Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G21AS00598

Opportunity Information: Apply for G21AS00598

This grant opportunity, titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" (Funding Opportunity Number G21AS00598), is a US Geological Survey (USGS) financial assistance award offered as a cooperative agreement. It sits in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category under CFDA 15.808. The core purpose is to fund research and coordinated surveillance focused on pathogens in wild bat populations, with an emphasis on understanding coronavirus dynamics and the potential for pathogens to move between bats, other wildlife, and people.

The work supported by the award is centered on three tightly connected goals. First, it aims to study how pathogens behave in wild bats, meaning how infections persist, change over time, and spread within and among bat populations. Second, it calls for analysis of spillover risk, looking at the pathways and conditions that could allow bat-associated pathogens to infect other species. Third, it supports a national-scale surveillance effort that links bat monitoring with coronavirus surveillance through the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), which is a continent-wide framework used to track bat populations and trends over time. In practice, the surveillance component is meant to produce usable field and lab data that can be integrated into broader national monitoring.

A major feature of the overall project is that it is designed as an intensive wildlife coronavirus surveillance effort carried out in partnership with a wide network of collaborators. The opportunity explicitly frames the work as being conducted alongside Federal, State, Tribal, and non-governmental organization partners, reflecting the reality that meaningful wildlife disease surveillance and response requires coordinated sampling, shared data standards, and consistent methods across jurisdictions. Because the instrument is a cooperative agreement rather than a standard grant, applicants should expect substantial involvement from USGS in shaping, supporting, or coordinating parts of the project during the period of performance, such as aligning methods, data management, and integration with national surveillance priorities.

The data produced from coronavirus surveillance in bats and the environment is intended to be used for modeling and risk assessment. Specifically, the opportunity highlights using surveillance results to model potential SARS-CoV-2 spread within bat populations and to clarify how wildlife and environmental factors may influence human COVID-19 infection dynamics. The modeling and interpretation are meant to support practical outputs like improved understanding of transmission pathways, identification of high-risk interfaces where contact among bats, other animals, and humans could occur, and better characterization of uncertainty in surveillance findings. Ultimately, the results are expected to inform risk assessments concerning both spillover (from wildlife to humans) and spill-back (from humans to wildlife), and to help guide actions that could prevent or reduce the likelihood of future outbreaks.

Eligibility is restricted to organizations that are official participating partners of the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program. CESUs are partnership-based networks created to deliver research, technical assistance, and education through collaboration among federal agencies and member institutions. In this case, only Gulf Coast CESU partners can apply, and the funding is explicitly issued under the CESU Program framework. The opportunity is listed as discretionary, with an award ceiling of $425,000. The posting shows an original closing date of 2021-07-31 and a creation date of 2021-07-30, indicating it was released close to the deadline and tied to a time-sensitive public health and wildlife surveillance context.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-07-30.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-07-31. (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 $425,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G21AS00598

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