Mississippi Conservation Delivery Technical Assistance – FY2022 | USDA NRCS MS CONTA 22 NOFO0001196

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NRCS MS CONTA 22 NOFO0001196

The Mississippi Conservation Delivery Technical Assistance - FY2022 opportunity is a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) funding announcement focused on strengthening how conservation programs and services are delivered across the State of Mississippi. NRCS is looking to partner with organizations that can help implement the agency's conservation objectives and priorities in the state, essentially expanding capacity on the ground through cooperative agreements. The notice makes clear that it was released ahead of final FY2022 appropriations, so the total funding available could shift depending on federal budget actions like continuing resolutions or a final appropriations act.

Funding is expected to total about $5,000,000 statewide, spread across multiple awards, with NRCS estimating around 25 awards. Individual projects can run from one to five years, and applicants can propose either single-year or multi-year work plans. The federal share per award is expected to range from a minimum (floor) of $50,000 up to a maximum (ceiling) of $1,000,000, and these amounts refer to the full award value across the entire project period rather than a single budget year. The program uses a cooperative agreement funding instrument, which generally indicates that NRCS anticipates an active role in working with recipients during project implementation rather than simply issuing a grant and stepping back.

Eligibility is broad but targeted to established public and mission-driven entities that can provide conservation-related services in Mississippi. Eligible applicants include state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, federally recognized tribal governments, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, and nonprofit organizations (both those with and without 501(c)(3) status, as long as they are not institutions of higher education in the nonprofit category). A key practical requirement is that applicants must be capable of delivering support within Mississippi. The notice also allows entities to use this competition to request additional funding for existing partnership agreements in Mississippi, which signals that NRCS is open to scaling up ongoing collaborative efforts if they align with the stated priorities and can demonstrate value.

Applications are submitted through Grants.gov and are reviewed competitively. NRCS states that proposals will be screened first for completeness and compliance with the NFO instructions, and that incomplete or noncompliant submissions can be removed from consideration, with applicants notified if that happens. The Mississippi State Conservationist also retains discretion not to fund any or all applications, emphasizing that an application meeting basic requirements is not guaranteed an award. For applicants new to Grants.gov, the notice points to additional setup steps and reminds applicants that agency staff will not troubleshoot Grants.gov account issues, which must go through Grants.gov support.

The critical deadline for submission was May 21, 2022 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time via Grants.gov. NRCS projected an internal timeline of selecting projects by June 17, 2022 and executing awards by September 15, 2022, while also noting these dates were estimates and could change. For questions, the notice draws a line between administrative and technical platform help (handled by Grants.gov support) and questions about the content of the NFO (handled by the federal awarding agency contact listed in the notice). It also notes that NRCS would only address questions tied to clarifying the published NFO details, not questions about whether a particular applicant is eligible or whether a specific project idea is likely to be competitive.

Finally, the notice highlights that this opportunity is federal financial assistance and recommends the public Grants 101 training hosted at cfo.gov. The training is positioned as a practical primer on the rules and expectations that come with federal awards, including governing laws and guidance, assistance mechanisms, Uniform Guidance administrative requirements, cost principles, risk management, and single audit requirements, all of which can be important for organizations that have not previously managed federal cooperative agreements.

• The Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service in the agriculture, environment, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Mississippi Conservation Delivery Technical Assistance – FY2022" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.902.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 22, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 21, 2022 Applicants must submit their applications via Grants.gov by 1159 pm Eastern Time.. (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 $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 25 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for USDA NRCS MS CONTA 22 NOFO0001196

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