This cooperative agreement funds U.S. public health jurisdictions to rapidly mobilize and surge in response to public health emergencies when CDC activates the mechanism. It is intended for approved but unfunded applicants that can support emergency operations, surge staffing, needs assessments, and other emergency response activities tailored to a specific public health crisis. The expected outcome is faster and more effective domestic public health crisis response capacity.
CDC seeks to enhance the nation’s ability to rapidly mobilize, surge, and respond to public health emergencies (PHEs) as identified by CDC by establishing a roster of approved but unfunded (ABU) applicants that may receive rapid funding to respond to PHEs of such magnitude, complexity, or significance that they would have an overwhelming impact upon, and exceed resources available to, the jurisdictions. Applicants will undergo an objective merit review process, and entities that successfully meet the requirements for approval will be placed on the ABU list. CDC will use this ABU list for emergencies that require federal support to effectively respond to, manage, and address identified public health threats.
CDC will make funding related to this NOFO available once it has determined a public health emergency exists or is considered imminent and will be contingent upon the availability and stipulations of appropriations. CDC will provide additional guidance and information to those on the ABU list when this NOFO is funded. Since this NOFO is designed to collect applications prior to a PHE, applicants are encouraged to submit work plans and budgets that demonstrate their ability to respond to a PHE. COVID-19 public health response plans, such as plans funded under CDC-RFA-TP18-1802 in 2020 are acceptable for this purpose.
If this NOFO is funded for a specific PHE, CDC will develop supplemental guidance that outlines additional work plan and budget requirements tailored to the emergency. This NOFO is not a capacity-building funding mechanism, and it is not intended to create or establish new public health (PH) emergency management programs. It may be used to re- establish capacity lost or diminished because of the public health crisis.
It is designed to support the surge needs of existing programs responding to a significant PHE. CDC will provide supplemental guidance to entities on the ABU list when this NOFO is activated regarding specific activities intended to address the emergency. CDC has strong relationships with governmental PH departments, community-based organizations, and other domestic partners and supports them for planning, capacity-building, preparedness, and response to PHEs. This NOFO complements these ongoing capacity-building preparedness and response programs by providing a mechanism for CDC to rapidly mobilize and fund PH organizations for specific response needs.
Applicants must describe how this funding will not duplicate or supplant other federal funding. Upon occurrence of a PHE, CDC can rapidly fund specific applicants to accelerate public health crisis response activities such as coordinating emergency operations, hiring surge staff, and conducting needs assessments to determine the resources necessary to address the public health crisis. The NOFO also provides funding for specialized public health emergency response activities tailored to the specific public health crisis.