Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA FD 20 012
This grant opportunity, titled "Advancing Conformance with the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS) (U18) Clinical Trials Not Allowed" (Funding Opportunity Number RFA-FD-20-012), is a cooperative agreement offered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), specifically within the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), Office of Partnerships (OP). It is designed as a limited-competition program for government retail food regulatory agencies and is meant to strengthen the national retail food safety system by helping jurisdictions move closer to full conformance with the FDA's Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards. The central idea is to build more consistent, capable, and prevention-oriented retail food regulatory programs across the country, using a structured continuous improvement model grounded in the VNRFRPS framework.
The VNRFRPS are a set of nine program standards that describe what a strong, modern retail food regulatory program should look like in practice. They come with worksheets, forms, and guidance that help agencies evaluate their current operations and document progress over time. Rather than being a one-time checklist, the standards are meant to provide a long-term foundation that agencies can build on through ongoing quality improvement. The standards emphasize reducing the risk factors most associated with foodborne illness and encouraging both regulators and industry to adopt active managerial control, meaning day-to-day operational systems that prevent problems before they occur. At the same time, the standards reinforce core sanitation and prerequisite programs while also supporting newer and emerging approaches to food safety regulation.
This funding aligns with broader federal food safety goals and legal authorities that emphasize prevention and partnership. The opportunity is tied to FDA's Retail Food Safety Initiative, launched in 2010, which was informed by a long-term study of retail establishments and focused on five major risk factors across multiple retail settings. That initiative highlights practical priorities such as making certified food protection managers common, improving compliance through stronger managerial controls, promoting uniform adoption of the FDA Food Code, and improving the overall regulatory environment at the local level. The grant also supports the intent of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA), which directs federal support for state efforts to establish or strengthen food safety programs, particularly for retail food establishments, and supports the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which shifts the national approach toward prevention and calls for an integrated food safety system that relies on collaboration among federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal partners.
Applicants are expected to use the VNRFRPS process as the backbone of their proposed work. Agencies first conduct a comprehensive self-assessment against all nine standards to identify gaps, weaknesses, and priority needs. After that assessment, cooperative agreement funds are intended to support targeted improvements such as building or enhancing systems that address identified gaps, completing a risk factor study (or using routine inspection data in a structured way) to determine which foodborne illness risk factors deserve the most attention, and implementing intervention strategies to reduce the frequency of those priority risk factors. In this context, intervention strategies can include coordinated regulatory and industry activities, tools, initiatives, or program changes aimed at producing both immediate and sustained risk reduction.
The outcomes FDA is looking for under these cooperative agreements are practical and measurable. Funded programs should be able to demonstrate increased conformance with parts or all of the VNRFRPS criteria, complete a risk factor study or otherwise systematically analyze inspection data, and design and put into practice intervention strategies that address the most significant risk factors. The FOA also emphasizes workforce capability and consistency, encouraging recipients to develop and implement training programs so staff are properly trained, can train others when appropriate, and can operate in a standardized way that aligns with the standards. In addition, agencies are expected to produce an action plan that lays out their improvement strategy, including timelines, responsible personnel, and resource needs. That action plan can support requests for justified investments such as equipment, personnel, or software when those items directly support closing gaps identified through the standards-based self-assessment. Collaboration is also encouraged: jurisdictions may leverage other agencies or organizations to help with conformance efforts, data studies, interventions, training delivery, and broader capacity-building for outbreak prevention and response.
Eligibility is limited to state, local, territorial, and tribal government agencies that have primary regulatory responsibility for retail food establishments, or government entities that exercise substantial involvement and control over those regulatory functions. A key eligibility requirement is that the retail food regulatory agency must already be enrolled in the VNRFRPS and must have completed a current self-assessment against all nine program standards. FDA verifies enrollment by checking the online listing of enrolled jurisdictions after the agency submits the required enrollment form.
From an accountability standpoint, the FOA puts strong emphasis on performance measurement and objective tracking of progress, consistent with federal grants management requirements under 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance). Applicants are expected to propose clear performance measures, identify baseline conditions, and set targets that show how the program will measure progress toward the stated objectives and outcomes. This emphasis signals that awards are not simply intended to fund general program operations, but to support measurable, standards-based improvements in retail food regulatory infrastructure and effectiveness.
Administratively, this is a discretionary cooperative agreement (U18), meaning FDA expects to have substantial involvement with recipients during the project, more so than in a typical grant. The opportunity was posted in early 2020 (created January 27, 2020) with an original closing date of March 27, 2020. The award ceiling listed is $70,000, and the anticipated number of awards is 63. The funding activity aligns with agriculture, consumer protection, and food and nutrition, and is cataloged under CFDA 93.103. Clinical trials are explicitly not allowed, reflecting that the work is focused on public health systems improvement, regulatory program capacity, training, data analysis, and prevention strategies rather than clinical research.Apply for RFA FD 20 012
- The Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration in the agriculture, consumer protection, food and nutrition sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Advancing Conformance with the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS) (U18) Clinical Trials Not Allowed" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.103.
- This funding opportunity was created on Jan 27, 2020.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 27, 2020. (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 $70,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 63 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).
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| Cooperative Agreement for Data Collection on Antimicrobial Use in Dogs and Cats (UO1) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 20 026 Funding Number: RFA FD 20 026 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $200,000 |
| Laboratory Flexible Funding Model (LFFM) (U19) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for PAR 20 105 Funding Number: PAR 20 105 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $1,500,000 |
| Integrated Pathogen Reduction Technologies for whole blood and blood components for transfusion (R01) Clinical Trial Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 20 027 Funding Number: RFA FD 20 027 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $8,000,000 |
| FDA's National Curriculum Standard Development and Training Delivery and Development (U18) Clinical Trial Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 20 024 Funding Number: RFA FD 20 024 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $1,500,000 |
| NARMS Cooperative Agreement Program to Strengthen Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimens (U01) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for PAR 20 124 Funding Number: PAR 20 124 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $200,000 |
| Exploring the use of Real-World Data to Generate Real-World Evidence in Regulatory Decision-Making (U01) Clinical Trials Optional Apply for RFA FD 20 031 Funding Number: RFA FD 20 031 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $12,000,000 |
| Development and Maintenance of the Animal Feed Regulatory Program Standards with Optional Coordinated Preventive Control Regulatory Activities and Capacity Building (U18) Clinical Trial Not Allowed Apply for PAR 20 132 Funding Number: PAR 20 132 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $600,000 |
| Exploring the use of Real-World Data to Generate Real-World Evidence in Regulatory Decision-Making (U01) Clinical Trials Optional Apply for RFA FD 20 030 Funding Number: RFA FD 20 030 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $12,000,000 |
| Retail Food Safety Association Collaboration (U18) Clinical Trial Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 20 028 Funding Number: RFA FD 20 028 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $1,500,000 |
| Cooperative Agreement to Support FDA Land and Water Initiative (U01) Clinical Trial Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 20 034 Funding Number: RFA FD 20 034 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $250,000 |
| Cooperative Agreement to Support an Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Acute Dental Pain (U01) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 20 029 Funding Number: RFA FD 20 029 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $1,500,000 |
| Drug Development Science Support (U01) Clinical Trials Optional Apply for RFA FD 20 033 Funding Number: RFA FD 20 033 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $5,000,000 |
| CBER FY20 FOA for AAV vector manufacturing for diseases affecting very small populations (R01) Clinical Trial Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 20 032 Funding Number: RFA FD 20 032 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $800,000 |
| Renewal - Federal and University Partnership to Improve the Safety of Seafood from the Gulf of Mexico (U19) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 21 009 Funding Number: RFA FD 21 009 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $125,000 |
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| Renewal - Strengthen and Promote the Role of Local Health Departments in Retail Food Safety Regulation (U50 Clinical Trial Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 21 011 Funding Number: RFA FD 21 011 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $800,000 |
| National Food and Nutrient Analysis Program (U01) Clinical Trial Not Applicable Apply for RFA FD 21 023 Funding Number: RFA FD 21 023 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $300,000 |
| Advancing Conformance with the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS) by State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) Retail Food Regulatory Agencies (U2F) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 21 028 Funding Number: RFA FD 21 028 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $10,000,000 |
| Training Alliance to Enhance Produce Safety and FDA Food Safety Modernization Act Compliance (U2F) Clinical Trial Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 21 024 Funding Number: RFA FD 21 024 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $1,600,000 |
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