Scaling Pandemic Resilience through Innovation and Technology (SPRINT) Challenge

Competition for USA IHEs, Tribes, Agencies, and Nonprofits
to Develop Solutions to Sustain the Economy During COVID-19

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Agency Type:

Federal

Funding Source:

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U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE)

Conf. Date:

10/28/20

Deadline Date:

12/03/20 11:59 PM EST Receipt

Description:

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Competition for USA IHEs, Tribes, agencies, and nonprofits to develop creative and/or technological solutions to keep businesses functional during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) health crisis. Applicants are advised that required registrations may take several weeks to complete. Funding is intended to create more resilient regional economies for the future.

The FY 2020 SPRINT Challenge aims to enable regional innovation economies to rapidly address the economic, health, and safety risks caused by the coronavirus pandemic through entrepreneurship and innovation. This competition invites eligible applicant organizations to submit applications that support entrepreneurship and accelerate innovation in their community, region, or combination of regions. Applicant organizations should leverage and convene innovation and entrepreneurship assets across their communities and regions to create or amplify new technologies, businesses, resources, capital investment strategies, and more to help communities respond to and thrive in this new business environment.

To be competitive, applications should focus on activities that will increase regional competitiveness through new product innovation or new technology adoption, improve the commercialization of research, enhance the overall innovation capacity and resilience of a region, and/or leverage regional competitive strengths to overcome challenges inhibiting innovation and job creation due to the coronavirus pandemic. The companies served by applicant organizations should be commercializing scalable technologies and furthering high quality, high-wage job creation within their businesses. Applicant organizations should articulate a clearly defined strategy to leverage grant funds to support one or more of the following activities to help address the needs of and unique operating environment necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic:

Scaling innovative biotechnology, health security, and supply chain technologies and solutions to market;
Increasing regional, national, and government connectivity across innovation clusters to support commercialization and entrepreneurship;
Developing new and unique investment capital models to address the financial needs of entrepreneurs; and
Developing and scaling innovative entrepreneurship support models to address the virtual and remote work environment of the pandemic.

Example Project Focus Areas:

Biotechnology, Health Security, and Supply Chain Innovation
Entrepreneurship Support
Regional, National, and Government Connectivity
Access to Capital

For a detailed explanation of the above focus areas, see https://www.eda.gov/files/oie/sprint/FY20-Scaling-Pandemic-Resilience-through-Innovation-and-Technology.pdf#page=7

GrantWatch ID#:

GrantWatch ID#: 192866

Estimated Total Program Funding:

$25,000,000

Number of Grants:

100

Estimated Size of Grant:

- Up to $500,000 over a 12-month period of performance
- Up to $750,000 over an 18-month period of performance

Term of Contract:

The period of performance will be 12 or 18 months.

Eligibility:

See RFP and/or Grant Guidelines for full eligibility

Additional Eligibility Criteria:

Eligible applicants for investment assistance under the FY 2020 SPRINT Challenge include a(n):
a. District Organization of an EDA-designated Economic Development District;
b. Indian Tribe or a consortium of Indian Tribes;
c. State, county, city, or other political subdivision of a State, including a special purpose unit of a State or local government engaged in economic or infrastructure development activities, or a consortium of political subdivisions;
d. Institution of higher education or a consortium of institutions of higher education; or
e. Public or private non-profit organization or association acting in cooperation with officials of a political subdivision of a State.

Under the FY 2020 SPRINT Challenge, EDA is not authorized to provide grants or cooperative agreements to individuals or for-profit entities. Requests from such entities will not be considered for funding.

Funds available under the FY 2020 SPRINT Challenge may not be used for construction purposes or revolving loan funds, and such use of funds may not be charged to the EDA funds of the project or provided as matching share. Additionally, the use of project funds to invest in startups or other companies, whether through equity debt, or hybrid mechanisms, is not an allowable cost; neither EDA funds nor matching non-Federal Share may be used for such purposes.

Pre-proposal Conference:

A live webinar, “Building Resilience through Innovation: EDA’s SPRINT Challenge” will be held on October 28th, 2020 at 2:00 PM EST. This webinar will provide a strategic overview and highlight program goals as well as address technical application questions.

Registration is now open: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8069372321608416013

Pre-Application Information:

Applications are due December 3, 2020 by 11:59 PM EST.

EDA strongly suggests that applicants submit their applications at least five (5) days before the deadline.

EDA strongly encourages applicants to consult with the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to discuss whether their project is in alignment with the requirements outlined in this NOFO.

Applicants are advised that they must complete the registration process prior to submitting an application through Grants.gov. The registration process contains the following steps and may require three to four weeks to accomplish:
- Obtain a DUNS number
- Obtain an EIN
- Register with SAM
- Create a Grants.gov Username and Password
- Authorize the AOR
- Track AOR Status

For the FY 2020 SPRINT Challenge, consistent with the requirements of EDA’s CARES Act Recovery Assistance and in accordance with the agency’s statutory authority under Section 703 of PWEDA (42 U.S.C. § 3233), EDA generally expects to fund up to 80% of eligible project costs. EDA may establish a maximum investment rate of up to 100% for projects of Indian Tribes and for projects where the Assistant Secretary determines the applicant has exhausted its effective taxing or borrowing capacity.

Under this NOFO, EDA expects to notify applicants of its decision in writing approximately 60-90 days after the Full Application Deadline.

For further information on matching requirements, see https://www.eda.gov/files/oie/sprint/FY20-Scaling-Pandemic-Resilience-through-Innovation-and-Technology.pdf#page=11.

SPRINT Challenge Informational Webinar: https://www.eda.gov/news/media/2020/10/16/sprint-informational-webinar.htm

Vies this opportuniuty on Grants.gov: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=329419

For a list of relevant application documents, go to the Package tab (press Preview) on the Grants.gov link above.

Contact Information:

Before starting your grant application, please review the funding source's website listed below for updates/changes/addendums/conferences/LOIs.

OIE@eda.gov
(202) 482-8001

CFDA Number:

11.307

Funding or Pin Number:

EDA-HDQ-OIE-2020-SPRINTCHALLENGE

URL for Full Text (RFP):

See the full text of this grant

Geographic Focus:

USA: Alabama; Alaska; Arizona; Arkansas; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; Florida; Georgia; Hawaii; Idaho; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Mississippi; Missouri; Montana; Nebraska; Nevada; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York City; New York; North Carolina; North Dakota; Ohio; Oklahoma; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; South Carolina; South Dakota; Tennessee; Texas; Utah; Vermont; Virginia; Washington, DC; Washington; West Virginia; Wisconsin; Wyoming

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