Deadline: 14-Aug-20
The United States Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), is seeking applications from qualified U.S. and non-U.S. based non-governmental (NGOs)/non-profit organizations or Educational Institutions for a grant to implement a program entitled “Development of Anti-Corruption and AML Tools to Identify Unexplained Wealth Held by Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).”
Project Purpose
By supporting the development of a comprehensive global PEPs database, or network of databases, the State Department intends to promote the ability of public and private stakeholders to combat corruption and money laundering. This database would help these stakeholders comply with existing regulations and hold malign actors accountable for their corrupt activity. This database will also promote transparency by providing public information to civil society and ensure reports on official corruption would remain available to the public. The transnational nature of the database would limit opportunities for PEPs to use ill-gotten assets outside of their own country.
This program will improve the rule of law and combat corruption by developing NGO-run noncommercial database to identify unexplained wealth held by PEPs in selected initial countries. The project should focus on countries in Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and Western Balkans, in the initial period of performance, with the ability to subsequently scale the project.
Project Goals
The goal of this project is the establishment or strengthening of sustainable, credible noncommercial national and transnational databases to identify the identity of and assets held by PEPs in Eastern Europe, Central Europe and Western Balkans by end of period of performance. The successful bidder will work with national NGOs or investigative-journalist organizations to that end. In selecting target countries for the project, the implementer should be mindful of the ability of investigative journalists and civil society to operate safely and lawfully, and the project should ensure coordination with the State Department (e.g. via the program officer or the embassy) so that the most up to date situation such as risk to partners and political will can be taken into account. The databases will include information on assets and businesses of PEPs, as well as of their family members and business associates. These dossiers will be used by a range of stakeholders to facilitate enhanced due diligence on the origin of wealth of PEPs, their family members and business associates. Such information will also be available for use by financial institutions, law-enforcement, and service providers who have due diligence obligations (lawyers, brokers, compliance officers, etc.) and investigative journalists and oversight NGOs.
Potential activities towards establishing such databases may include some or all of the following: partnering with national NGOs to develop PEPs database initiatives in countries that have not initiated such efforts; providing support for software development and training on how to use database software; providing training and capacity development for the national level NGOs who are developing databases; providing initial financial support for staffing and other costs involved in populating the databases, with an eye towards sustainable arrangements over time; establishing regional networks, facilitating sharing of good practices, and promoting harmonization of approaches, among countries; and supporting advocacy for governmental dissemination of relevant data, including through open public registers.
Project Objectives
- Objective 1: Access to open public information in countries where currently lacking
- Objective 2: The Regional and National level PEPs projects have a software platform with capacity to be adjusted to legal, technical and other peculiarities of different countries
- Objective 3: National and Regional PEP databases developed using shared methodology and software
- Objective 4: National level NGOs use regional database to identify unexplained wealth held by political exposed persons (PEPs)
Funding Information
- Award Ceiling: $800,000
- Award Floor: $500,000
Target Population
Applicants should identify target audiences, specific demographics, and the countries in which the project will be implemented. It is particularly important to specify the approximate number of beneficiaries to be directly and indirectly impacted by project activities. Given the sensitive nature of this project, it is necessary that in selecting target countries, the implementer be mindful of the ability of investigative journalists and civil society to operate safely and lawfully.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligibility for this NOFO is limited to:
- Applicants that qualify to receive U.S. grants (such as U.S. not-for-profit/nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or U.S.-based educational institutions subject to section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code; foreign not-for-profits/non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or foreign based educational institutions, with the ability to develop and successfully implement a project in three regions and meet INL’s reporting requirements. Organizations must also be able to demonstrate current (or pending) country registration in the regions selected, if required by the country of project implementation.
- Applicants must have demonstrated experience implementing similar education or capacity building programs. INL reserves the right to request additional background information on organizations that do not have previous experience administering similar programs and/or federal grant awards.
- Applicants must have the ability to produce course materials, deliver training, and conduct evaluations in Russian and English. The applicant’s staff should be proficient in English in order to fulfill reporting requirements.
- Applicants must have existing, or the capacity to develop, active partnerships with stakeholders in order to successfully carry out the proposed program.
- Organizations may form a consortium and submit a combined proposal. However, one organization should be designated as the lead applicant and other members as subaward partners.
- Applicants must be able to respond to the NOFO and be able to mobilize in a short period.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=327659