NARMS Cooperative Agreement Program to Strengthen Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimens | PAR 25 014

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 25 014

The NARMS Cooperative Agreement Program to Strengthen Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimens (Funding Opportunity Number PAR 25 014) is a discretionary funding opportunity from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), specifically the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM). It supports and extends the work of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS), a long-running national surveillance effort launched in 1996 as part of broader U.S. actions to address the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. At its core, the program is about protecting public health by improving how the U.S. tracks antibiotic-resistant bacteria linked to foods sold at retail, so emerging resistance patterns can be identified earlier and responded to more effectively.

This FOA focuses on strengthening and sustaining surveillance in retail food specimens within NARMS. In practical terms, that means increasing the program's ability to collect retail food samples, isolate and identify bacteria of concern, and evaluate those bacteria for antimicrobial resistance. A major emphasis is improving detection of resistance in bacteria associated with food commodities and broadening the sampling network by expanding to new collection sites. By adding sites and increasing coverage, the program aims to widen the geographic and operational scope of retail food monitoring, which helps build a clearer national picture of where resistance is appearing, how it is changing over time, and what risks may be developing in the food supply. The FOA notes that recipients should produce measurable outcomes that align with established NARMS objectives, reinforcing that this is a performance-driven surveillance award rather than an open-ended research grant.

The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which signals that FDA anticipates substantial involvement with awardees during the project period. Cooperative agreements typically mean closer coordination with the federal program office than a standard grant, often including alignment on protocols, reporting expectations, quality and consistency standards, data submission practices, and other programmatic requirements needed to keep surveillance comparable across sites. This structure fits NARMS, where standardized approaches and consistent data streams are essential for national-level analysis and trend detection.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations and includes higher education institutions (both public/state controlled and private), nonprofit organizations (with or without 501(c)(3) status), for-profit organizations (including small businesses), and multiple levels of government (state, county, city/township, special districts, U.S. territories/possessions, and tribal governments, both federally recognized and other than federally recognized). It also includes eligible federal agencies and a range of other domestic entities such as independent school districts, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, tribal organizations that are not federally recognized governments, and faith-based or community-based organizations, as well as regional organizations. However, non-U.S. participation is explicitly restricted: foreign organizations cannot apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components as defined under the NIH Grants Policy Statement are not allowed. The domestic-only requirement reflects the program's role in U.S. retail food surveillance and the need for consistent national oversight and data governance.

From the provided source data, the program is listed under CFDA (Assistance Listing) number 93.103, and the activity category is Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition. The opportunity was created on 2025-07-11, with an original closing date of 2027-04-01. The expected number of awards is 35, and the stated award ceiling is $200,000. Taken together, those figures suggest a program designed to support a network of participating entities rather than a single large center, helping maintain and expand sampling and testing capacity across multiple sites.

Overall, this FOA is best understood as a capacity-building and operational surveillance funding opportunity within a well-established national monitoring system. It is aimed at strengthening the day-to-day infrastructure needed to track antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from retail foods, expanding the reach of that surveillance to additional locations, and ensuring that outputs are measurable and directly tied to NARMS program objectives that support public health decision-making.

• The Food and Drug Administration in the agriculture, consumer protection, food and nutrition sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NARMS Cooperative Agreement Program to Strengthen Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimens" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.103.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-07-11.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2027-04-01.
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 35 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for PAR 25 014

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