BACKGROUND

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the lead U.S. Government agency that provides economic development and humanitarian assistance to advance U.S. economic and political interests overseas. In Nepal, USAID development initiatives build upon more than six decades of partnership with the Nepali people and government. This Factsheet communicates USAID/Nepal’s processes for unsolicited proposals/applications and information/meeting requests.

UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS/APPLICATIONS

USAID generally undertakes projects to benefit developing countries through competitive contracts or grants. This ensures that all activities are concentrated on pre-defined objectives to maximize impact; and that they are consistent, mutually reinforcing, and draw support from the best available sources.

While unsolicited proposals/applications can be received and reviewed for funding, potential applicants should be aware that only in highly exceptional cases are such proposals/applications likely to be approved for funding. Resources available to USAID/Nepal for programs must be concentrated and focused on clear objectives which fit within the Mission’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS 2014-2019 [PDF]). Thus, only exceptional unsolicited applications can be considered for funding on a noncompetitive basis – ones that present a unique approach, fully support USAID/Nepal's and the Government of Nepal’s development objectives and demonstrate a unique capacity by the applicant to carry out proposed activities. Further, only limited funding may be available for even the best of such applications, since most funding is reserved for development priorities already established by USAID/Nepal.

Accordingly, it is strongly recommended that potential applicants review USAID competitive announcements published on the Federal Business Opportunities and Grants.Gov websites as well as the Agency’s Quarterly Business Forecast. Applicants responding to specific announcements must follow the directions contained in that announcement. If a potential applicant still desires to submit an unsolicited proposal/application, the applicant must follow the procedures described in the links provided in the Useful Resources Box.

UNSOLICITED MEETING/INFORMATION REQUESTS

The number of unsolicited meeting/information requests processed by USAID/Nepal has increased dramatically since the April 25, 2015 earthquake. In order to manage this increased volume of unsolicited meeting/information requests, we encourage interested entities to submit their requests through USAID Open for appropriate tracking and more efficient response.