Supporting Emergency Agriculture Design and Standards (SEADS) | 720FDA19APS00001

Opportunity Information: Apply for 720FDA19APS00001

Supporting Emergency Agriculture Design and Standards (SEADS) is a USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) funding opportunity focused on improving how emergency agriculture assistance is designed and carried out in disaster and crisis settings. The core aim is to support the development and dissemination of SEADS, which, based on the title and stated purpose, points to producing practical design guidance, standards, and tools that help humanitarian and disaster-response actors plan, implement, and share effective emergency agriculture interventions. In other words, the award is meant to strengthen the quality and consistency of agriculture-related disaster assistance by making clearer, more usable standards available to the organizations and practitioners who deliver that support.

This opportunity is issued as an Assistance (program) solicitation under an Annual Program Statement (APS), and the intended award instrument is a Cooperative Agreement. A Cooperative Agreement generally means USAID expects substantial involvement during implementation, such as collaboration on technical direction, coordination, review of deliverables, and alignment with broader humanitarian response priorities. The activity is categorized under Disaster Prevention and Relief, and it is listed under CFDA number 98.001, which is commonly associated with USAID humanitarian assistance.

The competition is discretionary and, in terms of eligibility, is described as unrestricted, meaning it is open to any type of entity as long as it meets the requirements stated in the full Notice of Funding Opportunity, particularly the eligibility details in Section C and any clarifications in the eligibility text. USAID indicates it intends to make a single award, but it also explicitly keeps the option to fund more than one application or to fund none at all, depending on funding availability and the quality of submissions against the selection criteria.

Financially, the funding opportunity has an award ceiling of $1,300,000 and anticipates one award. The timeline provided includes a deadline for submitting questions of March 15, 2019 at 5:00 PM Eastern, followed by a closing date for concept notes of April 15, 2019 at 5:00 PM Eastern. That structure suggests an initial concept note stage, with subsequent steps (such as an invitation for a full application) likely described in the complete NFO.

In practical terms, applicants were being invited to propose a coherent approach for creating and spreading the SEADS products, which could reasonably include drafting standards or guidance, piloting or validating them with practitioners, packaging them into usable formats (such as manuals, templates, checklists, or training materials), and distributing them through channels that reach humanitarian agriculture implementers. Selection would be based on how well the proposed approach meets USAID/OFDA objectives and the formal evaluation criteria laid out in the NFO, with an emphasis on the applicant being responsible and capable of delivering the intended outputs under USAID oversight and collaboration.

• The Agency for International Development in the disaster prevention and relief sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Supporting Emergency Agriculture Design and Standards (SEADS)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 98.001.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 08, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Deadline for Questions March 15, 2019, 1700 EST Closing Date/Time for Concept Notes April 15, 2019, 1700 EST. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,300,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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