Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has announced the availability of a maximum of $4 million to be used over a three (3) year period for the Mobile Application Cooperative Agreement.
Donor Name: Food and Nutrition Service
State: All States
County: All Counties
Territory: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 09/05/2023
Size of the Grant: $4,000,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to enable SNAP-authorized DMFs (and FMs, as necessary) to determine, at no or little cost to them, whether adding SNAP to their business model has a positive cost-benefit value, and to provide SNAP recipients with greater access to DMFs operating at physical FM locations and via other direct marketing avenues (e.g., roadside stands, pick-your-own). The cooperator will use resources from this cooperative agreement to assist DMFs and FMs in becoming SNAP authorized and support the processing of transactions by these DMFs and FMs through outreach, technical assistance, and a secure SNAP Mobile Transaction Processing Application (The App).
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers all USDA domestic nutrition assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP is the cornerstone of USDA’s nutrition assistance programs and is the largest program in the domestic hunger safety net. These benefits help supplement household food budgets so recipients can purchase more healthy food.
Objectives
- Objective 1: Assist DFMs in becoming SNAP-authorized
- Provide outreach and assistance to DMFs that are not currently SNAP authorized or are not currently accepting benefits issued through other Federal nutrition assistance programs, e.g., Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to help them complete the application process for SNAP authorization and become SNAP-authorized and, as relevant, participate in one or more nutrition incentive programs
- Guide DMFs and FMs in locating SNAP training materials and information and facilitating questions and resolutions with FNS
- Objective 2: Provide access to a secure SNAP Mobile Transaction Processing
- Be in use in the current SNAP EBT environment;
- Adhere to all EBT security requirements, including encrypted PIN-entry;
- Be certified and able to conduct all required SNAP transaction types;
- Have the ability to be enhanced to process electronic benefits transfer for other Federal nutrition assistance programs, e.g., Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and
- Have the ability to capture GPS data to identify the location of the device, and enable the transmission of GPS data to FNS as part of the transaction message at a future date, as determined by FNS
- Objective 3: Train and provide technical support for DMFs and FMs in use of technology associated with SNAP participation. The grantee will:
- Train DMFs and FMs on installing, operating and maintaining The App;
- Help troubleshoot issues, and provide technical assistance through the term of the no-cost agreement;
- Support outreach that includes a web presence that clearly details the App, technical assistance services provided by the grantee, and how to access both. Social media presence must regularly point to the web information and clearly direct interested farmers to the services offered
- Objective 4: Monitor progress, including achievements, milestones, and risks and issues.
- Among other metrics, the grantee will monitor and track the success of outreach activities and training, the number of participating DMFs and FMs using The App, and number of transactions being processed
- Objective 5: Assist farmers with direct marketing opportunities that result in connections with under-served SNAP households and families and participants in other Federal nutrition assistance programs. Conduct targeted outreach to special populations and entities that are under-served by SNAP or other Federal nutrition assistance programs in up to three marginalized and/or high food insecurity communities such as:
- Tribal Nations and/or surrounding tribal communities.
- Rural communities as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Persistent poverty counties, as defined by USDA ERS Poverty Area Measures
- Low-income and low access census tracts, as defined by the USDA ERS Food
- Access Research Atlas
Funding Information
The following information is intended to provide applicants with information to help make informed decisions about proposal submissions.
- Total amount of funding expected to award: $4,000,000
- Anticipated number of awards: 4
- Minimum award amount (award floor): $0
- Maximum award amount (award ceiling): $4,000,000
- Anticipated award announcement date: September 2023
- Anticipated period of performance (start and end date of the award): September 2023 to September 2026
- Anticipated funding of individual awards: $4,000,000
- Application due date: September 5, 2023
Allowable Costs
Among other costs, budgets may include expenses related to personnel, contractors, equipment and supplies, meeting expenses, travel, and trainings
- Equipment and Supplies: Expenditures for both equipment (i.e., items of personal property having a useful life of more than one year and a cost of $5,000 or more) and supplies are allowable expenses with prior approval by FNS. While these expenditures are allowable, FNS reserves the right to approve/disapprove these expenditures based upon the needs of the Agency and the proposed project
- Procurement Contracts: Grantees may use grant funds to procure contracts for goods and services.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible entities include:
- Nonprofit entities, which are any organization or institution with Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-designated 501(c)(3) status
- Accredited institutions of higher education, i.e., Eligible Educational Institutes via a list maintained by the IRS
All applicant organizations must be domestic entities and shall be owned, operated, and located within the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, Guam, or the United States Virgin Islands.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
