When thinking about ways to fund your startup or your social enterprise, you will probably mostly think in traditional ways. There are other channels though that you can use, and many development agencies support innovative work around the world. USAID has developed a tool to support projects and ideas that combine the knowledge and experience from different sector to benefit the population, called Broad Agency Announcements (BAA). If you work in specific fields and plan to do innovative work, the Broad Agency Announcements can be a good option for you to get support! In this article, we take a detailed look at this funding instrument by USAID and how you can benefit from it.
Broad Agency Announcements is a tool that is used by USAID to cooperate with different partners to address development problems that do not have a clear solution yet and that appear to be a field for innovation. USAID aims to collaborate with partners from all sectors, including non-profit, for-profit, universities, and the private sector. The agency looks for practical and applicable solutions to real world problems. It partners up with other development agencies or foundations to fund the ideas and innovations developed with appropriate tools. Not every BAA results in a grant, as there are different instruments that are used for promotion and funding.
Examples for past BAAs are The Ebola Grand Challenge that prompted 1500 submissions, Saving Lifes at Birth with 3000 submissions and Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Innovations (MERLIN) which resulted in 14 different organizations cooperating on innovative tools for monitoring, evaluation, research and learning up to date.
USAID is looking for innovative contributions to a defined problem field that aim for solutions. Under the BAA, basic research, applied research, and development will be supported. USAID defines those three terms as following:
“Basic research” means that research directed toward increasing knowledge in science. The primary aim of basic research is a fuller knowledge or understanding of the subject under study, rather than any practical application of that knowledge. FAR 35.001 Definitions:
“Applied research” means the effort that (a) normally follows basic research, but may not be severable from the related basic research; (b) attempts to determine and exploit the potential of scientific discoveries or improvements in technology, materials, processes, methods, devices, or techniques; and (c) attempts to advance the state of the art. When being used by contractors in cost principle applications, this term does not include efforts whose principal aim is the design, development, or testing of specific items or services to be considered for sale; these efforts are within the definition of “development,” given below.
“Development,” as used in this part, means the systematic use of scientific and technical knowledge in the design, development, testing, or evaluation of a potential new product or service (or of an improvement in an existing product or service) to meet specific performance requirements or objectives. It includes the functions of design engineering, prototyping, and engineering testing; it excludes subcontracted technical effort that is for the sole purpose of developing an additional source for an existing product.
It is particularly important to consider the emphasis on applied research, as the solutions should always be practical and closely tied to the reality and locality of the problem situation.
Practically anyone can apply to a BAA, particularly the private sector, public sector, non-governmental, for-profit, non-profit, and educational institutions. USAID specifically invites institutions that have not previously worked with the agency. An application to a BAA can be a good way to get to know USAID and the way the agency works without having to make a huge investment considering time and money for a detailed project proposal. This particularly applies for small local organizations and businesses which otherwise would not have the necessary resources to take part in a tender process.
BAAs are first posted on the two homepages Grants.gov and FedBizOpps.gov. From there, they are shared throughout the relevant industries to inform as many people about the call as possible. You are also welcome to share with your network when you encounter an interesting and relevant call.
When it comes to development challenges that no one has ever taken up on or that do not have a solution yet, working together and sharing knowledge and resources can be the key to finding innovative and effective ways to solve problems. And this is exactly what BAAs are aimed at. The process fosters cooperation and exchange between different organizations and institutions and thus collects expertise from experts of all kinds to come up with the best, combined strategies.
Furthermore, the application process is shorter and less resource intensive than the usual grant application process. It usually takes around 6 months from the point of the expression of interest to the award of a funding instrument of appropriate type.
BAA also promotes a process that aims to find a solution rather than only be focused on the award of a grant. The main interest of USAID is to find new solutions to particular problems, and this should be the aim of partners as well. Also, many participants stated that taking part in the BAA process – even if their project did not get selected for funding in the end – opened up many other opportunities and introduced them to new funding agencies and instruments.
Of course, BAA also have several benefits for USAID. There is the possibility to work with a much wider pool of partners that USAID normally would not have access to, including small universities and businesses. The opportunities for networking are priceless and bring together many actors from a specific industry, which can lead to practical and innovative solutions.
Source: https://www.usaid.gov/
To apply for funding under a BAA, applicants have to pass through a four-stage process, beginning with an expression of interest and ending – in the case of a successful application – with the award of a grant or any other appropriate financing instrument. The entire process can take around six months, but the length can depend on the urgency of the problem as well as on the number of applications received.
Source: https://www.usaid.gov/partnership-opportunities/respond-solicitation/baa-process
Calls for applications are posted on Grants.gov and FedBizOpps and will be shared widely throughout the concerned industry to reach as many people as possible. In the first phase of the application process, potential partners can express their interest in the bid.
An expression of interest does not have to be very detailed yet, but it has to express clearly which problem should be addressed. The Expression of Interest should be three to five pages long. Furthermore, the research or development idea which will work towards discovering potential solutions has to be indicated clearly. The applicants should be able to state how they want to address a problem by increasing knowledge and understanding of potential solutions, exploiting scientific discoveries or improvements in technology, materials, processes, methods, devices, or techniques, advancing the state of the art, or using scientific and technical knowledge in the design, development, testing, or evaluation of a potential new product or service (or of an improvement in an existing product or service).
As the expressions of interest will be shared within USAID and with potential partners, applications at this point should never contain confidential information. From stage 2 of the process, agreements about confidentiality can be made, but not in the first stage. Applicants also have to make sure that they have the right to use all information and data that they share.
If the Expression of Interest is considered by USAID to meet all the eligibility criteria and is considered a promising innovation, the partner organizations will receive a letter of invitation for the second phase, the development of concept papers. If the expression of interest will not be considered for further steps, applicants will also be notified.
If the proposal is selected for the second phase, USAID and the partner organization will work on a concept paper together. Concept papers are normally between five and ten pages of length and contain more detail information about the proposal from the expression of interest.
In the second phase, potential partners for the implementation will be informed and invited for collaboration. The process also encourages to work with new partners and establish new connections.
USAID will organize a co-creation workshop, conference, meeting, or another setting designated by USAID to bring all applicants together, present ideas and work on the further development. As this process requires organizations to share their ideas and discuss them with others, organizations which are not open to do so should not participate. For specific confidentiality issues, agreements with USAID can be made to avoid full display of technologies or inventions that the organizations want to protect.
After the workshop, some concept papers are chosen to move to the third stage to be considered by the review board.
Projects and ideas that move to the third stage will be considered by the Peer and Scientific review board. The review board consists of experts from USAID, partners, and/or outside parties. It will give recommendations as to who should be considered as an Apparently Successful Partner to the Agreement Officers. The board will not only make decisions and recommendations but also propose amendments, adjustments, new partners and further resources. The system is based on green/amber/red light basis and gives recommendations for the actual determination of future partners. Not all participants can move to stage four.
The information from the Review Board is passed on to the contracting officer. In combination with other information like resource availability, preliminary partner responsibility assessment, and Agency priorities the officer will make a decision about whether to move on with the project or not. If a project is chosen, the officer will engage in final review, negotiation, and determinations of instrument type, responsibility, cost reasonableness, etc., and will craft an award instrument with the Apparently Successful Partner. If no agreement can be reached, the project will be canceled.
To make it clear what USAID is looking for when issuing a BAA and to show the process, in the following paragraph the Ebola Grand Challenge, Saving Lives at Birth and MERLIN (Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Innovations) will be presented in more detail.
In the year 2014 the world was faced with an unexpected Ebola epidemic mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It quickly became apparent, that the existing equipment and personnel was not appropriate to deal with the extent of the epidemic and with the particular circumstances in the field. Particularly in the area of protecting suits and gear, gaps became evident very quickly. Existing technologies were not adapted to the hot and humid environment of the countries that needed them. The particular challenges the heath care workers had to face are displayed below.
Source: http://www.elysemarr.com/supporting-usaid-grand-challenge-innovators/
To be able to respond to the epidemic quickly and more appropriately to those challenges, USAID called for applications for the Grand Ebola Challenge to develop new and innovative solutions and tools which were applicable in the field under practical conditions.
The response was overwhelming and USAID got over 1500 Expressions of Interest. In several workshops and by establishing cooperation and exchange, 14 innovations were chosen, which addressed gaps in the response to the Ebola epidemic. The chosen innovations were cutting edge tools for enhanced patient care like wearable patient sensors, innovative health care settings to enhance care, increase access and improve workers safety like rapidly deployable ETUs and special tents, suits and protective layers, decontaminants, ideas for changing the behaviors to eliminate Ebola and information communication technology solutions like mobile platforms for patient care.
Mortality amongst mothers during or shortly after giving birth and newborn mortality is still very high in developing countries, particularly in rural areas with very limited resources and access to infrastructure. Since 2011 USAID is calling for innovations to make childbirth safer under the BAA for Saving Lives at Birth. The initiative has resulted in more than 3000 expressions of interest in the areas of technologies, service delivery and demand to enhance safety surrounding childbirth at the local level. Partners come from different countries (Australia, Kenya, Pakistan, Canada, Nigeria, and the United States) and different institutions (amongst others non-profits, faith-based organizations, universities, and private enterprises) and have developed applicable solutions through working together and sharing knowledge and expertise. These partnerships foster creative and sustainable solutions that span science and technology, service delivery, and demand creation.
Innovations that have been supported include new medical equipment that is adjusted to local conditions in rural areas, raising awareness about premature births and improving access to technology.
The BAA Saving Lives at Birth is still open for applications with a new call for applications every year.
MERLIN is a call to develop innovative tools for monitoring, evaluation, research and learning. Traditional tools work in many settings, but specifically when the project environment is dynamic and changes quickly, they are not always applicable. Nevertheless, USAID needs tools to assess its success and impact. Under the MERLIN program, USAID aims to answer the following questions:
Today, 14 partners are taking part in the first set of MERLIN activities and further test and develop the tools in the field.
Do you have experiences with BAA?
Did your social enterprise or startup already participate in a call?
Please share your experiences with us and our readers, so we can all learn from each other.
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