USDA National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program 2025 (United States)

Deadline: 24-Jan-2025

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Veterinary Services has announced the availability of cooperative agreement funding for Tribes and Tribal partners to carry out the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program.

Through the NADPRP program, APHIS provides funds to support high-value projects that will help prevent the introduction and spread of foreign and emerging animal diseases that threaten U.S. agriculture.

Focus Areas

• Develop, enhance, and exercise Tribal animal disease outbreak emergency response plans: APHIS VS will support projects to develop, update, enhance, test, and/or exercise Tribal emergency response plans for livestock and poultry animal disease outbreaks. Examples of proposals that will be considered in this priority area include but are not limited to projects that:
  • Develop, update, enhance, test, and/or exercise Tribal Nations emergency response plans for livestock and poultry animal diseases such as:
    • Plans for managing, coordinating, and collaborating with other agencies to conduct critical response activities for an animal disease outbreak.
    • Logistics plans to support animal disease preparedness and response activities, such as plans to:
      • Acquire and use resources from the National Veterinary Stockpile, such as personal protective equipment (PPE), in a livestock or poultry animal disease outbreak.
      • Inventory current resources, acquire additional resources, and maintain and/ or store resources so they are available and ready for emergency response. Plans may include human resources, supplies such as PPE, or materials such as carbon sources to support carcass disposal.
      • Collect and transport movement and disease surveillance samples for diagnostics using the National Animal Health Laboratories Network (NAHLN) diagnostics.
• Support livestock and poultry biosecurity measures and programs: APHIS VS will support projects to enhance biosecurity for all types of livestock on all types of premises in Tribal communities including but not limited to livestock markets, harvesting and allied facilities (e.g. packers/processors), aquaculture facilities, and others. Examples of proposals that will be considered in this area include but are not limited to projects that:
  • Develop and deliver outreach and education to Tribal communities to improve awareness and understanding of biosecurity measures and the importance of biosecurity.
  • Help Tribal livestock and poultry owners and other key audiences develop herd / flock / premises plans to prevent the introduction and spread of animal diseases through biosecurity and other activities. Projects may include developing and delivering outreach materials and templates to guide biosecurity plan development and educating audiences about the importance and value of these plans. Projects may target biosecurity planning for all types of livestock or poultry premises.
  • Encourage Tribal livestock and poultry owners to participate in industry-driven biosecurity programs and develop and implement biosecurity plans. This may include projects to assist in socializing and implementing biosecurity programs among Tribal Nations livestock and poultry owners, veterinarians, and others.
  • Develop, improve, and/or validate biosecurity methods. Proposals in this area may include methods to increase livestock and poultry owners’ and managers’ implementation of effective biosecurity measures and whole community approaches to increase the adoption and use of biosecurity practices (e.g., see something, say something).
  • Develop and validate biosecurity assessment tools that may help identify gaps in current biosecurity activities and solutions to improve biosecurity for individual producers and at the community level.
• Enhance capability and capacity for depopulation, carcass disposal, and decontamination in a disease outbreak: APHIS VS will support projects that will improve capabilities and capacities for depopulation, carcass disposal, and decontamination activities during high consequence animal disease outbreak events. Examples of proposals that will be considered in this area include, but are not limited to, projects that:
  • Develop, update, enhance, test and exercise Tribal plans to implement and coordinate depopulation, carcass disposal, and decontamination activities during a large-scale animal disease outbreak response, such as a project on bison mortality management in a foot-and mouth disease outbreak. Projects may address resource needs such as trained personnel, supplies, equipment, and carbon sources for carcass disposal.
  • Train and exercise animal agriculture responders to conduct depopulation, disposal, and decontamination activities for FAD response.
• Support animal movement decisions in a disease outbreak: NADPRP funds may be used for projects that facilitate and support domestic animal movement decisions in animal disease outbreaks. Examples of proposals that will be considered in this area include, but are not limited to, projects that:
  • Develop, enhance, and improve information and processes to support animal and animal product movement decisions in an animal disease outbreak.
  • Develop, update, enhance, test and exercise Tribal plans for domestic movement of animals and animal products in an animal disease outbreak, including but not limited to:
    • Processes for permitted animal / animal product movement in a disease outbreak, including intra-state and inter-state movement, e.g., how a permit is requested, generated, approved, and tracked; requirements for permit approval; workflows and approval steps; and roles and responsibilities of participants in these processes.
    • Plans and exercises to implement stop movement orders or other movement restrictions, including processes for animals already in transit or at animal aggregation locations when restrictions go into effect and how to resume animal movement after restrictions are lifted.
  • Develop, exercise, and enhance plans for continuity of business for livestock markets during and immediately after a disease outbreak event.
  • Characterize the geographic distribution and size of livestock populations that are not well described and where this information would enhance animal disease outbreak response efforts.
• Enhance animal disease traceability during a disease outbreak: Animal disease traceability (ADT) is a critical part of national preparedness for animal disease outbreaks and aligns with the purpose of the NADPRP. Examples of proposals that will be considered in this area include but are not limited to projects that:
  • Plan, implement, evaluate, enhance, and/or exercise approaches and systems to enhance animal disease traceability. USDA approved EID tags, EID readers, and associated equipment may be included in proposals. This may include panel (stationary) and hand-held readers, USDA approved official Radio Frequency ID tags (RFID), data loggers to integrate data from panel readers, equipment installation, and consultation for set up of traceability systems and record management.
  • Establish processes to quickly trace livestock and poultry during an animal disease outbreak, improve accuracy and efficiency of animal identification, reduce the overall number of animals involved in a disease investigation, and quickly identify “at-risk” movements.
  • Establish processes for data quality and reporting of livestock and poultry inventories and movements during an animal disease outbreak to assess possible exposure/ infection and help identify where disease is likely to impact next based on susceptible species.
• Develop and deliver training & exercises to improve animal disease outbreak response capabilities: APHIS VS will support projects that will enhance capabilities and capacity of Tribal governments and Tribal communities for animal health emergency response situations through training and exercises. Examples of proposals that will be considered in this area include but are not limited to projects that:
  • Support registration and travel costs for Tribal representatives to participate in animal disease emergency management training and/or exercises including but not limited to events hosted by the USDA APHIS VS Training and Exercise Program and emergency management conferences.
  • Train and exercise Tribal responders or potential responders to collaborate in animal disease response events and conduct critical activities for incident response.
  • Assess and address gaps in animal disease response capabilities of Tribal Nations.
  • Build Tribal Nations capabilities and knowledge of the National Response Framework (NRF), National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS).
• Support outreach & education on animal disease prevention, preparedness, and response: APHIS will support projects that will deliver outreach and education on livestock and poultry disease prevention, preparedness, and response topics to Tribal communities. Examples of proposals that will be considered in this area include but are not limited to projects that:
  • Deliver outreach & education to Tribal communities in areas of animal disease prevention, biosecurity, early disease detection recognition and reporting, and raising awareness about roles & responsibilities and what happens in an animal disease outbreak.
  • Identify and address information gaps among Tribal communities in the outreach & education areas.
  • Develop and conduct Tribal agri-business and community-level outreach on critical community and business roles in animal disease prevention, preparedness, and response and the roles of other entities and agencies at local, Tribal, state, and/or federal levels.
  • Develop outreach & education to increase the number of Tribal livestock and poultry premises that have premises identification numbers (PINs) or other location identifiers to help identify where animals are located in an animal disease outbreak.
• Enhance aquatic animal disease preparedness and response: NADPRP funds may be used to support projects that will enhance the capabilities and capacity of Tribes to respond to aquatic animal disease outbreaks. Projects focused on aquatic animal species may be related to any of the priority topics listed and/or projects that:
  • Enhance diagnostic testing capabilities for aquatic animal diseases. Projects may include but are not limited to the development and evaluation of rapid point-of-care diagnostic tests, the development and evaluation of diagnostic tests that can simultaneously test for multiple pathogens, and/or projects to improve aquatic animal disease diagnostic testing capability and capacity by pooling tissues or whole animals.
  • Focus on improving biosecurity practices in aquaculture facilities and help producers develop, implement, and evaluate biosecurity and risk mitigation plans to prevent the spread of aquatic animal diseases. Proposals may focus on any of the biosecurity areas listed under Topic 2, including training, outreach and education, and the development and evaluation of methods to reduce biosecurity risks in aquaculture facilities. Projects may focus on helping producers identify and quantify risks to inform biosecurity practices. They may also focus on developing, implementing, and engaging producers in industry-led biosecurity programs.
  • Develop and deliver outreach and education to improve early detection and reporting for aquatic animal diseases. Training, outreach, and education projects may be directed to veterinarians, aquatic animal health professionals; producers; state, Tribal, or federal regulatory officials; extension agents; personnel who work on aquaculture premises, and others.
• Enhance equine disease outbreak prevention & response: NADPRP funds may be used to support projects that will enhance the capabilities and capacity of Tribes, and horse owners/producers to respond to equine disease outbreaks.  Projects focused on equids may be related to any of the priority topics listed and/or projects that:
  • Develop and exercise equine disease response plans, such as:
    • Logistics plans and exercises that enhance coordination among the diverse stakeholder groups who may engage in an equine disease outbreak response. Proposals may include regional exercises or workshops on disease preparedness. Priority will be given to proposals that include exercises or produce materials that participating states, Tribes, or other stakeholders can use in an outbreak.
    • Communication plans for equine disease outbreaks, including notification processes and plans for sharing information with specific stakeholder groups.
  • Target outreach and education to increase the number of equine premises that have premises identification numbers or other location identifiers to help identify equine locations in an equine disease outbreak.
  • Focus on improving biosecurity practices on equine facilities and help equine producers, owners, and event organizers develop, implement, and evaluate biosecurity and risk mitigation plans to prevent the spread of equine diseases. Develop and deliver outreach and education to improve awareness and understanding of biosecurity measures and the importance of biosecurity among diverse stakeholders.

Priorities

• Regardless of the topic, APHIS will prioritize funding to proposals that:
  • Focus on preparedness and response for emerging and foreign animal disease outbreaks.
  • Leverage existing resources through partnerships with local, state, and/or federal government agencies, Native American Tribal governments, Native American Tribal organizations, Native American colleges & universities, industry organizations, professional associations, producer groups, and/or non-profit organizations with direct and significant interest in livestock and poultry disease prevention, preparedness, and response.
  • Address significant gaps, problems, and areas of concern related to prevention, preparedness, and response for foreign animal disease (FAD) and emerging animal disease outbreaks, including concerns identified through animal disease response events or exercises.
  • Build on scientifically based innovation, existing tools/techniques, and findings from projects previously funded by NADPRP.
  • Address animal disease preparedness and response concerns and needs of high-risk, underserved, non-traditional, niche, or hard-to-reach audiences.

Funding Information

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Veterinary Services (VS) is announcing the availability of up to $500,000 in funds in the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP) to support Tribal projects for livestock and poultry.
• Duration: APHIS anticipates that work covered under the agreements will start between August – September. Projects must be completed within 24 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• Native American Indian Tribes
• Tribal Organizations
• Tribal Colleges & Universities (TCUs)

Review Criteria

• Eligible proposals will be evaluated by a team of subject matter experts nominated by APHIS VS and by the NADPRP Consultation Board. To avoid potential conflicts of interest, reviewers may have no association with projects they are reviewing. In the event of a real or perceived conflict of interest, a reviewer shall recuse themselves as appropriate. The review team may seek counsel from additional subject-matter experts as appropriate. USDA will consider the review team’s recommendations in making final funding determinations.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.