Countering Biological Weapons Threats

The U.S. Department of State's International Security and Nonproliferation Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction (ISN/CTR) is announcing the Countering Biological Weapons Threats funding opportunity (DFOP0017244) for Fiscal Year 2025. This grant is issued under the Biosecurity Engagement Program (BEP), which aligns with the Trump Administration’s Executive Order focused on enhancing the safety and security of biological research. BEP aims to prevent adversaries from using biological weapons against the United States and to strengthen biosecurity in partner nations by safeguarding U.S. technologies and promoting U.S. leadership in the global biotech sector. The purpose of this grant is to support projects that counter the misuse of biological materials, secure sensitive biotechnology infrastructure, and increase the capacity of partner countries to respond to biological threats. It emphasizes strengthening laboratory biosafety and biosecurity, improving cybersecurity for biological facilities, training biotech professionals on secure practices, and ensuring the security of human genomic data and other sensitive information. Projects must directly contribute to the prevention of U.S. adversaries’ access to dual-use technologies and strengthen national and global biosecurity through institutional partnerships. The total funding available for this opportunity is approximately $15,000,000, with individual awards ranging between $250,000 and $5,000,000. The program anticipates issuing around 10 awards, pending fund availability. Projects should be completed within 12 to 24 months, though most are expected to finish within 15 months. Funding instruments include grants, cooperative agreements (with substantial ISN/CTR involvement), and Inter-Agency Agreements. Funds are sourced from FY25/26 Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and Related Programs (NADR) and related accounts. Awardees must not use funds for support to UNRWA or activities encouraging migration caravans to the U.S. southwest border. Eligible applicants include U.S. for-profit and nonprofit organizations (with or without 501(c)(3) status), U.S. and foreign institutions of higher education, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), Foreign Public Entities (FPEs), Public International Organizations (PIOs), and foreign-based non-governmental and nonprofit entities. Matching funds are not required, but if voluntary cost sharing is included and not met, DOS may proportionally reduce its funding contribution. All applicants must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and an active registration in SAM.gov. Applicants may only submit one application, though it may contain multiple standalone projects. Application packages must include standard federal forms (SF-424, SF-424A), a summary page, key personnel documentation, a project narrative for each project, monitoring and evaluation components, a consolidated project list, detailed and narrative budgets, and various attachments such as resumes, NICRA, and past performance statements. Applications must be submitted via Grants.gov by 30 July 2025 at 11:59 PM EDT. Entities applying for Inter-Agency Agreements should submit to bep@state.gov and ISN-CTR-BUDGET@state.gov. Proposals will be evaluated on a 100-point scale, considering criteria such as project quality and feasibility, organizational capacity, ability to achieve stated objectives, financial capacity and cost-effectiveness, monitoring and evaluation plans, and sustainability. Applications that pass the eligibility review will proceed to merit panel review. Unsuccessful applicants will be notified by 15 October 2025. Awards are subject to federal regulations and oversight, including reporting requirements via the MyGrants system for financial and performance progress throughout the project duration. Final reports are due within 120 days of project completion.

Submit one application per organization; proposals must align directly with BEP goals; all documents should follow format guidance; include separate documentation for each project if submitting multiple projects.