Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA OT18 1804
The CDC grant opportunity titled Technical Assistance for Response to Public Health or Healthcare Crises (Funding Opportunity Number CDC RFA OT18 1804; CFDA 93.391) is set up to improve how quickly and effectively the United States can respond when a major public health or healthcare emergency occurs. Rather than funding a single pre-defined project with a fixed set of activities from day one, the CDC is using this announcement to build a ready-to-activate bench of qualified organizations that can provide rapid, expert technical assistance and operational support during a crisis. The basic idea is preparedness through capability: the CDC wants to know, in advance, which organizations are able to move fast, manage complex response tasks, and deliver specialized expertise to the people and institutions on the front lines.
A central feature of this NOFO is its "approved but unfunded" approach. Applicants submit proposals and, if deemed responsive and qualified, may be placed into a pool of organizations that are essentially on standby. Funding is not automatically awarded upon selection into the pool. Instead, the CDC only releases funds when it determines there is an actual public health emergency response need. When that happens, the CDC can choose specific applicants from the pool and fund only the parts of their proposals that match the crisis scenario. Selection for activation can depend on practical and strategic factors such as where the emergency is occurring, how it may spread (especially for infectious diseases), the applicant's demonstrated capabilities, national priorities, which jurisdictions are eligible and impacted, and which populations are most affected.
The award instrument is a cooperative agreement, which signals that the CDC expects to be actively involved once an organization is funded for a real event. In practice, awardees are expected to function as rapid providers of information and resources and to coordinate project management elements needed to keep response work organized and moving. Because emergencies can take many forms, the CDC keeps the potential range of supported partners intentionally broad. Depending on the event, an awardee might be asked to support state, local, territorial, or tribal health departments; other government agencies; hospitals or health systems; a governor's office; nonprofit and charitable organizations; or even commercial partners that are part of the response supply chain or service delivery ecosystem.
The work is organized into two main strategy domains. Strategy 1 focuses on ensuring effective process implementation, emphasizing that during emergencies, outcomes often depend on speed and coordination rather than long planning cycles. Applicants are expected to demonstrate strength in three process areas. First is expedited procurement, meaning the ability to accelerate acquisition and delivery of critical goods and services by moving beyond routine purchasing timelines and procedures when necessary. Second is agile administration and operations, which includes rapidly responding to requests, developing plans, deploying resources, and completing administrative actions quickly while maintaining tight communication across teams. Third is strategic partnering, or the ability to quickly engage multi-sector partners to broaden capacity, fill gaps, and improve overall response effectiveness through collaboration.
Strategy 2 addresses the delivery of critical content expertise. The CDC frames this as being built on the operational backbone established in Strategy 1: the organization needs to be able to execute quickly and cleanly before its technical expertise can make a real difference in the field. Applicants must show they can provide support in one or more content areas. These include administrative logistics, such as travel coordination, transportation, shipping, printing, transcription, event planning, convenings, and small purchases that keep response operations running. Another content area is communications, which can cover situational awareness, risk communication, media support, monitoring and reporting, translation for different languages and cultures, graphic design, writing and editing, and developing and delivering training. A third area is human resources and specialized expertise, including recruiting and hiring, staff augmentation, payroll, onboarding and orientation, and sourcing specialized technical experts (examples mentioned include epidemiology, entomology, infectious disease, environmental health, and emergency response). A fourth area is direct services, clarified as not providing clinical care, but rather carrying out specific emergency response tasks on behalf of another entity when that entity has a capability gap that the CDC believes could undermine the response.
Because applicants are being asked to prepare for emergencies that have not happened yet, the CDC explicitly adjusts what it wants to see in the application. The initial submission is expected to focus heavily on the applicant's capabilities and organizational strengths rather than a fully specified activity plan with detailed metrics. The CDC anticipates more specificity in narrative sections such as background, purpose, strategies and activities (framed as capability descriptions), collaborations, and organizational capacity. At the same time, it expects more generality in sections that typically require numbers and detailed planning, like outcomes, evaluation and performance measurement, work plans, and the budget narrative. If an emergency occurs and the CDC decides to fund an organization, the awardee should expect to produce a revised, scenario-specific work plan and budget, and to work with CDC staff to develop tailored performance measures that make sense for that particular incident.
The NOFO also encourages applicants to think about how they would leverage CDC resources to amplify their support. Examples include evidence-based guidance, CDC recommendations, communications materials, and online training assets like the CDC Train learning management system. The CDC also points to training capabilities within the agency, such as laboratory-related training offered through components like the Division of Laboratory Systems and the Division of Scientific Education and Professional Development, which could be relevant depending on the emergency.
Budgeting under this NOFO is treated differently than in many other competitions. The budget narrative is not scored, and CDC reviewers are not judging whether the proposed dollar amounts are "right." Instead, the budget is used as a reference to understand how the applicant would approach mobilization and delivery of services, which helps demonstrate readiness. Applicants are instructed to build a sample budget around a 12-month period (even though real activations could be shorter or longer) and to assume a sample scenario where the CDC funds them to mobilize experts, assess the situation and threats, develop recommendations, brief CDC program staff, and provide follow-up consultation as needed.
Administratively, the opportunity was listed as discretionary funding through HHS/CDC (OSTLTS), with an unrestricted eligible applicant category (open broadly, subject to any eligibility clarifications in the full notice). The original posting indicates an expected number of awards of about 10, a submission deadline of March 16, 2018 (5:00 p.m. ET), and an award ceiling listed as 0, reflecting that funding amounts are not pre-set and are instead determined when a specific crisis triggers an award action. In plain terms, this program is less about proposing a single project and more about proving that an organization is capable of stepping into high-pressure response environments, coordinating complex operational demands, and delivering specialized support quickly when the CDC calls.Apply for CDC RFA OT18 1804
- The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - OSTLTS in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Technical Assistance for Response to Public Health or Healthcare Crises" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.391.
- This funding opportunity was created on Jan 16, 2018.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 16, 2018 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 500 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.
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