FINAL Fiscal Year 2020 International Emergency Food Assistance Annual Program Statement (APS).pdf

SUBJECT: U.S. Agency for International Development/Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance/Office of Food for Peace Annual Program Statement for International Emergency Food Assistance, Opportunity Number 72DFFP20APS00002.

ISSUANCE DATE: January 2, 2020

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number:

98.001: Foreign Assistance Act – IDA 98.008: FFP Title II

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Office of Food for Peace (FFP) is the U.S. Government (USG) leader in international food assistance. The purpose of this Annual Program Statement (APS) is to disseminate the necessary information to enable prospective applicants to apply for USAID FFP emergency food assistance awards using Title II and/or Emergency Food Security Program (EFSP) resources.

This APS provides the following:

SECTION A: PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Authorities

2. Funding Priorities

3. Eligible Food Security and Nutrition Responses

4. Eligible Modalities

SECTION B: FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

1. Estimate of Funds Available and Number of Awards Contemplated

2. Start Date and Period of Performance for Federal Awards

3. Substantial Involvement

4. Authorized Geographic Code

5. Nature of the Relationship between USAID and the Recipient

SECTION C: ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. Eligible Partners

2. Non-Eligible Partners

3. New Partners

4. Cost Share

SECTION D: APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

1. Agency Point of Contact

2. Questions and Answers

3. General Content and Form of Application

4. Application Submission Procedures

5. Technical Application Format

SECTION E: APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

1. Concept Paper – Merit Review Criteria

2. Application – Merit Review Criteria

SECTION F: FEDERAL AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

1. Federal Award Notices

2. Administrative & National Policy Requirements

3. Reporting Requirements

SECTION G: FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY CONTACT(S)

SECTION H: OTHER INFORMATION

1. Requirement for all activities

2. Code of Conduct

3. Mandatory Disclosures

4. USAID Disability Policy and accessibility Standards

5. Voluntary Survey on Faith-Based and Community Organizations

6. Ineligible Goods and Services, Ineligible Suppliers, and Restricted Goods

7. Programmatic and Technical References

SECTION A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

This funding opportunity is authorized under the Food for Peace Act (FFP Act) or Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) of 1961, as amended.

1. Authorities

Title II of the FFP Act authorizes the USAID Administrator to establish programs to provide agricultural commodities to foreign countries on behalf of the people of the United States and to provide assistance to address famine and food crises, and respond to emergency food needs, arising from man-made and natural disasters; combat malnutrition, especially in children and mothers;

carry out activities that attempt to alleviate the causes of hunger, mortality and morbidity; promote economic and community development; promote food security and support sound environmental practices; carry out feeding programs; and build resilience to mitigate and prevent food crises and reduce the future need for emergency aid. The preponderance of Title II resources must be used to fund U.S. in-kind assistance interventions, under which the USG procures commodities from U.S.

producers and then provides the commodities and associated costs to an implementing agency for use in programs to enhance the food security of vulnerable populations.

The Agricultural Act of 2014 amended Section 202(e) of the FFP Act to allow Title II funds to be used to establish and enhance Title II programs, which represents an expansion over prior statutory authority. Thus, a portion of FFP’s Title II resources may be used to enhance Title II in-kind program activities, including with cash transfers, food vouchers, local regional and International procurement (LRIP) and Essential Complementary Activities (interventions) linked to the provision of food assistance and integral to the achievement of desired food and nutrition security outcomes. The Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 further clarified the uses of Internal Transport, Storage and Handling funds. For more information on Title II Section 202e and ITSH resources, please use this link for the most up-to-date information bulletins.

The FAA authorizes the provision of international disaster relief, rehabilitation, and preparedness, through the International Disaster Assistance (IDA) account. Section 7 of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 amended the FAA of 1961 and authorized the emergency food security program (EFSP) within the IDA account to provide emergency food assistance, including in the form of funds, transfers, vouchers, and agricultural commodities acquired through local and regional procurement, to meet emergency needs arising from manmade and natural disasters. FFP relies on the IDA authority, including the EFSP authority, to provide market-based food assistance, which includes local, regional and international purchase of food, and other interventions such as food vouchers and cash transfers to facilitate the availability of and/or access to food. For the purposes of this APS, market-based food assistance refers to those modalities which utilize and reinforce existing market systems within a country or within the region. FFP works closely with USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) to ensure that FFP-funded programs complement OFDA-funded programs being implemented in the same geographic region.

2. Funding Priorities https://www.usaid.gov/food-assistance/resources/food-peace-information-bulletins

FFP’s Mission is to reduce hunger and malnutrition and ensure that adequate, safe and nutritious food is available to, accessible to, and well-utilized by all individuals at all times to support a healthy and productive life. Through its emergency awards, FFP provides food assistance to save lives, reduce suffering, and support the early recovery of populations affected by both acute and protracted emergencies.

FFP responds to emergency situations, or crises, where the food supply is severely disrupted and populations lack access to sufficient food through normally available means such as production, barter, or purchase in markets. Such situations may involve drought, floods, earthquakes, and/or civil conflict. An economic shock such as a rise in food prices due to global price increases, or reduced remittances due to a recession, will be considered an aggravating rather than primary factor for determining eligibility for emergency food assistance.

FFP expects all awardees to uphold the following principles, which adheres to humanitarian principles broadly accepted by the International humanitarian stakeholders:

● Do no harm in the process of providing food or other food assistance resources;

● Strive to keep the interests and voice of the vulnerable at the center of our work;

● Adhere to the highest standards of human rights, respect and dignity in our provision of assistance;

● Provide access to food to those in greatest need in an impartial manner, without bias or prejudice; and

● Enable communities to find durable means to meet their own food security needs.

FFP will consult with the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) in evaluating and making final determinations on applications that propose modalities and/or essential complementary activities outside of the food security and nutrition sectors, and/or on those that propose multipurpose cash assistance. For applications that propose essential complementary activities outside of the food security and nutrition sectors, the OFDA Application Guidelines will be used as the technical standards for application evaluation.

3. Eligible Food Security and Nutrition Responses

FFP defines three categories of emergency Interventions which may be eligible for funding under this APS:

● Relief - Activities that meet the immediate, life-saving food assistance needs of populations directly affected by an identifiable shock, or which protect livelihoods from further degradation.

● Recovery - Activities implemented for a specified, appropriate timeframe that assist populations recovering from an identifiable shock and, if possible, place them on a trajectory that facilitates their return to at least a subsistence level and capable of participating in development activities.

https://www.unocha.org/sites/dms/Documents/OOM-humanitarianprinciples_eng_June12.pdf https://www.unocha.org/sites/dms/Documents/OOM-humanitarianprinciples_eng_June12.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/working-crises-and-conflict/crisis-response/resources/guidelines-proposals

● Protracted Crisis - Activities that meet the food needs of populations in those environments in which a significant proportion of the population is acutely vulnerable to death, disease, and disruption of livelihoods over a prolonged period of time.

Given that emergency resources are limited, priority will be given first to life-saving relief interventions, and then to early recovery and protracted crises.

FFP expects that the value of the emergency food assistance resources going directly to the participants (cash/voucher monetary value or the market value of commodities inclusive of import costs as applicable) will constitute the majority of total proposed costs. Applications that do not meet this threshold will trigger additional scrutiny of budget appropriateness during review.

USAID’s focused resilience-building efforts are multi-year, multi-sectoral and multi-partner activities. If unique conditions on the ground merit the inclusion of FFP emergency activities in one of these joint efforts or a similar strategic opportunity, FFP may issue a standalone solicitation for multi-year work separate from this document. Shorter-term emergency and recovery food security interventions supported under this APS may mitigate the impact of shocks, prevent the erosion of household assets and livelihoods, and accelerate recovery— contributing to the future resilience of affected households and communities.

4. Eligible Modalities

A. Food Transfer Modalities Under this APS, FFP has identified a number of standard food assistance transfer modalities for use in implementing activities to achieve food security and nutrition objectives in relief, recovery, or protracted crisis contexts. These modalities are listed below. FFP encourages partners to consider whichever modality or combination of modalities is best suited to the emergency context. FFP recognizes that emergency circumstances may require flexibility to switch between approved modalities over the life of the award. See the relevant application section for details on how flexibility can be included in the program description of the award.

● Local procurement - The targeted provision of food or specialized nutritious foods procured within a country affected by an emergency.

● Regional procurement -The targeted provision of food or specialized nutritious foods procured from a country that is within the same continent.

● International procurement - the targeted provision of food or specialized nutritious foods procured from a country that is not located within the same continent as the country in which the commodities will be used. The definition of International procurement does not include procurement from the United States.

International procurement will only be approved under rare circumstances in which neither local/regional markets nor U.S. in-kind food are sufficient to meet the needs in an urgent crisis and will require specific justification.

Note: FFP prioritizes procurement in developing countries. Consequently, for all local, regional and international procurements, country of source and country of origin must be included within the “Lower Middle Income Countries and Territories” level or below on the Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipients list of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) unless the country in which the commodities are to be procured is itself impacted by the same crisis. A commodity’s source is the country from which the seller ships the commodity, and origin is the country in which the commodity was produced. See FFP information Bulletins (FFPIB) for further details on FFP’s policy on source and origin of Local, Regional, and International Procurement (LRIP).

Any deviation from this requirement should be explicitly identified in the application with justification for the requested waiver.

● Title II U.S. in-kind food aid – The targeted provision of U.S. food commodities procured through the regular ordering process or drawn from pre-positioned stocks, as determined by FFP, with associated costs for distribution, transport and storage to food insecure participants in the affected country.

Note: For U.S. in-kind food aid, applicants must request commodities on FFP's commodity price list. Note that specialized food aid commodities, such as ready to use supplementary foods (RUSF) require specifically tailored interventions. Requests for these specialized commodities will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

● Food vouchers - The targeted provision of vouchers that are redeemable for food to participants who are affected by an emergency and who lack economic access to food stocks that are readily available in the local markets of the affected country.

● Cash transfers - The targeted provision of money to participants who lack economic access to food stocks that are readily available in the local markets of the affected country. See the “Essential Complementary Activities” section for details on multipurpose cash assistance.

● Market strengthening - Assistance provided to improve a crisis-affected group’s situation by providing support to a critical market system they rely on, often utilizing a transfer modality as outlined above, but not necessarily at the household level. Support can be provided to market actors, market infrastructures and services, or market environment. Applications proposing market strengthening support must include methods to measure food security related outcomes for the emergency-affected population. Market strengthening is considered a food assistance transfer modality and thus not listed as an “essential complementary activity”, as described below. Market development (i.e., activities intended primarily to promote market linkages that did not exist pre-crisis) will generally be considered outside the scope of emergency response.

http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/daclist.htm http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/daclist.htm https://www.usaid.gov/food-assistance/resources/food-peace-information-bulletins http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00M7N3.pdf http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00M7N3.pdf https://www.usaid.gov/documents/1866/fy2019-commodity-and-ocean-freight-price-estimates https://www.usaid.gov/documents/1866/fy2019-commodity-and-ocean-freight-price-estimates

On an exceptional basis, applicants may propose a Title II funded market access program activity for review and consideration. For additional information on market access programs, see the Market Assistance Program Field Manual.

B. Essential Complementary Activities “Essential Complementary Activities”, as described in this APS, are discrete activities that enhance the overall effectiveness and impact of the food assistance transfer modalities described above, and contribute to the stabilization of household/community availability of, access to, and utilization of nutritious foods. Essential Complementary Activities contribute directly and/or indirectly to the achievement of the emergency-related food security and nutrition objectives when they are programmatically linked to the transfer modality used (e.g. promoting the purchase of more nutritious foods among cash transfer/unrestricted food voucher recipients, while working with market traders to increase the availability of more nutritious foods).

The majority of activity costs should go directly to the activity participants through direct transfers to provide access to nutritious foods. Essential Complementary Activities can be proposed to protect gains made through the transfers but must not exceed 20 percent of the total proposed budget of any application (including all supporting costs such as staff salaries and fringe benefits, equipment, other direct costs, etc.)

For activities proposing Essential Complementary Activities, applications must clearly articulate how these activities will enhance the effectiveness of the selected food assistance transfer(s) in achieving the food security and nutrition objectives of the activity, and how these activities will complement or coordinate with similar activities being implemented by other response actors.

Essential Complementary Activities may include, but are not limited to the following sectors and activities therein:

● Nutrition: Prevention and/or treatment of acute malnutrition:

Management of acute malnutrition o Commodity or financial support for specialized nutritious products (FFP promotes the use of the United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF] and the World Food Program [WFP]-supported pipelines for ready to use foods (RUFs), though exceptions may be considered for buffer stocks or other reasons with substantial justification);

o Community outreach and mobilization to include screening to improve early case detection and referral into treatment programs;

o Activities directed at the improvement of case outcomes including defaulter case tracking and follow up;

o Activities to improve quality through training, capacity building or supportive supervision of community health workers or other actors supporting these programs.

http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADM599.pdf

Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and Women’s Nutrition o Breastfeeding promotion and support to encourage early and optimal breastfeeding practices (early initiation of breastfeeding after birth, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, continued breastfeeding for two years and beyond);

o Improved access to and consumption of age appropriate foods during the complementary feeding period;

o Activities that specifically target pre-pregnant, pregnant and lactating women with nutritious foods;

o Activities that strengthen access to a broader range of foods for improved nutrition of women and children, particularly as paired with cash and voucher transfer programs;

o Activities that build institutional capacity or support within the enabling environment for

IYCF.

For activities proposing nutrition interventions, applicants must clearly articulate how other key stakeholders—particularly government ministries and/or nutrition clusters—are engaging in the sector, and how the proposed activities are filling gaps or otherwise harmonized with the wider response.

● Agriculture: Including agricultural training, capacity strengthening, rebuilding of agricultural assets. Interventions may include provision of approved agricultural commodities such as seeds, tools, and fodder, with appropriate procurement plans for safety and quality monitoring, following ADS and OFDA guidelines. Specific activities related to irrigation, gardening, livestock, or fisheries production and post-harvest handling will be considered.

● Livelihoods: including support for community-level savings and lending groups (but not to include capitalization or recapitalization of savings groups) and restoration of livelihoods whether on-farm, off-farm, or non-farm.

● Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH): including support for water supply hygiene promotion, environmental health (such as solid waste management, drainage, and vector control), and sanitation programming.

● Coordination and Capacity Building Support: including support to clusters, working groups or other sub-cluster entities that are relevant to support a more effective and coordinated food security response to the specific shock, as well as capacity building efforts to ensure effective and efficient food assistance delivery (e.g., food security and livelihoods cluster, nutrition cluster, logistics cluster).

● Efforts to strengthen gender equity, empower youth, or improve cohesion: including support to linkage promotion and dispute resolution mechanisms between identity groups when such factors can be clearly linked to improved food security.

● Disaster Risk Reduction: including activities that strengthen people’s capacity to anticipate, cope with, and recover from future shocks and stresses and that aim to address the underlying causes of disaster, such as lack of knowledge, unplanned urbanization, and environmental degradation, particularly when activities can be directly linked to improved food security.

Note: Applicants are encouraged to use risk-sensitive approaches wherever appropriate whereby key risks, hazards, and mitigation strategies are identified and integrated into the broad range of project interventions that not only meet immediate needs but also strengthen the ability of people to cope with future crises.

C. Multipurpose Cash Assistance

● FFP may authorize funding for multipurpose cash grants either by (a) contributing funding proportional to food needs in an activity with other donors who can cover the proportion of the grants for non-food needs, or by (b) fully funding a multipurpose cash grant as long as the funding for non-food needs fits within the 20 percent Essential Complementary Services cap outlined above.

● For applications that propose a multipurpose cash transfer that includes food commodity costs funded through Food for Peace with the remaining value coming from another donor(s), the associated costs must be attributed proportionately. The food value and all proportionate associated costs must be budgeted under the category of Cash Transfers.

● For applications that propose multipurpose cash assistance for food and non-food purchases under a single award, the non-food transfer value and all non-food associated costs must be counted under the 20 percent cap for Essential Complementary Activities.

Note that Multipurpose Cash Assistance is not an Essential Complementary Activity.

Monetization of commodities will typically not be permitted under this APS.

SECTION B: FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

1. Estimate of Funds Available and Number of Awards Contemplated

The value of awards and expected number of awards will be determined by assessed needs and context in a country to country basis and is subject to the availability of funds. FFP assigns no thresholds for minimum or maximum award or number of awards per response.

USAID plans to make multiple awards in the form of grants or cost-type agreements under this APS. Nevertheless, USAID reserves the right to make awards in the form of cooperative agreements, or not to make any awards at all, or to limit the number of awards made to a particular region or country. There is no limit regarding either the number of applications that an organization may submit or the number of awards FFP may approve for a given region or country or to a specific organization.

2. Start Date and Period of Performance for Federal Awards

Resources available under this APS are prioritized to address immediate emergency relief and recovery food assistance needs. Immediate relief activities should not exceed 12 months in duration and should be justified based on need. For populations that are affected by protracted crises—such as refugees or internally displaced persons—needs must be periodically reassessed. Applications for recovery and protracted response activities should not exceed 18 months. Awards may be subsequently extended based on needs and conditions on the ground, and such funded extensions will typically require a new submission under the criteria outlined in section D of this APS (including a financial and commodity pipeline analysis, a justification of on-going need and updated information such as the risk assessment). Note that in the case of extensions that do not propose any major changes to the type of activities, a concept paper may not be required. Current awardees should contact their Agreement Officer’s Representative to determine whether to seek an extension or request a new award well before the award end date.

This APS is open indefinitely and will remain open until an APS amendment is issued to establish a closing date. Concept papers may be submitted at any time until the APS closes. The timing of specific events such as the agricultural season as well as lead time for commodity procurement should be taken into account when submitting to ensure that key activities will start on time.

USAID intends to review applications as they are submitted, but USAID may issue amendments or addenda to this APS to request concept papers or applications for particular countries or regions of interest. USAID will post amendments or addenda to Grants.gov (through which organizations may sign up to receive notifications of changes), and to the FFP Emergency Food Assistance website.

USAID may issue amendments or addenda to this APS for other reasons, such as to establish deadlines or notify interested parties that no further funding is available.

3. Substantial Involvement

Substantial Involvement is not anticipated under a grant award. If a cooperative agreement is awarded, substantial involvement cannot exceed the limitations noted in ADS 303 and may consist of one or all of the listed elements in that ADS section unless a deviation (i.e., an additional or revised element) is approved in accordance with 303.3.4. Note: ADS 303 applies to NGOs/PVOs while ADS 308 applies to PIOs. Unless otherwise specified in the APS, any reference to the Code of Federal Regulations or the ADS applies to NGOs only.

4. Authorized Geographic Code

The geographic code for the procurement of commodities and services under this program is anticipated to be 935.

5. Nature of the Relationship between USAID and the Recipient The principal purpose of the relationship with the Recipient and under the subject program is to transfer funds to accomplish FFP’s objective to reduce hunger and malnutrition and ensure that adequate, safe and nutritious food is available to, accessible to, and well-utilized by all http://www.grants.gov/ https://www.usaid.gov/food-assistance/what-we-do/emergency-activities individuals at all times to support a healthy and productive life. The successful Recipient will be responsible for ensuring the achievement of the program objectives and the efficient and effective administration of the award through the application of sound management practices.

The Recipient will assume responsibility for administering Federal funds in a manner consistent with underlying agreements, program objectives and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. USAID will require management meetings on a routine basis which may be both face to face and virtual as deemed appropriate by the AOR.

SECTION C: ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. Eligible Applicants

A. For Title II Emergency Food Assistance Activities the applicant must be:

● A private voluntary organization (PVO) or cooperative.

o A PVO is a U.S. private voluntary organization, international private voluntary organization or a local private voluntary organization as defined in 22 CFR 203.2.

o A PVO includes U.S. and non-U.S. nonprofit, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (1) as defined in Section 402 of the Food for Peace Act; and (2) in accordance with ADS 303.

● A public international organization (PIO), such as the United Nations (UN) World Food Program.

● In addition, according to Title II of the FFP Act, USAID may provide Title II resources and agricultural commodities to meet emergency food needs through foreign governments in such a manner and on such terms and conditions as USAID determines appropriate to respond to the emergency.

B. For EFSP Activities the applicant must be:

● A U.S. or non-U.S. NGO, including PVOs.

o An NGO is defined by USAID as any non-governmental organization or entity, whether non-profit or profit-making.

● An organization designated by USAID as a PIO such as the UN World Food Program.

2. Non-eligible Applicants

Under this APS, for both Title II and EFSP, USAID will not accept applications from, or provide resources to individuals, parastatal organizations, or U.S. Government departments and agencies.

Note that USAID will not make EFSP awards to foreign governments.

3. New Partners

USAID welcomes concept papers from organizations that have not previously received financial assistance from USAID. However, awards to these new organizations may be delayed as the USAID Agreement Officer may need to undertake pre-award risk assessments as discussed in ADS 303.3.9. These pre-award risk assessments may affect implementation dates and activities;

http://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/agency-policy/series-300 new partners should take this into account. Potential new partners might wish to consider collaborating with those organizations that have met the criteria described in the ADS in an attempt to expedite review and approval.

4. Cost Share

No cost share is required. Where possible, all applications, particularly those that are recovery-focused, should include activities that are integrated with activities in other sectors, layered with other investments in the same communities, and/or sequenced with activities that will further enhance the food security of the target population.

SECTION D: APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

1. Agency Point of Contact

Potential applicants shall contact the USAID Agreement Officer for this APS through the following mechanisms:

● Contact ffpemergencygrants@usaid.gov with any questions or comments relating to an emergency concept paper or application.

● The APS applies to both new proposed interventions and funded extensions or modifications of existing FFP-funded emergency awards. All submissions should be completed online through about:blank the Partner Portal. This includes revised application documents. Partner Portal can be accessed at Partner Portal Login.

Note: Pre-award contact with any other USG personnel or FFP’s institutional support contractors by an NGO which involves a proposed or submitted concept paper or application in response to this APS may result in disqualification of the concept paper or application unless FFP has provided notification of a deviation from the competitive process per the disaster assistance exception to competition as outlined in ADS 303. Such notifications will include information on any other deviations from the guidance provided in this APS. Otherwise, submissions under the exception to competition will typically follow the same format as described below in section D

2. Questions and Answers

Questions regarding this APS should be submitted to ffpemergencygrants@usaid.gov. Any information given to a prospective applicant concerning this APS will be furnished promptly to all other prospective applicants as an amendment to this APS if that information is necessary in submitting applications or if the lack of it would be prejudicial to any other prospective applicant.

3. General Content and Form of Application

Partner Portal submissions will require a combination of data entry and document uploads for concept papers, applications, and reporting. All uploaded documents should be completed in accordance with the format detailed in this APS and must comply with the following:

● Written in English, single spaced and in 12-point Times New Roman font, all text in tables or charts are allowed to use 8 or10 point Times New Roman font;

● Narratives should be prepared in Microsoft Word or a compatible equivalent, with print areas set to 8.5 x 11 inch, letter-sized paper and one-inch margins, left justification and a footer on each page including page numbers, date of submission, proposed country, and applicant name;

● Spreadsheets (including for budgets) should be prepared in Microsoft Excel or a compatible equivalent, with print areas set to 8.5 x 11 inch, letter-sized paper;

● Official (signed) documents, memoranda and certifications may be submitted as Adobe PDF files; and

● All documents, including budgets, should be presented in a print-ready format.

● Emailed, hard copy, and faxed concept papers and applications are not acceptable.

4. Application Submission Procedures

USAID typically requires applicants to submit a brief concept paper prior to submitting a full application. Applicants may submit concept papers for activities requesting Title II U.S. in-kind https://ffppartnerportal.ofda.gov/ about:blank https://ffppartnerportal.ofda.gov/ resources only, other modalities, or a combination of Title II U.S. in-kind and other modalities, as warranted. Please see below for guidance on how to submit a concept paper.

Applicants need only submit one concept paper, even if they are requesting both in-kind and market-based food assistance resources. Applicants should submit concept papers without specifying the funding source for market-based modalities. USAID will decide how any approved market-based modalities will be funded prior to request for full application.

5. Technical Application Format

A. Concept Paper (5 pages Maximum)

USAID encourages applicants to submit concept papers as soon as possible and applications, if requested, within two weeks in order to ensure the response occurs in a timely manner.

USAID will work with applicants and potential partners to address needed changes should the situation evolve and more information becomes available.

The Concept Paper submission package must include:

1) Activity Overview Table

2) Concept Technical Information (5 page maximum)

3) Budget Overview

4) Map of the proposed target intervention area(s)

Note: Activity Overview Table, Budget Overview and the Map do not count as part of the 5 page maximum.

USAID understands that the information in the concept papers will be preliminary and may change in the final application.

1) Activity Overview Table that may include in-kind food aid resources, market-based modalities, and/or essential complementary activities, as applicable. Applicants must complete and submit the following table in a separate Excel compatible spreadsheet with their concept paper.

Activity Overview Table

Organization Name: Name, Title and E-mail Address of Point of Contact:

Activity Title (if applicable):

Total Funding Level Requested:

Total Operation Funding Level (if Multi-donor):

Start Date of Award: Start Date of Operation (if Multilateral):

End Date of Award: End Date of Operation (if Multilateral):

Country and Geographic Administrative Unit(s) (in the country):

Activity Category Activity Detail Modality District Region

Cash/ Voucher Transfer Amount ($ if applicable)

Commodity Transfer Amount (Kg if applicable)

Percentage of kcal needs met by Transfer

Unit of Transfer

Number of Distributi ons

Frequency of Distribution

Number of Households

Number of Individuals

Total Transfer Value

Total Commodity Transfer (Tonnage if Applicable)

Other Costs (Freight, Staffing, Overhead) Total Cost

For Work (Cash/Food/Vouchers)

Cash for Work

Cash Transfer

Pulaski, Lonoke Central $100 0.00 kg 70% Household 6 Monthly 5,000 30,000 $3,000,000 0.00 MT $1,500,000 $4,500,00

General Distribution (Cash/Food/Vouchers)

General

Food Distribution

In-Kind (U.S.) Poinsett Delta N/A 17.00 kg 100% Individual 6 Monthly 5,000 30,000 $2,500,000 3.06 MT $2,000,000 $4,500,00

Hygiene Promotion

Essential complem entary Activity

Pulaski, Lonoke, Poinsett

Central, Delta N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 5,000 30,000 $0 0.00 MT $2,200,000 $2,200,00

2) Concept Technical Information (must not exceed five pages)

Concept papers that exceed this limit may be rejected without review.

a. Emergency Description (half a page to one page) Explain the food and nutrition security emergency. Provide details outlining what portion of the population has been affected by the food security emergency (breadth) and the severity of current and projected food insecurity at the household level (depth) as they relate to the conditions in a normal year.

Recognizing the need for rapid action and that available information will vary significantly based on stage of the emergency and context, please provide, as available:

● Specific indicators of acute food and nutrition insecurity in the targeted geographic area

Depending on the stage of the emergency, this might include leading indicators (such as rainfall, projected yields, Famine Early Warning Systems Network [FEWS NET] projections, disruption of livelihoods, disruption of markets, price volatility, displacement, etc.) or following indicators (such as food consumption score, household hunger scale, coping strategies index, or seasonally atypical levels of malnutrition) as well as qualitative findings.

The level of detail should reflect data available at time of submission and outline any ongoing or planned assessments that would influence activity design.

● Scale and Context

How many people are affected and how severely in the targeted geographic area? How does that compare to the overall population in the targeted geographic area? How do current conditions (agricultural yields, malnutrition levels, etc.) compare to the seasonal trend historically? Relative to the five year average? Has the government declared an emergency or asked for international assistance?

● Social Dynamic

Briefly describe the targeted community context with particular regard to ongoing tensions among identity groups and other aspects of social cohesion that need to inform the response, including attention to age and gender factors.

● Gap Analysis

Who are the other food security actors in the proposed geographic area? How are you coordinating this food security activity with other humanitarian and government actors to maximize impact and avoid duplication?

● A map highlighting the proposed geographic target areas (with administrative units shown) (This map does not count as part of the 5 page maximum.)

If a published assessment is used (e.g., a UN appeal), cite the source including title, author, and date of publication. If citing assessment findings that are not publicly available, please include a copy of the assessment as an attachment to the concept paper, if possible.

b. Activity Summary and Objective (no more than one page).

This section should present a succinct summary of the overall design of the activity. It should provide basic information on who will be targeted with what interventions/modalities, when, where, and how the assistance will be provided, and why the activity design is appropriate given the identified needs, scale, context, social dynamics, and assistance gaps presented in the emergency description.

● How did you determine the size of the ration or transfer?

● How do any planned restrictions or conditionalities planned contribute to achieving program objectives?

c. Modality Rationale (Use the remaining page length for Rationale).

Explain the rationale used to select the proposed modality/ies based on the population’s emergency food and nutrition security needs presented in the “emergency description” above.

Please respond to each of the criteria below.

● Market Appropriateness

Describe what type of assessment or analysis has been conducted to date to identify the most appropriate response modality based on market conditions. This section should be data-driven to the extent possible and based on information available at time of submission (either internally or from secondary sources). Note: FFP understands that immediately following rapid onset disasters, information may be limited and this should not preclude a concept note submission.

o Is there an adequate supply and diversity of food commodities on source markets to meet participant needs?

o Are source markets sufficiently integrated with regional/international markets to adapt quickly to changes in demand?

o Is there sufficient competition to mitigate collusion, price fixing, and other potential negative impacts on the program?

o Is there a risk that the proposed modality would adversely affect current levels of competition, collusion, prices, and/or supply?

o Is price volatility a risk in the current context that would affect the chosen modality?

o Is there any risk of the chosen modality creating disincentives to production or competing with more sustainable livelihood activities?

o Have you identified any other risks or possible benefits to local markets that influenced your choice of modality?

● Feasibility

Briefly discuss major operational constraints that factored into the choice of response modality and delivery mechanism. Elements to consider include:

o Timeliness: Will the modality allow for a timely response to the humanitarian needs?

o Delivery mechanism: What are the available financial service providers (FSPs), including mobile money providers? What are their capacities, coverage, reliability, and ability to meet program needs? Is the target population able to meet any applicable 'Know Your Customer' (KYC) requirements (i.e., identity verification requirements imposed by the service provider or national law)? How do participants prefer to receive money? Please address separately how men and women, young and old access and benefit from digital cash and mobile money services? What delivery options are safest, most convenient, and most accountable, including data protection concerns?

o Market accessibility: Do target populations have regular and safe access to markets? Are they within a reasonable distance? Please answer these questions separately for women and men, young and old.

o Security: Given security risks and humanitarian access, is the proposed modality feasible?

o Market infrastructure: What is the state of the transportation and storage infrastructure?

o Risk mitigation: Are there adequate risk mitigation measures in place (risk mitigation plan, accountability mechanisms)?

o Operational Capacity: Is there adequate operational support and staff to effectively utilize the chosen modality? Is there adequate technical expertise and capacity to successfully deploy the selected modality?

o Political environment: Is the modality permitted and/or acceptable to relevant authorities?

● Activity Objectives o Strategic Approach: Are there specific dimensions of food or nutrition security for the affected population that the activity is trying to address and can be met more effectively by some modalities than others? In what way has the activity been intentionally designed to include population groups particularly vulnerable to food insecurity?

o Strategic Approach: Is the proposed activity part of a broader response package or multi-agency strategy?

o Preference: Has the modality considered participant preferences? Were the preferences of different groups within the population considered?

o Protection: Are there specific modalities which could mitigate or exacerbate protection concerns at both the intra-household and community levels? Have potential impacts been assessed from an inclusive perspective (age, diversity, gender, disability)?

o Gender: What are the concerns regarding impact on gender dynamics and resource allocation?

o Vulnerable Populations: What are the specific concerns of vulnerable populations addressed through the modality? To what extent have all potentially food insecure population groups been included in the modality?

o Conflict Sensitivity: How might resource transfers mitigate or exacerbate conflict dynamics at community or household levels?

o Sectoral Objectives: Is the modality an effective means to achieving sector-specific objectives? What are the consumption habits, cultural behaviors, or other dynamics which should be considered?

o Essential Complementary Activities: If funding for Essential Complementary Activities is requested, explain how these activities directly or indirectly contribute to the achievement of the food and nutrition objective(s), as well as how they will strengthen the overall impact of the food assistance transfer modality/ies proposed.

o FFP’s emergency mandate necessitates the prioritization of life-saving food security interventions, and there are often trade-offs between essential complementary activities and the number of people it is possible to assist. Essential complementary activities should be described and justified with this in mind. Please also indicate whether your organization has approached USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance for funding of these or similar activities.

● Cost Efficiency

Among modalities that have been determined to be market appropriate, feasible, and capable of achieving the desired objectives, is the proposed intervention a cost efficient way to meet the humanitarian needs? If the proposed modality or delivery mechanism is not the most efficient (per the calculation below), what considerations or tradeoffs went into the decision? If available, you may choose to cite any studies, pilots, evaluations, etc. relevant to the implementation country to support your decision.

Any relevant data available on cost effectiveness—e.g., comparative cost to achieve a specific outcome—of a particular approach in a country may be presented in this section to justify the proposed concept.

In the absence of evidence on costs to achieve outcomes, FFP requires that applicants provide a comparison of the ration-specific costs (e.g., transfer value or commodity and freight) of the proposed activity relative to an equivalent Title II program. Savings should be indicated as percentage and absolute value.

o For LRIP programs, use the Title II commodity calculator available on the FFP website to construct a Title II food basket of equivalent nutritional value for the sake of comparison.

o For Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) (which includes both unrestricted cash transfers and food vouchers), identify the intended percentage of food needs met and convert that into an equivalent food aid basket (exact commodities do not need to match) to estimate required volume of Title II commodities via the Title II commodity calculator. This conversion may be based on the commodity composition of other in-kind programming taking place in the same country.

If requesting both in-kind and CVA, in addition to the above, please explain how the two will complement each other.

FFP acknowledges that this comparison methodology is not inclusive of all cost categories and that last mile delivery costs for cash and voucher programming may be less than in-kind https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/agriculture-and-food-security/food-assistance/resources/implementation-tools https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/agriculture-and-food-security/food-assistance/resources/implementation-tools modalities. Additional costs borne by program participants should be factored into decision-making, and may also be quantified in the modality justification.

3) Budget Overview At this concept paper stage, applicants should include estimated commodity and freight costs for Local, Regional and International Procurement (LRIP), transfer values, and/or costs directly related to essential complementary activity implementation but do not have to itemize other costs.

4) Map of the proposed target area(s) Include a map that clearly identifies the geographic locations to be targeted by the activities, with as much specificity as can reasonably be managed based on the urgency of the response and scaled to an administrative level appropriate for the activity coverage.

For concept paper evaluation see SECTION E: APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION of this APS.

B. Application (15 pages maximum)

Based upon the evaluation of the Concept Paper, USAID may request a full application for further consideration. The request for a full application is not a commitment by USAID to fund the proposed activity or portion thereof. The decision to submit a full application is at the applicant’s sole discretion. USAID reserves the right to reject an application without review if the assumptions and/or circumstances underlying the approval of the concept paper have changed significantly. Therefore, applicants are urged to submit full applications within two weeks of being invited to do so.

Full applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis in accordance with the criteria set forth in the Merit Review Criteria section below. After review of an application, either an award decision will be made, or—if deemed necessary—written and/or verbal discussions/negotiations will be conducted with applicants who submit the most highly-rated applications. After the conclusion of any such discussions/negotiations and unless otherwise advised, applicants will be required to submit revised applications which will be re-evaluated against the merit review evaluation criteria.

If necessary, USAID may conduct more than one round of discussions/negotiations and may request more than one revised application.

The application process has been designed to minimize the time needed for award approval.

While there is no time limit or approval deadline associated with the APS application review process, USAID will make award decisions as quickly as possible.

All applications should include the following:

Technical Documentation (15 Pages maximum)

1) Activity Overview Table Required

2) Emergency Description Required

3) Activity Design and Description Required

4) Operations and Logistics Required

Supporting Documentation (Annexes)

5) Organizational Risk Assessment* Required

6) Protection Risk Assessment* Required

7) Inventory Oversight Required as applicable

8) Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Plan* Required

9) Cost Application /Budget/ Budget Narrative*

Required

10) USAID Environmental Regulations (Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment

(EIA))

Encouraged

11) Signed Certifications, Assurances, and Other Statements of Applicant and/or Recipient*

Required

12) System for Award Management (SAM) Required

13) Financial Documents/Indirect Cost Rates

(NICRA)

Required

14) Federal Forms (SF-424 and any relevant attachments)*

Required

15) Branding Strategy and Marking Plan* Encouraged (required before award)

16) Safety and…