Deadline: 18-Jun-21
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) represented by the Office of Acquisition and Assistance, Transportation Division (M/OAA/T), is seeking applications for the Ocean Freight Reimbursement Program.
The Transportation Division within the Office of Acquisition and Assistance supports the USAID DCHA Bureau’s Office of Food for Peace and Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance programs by providing ocean and air logistics program management and contracting services.
The division has experience in all aspects of commodity logistics, ocean freight services, commodity storage, and commodity handling around the world.
The Ocean Freight Reimbursement (OFR) Program is USAID’s oldest ongoing Private Voluntary Organization (PVO) support program.
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, authorized the creation of the program and, as amended, allows USAID to reimburse eligible transportation charges for shipments of privately donated goods and U.S. excess property for U.S. PVOs.
The OFR Program provides small, competitive grants to approximately 20 to 40 U.S. PVOs each year.
Funds are used to reimburse PVO’s ocean transport costs to transport donated commodities, such as medical supplies, agricultural equipment, educational supplies, and building equipment to responsible consignees in developing countries.
Funding Information
- Subject to the availability of funds, USAID intends to provide approximately 25 to 40 grants with estimated funding between $5,000 and $150,000 for year one (awarded in FY 2021).
Eligibility Criteria
- This competition is open to U.S. PVOs
- Proposal must follow formatting guidelines
- Programs must be in an eligible country or countries;
- Programs must be configured to further the efficient use of voluntary commodity and service contributions for development, relief, and rehabilitation of friendly peoples.
- Programs must involve partnership(s) with local government, a nongovernmental organization (including your affiliates), community partner, or other in-country organization that will act as a responsible consignee;
- Applicants must demonstrate that they have staff or responsible consignees in-country to ensure proper pick-up and distribution of commodities by submitting a Consignment Affidavit for each consignee; and
- Applicants must provide a letter from each destination country government stating that their OFR-supported shipments will be received duty-free. All letters not written in English must be accompanied by English translations, and all duty-free waivers must be current and valid for the timeframe in which the PVO will be shipping to each particular country. If the applicant cannot secure a letter from the destination country government, the PVO may submit a letter with their application stating that its organization will take full responsibility for all duties, taxes, tolls, etc. incurred on each shipment.
Note: PVOs no longer need to register with USAID before participating in most programs. However, PVO registration is still legislatively required for the Ocean Freight Reimbursement Program as a condition of eligibility. For the OFR program USAID will use a simplified self-certification form as part of the registration process.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333616
