Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) Classic for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2024 | USDA NRCS NHQ RCPP 24 NOFO0001354

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NRCS NHQ RCPP 24 NOFO0001354

The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) Classic FY 2024 funding opportunity is a competitive USDA program run by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), with funding administered through the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). It is designed to bring NRCS together with partner organizations to jointly plan and carry out conservation projects that address clear natural resource problems on agricultural land and nonindustrial private forest land. The central idea is co-investment: NRCS contributes financial assistance and technical assistance, while partners bring value-added contributions such as cash, staff time, technical expertise, services, outreach capacity, monitoring, or other resources that expand the overall conservation impact beyond what NRCS could do alone. The program also emphasizes collaboration with stakeholders and communities as a practical way to improve access and equity in NRCS programs and services.

For FY 2024, applicants submit proposals that target specific resource concerns in a defined project area at the state or multistate level, and the project must focus on one or more priority resource concerns within an NRCS-designated Critical Conservation Area (CCA). NRCS and selected partners then collaborate to design, promote, and implement the project, with work ultimately carried out through conservation activities and practices adopted by agricultural producers and eligible land managers. NRCS notes that it will prioritize use of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding for projects that implement climate-smart agriculture and forestry conservation activities, consistent with the notice language referenced in the opportunity (section F.(3)a. in the full announcement).

Funding availability is described at the program level across both FY 2024 RCPP Classic and the concurrent Alternative Funding Arrangement (AFA) notice of funding opportunity. In total, up to $1.5 billion is available across the two announcements, consisting of about $300 million from the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the 2018 Farm Bill) and about $1.2 billion from the IRA. In addition, up to $100 million is specifically set aside (shared between Classic and AFA) for NRCS to enter into programmatic partnership agreements with Indian tribes; if those funds are not fully used, remaining amounts may be made available for other partnership agreements. The listing for this opportunity indicates an award ceiling of $25,000,000. Proposals are accepted nationwide, including all 50 states, the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), and U.S. territories in the Pacific Island Areas (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).

RCPP Classic proposals are selected through a competitive process and scored using three stated evaluation criteria: impact, partner contributions, and partnership and management. In plain terms, NRCS is looking for projects that (1) can show meaningful, measurable conservation outcomes for the targeted resource concerns, (2) bring strong and credible partner contributions that increase the scale or effectiveness of the work, and (3) are backed by a partnership structure and management plan that make delivery realistic, accountable, and well coordinated.

Eligible applicants are broadly defined and include many public, private, and nonprofit entities that can serve as RCPP partners. The notice lists eligible partner types such as producer associations or groups, state or local governments, Indian tribes, farmer cooperatives, water and irrigation districts (including acequias and rural water associations), municipal water or wastewater treatment entities, institutions of higher education, conservation districts, and other organizations or businesses with a demonstrated history of working cooperatively with producers on conservation priorities (for example, wildlife habitat, water quality, sediment reduction, soil erosion, and related watershed-scale issues). The source data also reflects eligibility categories commonly used on federal listings, including various levels of government, public and private universities, federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status, and for-profit organizations (including small businesses).

The application deadline for this FY 2024 RCPP Classic opportunity is July 2, 2024, and NRCS must receive proposals by 4:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Applications must be submitted electronically through the RCPP portal rather than through email or paper submission. Access to the portal requires either a Level 2 eAuthentication credential or a Login.gov credential, and the notice flags that creating a new Login.gov account can take several days due to the multi-step identity verification process. Because of that, organizations that wait until the last minute risk missing the deadline due to account setup or access delays.

NRCS also strongly signals that applicants should coordinate with the relevant state-level NRCS leadership before submitting. Specifically, applicants are expected to contact the appropriate State Conservationist and the state RCPP coordinator in advance, and NRCS uses a state conservation questionnaire to document what was discussed. Proposals that do not have a completed questionnaire may have their score and ranking reduced, which effectively makes early coordination a practical part of staying competitive. For help and updates, applicants can consult the NRCS RCPP website and the "How to Apply to RCPP" page, and questions can be directed to rcpp@usda.gov. NRCS also offered applicant outreach webinars (with identical content in two sessions) on April 23, 2024 and May 30, 2024, and indicated that additional webinars would be scheduled on topics like RCPP easements and outreach to tribal applicants, with postings on the How to Apply page.

Administrative identifiers for the opportunity include Funding Opportunity Number USDA-NRCS-NHQ-RCPP-24-NOFO0001354 and Assistance Listing (CFDA) 10.932. NRCS categorized the opportunity under Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources, and notes that the RCPP Classic and RCPP AFA notices run concurrently, with the AFA opportunity listed separately under Funding Opportunity Number USDA-NRCS-NHQ-RCPPAFA-24-NOFO0001355.

• The Natural Resources Conservation Service in the agriculture, environment, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) Classic for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2024" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.932.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-04-03.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-07-02. (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 $25,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

Apply for USDA NRCS NHQ RCPP 24 NOFO0001354

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