Western Hemisphere Regional Transnational Crime Assessment and Analysis | SFOP0007195

Opportunity Information: Apply for SFOP0007195

The Western Hemisphere Regional Transnational Crime Assessment and Analysis opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number SFOP0007195) is a discretionary U.S. government grant program offered by the Department of State, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, focused on strengthening how the United States and partners understand and respond to transnational criminal organizations across the region. The core problem it targets is that transnational criminal organizations, including gangs and drug cartels, erode border security, drive violence and crime, and cause real harm in communities throughout the Western Hemisphere. These groups often take advantage of widespread corruption and weak rule of law to move drugs and illicit goods, protect their operations, and divert public resources for private gain. The opportunity frames corruption, financial crimes, and interconnected criminal networks as major, persistent challenges, and emphasizes that policymakers still lack consistent, data-driven, reliable analytic products that clearly define the scope of these threats or identify which interventions are actually working.

The grant is designed to fill that gap by funding three separate projects that produce comprehensive assessments and analysis. The requested work centers on anti-corruption dynamics, financial crimes (including illicit financial flows and related enabling systems), criminal networks and how they operate, and the measurable impact of interventions aimed at disrupting these activities. In practical terms, the program seeks analytic efforts that can inform policy decision-making and directly guide foreign assistance programming, meaning the outputs should be usable for shaping strategy, prioritizing resources, and improving program design across multiple countries rather than being purely academic research. The geographic scope is explicitly regional and broad, covering Central America, South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean, reflecting an emphasis on cross-border patterns and the way networks and corruption ecosystems operate across jurisdictions.

Structurally, this is a grant (Funding Instrument Type: Grant) under the law, justice, and legal services activity category, with CFDA number 19.705. The opportunity anticipated making three awards, with an award ceiling of $920,280. It was posted on July 9, 2020, and had an original closing date of August 8, 2020. Eligibility is listed as "Others," with additional eligibility details referenced as being in the full eligibility section of the announcement, suggesting it was open beyond only state or local government entities and likely intended for qualified organizations capable of producing rigorous regional analysis (for example, research institutions, nonprofits, or similar entities, depending on the specific notice language).

Overall, the opportunity is essentially an applied research and assessment initiative aimed at improving the quality, credibility, and usefulness of regional analytics on corruption, financial crime, and criminal networks in the Western Hemisphere. The emphasis is not only on mapping and describing the problem, but also on evaluating the impact of anti-corruption and anti-crime interventions so decision-makers can distinguish between approaches that show evidence of effectiveness and those that do not, and then adjust foreign assistance investments accordingly.

• The Department of State, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Western Hemisphere Regional Transnational Crime Assessment and Analysis" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.705.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 09, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 08, 2020. (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 $920,280.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 3 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for SFOP0007195

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