceptance, and participation in containment measures and risk reduction.

• Improve national- and facility-level infection prevention and control programs, guidelines, policies, and protocols including developing and implementing strategies for surveillance and healthcare-associated infection (HAI) prevention.

• Establish a reliable, accurate, and effective laboratory surveillance network for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Nigerian public health facilities.

• Build national and subnational capacity to prepare for and respond to humanitarian emergencies, including coordination, data collection, and early warning surveillance in following the humanitarian frameworks, guidelines, and policies.

• Develop emergency logistics and supply chain management systems for response and non-response periods that include procurement and storage at national and subnational levels for activation during a public health emergency.

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Strategy 4 Collaborate across countries, geographical regions, and multilateral organizations to establish networks and resources that support public health emergency response coordination and response support at all levels of the health system during times of public health emergencies.

• Strengthen government and stakeholder networks that promote disease coordination across West Africa, including academia and civil societies.

• Identify approaches to streamline build on and deploy stakeholder resources to enhance coordination efforts through public health emergency preparedness and response. This should also include staffing, regional rapid response teams (RRT) /SURGE, data sharing, capacity transfer among countries, and a plan for standardizing Public Health Intelligence (PHI) for epidemic management at national public health emergency operation centers (PHEOCs).

• Build on the Regional Integrated Surveillance and Laboratory Network (RISLNET) to improve disease detection and response in the West African region, including continuous surveillance for priority pathogens.

Strategy 5 Conduct assessments, implementation science, or both to monitor, evaluate, and improve health systems, national institutes, and public health programs.

• Execute NCDC’s implementation science and research strategic agenda.

• Strengthen communication and scientific writing capacity of the NCDC staff.

• Conduct special investigations and public health evaluations.

• Improve monitoring and evaluation (M&E) processes and methods to show impact and effectiveness, including the rollout of an NCDC M&E framework to align with the organizational blueprint/roadmap.

• Conduct laboratory-based public health operational research, product development and evaluation, and continuous laboratory program management quality improvement.

We expect you to provide copies of and/or access to all data, software, tools, training materials, guidelines, and systems you develop under this NOFO to the Ministry of Health, CDC, and other relevant stakeholders for appropriate use consistent with underlying authorities.

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Related guidance Your activities under this project should follow CDC’s global health priorities.

You might also be asked to follow other strategies, guidance, or planning documents that are released later.

Geographic focus If the program or GHS priorities change during the period of performance, you may be asked to change the geographic area of your activities.

Outcomes We expect you to achieve or substantially contribute to the outcomes asterisked ( * ) in the logic model by the end of the five-year period of performance. You will be expected to report on these outcomes.

Organizational capacity You must include a heading in your project narrative titled “Organizational capacity.” In this section, briefly describe your organizational capacity to carry out these strategies and activities.

You must also provide supporting documentation in your attachments. See the attachments section for full instructions.

Collaborations If funded, we will expect you to collaborate with other CDC implementing partners, including non-governmental organizations, universities, the MoH and other host governmental bodies, and multi-lateral organizations that receive CDC funds. Make sure your proposed activities do not duplicate work that the CDC is already funding through other organizations.

You will work primarily and directly with partner governments, specifically with the MoH and other government entities. In addition, you will work with other in-country stakeholders and global partners, including other government entities, non-governmental organizations, universities, civil society, the private sector, and other USG agencies.

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Data, monitoring, and evaluation CDC strategy CDC collects and reports on indicators to measure progress toward achieving the activities and outcomes. CDC will also use results for program planning, improvement, accountability, and reporting. CDC will share the results with key parties.

CDC will work with you throughout the life of this award to ensure that all activities and expected outcomes align with your strategies and goals, and those of the U.S. government.

Your strategies and goals will be monitored and evaluated. You should dedicate some of the NOFO’s funds to evaluate and monitor the performance of your project. You and CDC will agree on the final funding amount, but we expect that you will dedicate approximately 5 to 10% of your project’s funding to monitoring, reporting, and evaluation activities.

Required performance measures While completing your work plan, identify indicators within the partner-level indicator list that best align with your proposed activities for each component.

You can find the separate list within the application package on Grants.gov.

These indicators are your performance measures. You will also include these indicators in your initial evaluation and performance measurement plan (EPMP). If awarded, we will work with you to finalize the partner-level indicators that will best measure your funded strategies and activities. We will provide a more detailed description of the indicators when you are awarded.

You will report on your performance measures in the annual progress report.

While you will be responsible for reporting on your partner-level indicators, you can use additional indicators to assess your program. You’re encouraged to propose additional relevant indicators that you will monitor over the course of the project.

Evaluation and performance measurement plan You must submit an initial draft of your EPMP plan with your application. In your EPMP, you will identify which of the partner-level indicators you plan to report on in your annual performance report). These indicators will be finalized with CDC.

You must submit a more detailed plan within the first six months of the award. See Reporting.

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Be sure to align your evaluation and performance measurement plan with host country, agency, and program requirements and priorities.

Include the following elements in your evaluation and performance measurement plan.

Methods Describe how you will:

• Collect the performance measures.

• Respond to the evaluation topics.

• Use evaluation findings for continuous program quality improvement.

• Incorporate evaluation and performance measurement into planning, implementing, and reporting project activities.

Additionally, explain:

• How key program partners will participate in the evaluation and performance measurement process.

• How feasible it will be to collect appropriate evaluation and performance data.

• How you will share evaluation findings with communities and stakeholders.

• Other relevant information, such as performance measures you propose.

Data management plan For all public health data you plan to collect, you must have a data management plan (DMP). For a definition of “public health data” and more information about CDC’s policy on the DMP, see Data Management and Access.

You must submit an initial draft of your DMP with your application. You will submit a more detailed plan within the first six months of the award.

See Reporting.

Submit your DMP with your application and include:

• The data you will collect or generate, and what its sources will be.

• Who can access the data and how you will protect and secure it.

• Data standards that explain what documentation the released data will have. Documentation should describe collection methods, what the data represents, and data limitations.

• Archival and long-term data preservation plans.

1. Review 2. Get Ready 3. Build 4. Understand 5. Submit 6. Award Contacts

Step 1: Review the Opportunity 28 https://www.cdc.gov/grants/additional-requirements/ar-25.html https://www.cdc.gov/grants/additional-requirements/ar-25.html

• Any reasons why you cannot share data collected or generated under this award with CDC. These could include legal, regulatory, policy, or technical reasons.

• How you will update the DMP as new information becomes available over the life of the project. You will provide updates to the DMP in annual reports.

In addition to the other requirements listed, also include:

• Cybersecurity plans.

• How you will protect personally identifiable information (PII) when you collect, store, transfer, and use this data.

• How you will remove information from the data that could reveal participants’ identities (de-identify the data) in intermediate and final data sets.

CDC will inform you of data you need to share with us and how and when it should be shared.

Evaluation activities You must carry out at least one evaluation for each cooperative agreement during your funding. The evaluation can be one of these:

• A process evaluation, which measures:

◦ How you delivered the services.

◦ What worked and what did not.

◦ The differences between who you intended to serve and who you actually served.

◦ Who could access your services.

• An outcome evaluation, which measures how the intervention affected changes in knowledge, attitudes, or behavior.

• An economic evaluation, which measures:

◦ How much the intervention cost.

◦ What caused these costs.

◦ Cost effectiveness.

◦ Efficiency.

◦ The economic impact of the intervention.

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Describe:

• The type of evaluations (process, outcome, and/or economic).

• Key evaluation questions these evaluations will address.

• Other information, such as measures and data sources.

Work plan You must provide a work plan for each component for your project. For each component, provide a detailed work plan for the first year and a high-level work plan for later years. The work plan connects your performance outcomes, strategies and activities, and measures. It provides more detail on how you will measure outcomes and processes. A sample work plan is provided below.

Table: Sample format

Activities you will implement

Progress or process measures from the Data, monitoring, and evaluation section

Relevant period of performance outcomes from the Outcomes section

Responsible position or party

Completion date

Strategy 1:

1.

2.

3.

Strategy 2:

1.

2.

3.

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Paperwork Reduction Act Any activities involving information collection from 10 or more individuals or organizations may require Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) approval. The PRA requires review and approval of the information collection by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). For further information to determine if a proposed activity requires PRA approval, contact your project officer.

Collections include items like surveys and questionnaires. If you have collections requiring PRA approval, CDC is responsible for working with OMB to gain the approval.

For more information about CDC’s requirements under PRA see CDC Paperwork Reduction Act Compliance.

Dissemination of evaluation results By the end of the period of performance, your evaluation and performance measures will yield findings to demonstrate the value of your projects. You will disseminate these findings through the Annual Performance Report (APR).

You are expected to pursue additional dissemination in public domains and through informal channels. Dissemination channels could include:

• Local and international conferences and forum abstract presentations.

• Conference poster displays.

• Public health and global health journals.

• Manuscripts.

• Bulletins.

• Reports.

• Presentations to technical working groups and stakeholder meetings.

• Other approved products in print and electronic media, including websites and newsletters.

Program interest holders will be the primary intended users of your evaluation results and findings.

CDC and interest holders will use your evaluation findings during the five-year project period to share and implement key recommendations to strengthen program implementation, effectiveness, sustainability, and continued improvement after the award ends.

1. Review 2. Get Ready 3. Build 4. Understand 5. Submit 6. Award Contacts

Step 1: Review the Opportunity 31 https://www.cdc.gov/scientific-integrity/php/public-information-collection/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/os/integrity/reducepublicburden/index.htm#cdc_data_surveillance_section_1-cdc-paperwork-reduction-act-compliance https://www.cdc.gov/scientific-integrity/php/public-information-collection/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/os/integrity/reducepublicburden/index.htm#cdc_data_surveillance_section_1-cdc-paperwork-reduction-act-compliance

Funding policies and limitations Changes in HHS regulations As of October 1, 2025, HHS has adopted 2 CFR 200, with some exceptions included in 2 CFR 300. These regulations replace those in 45 CFR 75. You can find details in HHS Summary of Regulatory Changes, which is posted in the Grants.gov Related Documents tab for this opportunity.

General guidance All activities proposed in your application and budget narrative must align with applicable law, including but not limited to statutes, executive orders, federal regulations and applicable judicial holdings. Accordingly, discretionary awards shall not be used to fund, promote, encourage, subsidize, or facilitate;

racial preferences or other forms of racial discrimination by the recipient, including activities where race or intentional proxies for race will be used as a selection criterion for employment or program participation; denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans, or the belief that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic; illegal immigration; or any other initiatives that…