Enhancing Public Health Laboratory Capabilities and Increasing Capacity | CDC RFA OE20 20010101SUPP20

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA OE20 20010101SUPP20

The CDC funding opportunity titled "Enhancing Public Health Laboratory Capabilities and Increasing Capacity" is a supplemental cooperative agreement designed to strengthen the performance of public health laboratories across the United States, both as individual institutions and as connected parts of a broader national laboratory system. The overall intent is to make public health laboratories more effective in supporting routine public health needs and more capable of responding quickly and reliably during emergencies. The award is positioned as a way to improve the laboratory system that underpins public health decision-making, including the development of guidance and policies, and to ensure labs can detect and monitor health threats that could harm communities.

At the core of the opportunity is a set of four major strategy categories that reflect the broad areas where laboratory systems need reinforcement. First, it prioritizes stronger science, management, and operations, meaning improvements not only in technical testing capability but also in how laboratories are run, staffed, and resourced day to day. Second, it emphasizes policy, partnership, and communication, recognizing that laboratories do not operate in isolation and must coordinate with health departments, federal partners, clinical systems, and other stakeholders, while also communicating results and needs effectively. Third, the NOFO highlights training and capacity building, aiming to grow and sustain a skilled workforce through education, continuous professional development, and leadership preparation. Fourth, it calls for improvements in laboratory quality, safety, and informatics, which includes maintaining high-quality testing standards, ensuring safe laboratory environments, and expanding the use of data systems and digital tools that support surveillance, reporting, and rapid response.

These strategies are meant to be put into action through projects that draw from nine focus areas that cover the range of public health laboratory responsibilities. Those focus areas include foundational leadership and support, environmental health, foodborne and waterborne diseases (including environmentally transmitted illnesses), infectious diseases, informatics, newborn screening and genetics, preparedness and response, quality and safety systems, and workforce development. In practice, this structure allows the recipient to select and implement specific projects that match the most pressing needs across the laboratory network while staying aligned with the broader goals of strengthening the system as a whole.

The mechanism for this funding is a cooperative agreement, which signals an active partnership between CDC and the recipient rather than a more hands-off grant relationship. The expectation is that the funded work will measurably improve the timeliness and reliability of public health laboratory contributions, especially during public health emergencies, and will help laboratories serve as early warning "sentinels" for emerging or unforeseen threats. The opportunity also ties its goals to the Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2020 framework, reflecting the idea that many national health objectives depend on strong laboratory infrastructure to provide essential testing services, surveillance capacity, and actionable data.

Eligibility is intentionally limited because this is a single-source opportunity. Only one organization is eligible to apply: the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL). The NOFO justifies this by describing the capabilities required for success, including deep expertise in public health laboratory practice, an established history of successful partnerships with public health laboratories, recognized credibility and influence across the laboratory community, and a demonstrated record of improving laboratory practice through training, continuing education, career promotion, and leadership pipeline development. In other words, the award is designed to flow through a national coordinating organization with the reach and trust needed to support laboratories at scale.

Accountability and evaluation are built into the award expectations. CDCs evaluation and performance measurement approach is described as including both process and outcome evaluation, meaning it will track not only whether activities are completed but also whether they produce meaningful improvements. The recipient is expected to use strategies and activities from a core logic model (referenced in the NOFO) to achieve intended outcomes and must develop detailed project work plans that include outcomes, outcome measures, strategies and activities, and process measures. Monitoring is expected to be ongoing and multi-channel, using tools such as work plan reviews, progress and performance reporting, financial reporting, scheduled calls, and site visits. Any data collection requirements during the project period must comply with federal rules, including review and approval under the Office of Management and Budget process when applicable.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is listed as a CDC discretionary funding action under CFDA 93.322, with an award ceiling of $100,000,000 and an expectation of a single award. It was created on June 5, 2020, with an original closing date of July 20, 2020, and required electronic submission by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. The awarding agency is the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, specifically within CSELS. Taken together, the NOFO describes a large, centralized investment intended to improve laboratory science and operations, strengthen partnerships and communication pathways, expand workforce and training capacity, and modernize quality systems and informatics, all with the goal of making the nations public health laboratory network stronger, faster, and more resilient over time.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - CSELS in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Enhancing Public Health Laboratory Capabilities and Increasing Capacity" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.322.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 05, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 20, 2020 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 1159 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.. (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 $100,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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