[Faculty] Update on USDA Policy and RFPs

[Chorover, Jon - (chorover)]

Dear Colleagues,

This email addresses two important issues pertaining to USDA - one is a policy change and the other relates to upcoming RFPs.


  1.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a new research security directive, "America First Memorandum (SM 1078-014) for USDA Arrangements and Research Security<https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sm-1078-014.pdf?utm_source=Agri-Pulse+Daybreak&utm_campaign=96cf1ad5b0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_07_11_02_51&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-96cf1ad5b0-50436346>," accompanied by the National Farm Security Action Plan<https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/farm-security-nat-sec.pdf>. Together, these measures introduce rigorous restrictions, compliance obligations, and eligibility requirements for all domestic and international USDA-funded research activities.



  *   The new policy framework mandates a sweeping review of existing research collaborations with foreign entities, sets new procedural barriers for future partnerships, and aligns agricultural research, land ownership, and supply chain integrity as matters of national security.
  *   These directives will directly impact USDA-funded institutions of higher education-especially those involved in international partnerships, and projects that include foreign nationals or collaborators abroad.
  *   Additional details for research security compliance, institutional reporting, and eligibility can be found in the attached summary, provided by Lewis-Burke Associates.


  1.  The release of RFPs that I predicted for July 3 didn't materialize.  However, I have heard from Lewis Burke (who met with USDA folks in a DC-based meeting) that the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will release two RFPs this week and that several more will be released soon after that.



  *   Many of these solicitations will have 30-day turnaround times, and more focused RFAs will have 14-day turnaround times.
  *   Many NIFA programs will not have new solicitations, but may fund proposals from prior submissions.
  *   Given the short turnaround times, please notify your pre-award grants and contracts manager as soon as you know that you are going to apply for a given RFP, so that they can work with you to get organized in time to meet SPS deadlines.

Please let me know if you have additional questions or concerns.

Jon

-----------------------------------
Jon Chorover
Interim Associate Dean for Research
Professor, Department of Environmental Science
College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences (CALES)
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
Phone:  (520) 626-5635
Email:  chorover at arizona.edu<mailto:chorover at arizona.edu>

I am on ancestral lands of the
Tohono O'odham and Pascua Yaqui.


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