Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom

The Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Challenge Grants (SPECA) program seeks to: (a) promote and strengthen secondary education and two-year postsecondary education in the food and agricultur

The SPECA program is intended to help K-12 educators enhance curricula in ag. education, increase faculty competencies, as well as boost the interest in young people to pursue agri-science and agribusiness careers. SPECA projects support joint initiatives and collaborations between secondary schools, and institutions of higher learning to maximize the use of facilities, resources, and equipment in K-12 classrooms.

(1) public secondary schools 20 U.S.C. 7801(45), (2) public or private nonprofit junior and community colleges, (3) institutions of higher education (20 U.S.C. 1001), or (4) nonprofit organizations

-Private nonprofit institution/organization -Quasi-public nonprofit organization -State -Public nonprofit institution/organization -Other public institution/organization

Funds may be used only in targeted areas, e.g., curricula design and materials development, promotion of teaching competencies, promotion of agriscience and agribusiness career information, instruction delivery systems, student experiential learning, and educational activities that increase the diversity of students pursuing degrees in agriscience and agribusiness.

Grant funds must be used for allowable costs necessary to conduct approved fundamental and applied research, extension and education objectives to address food and agricultural sciences. Indirect Cost (IDC) is not to exceed 30 percent of the recipient's Total Federal Funds Awarded (TFFA). 7 U.S.C. 3310 limits the recovery of IDC for the overall award to 30 percent of the TFFA under a research, education, or extension grant. Please refer to the RFA, Part III.E and F - Program Description - Funding Restrictions for specific details.

In accordance with statutory time limits, project periods, including no-cost extensions of time, are not to exceed five (5) years. Further details are provided in the Award document Form NIFA-2009 and the NIFA General Terms and Conditions Grants and Cooperative Agreements.

All NOFOs are published on the NIFA website and Grants.gov. Applicants must complete the SAM.gov and Grants.gov registration process prior to applying. See the program NOFO for any program specific pre-application requirements.

NIFA evaluates each application in a two-part process. First, we screen each application to ensure that it meets the administrative requirements set forth in this NOFO. All administrative requirements must be met for the application to proceed to the next level of review. Second, a scientific peer-review process will be used to technically evaluate applications that have met the administrative requirements using a review panel (see NIFA Peer Review Process). NIFA selects reviewers for the review panel based upon their training and experience in relevant scientific, extension, or education fields. After each peer review panel has completed its deliberations, the responsible program staff of NIFA will recommend that your project is either approved for support from currently available funds or declined due to insufficient funds or unfavorable review.

Within the limit of funds authorized, the NIFA awarding official will make grants to eligible applicants whose applications are judged most meritorious under the procedures set forth in this NOFO. After the award is finalized, a formal notification in the form of a Notice of Award (NoA), signed by the Authorized Departmental Officer, will be provided to the applicant organization for successful applications. The NoA is the authorizing document and will be sent via email to the recipient's Authorized Representative and it provides pertinent instructions and information about the award. The NoA will provide pertinent instructions and information including, at a minimum, the information described in 2 CFR 200.211 (see NIFA's Terms and Conditions).

From 30 to 60 days. Contact the National Program Leader (NPL) - Headquarters Office regarding dates for specific deadlines, start and end dates, and range of approval/disapproval time.

Specific details are provided in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), which are generally published annually. The most current NOFO is available via: https://nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/secondary-education-two-year-postsecondary-education-and-agriculture-k-12