Questions and Answers-Pet Trade (SFOP0009785).pdf

Questions and Answers for Countering the Illicit Exotic Pet Trade in South and Central Asia

SFOP0009785

Date: June 20, 2023

Question 1:

1. We see that the Application Floor is at least $300,000 U.S. Dollars. For many national/local NGOs, this is still huge. Is there any possibility of lowering this Floor to $ 150,000 U.S. Dollars?

Or would you accept the proposals that are smaller to $300,000 U.S. Dollars?

INL Response:

Sadly, INL will not lower the award floor for this NOFO. For this NOFO INL is seeking applicants that can provide a comprehensive regional level assessment of the illegal exotic pet trade.

For this reason, we are seeking a single report for each of the two focus regions (or a combined report for both regions). While INL understands that this may be a challenge for local/national NGOs, we encourage these organizations to consider partnering as a sub-recipient with a larger INGO or larger regional NGO, so that their expertise within their specific country might be utilized. All applicants are strongly encouraged to partner with local NGOs.

2. Reading the NOFO, it is not clear about the minimum geographic coverage (countries) that the application should cover. Can we make an application to work in only one country out of the countries mentioned in NOFO?

For this NOFO INL is seeking applicants that can provide a comprehensive regional level assessment of the illegal exotic pet trade in either South Asia, Central Asia, or both regions.

We encourage applicants to include as many countries outlined for each region as possible (in the focus country list below objectives 1 and 2), but we acknowledge that for some countries data and information may not be available, in which case applicants should provide a brief explanation for why they have left a country out of their proposal.

3. I have a question about the eligibility information, would you expect sub-recipients to also fulfil the eligibility criteria or are they allowed to be for-profit organizations or individuals? Is there also the expectation that sub-recipients would be registered on SAM.gov and have their own UEI number or is it just the lead applicant?

Per the 2 CFR 200.93:

§200.93 Subrecipient means a non‐Federal entity that receives a subaward from a pass‐ through entity to carry out part of a Federal program; but does not include an individual that is a beneficiary of such program. A subrecipient may also be a recipient of other Federal awards directly from a Federal awarding agency.

As per category F on page 27 of the NOFO, “all proposed sub-recipients are required to have a Unique Entity Number (UEI), regardless of the proposed budget amount, prior to receiving funding. An active SAM.gov registration is not required for sub-recipients.”

Sub-recipients are not allowed to be for-profit organizations or individuals. For-profit organizations can only be sub-contractors.