Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS) India – Ag Tech Challenge Broad Agency Announcement | BAA ROAA GFSS 2018

Opportunity Information: Apply for BAA ROAA GFSS 2018

The Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS) India - Ag Tech Challenge Broad Agency Announcement is a USAID/New Delhi funding opportunity designed to bring in outside partners to jointly develop research and development solutions that improve food and nutrition security in Asia. Rather than a traditional grant where applicants submit a fully formed proposal, this is structured as a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) that starts with an Expression of Interest and then moves selected respondents into a co-creation and co-design process with USAID. The overall aim is to move faster and use resources more efficiently by building partnerships around specific problem and challenge statements tied to agricultural technology and broader food systems outcomes.

A central feature of the opportunity is collaboration: USAID is explicitly looking for organizations that can help co-create R&D interventions, meaning partners are expected to shape the technical approach alongside USAID rather than simply implement a pre-defined scope of work. The opportunity is open to a wide range of entity types, including for-profit and non-profit organizations as well as public and private institutions, with eligibility described as unrestricted unless otherwise clarified in the full announcement. This makes it suitable for technology firms, agribusinesses, universities, research organizations, NGOs, and consortia that can bring credible ideas, capabilities, or assets relevant to food and nutrition security challenges.

Another defining component is co-investment. USAID is seeking partners willing to share responsibility, risk, and resourcing, which can include both cash and non-cash contributions. The announcement emphasizes that cost sharing is not necessarily a strict one-to-one match; instead, the expectation is that each partner contributes resources that make sense for the project and reflect their comparative advantage. Contributions can include in-kind technical expertise, intellectual property, data, brand value, coordination capacity, and access to key networks, locations, or decision-makers. The intent is to align incentives so that partners are jointly committed to achieving the desired development impact and to ensure solutions have a clearer pathway to scale, adoption, or sustained use.

From a funding and administrative standpoint, the opportunity is listed under CFDA 98.001 and categorized under Food and Nutrition, with the instrument and opportunity category both labeled as "Other," reflecting the flexible BAA and partnership-driven structure. USAID anticipated making up to two awards, with an award ceiling of $3,000,000. The opportunity was created on December 22, 2017, with an original closing date of January 31, 2018, indicating a time-bound solicitation for initial Expressions of Interest that would feed into subsequent co-design discussions and eventual award decisions.

In practical terms, this announcement is best understood as an open call for strong, implementable ag-tech or food-security R&D ideas that can be jointly refined with USAID and supported through blended resources. Applicants are not only being evaluated on the novelty or technical strength of an idea, but also on what they can contribute beyond USAID funds, how well they can collaborate in a co-creation setting, and whether their concept can realistically address the stated food and nutrition security challenges in Asia through research, development, testing, and potential scaling pathways.

• The Agency for International Development, India USAID-New Delhi in the food and nutrition sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS) India – Ag Tech Challenge Broad Agency Announcement" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 98.001.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 22, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 31, 2018. (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 $3,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 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.

Apply for BAA ROAA GFSS 2018

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