NOFO IFSTA Africa School Meals (FINAL).pdf

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

Enhancing African Women Farmers’ Capacity to Participate in School Meals Value Chains

Application Submission Deadline: August 9, 2024

Summary The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA/FAS), Global Programs, Agricultural Economic Development announces this competitive notice of funding opportunity to support the Technical Agricultural Assistance Program by issuing a new award(s).

This opportunity is available to State cooperative institutions or other colleges and universities in the United States, as defined at 7 USC 3103. It is intended to enhance African women farmers’ capacity to participate in school meals value chains, through agricultural education following a Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) program approach.

A. Program Description

The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to support technical assistance to enhance the capacity of women farmers to participate in school meals value chains in one or two of the following three African countries: Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. The countries are members of the global School Meals Coalition (https://schoolmealscoalition.org/global-summit- 2023) and have participated in or are currently participating in internationally funded school meals programs. School meals value chains link farmers/producers, traders, processors, and consumers within a national program for providing meals to students. Home-grown School Feeding (HGSF) is an approach designed to provide school meals to students using foods sourced locally. For this NOFO, the focus is to enhance the capacity of African women’s participation in school meals value chains through a HGSF program approach, that links them to an existing school meals program.

The recipient will enhance local women farmers’ capacities to produce and provide nutritious food and food products for school meals value chains in an efficient and economically successful way. In addition, the recipient will support the goals of the target country’s (or countries’) international or national school meals programs (e.g., McGovern-Dole, World Food Programme, Save the Children, and others). School meals programs are programs where students are provided nutritious meals in schools. Project activities must focus on addressing common challenges to women’s participation in school meals value chains such as improving crop yields, supply chain efficiency, business practices, food safety and quality of school meals, reducing food loss and waste, logistics, and connecting with buyers.

This project will address USDA/FAS’s commitment to increase the success of school meals programs globally, while increasing USDA/FAS’s engagement in Africa and ongoing

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Foreign Agricultural Service https://schoolmealscoalition.org/global-summit-2023 https://schoolmealscoalition.org/global-summit-2023 commitment to women farmers. This project will also expand nutrition-sensitive, food-assisted social safety nets; support human capital development; and increase gender equality and equity within the food system. The recipient must create a linkage between an existing school meals program (funded by the country itself or other countries) and local women farmers who will contribute to the long -term impact of this technical assistance. The recipient is not to establish a new school meals program.

Program Objectives

1) To enhance and promote the economically successful participation of women farmers in school meals value chains in one or two of these three countries: Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda.

The applicant must identify (or establish if needed) a women’s cooperative, agricultural association or farmer group and provide it with technical assistance. The technical assistance must address common challenges to women’s economically successful participation in a school meals value chain. Areas the applicant should address include increasing crop yields, augmenting supply chain efficiency, improving business practices, increasing food safety and quality, reducing food loss and waste, logistics, resilience under climate change. and connecting women farmers with buyers of food for school meals.

2) To help ensure the project’s accomplishments sustain beyond the end of the project, by a) disseminating information to, and engaging with a relevant set of policy makers including representatives of government (departments/ministries of agriculture, health, education and finance), non-government organizations (NGOs), private industry, international donors, or other institutions; and b) identifying or recommending other action areas for post-project sustainability.

Additional background information:

The global School Meals Coalition was launched at the UN Summit on Food Systems in September 2021, and it brings together 97 member countries and 127 partners. At the 2023 ministerial-level global meeting in France, the coalition set several objectives for 2030. The target countries for this NOFO, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania, are international school feeding program beneficiaries and School Meals Coalition members. The proposed project is in line with the School Meals Coalition objectives related to HGSF programs, as it enhances the capacity of women through farming, cooperatives, direct employment, and capacity building. Women comprise a significant share of agricultural producers, the agricultural labor force, and are marketers of farm products.

Funding Opportunity Number

USDA-FAS-10960-0700-10.-24-0008

Assistance Listing Number

10.960 Technical Agricultural Assistance

Authorizing Legislation National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, PL 95-113, as amended, 7 USC §§ 3291 & 3319a

B. Federal Award Information Total Available Federal Funding: $617,000

Anticipated Number of Awards: 1

Cost Share/Match Requirement: None/Not Required

Projected Period of Performance Start: September 16, 2024

Projected Period of Performance End: September 15, 2027

Type of Assistance Instrument: USDA/FAS anticipates that a Cost-Reimbursable Agreement will be funded pursuant to this funding opportunity.

This type of agreement allows for a collaborative relationship between USDA/FAS, the selected recipient, and other collaborating partners. The particular scope and depth of this collaboration may vary throughout performance, depending on the needs of the activity and the desires of the participants.

Additional Awards USDA/FAS reserves the right to make additional awards under this solicitation, consistent with Agency policy and guidance, if additional funding becomes available after the original selections are made. Any additional selections for awards will be made no later than 6 months after the original selection decisions.

No Awards USDA/FAS reserves the right to make no awards under this competition.

C. Eligibility Information

Eligible Applicants:

State cooperative institutions or other colleges and universities in the United States, as defined at

7 USC 3103.

All applicants must have an active registration in the U.S. Government System for Award Management (www.sam.gov) before the application submission deadline of the announcement;

applicants with inactive, expired, pending, or excluded listings will be deemed ineligible.

Exceptions, waivers, or extensions will not be considered. Please contact the program officer(s) listed in Section G, Federal Awarding Agency Contact, if you have questions about this requirement.

Cost Share/Match Requirement: None/Not Required

Ineligible activities: If an application is submitted that includes any ineligible tasks or activities, that portion of the application will be ineligible for funding and may, depending on the extent to which it affects the application, render the entire application ineligible for funding.

Multiple Applications/Awards An individual applicant may not submit more than one application in response to this NOFO, and may not be offered more than one award.

Substantial Compliance All applications will be reviewed for eligibility and must meet the eligibility requirements described in Section C to be considered eligible. Applicants deemed ineligible for funding consideration as a result of the threshold eligibility review will be notified 7 calendar days of the ineligibility determination.

Applications must substantially comply with the application submission instructions and requirements set forth in Section D of this solicitation or else they will be rejected. However, where a page limit is expressed in Section D with respect to the application, or parts thereof, pages in excess of the page limitation will not be reviewed. Applicants are advised that readability is of paramount importance and should take precedence in application format, including selecting a legible font type and size for use in the application.

While these guidelines may establish the minimum type size requirements, applicants are advised that readability is of paramount importance and should take precedence in selection of an appropriate font for use in the application.

Evidence of Eligibility Applicants are responsible for including documentation, if necessary, establishing that they meet the stated eligibility requirements, when it is not immediately obvious. Applicants should not presume that USDA/FAS is sufficiently familiar with their organization that this is unnecessary, and USDA/FAS will not make assumptions as to the nature of the applicant’s organization.

D. Application and Submission Information This announcement contains all information necessary to apply to this funding opportunity.

Submission Dates and Times Application Submission Deadline: August 9, 2024 at 11:59pm EDT (UTC -04:00) Applications received after this time will not be accepted. Applicants are advised to make their submissions 1-2 days before this deadline in case of computer problems.

Anticipated Award Date: September 16, 2024

Content and Form of Application Submission A complete application package must include:

• Standard Form SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance, showing the Unique Entity Identifier, and signed by the applicant

• Standard Form SF-424A, Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs, showing the budget categorization. Applicants are advised to consult 2 CFR 200 Subpart E for guidance on proper categorization of cost items. An improper categorization will not itself be grounds for a determination of ineligibility, but may delay approval and/or adversely impact the application’s evaluation scoring.

• A detailed budget and budget narrative, in which cost items are quantified and described in sufficient detail to enable USDA/FAS to independently determine that the proposed costs are reasonable and allowable for the project and consistent with applicable regulations.

o Indirect costs are statutorily capped at 10% for cost reimbursable agreements.

o The detailed budget and narrative should reflect a total of $617,000 for the period of performance with a break down for every year A detailed project narrative of the Technical Approach and Evaluation Plan of no more than twelve (12) pages in length, single spaced. Pages in excess of the page limit will not be reviewed. It must include the following elements:

i. Rationale for selecting the target countries (one or two).

ii. Detailed description of specific project objectives, desired outcomes and how outcomes will be accomplished.

iii. Description of relevant experience to carry out this project, including names and positions of people who will lead the project (Note: CVs of people leading the project should be included as supplemental documents and not placed within the project narrative).

iv. Detailed description and relevance of potential on-the-ground partners or collaborators and their proposed roles. Demonstrated support from proposed on-the-ground partners or collaborators, such as through letters of support, Memorandums of Understanding, should be noted in the narrative and included as supplemental documents (thus these documents are not placed within the project narrative itself).

v. Measures of project success relevant for indicating level of women farmers’ participation, participating women farmers’ economic success, and quality and quantity of women-farmer-produced content in school meals.

vi. Description of action plan and recommendations for post-project sustainability.

• Supplemental documents (CVs of key personnel, letters of support from potential in-country partners, Memorandums of Understanding with potential in-country partners, etc.) should be included, but are separate from the project narrative and thus not part of the project narrative page limit.

• Standard Form SF-LLL, Disclosure of Lobbying Activities, if applicable to the applicant

Programmatic Capability and Past Performance

Submit a list of federally [and/or non-federally] funded assistance agreements (assistance agreements include Federal grants and cooperative agreements but not Federal contracts) that your organization performed within the last three years (no more than 5 agreements, and preferably USDA or USDA/FAS agreements) and describe:

(i) whether, and how, you were able to successfully complete and manage those agreements; and

(ii) your history of meeting the reporting requirements under those agreements including whether you adequately and timely reported on your progress towards achieving the expected outputs and outcomes of those agreements (and if not, explain why not) and whether you submitted acceptable final technical reports under the agreements; and

(iii) your organizational experience and plan for timely and successfully achieving the objectives of the proposed project, and your staff expertise/qualifications, staff knowledge, and resources or the ability to obtain them, to successfully achieve the goals of the proposed project.

In evaluating applicants under these factors in Section E, USDA/FAS will consider the information provided by the applicant and may also consider relevant information from other sources, including information from USDA/FAS files and from current/prior grantors (e.g., to verify and/or supplement the information provided by the applicant). If you do not have any relevant or available past performance or past reporting information, please indicate this in the application and you will receive a neutral score for these factors (a neutral score is half of the total points available in a subset of possible points). If you do not provide any response for these items, you may receive a score of 0 for these factors

Unique entity identifier and System for Award Management (SAM) Each applicant is required to:

(i) Have an active registration in SAM before submitting its application;

(ii) Have assented to the federal assistance certifications in the SAM platform;

(iii) Provide a valid Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) in its application; and

Continue to maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active Federal award or an application or plan under consideration by a Federal awarding agency

SAM.gov Registration Instructions Organizations applying to this funding opportunity must have an active SAM.gov registration. If you have never done business with the Federal Government, you will need to register your organization in SAM.gov. If you do not have a SAM.gov account, then you will create an account using login.gov1 to complete your SAM.gov registration. SAM.gov registration is FREE. The process for entity registrations includes obtaining Unique Entity ID (UEI), a 12-character alphanumeric ID assigned an entity by SAM.gov, and requires assertions, representations and certifications, and other information about your organization. Please review the Entity Registration Checklist for details on this process.

Entities outside the United States (defined at 2 CFR 200.1 as “foreign organizations” and “foreign public entities”) must obtain a NATO Commercial and Government Entity (NCAGE) Code prior to SAM.gov registration An NCAGE is required for all foreign entities prior to registering in SAM.gov. You can complete the registration once you enter the NCAGE. You can

1 Login.gov a secure sign in service used by the public to sign into Federal Agency systems including SAM.gov and Grants.gov. For help with login.gov accounts you should visit http://login.gov/help.

https://login.gov/ https://www.fsd.gov/sys_attachment.do?sys_id=622e0a761b8fe114cc45ea04bc4bcb9a https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-A/subject-group-ECFR2a6a0087862fd2c/section-200.1#p-200.1(Foreign%20organization) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-A/subject-group-ECFR2a6a0087862fd2c/section-200.1#p-200.1(Foreign%20public%20entity) http://login.gov/help submit your request for an NCAGE Code by going to the NATO Support Activity (NSPA) NCAGE Request Tool at CAGE/NCAGE Code Request which contains detailed instructions.

If you have done business with the Federal Government previously, you can check your entity status using your government issued UEI to determine if your registration is active. SAM.gov requires you renew your registration every 365 days to keep it active.

Please note that SAM.gov registration is different than obtaining a UEI only. Obtaining an UEI only validates your organization’s legal business name and address. Please review the Frequently Asked Question on the difference for additional details.

Organizations should ensure that their SAM.gov registration includes a current e-Business (EBiz) point of contact name and email address. The EBiz point of contact is critical for Grants.gov Registration and system functionality.

Contact the Federal Service Desk for help with your SAM.gov account, to resolve technical issues or chat with a help desk agent: (866) 606-8220. The Federal Service desk hours of operation are Monday – Friday 8am – 8pm ET.

Intergovernmental Review Executive Order 12372, Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs, may be applicable to awards resulting from this announcement. USDA implemented the Executive Order in 2 CFR

415.5. USDA/FAS may require applicants selected for funding to provide a copy of their application to their State Point of Contact (SPOC) for review. These reviews are not required before submitting an application. Only applicants that USDA/FAS selects for funding under this announcement are subject to the Intergovernmental Review requirement. For more information about USDA’s implementation for Intergovernmental Review, please visit https://www.usda.gov/ocfo/federal-financial-assistance-policy/intergovernmental-review#:~:text=Executive%20Order%20(EO)%2012372%2C,of%20proposed%20Federal%20fi nancial%20assistance.

Funding Restrictions Generally, funds may not be used in any manner that is prohibited by applicable regulations, including 2 CFR Part 200 and 2 CFR Part 400. Awards issued pursuant to this notice of funding opportunity may only be used for the purpose set forth in the award, consistent with the statutory authority for the award. Capital expenses, such as the purchase of equipment, not entirely attributable to this award, must be pro-rated.

For example, agreement funds and other support may not be used for matching contributions for other federal grants or cooperative agreements, lobbying, or intervention in federal regulatory or adjudicatory proceedings. Federal employees are prohibited from acting as an agent of the applicant in any capacity (paid or unpaid) on any proposal submitted under this program. Also, federal funds may not be used to sue the Federal Government or any other government entity.

Compensation for personal services: Employees, consultants, or other personnel, including those of subrecipients, and regardless of the method of engagement, may not exceed the pro-rata https://eportal.nspa.nato.int/AC135Public/CageTool/home https://www.fsd.gov/gsafsd_sp?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0051214&sys_kb_id=dd40f4ef1b9641d0937fa64ce54bcb7a&spa=1 https://www.fsd.gov/gsafsd_sp?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0051214&sys_kb_id=dd40f4ef1b9641d0937fa64ce54bcb7a&spa=1 https://www.fsd.gov/gsafsd_sp https://www.usda.gov/ocfo/federal-financial-assistance-policy/intergovernmental-review#:%7E:text=Executive%20Order%20(EO)%2012372%2C,of%20proposed%20Federal%20financial%20assistance https://www.usda.gov/ocfo/federal-financial-assistance-policy/intergovernmental-review#:%7E:text=Executive%20Order%20(EO)%2012372%2C,of%20proposed%20Federal%20financial%20assistance https://www.usda.gov/ocfo/federal-financial-assistance-policy/intergovernmental-review#:%7E:text=Executive%20Order%20(EO)%2012372%2C,of%20proposed%20Federal%20financial%20assistance equivalent of GS-15 on the General Schedule (for 2024, $159,950 per year, $612.84 per day, or $76.60 per hour). Non-monetizable fringe benefits, such as health insurance coverage, are not included to this ceiling.

Indirect Costs: In general, costs incurred for a common or joint purpose benefitting more than one cost objective but not readily assignable to specific awards, without effort disproportionate to the results achieved, are considered indirect costs. These may include facilities not specific to individual projects, enterprise-wide services such as IT, and enterprise management. For cost-reimbursable agreements, indirect costs may not exceed 10% of direct costs, as stipulated at 7 USC 3319a.

Other Submission Information Applications should be submitted by email to the program officer(s) listed in Section G

Applicants who require assistance with any USDA-managed computer system should reach out to the program officer(s) listed in Section G, Federal Awarding Agency Contact, at least 5 business days in advance of the application submission deadline. Applicants should provide as much detail as possible to facilitate resolution of the issue.

E. Application Review Information

Review and Selection Process In all cases, the agency will conduct an initial responsiveness review of all applications submitted to determine:

1) The application was submitted on time as specified in this announcement (See Section D. Application and Submission Information);

2) The applicant is eligible (see Section C. Eligibility Information);

3) All the required forms and documents are submitted no later than the Application Submission Deadline specified in Section D. Application and Submission Information, Content and Form of Application Submission.

If an applicant is determined to be ineligible or an application is determined to be incomplete, the agency will notify the applicant prior to commencing with evaluation of applications, usually within 5 business days of the Application Submission Deadline. An applicant that feels such a determination is made in error may request reconsideration, highlighting evidence supporting their claim, by email to the program officer(s) listed in Section G, Federal Awarding Agency Contact, within 3 business days of notification.

Prior to selection, the agency may contact the applicant to seek clarification and to negotiate technical and programmatic aspects of the application. If an application includes a subaward, FAS may request to speak with all parties included in the application to ensure sufficient planning and coordination has taken place prior to making an award.

Evaluation Criteria Each eligible application will be evaluated according to the criteria set forth below. Applicants must directly and explicitly address the evaluation factors in their application.

Technical Approach and Evaluation Plan (60 points) Applications will be evaluated on the extent and quality to which their project narrative fulfills the objectives of the work as outlined in Section A. This includes the strength of proposed approach on the following elements:

i. Rationale for selecting the target countries (up to two). (5 points)

ii. Detailed description of specific project objectives, desired outcomes and how outcomes will be accomplished. (15 points)

iii. Description of relevant experience to carry out this project, including names and positions of people who will lead the project (Note: CVs of people leading the project should be included as supplemental documents and not placed within the project narrative). (10 points)

iv. Detailed description and relevance of potential on-the-ground partners or collaborators and their proposed roles. Demonstrated support from proposed on-the-ground partners or collaborators, such as through letters of support, Memorandums of Understanding, should be noted in the narrative and included as supplemental documents (thus these documents are not placed within the project narrative itself). (10 points)

v. Measures of project success relevant for indicating level of women farmers’ participation, participating women farmers’ economic success, and quality and quantity of women-farmer-produced content in school meals. (10 points)

vi. Describe action plan and recommendations for post-project sustainability. (10 points)

Budget (20 points) Applicants will be evaluated on the reasonableness, cost-effectiveness, and adequacy of the proposed budget to accomplish the project, along with the extent and quality to which the budget documents are detailed, organized, in-scope, and appropriate, including:

i. Applicant’s demonstration that the proposed budget is appropriate for the number of activities, type of activities, and number of participants.

ii. Applicant’s use of a detailed budget table and budget narrative that utilizes cost item categories and includes appropriate cost savings where available.

Programmatic Capability and Past Performance (15 points) Under this criterion, applicants will be evaluated based on their ability to successfully complete and manage the proposed project considering their:

(i) past performance in successfully completing and managing the assistance agreements identified in response to Section D of the solicitation,

(ii) history of meeting the reporting requirements under the assistance agreements identified in response to Section D of the solicitation including whether the applicant submitted acceptable final technical reports under those agreements and the extent to which the applicant adequately and timely reported on their progress towards achieving the expected outputs and outcomes under those agreements and if such progress was not being made whether the applicant adequately reported why not,

(iii) organizational experience and plan for timely and successfully achieving the objectives of the proposed project, and

(iv) staff expertise/qualifications, staff knowledge, and resources or the ability to obtain them, to successfully achieve the goals of the proposed project.

Note: In evaluating applicants under items i and ii of this criterion, USDA/FAS will consider the information provided by the applicant and may also consider relevant information from other sources including agency files and prior/current grantors (e.g., to verify and/or supplement the information supplied by the applicant). If you do not have any relevant or available past performance or past reporting information, please indicate this in the application and you will receive a neutral score for these subfactors (items i and ii above-a neutral score is half of the total points available in a subset of possible points). If you do not provide any response for these items, you may receive a score of 0 for these factors.

Overall Quality (5 points) Applications will be evaluated on comprehensiveness, completeness, and correct spelling and grammar.

Integrity in Performance Prior to making a Federal award, the Federal awarding agency is required by 31 USC 3321 and 41 USC 2313 to review information available through any OMB-designated repositories of government-wide eligibility qualification or financial integrity information. Therefore application evaluation criteria may include the following risk based considerations of the applicant: (1) financial stability; (2) quality of management systems and ability to meet management standards; (3) history of performance in managing federal award; (4) reports and findings from audits; and (5) ability to effectively implement statutory, regulatory, or other requirements.

Prior to making a Federal award with a total amount of Federal share greater than the simplified acquisition threshold, currently $250,000, the federal agency is required to review and consider any information about the applicant that is in the designated integrity and performance system accessible through SAM.gov (currently FAPIIS).

• An applicant, at its option, may review information in the designated integrity and performance systems accessible through SAM.gov and comment on any information about itself that a Federal awarding agency previously entered and is currently in the designated integrity and performance system accessible through SAM.gov.

• The Federal awarding agency will consider any comments by the applicant, in addition to the other information in the designated integrity and performance system, in making a judgment about the applicant's integrity, business ethics, and record of performance under Federal awards when completing the review of risk posed by applicants as described in 2

CFR § 200.206

Conflict of Interest The Applicant’s Conflict of Interest (COI) Point of Contact as defined in USDA/FAS Conflict of Interest Policy must notify the USDA/FAS contact identified in Section G of this solicitation of any actual or potential conflict of interest that they are aware of that may provide the Applicant with an unfair competitive advantage in competing for USDA/FAS financial assistance awards within 10 calendar days of becoming aware of the conflict of interest. Examples of an unfair competitive advantage include but are not limited to situations in which an USDA/FAS https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/3321 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/41/2313 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/2/200.206 employee reviewed and commented on or drafted all or part of an applicant’s application. Note that USDA/FAS does not generally consider receiving information from an USDA/FAS employee limited to whether the applicant or the applicant’s proposed project is eligible to compete for funding to confer an unfair competitive advantage. In addition, assistance agreements made under this solicitation will include a term and condition notifying recipients of their COI disclosure obligations and responsibilities under the award including the need to have systems in place to address, resolve and disclose COIs to USDA/FAS.

F. Federal Award Administration Information Federal Award Notices Successful applicants will be notified of the status of their application/award by email. This notification is not authorization to proceed, and such notification should be construed as provisional.

Administrative and National Policy Requirements All successful applicants for all grant and cooperative agreements are required to comply with the applicable General Administrative Terms and Conditions, which can be found at https://www.fas.usda.gov/grants/general_terms_and_conditions/default.asp. The applicant is presumed to have read, understood, and accepted these terms when accepting a USDA/FAS award. Applicants with questions about the applicable terms should contact the program officer(s) listed in Section G, Federal Awarding Agency Contact.

The applicable Terms and Conditions will be for the last year specified at that URL.

Before accepting an award, the applicant should carefully read the award package for instructions on administering the award and the terms and conditions associated with responsibilities under Federal Awards. Recipients must accept all conditions in this NOFO as well as any Special Terms and Conditions in the Notice of Award to receive an award under this program.

Subaward and Executive Compensation Reporting Applicants must ensure that they have the necessary processes and systems in place to comply with the subaward and executive total compensation reporting requirements established at 2 CFR 170, unless they quality for an exception from the requirements, should they be selected for funding.

Mandatory Disclosures As required by 2 CFR 200.113, non-federal entities or applicants for a Federal award must disclose, in a timely manner, in writing to the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity all violations of Federal criminal law involving fraud, bribery, or gratuity violations potentially affecting the Federal award. Failure to make required disclosures can result in any of the remedies described in 2 CFR 200.339 including suspension and debarment.

Reporting Financial Reports, using form SF-425, Federal Financial Report (FFR), must be submitted quarterly, for the periods ending March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31, within 30 https://www.fas.usda.gov/grants/general_terms_and_conditions/default.asp https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-170.210 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-170.210 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-B/section-200.113 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR86b76dde0e1e9dc/section-200.339 days of the end of the reporting period. A final financial report must be submitted within 120 days of the end date of the agreement.

Performance Progress Reports must be submitted quarterly, for the periods ending March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31, within 30 days of the end of the reporting period. A final performance progress report must be submitted within 120 days of the end date of the agreement. The recipient may use any appropriate format for performance progress reports, provided the report includes:

a) A comparison of actual accomplishments to those projected for the period;

b) The reasons why established goals were not met, if appropriate; and

c) Additional pertinent information including, when appropriate, analysis and explanation of cost overruns or high unit costs.

Recipients are encouraged to include photographs and other supplemental material in performance progress reports. For awards in which the total lifetime value exceeds $500,000, additional reporting may be required as described in Appendix XII to 2 CFR 200.

Monitoring USDA/FAS through its authorized representatives, has the right, at all reasonable times, to make site visits to review project accomplishments and management control systems and to provide such technical assistance as may be required. During site visits, USDA/FAS will review recipients’ files related to the program.

As part of any monitoring and program evaluation activities, grant recipients must permit USDA/FAS, upon reasonable notice, to review assistance agreement-related records and to interview the organization’s staff and clients regarding the program, and to respond in a timely and accurate manner to FAS requests for information relating to the program.

Closeout Within 120 days after the end of the period of performance, recipients must submit a final FFR and final progress report detailing all accomplishments and a qualitative summary of the impact of those accomplishments throughout the period of performance. After final reports have been reviewed and approved by the agency, and any residual amount due to the recipient or due to be returned to the agency, the award is subject to closeout. Acceptance of final reports by the agency constitutes a closeout of the award with no further notice or obligation to either party.

This acceptance will indicate the period of performance has expired, and any remaining funds will be de-obligated. Records must be retained for a minimum of three years after the final reports are submitted.

G. Federal Awarding Agency Contact For all inquiries, contact:

Name: Clemen Gehlhar Email Address: clemen.gehlhar@usda.gov Hours of Operation: 7:00am – 3:30pm, Monday-Friday Eastern Standard Time https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/2/appendix-XII_to_part_200

H. Other Information

Budget Revisions Transfers of funds between direct cost categories in the approved budget when such cumulative transfers among those direct cost categories exceed ten percent of the total budget approved in this Award require written approval from the agency. The total budget amount may not be increased without a bilaterally executed amendment to the award.

Post-award program income In the event program income becomes available to the recipient post-award, it is the recipient’s responsibility to notify the USDA/FAS Program Manager to explain how that development occurred, as part of their request for guidance and/or approval. If approval is granted, an award modification will be issued with an explanatory note in the remarks section of the face page concerning guidance and/or options pertaining to the recipient’s approved request. All instances of program income shall be listed in the progress and financial reports.

Electronic Signatures Consistent with the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN Act), USDA/FAS uses and accepts electronic signatures for application and award documents.

USDA/FAS will neither solicit nor send physical copies of documents.