This United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS) Draft Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is issued for the purpose of providing stakeholders and potential partners an opportunity to review, comment, suggest, and enhance areas in the attached Draft NOFO for a new global activity: Feed the Future (FTF) Innovation Lab for Current and Emerging Threats to Crops (CETC), which aims to design, lead, and implement a research program focused on the control of current and emerging biotic threats to food security crops that households depend on. To view the draft NOFO, please visit here.

USAID seeks feedback in particular on the following questions:

1. Are the theory of change and programmatic objectives clear and realistic? How could they be improved?
2. Does the draft Program Description (Section A.IV) provide potential implementers with sufficient information and guidance about USAID’s overall objectives and expectations?
3. How can USAID and partners work more effectively with local actors and institutions to achieve meaningful sustainable progress?

The CETC Innovation Lab fills an important gap in the FTF Innovation Lab portfolio by harnessing the power of collaborative research approaches to generate economically, environmentally and socially sustainable solutions to biotic threats that undermine food security. The estimated life-of-project budget for the new Current and Emerging Threats to Crops Innovation Lab is up to $39 million for five years from July 2021 to July 2026. Eligibility for this award is restricted to U.S. colleges and universities as defined under Section 296(d) of Title XII of the FAA. See Section C.I of this draft notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for eligibility requirements. Minority Serving Institutions are encouraged to apply.

This Draft NOFO is issued solely for information and planning purposes. Providing comment on the draft Program Description (Section A.IV) will not give any advantage to any organization in any subsequent procurement. USAID/RFS will not provide answers to any questions submitted in response to this request.

The new Innovation Lab will build on a series of successes in agricultural research that have generated innovative solutions for management of insects and other pests, diseases and weeds. It will be distinct from earlier Innovation Lab programming in that it will integrate a range of biotic threats. Comments are requested to help refine key elements of the draft design to ensure clarity, maximum development impact, coordination with existing and planned USAID and other development partner programs, and alignment with country and regional priorities. USAID/RFS may significantly revise this proposed new activity and planned solicitation after receiving comments from this and completing further consultations with internal and external stakeholders.

Please provide comments no later than January 22, 2021 by 4:00 pm, Washington, DC time via email to Leah Leach at [email protected]. While there is no limit on the length of submissions, we value concise, issue-specific comments with reference to page and section numbers in the draft design document. The CETC Innovation Lab funding opportunity will be issued at a later date and will be announced on the Grants website at grants.gov (anticipated in February 2021). All interested parties must respond to that notice of funding opportunity announcement separately from any response to this draft announcement. One award is anticipated, but USAID reserves the right to fund any or none of the applications submitted in response to the NOFO. Following the posting of the NOFO, USAID will host a Q&A webinar approximately two weeks after the date of posting.

Issuance of this pre-notice of funding opportunity request for comments does not constitute an award commitment on the part of the U.S. Government nor does it commit the U.S. Government to pay for any costs incurred in order to prepare response to this Pre-Notice.