Title
Equipment Grants Program
Agencies
United States Department of Agriculture
Description
The Equipment Grants Program (EGP) serves to increase access to shared-use special purpose
equipment/instruments for fundamental and applied research for use in the food and agricultural
sciences programs at institutions of higher education, including State Cooperative Extension
Systems. The program seeks to strengthen the quality and expand the scope of fundamental and
applied research at eligible institutions, by providing them with opportunities to acquire one
shared-use piece of equipment/instrument that supports their research, research training, and
extension goals and may be too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NIFA
grant programs. EGP grants are not intended to replace requests for equipment in individual
project applications. The program emphasizes shared-use instrumentation that will enhance the
capabilities of researchers, educators, and extension specialists both within and outside the
proposing organization.
Proposals to the EGP must involve acquisition of a single, well-integrated piece of
equipment/instrument. Well-integrated means that the ensemble of equipment that defines the
instrument enables specific fundamental or applied research experiments in the food and
agricultural sciences, including data science and data systems; separating or removing an
element or component of such an integrated instrument would preclude that research from
occurring or succeeding. An instrument acquired with support from EGP is expected to be fully
operational by the conclusion of the first year of the project.
The EGP does not support the acquisition of suites of equipment (i.e., common, general purpose
ancillary equipment) to outfit research laboratories/facilities or to conduct independent
experiments simultaneously. Similarly, the EGP does not fund common, general purpose
ancillary equipment that would normally be found in a laboratory and/or is relatively easily
procured by the organization or through other NIFA grant programs. Rather, it is intended to
help fund items of equipment that will upgrade infrastructure. Moreover, EGP does not fund
research projects, including research that uses the equipment acquired with support from the
program, nor building or modifying facilities to house the equipment.
In FY2023, EGP will support the installation of equipment (but not the costs associated with
building or modifying facilities to house the equipment), equipment warranty for the duration of
the award, and one-time equipment use training.
The amount available for support of this program in FY 2023 is approximately $4,800,000.
More Information
https://www.nifa.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/FY23-EGP-RFA-508-F_0.pdf
Submission Limits
Two proposals total per eligible institution
Deadlines
Internal Notice of Intent |
Mar 31, 2023 |
Notification of Internal Competition |
Apr 1, 2023 |
Internal Pre-proposal |
Apr 10, 2023 |
Results of Internal Competition |
Apr 17, 2023 |
Agency Notice of Intent/Pre-proposal |
N/A |
Agency Proposal |
May 3, 2023
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