Research Facilities Act Program
Grant Opportunity Analysis
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, an agency within the USDA, is administering the Research Facilities Act Program to provide financial assistance to qualifying institutions for agricultural research facilities. Funded projects must support the construction, alteration, acquisition, modernization, renovation, or remodeling of facilities used for conducting food and agricultural sciences research. Eligible applicants, including various land-grant institutions and state agricultural experiment stations, must demonstrate how their projects serve national research needs, complement existing facilities, and secure a mandatory one-to-one non-Federal cash match. The agency plans to award an estimated $121,127,200 in total program funding, with individual awards ranging from $100,000 to $30,000,000, ahead of the application deadline on July 17, 2026.
Eligible Applicants
Applicants for the RFAP must meet all the requirements discussed in this NOFO. Failure to meet the eligibility criteria by the application deadline may result in exclusion from consideration or preclude NIFA from making an award. For those new to Federal financial assistance, NIFA’s About Grants provides highly recommended information about grants and other resources to help understand the Federal awards process. Applications may be submitted by: 1. 1994 Land-Grant Institutions 2. State Agricultural Experiment Stations 3. 1862 Land-Grant Institutions 4. Accredited school or college of veterinary medicine or State Agricultural Experiment Station that conducts animal health and disease research in accordance with section 1433(c) of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3195) 5. 1890 Land-Grant Institutions 6. Hispanic-Serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities (HSACU) as defined in 7 U.S.C. 3103 7. Non-Land-Grant Colleges of Agriculture (NLGCA) - Institutions satisfying the eligibility requirements for NLGCA designation. 8. Insular Area Institutions-Institution of higher education, as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1995 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a). 9. Institutions eligible for "McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Act" (16 U.S.C. 582a et seq.) 10. Other entities eligible to receive funds under a capacity and infrastructure program (as defined in section 6971(f)(1)(C)). See Appendix IV under capacity and infrastructure programs. USDA will not accept competitive applications for grants and cooperative agreements submitted for dangerous gain-of-function research, as defined in Section 8 of E.O. 14292. Duplicate or Multiple Submissions – An eligible institution may not submit more than one application to this program as a lead institution. This includes applications from subordinate units under a parent institution. Additionally, eligible recipients may only receive funds for one award at a time. Recipients with active RFAP awards are not eligible to receive additional RFAP awards. Prospective applicants are advised to contact their institutional sponsored projects office regarding processes used to select proposals for submission. Institutions that have received congressionally directed funding for research facility projects are not excluded from participation in this program. Such institutions may submit applications and compete for additional projects under this competitive funding opportunity.