Planning Grant for Healthcare and Public Health Sector Cybersecurity Information Sharing

The Department of Health and Human Services Immediate Office of the Secretary administers CFDA 93.835, a planning and capacity-building grant program supporting cybersecurity threat information sharing infrastructure in the healthcare and public health sector, with the most recent grant award dated September 30, 2018.

Program activity has been sparse. Three cooperative agreements totaling $2.3 million in federal dollars were awarded between 2015 and 2018, with no grants awarded in the past eight years. The program distributed approximately one award per year during its active funding window, but no recent grant opportunities are currently posted. The source contains a solicitation from July 2018 (FOA EP-HIT-18-002, due September 11, 2018) but does not indicate whether new opportunities have been posted since that cycle closed.

The program funds two core activities: understanding cybersecurity threat information needs and gaps within the healthcare and public health sector, and developing organizational capacity and strategy to expand threat information sharing across the sector. The most recent award, a $2.13 million cooperative agreement to Healthcare Ready (2018), funded five years of information sharing, analytical, and coordination support designed to strengthen partnerships between HHS and the healthcare sector's private Sector Coordinating Council, including development of a common operating picture for emergency response, standardized operating procedures, and bi-directional information sharing infrastructure. An earlier $122 thousand award (2016) focused on healthcare cybersecurity threat information sharing via the NH-ISAC approach.

All awards under this program have been structured as Cooperative Agreements. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) provided $2.1 million across one award; HHS Immediate Office of the Secretary provided $200 thousand across two awards. Applicants eligible under the 2018 opportunity included nonprofits, universities, research institutions, hospitals, community-based organizations, and faith-based organizations, with the requirement that applicants demonstrate current participation in healthcare and public health information sharing and analysis activities. Budget periods run 12 months with anticipated multi-year performance periods subject to appropriations availability and satisfactory recipient performance.