McGovern Dole - Q & A Responses Week of March 11-15 2024.pdf
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- Opportunity number
- USDA-FAS-10608-0700-24
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This document consists of Questions and Answers related to the Fiscal Year 2024 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. The key details are as follows:
The McGovern-Dole program aims to reduce hunger and improve literacy and primary education, especially for girls, by providing school meals, teacher training, and related support. USDA/FAS will accept applications for projects in priority countries including Angola, Bangladesh, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Laos, Malawi, and Rwanda, with a focus on countries that do not currently have active McGovern-Dole projects.
The Q&A addresses issues around reporting on cost share, use of insurance plans, the status of project evaluations, and requirements for the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). Applicants are advised that any entity in the process of applying for a UEI may be included in the application, but the UEI must be in place by the time the agreement enters into effect. The full NOFO and associated documents are available on Grants.gov.
McGovern Dole - Q & A Responses Week of March 11-15 2024
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McGovern-Dole FY2024 Notice of Funding Opportunity
Questions and Answers
Week of March 11-15, 2024
1. Q: Can USDA share ongoing McGovern-Dole project evaluations
A: Please refer to Questions and Answers from Week 4-8, 2024. “It is true that not all approved evaluations are currently available on the Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC);
USDA is experiencing a posting backlog. USDA will prioritize posting evaluations for priority countries over the next few months and recommends that organizations continue to check the DEC regularly. However, organizations may also request copies of the evaluations by emailing the address available in the McGovern-Dole NOFO (PPDED@usda.gov). If available, USDA can directly send approved evaluations to any requestor, should they not be posted publicly yet.”
2. Q: In a McGovern-Dole project, would an insurance plan for schools/gardens/storage rooms that are damaged by floods and other disasters be an allowable expense?
A: At this time, insurance plans for schools, gardens and storage rooms is not a cost covered under McGovern-Dole projects. USDA will work with implementing organizations and make project adjustments in the event of unforeseen natural disasters.
3. Q: Understanding that applicants are accountable for cost share included in the application, would reporting on cost share through the semi-annual narrative report be an acceptable way to document progress made towards cost share? Certain types of contributions to the project, such as community contributions, are difficult to predict accurately. Can these contributions be included as estimates? If so, what penalty would there be if the estimated contribution level is not reached?
A: Please reference page 19, Section 7 of the NOFO, Cost Share or Match. “USDA/FAS encourages, but does not require, cost sharing and matching (see 2 CFR section 200.306 and 7 CFR section 1599.2) to maximize program impacts and engender in-country sustainability.”
Recipients should report on the cost-share portion of the project budget in their Semi-Annual Financial Reports.
Voluntary cost sharing is a type of leveraging when an applicant voluntarily proposes to legally commit to provide costs or contributions to support the project when a cost share is not required.
The recipient is legally obligated to meet any proposed voluntary cost share that is included in the approved project budget because the agreement includes the voluntary cost share. A recipient who during the agreement’s period of performance fails to provide a proposed voluntary cost share that was evaluated and included in the approved project budget on the application forms is in breach of the agreement and the federal awarding agency can take enforcement actions authorized by the regulations and consider the failure as part of any past performance evaluation during future grant competitions.
4. Q: If a prospective sub-recipient is in the process of applying for a UEI, can they be included in the application with a note that the UEI is pending? We currently have several examples of organizations taking 6 months-1 year to receive their UEI number (in particular government entities). As government capacity building is a critical part of the sustainability strategy for projects, it is important that implementers be able to partner with governments, which often take longer to receive UEI numbers than other types of organizations.
A: Yes, any entity is in process of applying for a UEI, may be included in the application. If an organization is awarded a McGovern-Dole project, all UEIs will need to be in place at the time of agreement enters into effect. For further information on the Unique Entity Identifier, please reference page 17 of the NOFO, section 4. UNIQUE ENTITY IDENTIFIER AND SYSTEM
FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (SAM).
5. Q: Where can applicants access all documents for the Fiscal Year 2024 McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program?
A: The Fiscal Year 2024 Notice of Funding Opportunity for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program has been published to Grants.gov, all available documents are accessible via this URL link: (https://grants.gov/search-results-detail/352719).
https://grants.gov/search-results-detail/352719
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