Cooperative Agreements 

The primary objective of this funding is to encourage research through cooperative agreements on critical issues vital to the development and sustainability of user-owned cooperatives as a means of improving the quality of life in America's rural communities. A cooperative agreement is not a grant. Cooperative agreements are to be awarded on the basis of merit, quality, and relevance to advancing the purpose of federally-supported rural development programs that increase economic opportunities in farming and rural communities.

A cooperative agreement reflects a relationship between the United States Government and an eligible recipient where: 

•  The principal purpose of the relationship is the transfer of money, property,
  services, or anything of value to the eligible recipient to carry out research related to rural cooperatives. 

•  Substantial involvement is anticipated between Rural Business Service acting for the United States Government, and the eligible recipient during the performance of the research in the agreement. 

Eligible Applicants - Proposals may be submitted by public or private colleges or universities, research foundations maintained by a college or university, or private nonprofit organizations. 

Methods for Evaluating and Ranking Applications - Applications will be evaluated by a panel of Rural Business Programs technical experts. Applications also will be evaluated competitively and points awarded as specified in the Evaluation Criteria and Weights section of this notice. After assigning points upon those criteria, applications will be listed in rank order and presented, along with funding level recommendations, to the Administrator of Rural Business Programs, who will make the final decision on awarding of agreements. Applications will then be funded in rank order until all available funds have been expended. Rural Business Programs reserves the right to make selections out of rank order to provide for a geographic or subject matter distribution of funded projects. 

Use of Funds - Funds may be used to pay up to 75 percent of the total cost (Federal plus non-Federal) for carrying out relevant projects. Applicants' contributions may be in cash or in-kind contribution and must be from nonfederal funds. 

Funds may not be used to:

•  Pay more than 75 percent of relevant project or administrative costs; 

•  pay costs of preparing the application package; 

•  fund political activities;  

pay costs incurred prior to the effective date of the cooperative agreement. Indirect costs may not exceed 10 percent of direct costs.

Available Funds and Award Limitations - The actual number of cooperative agreements funded depended on the quality of proposals received and the amount of funding requested. Maximum amount of Federal funds awarded for any one proposal was $100,000. 

INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE FOR THE VALUE-ADDED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT MARKET DEVELOPMENT GRANTS