Tennessee NRCS General Conservation Agreements

Background
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an agency under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is announcing the potential availability of funding for the purpose of leveraging NRCS resources to encourage collaboration with partners in providing strategic conservation delivery assistance and/or provide tools or data that enhance the ability of the agency to support conservation. The overall intent of this solicitation is to solicit partnerships to help enhance the implementation of key conservation objectives and priorities outlined in this announcement.

Grant Details
The goals and objectives of this program are to improve and increase soil health, water quality, environmental and economic performance of working agricultural lands, address air quality concerns and carbon sequestration needs, develop quality conservation plans for effective grazing land practices, plan and implement effective forestry practices and standards.

Emphasis will be placed on projects that build technical capacity to implement Farm Bill conservation programs, demonstrate benefits of utilizing various types of cover crops, leverage innovative partnerships to expand NRCS’s ability to get conservation on the ground effectively and efficiently, increase assistance for climate-smart agriculture and forestry, provide technical and administrative services supporting conservation practices benefiting forestlands, grasslands, and farmlands, provide Boots on the Ground conservation objectives, use technology such as Geographic Information System (GIS) to increase efficiencies with conservation practice design and implementation.

Proposals will be screened for completeness and compliance under the provisions of this notice. Incomplete and/or noncompliant proposals will be eliminated from competition.

Eligibility Requirements
Proposals will be accepted from eligible entities for projects located in Tennessee. Entity types that may be eligible under these criteria include City or township governments, County governments, Independent school districts, Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS (other than institutions of higher education), Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS (other than institutions of higher education), Private institutions of higher education, Public and State-controlled institutions of higher education, Special district governments, State governments.

Period of Performance
Proposals are requested from eligible entities for competitive consideration of agreement awards for projects between one (1) to five (5) years in duration. Projects may be between one (1) and five (5) years in duration with an estimated project start date of September 15, 2024.

Grant Value
NRCS anticipates the total amount awarded under this announcement in Federal fiscal year 2024 will be approximately $750,000.00. The estimated funding floor for this opportunity is $100,000.00, and the estimated funding ceiling is $250,000.00.

Place of Performance
Projects must be performed in Tennessee.