[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 86 (Thursday, May 3, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26287-26288]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-10648]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. FDA-2012-N-0009]


Cooperative Agreement To Support the Joint Institute for Food 
Safety and Applied Nutrition, JIFSAN (U01)

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the 
availability of grant funds for the support of the Joint Institute for 
Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN). FDA believes that 
University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP)-JIFSAN is a sound 
investment to protect and promote public health. FDA faces an 
increasing number of critical and complex food safety and public health 
issues associated with the products that FDA regulates. These complex 
issues can be addressed most efficiently by expanding the scientific 
base through the development of collaborative partnerships. FDA 
believes that partnering with UMCP-JIFSAN will enhance FDA's ability to 
address safety and other public health issues related to foods, 
cosmetics, and animal health and continue to stimulate the integration 
of applied research, education, and outreach programs.

DATES: Important dates are as follows:
    1. The application due date is June 1, 2012.
    2. The anticipated start date is August 1, 2012.
    3. The opening date is May 3, 2012.
    4. The expiration date is June 2, 2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS CONTACT: 

Elizabeth M. Calvey, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (HFS-
560), Food and Drug Administration, CPK1, Rm. 4A007 (HFS-006), 5100 
Paint Branch Pkwy., College Park, MD 20740, 240-402-1981, 
[email protected].
Gladys Melendez, Office of Acquisition & Grants Services (HFA-500), 
Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1078, Rockville, 
MD 20857, 301-827-7175, [email protected].

    For more information on this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) 
and to obtain detailed requirements, please refer to the full FOA 
located at http://www.fda.gov/food/newsevents/default.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Funding Opportunity Description

    Funding Opportunity Number: RFA-12-016.
    Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: 93.103.

A. Background

    FDA is announcing its intention to receive and consider a single 
source application for the award of a cooperative agreement in fiscal 
year 2012 (FY12) to UMCP to support JIFSAN.
    FDA believes that the UMCP-JIFSAN collaboration is a sound 
investment. The last 15 years of FDA's partnership with UMCP-JIFSAN 
have been successful in developing multiple programs to support public 
health policy. The goal of JIFSAN is to advance sound strategies that 
improve public health, nutrition, and food/feed safety through three 
broad program areas: research, education, and outreach.
    With an increasingly diverse domestic and global food supply, FDA 
continues to face complex food safety issues associated with products 
that it regulates (i.e., conventional foods; food ingredients; dietary 
supplements; cosmetics; animal feed, feed additives, and animal drugs). 
FDA believes that some of these complex issues can be effectively 
addressed by further strengthening the available science-based programs 
established through JIFSAN. FDA also believes that innovative capacity-
building partnerships with various sectors of stakeholders in 
conjunction with JIFSAN's research and training programs can further 
support the development of proactive approaches to the prevention of 
problems before they occur. A proposal is being solicited for meeting 
this need as well as FDA's strategic goals to protect and promote 
public health.

B. Research Objectives

    This cooperative agreement will provide continued support so that 
UMCP-JIFSAN can meet the following objectives:
     Establish multi-institutional, multidisciplinary applied 
research projects to address complex food/feed safety and public health 
issues associated with products that FDA regulates. Applied research 
includes not only traditional laboratory and field research, but also 
epidemiological, educational, social and behavioral science.
     Continue the development of mechanisms for the exchange of 
technical information and scientific concepts between FDA and other 
sectors of the international and domestic community, through workshops, 
short courses and symposia, and online resources that focus on existing 
and emerging complex food/feed safety and public health issues.
     Continue the development and refinement of programs based 
on the application of the principles of risk analysis to address food/
feed defense and safety issues.
     Continue the design and improvement of domestic and 
international collaborations, which foster greater implementation of 
effective food safety practices.
     Continue developing innovative education and outreach 
programs that will provide opportunities to leverage resources among 
various sectors of stakeholders to address complex safety issues 
associated with an increasingly diverse global food supply.

C. Eligibility Information

    Competition is limited to UMCP-JIFSAN because UMCP-JIFSAN is 
uniquely qualified to fulfill the objectives of the proposed 
cooperative agreement. The administrative structure and policies of 
UMCP-JIFSAN offer the flexibility needed to create and operate 
strategic alliances involving multiple partners. They also allow 
effective utilization of resources to plan and run multidisciplinary 
and multi-institutional research programs and internationally-
recognized food safety training and risk analysis programs.
    UMCP and FDA, through their collaboration in JIFSAN, developed 
FoodRisk.org, which is an extensive Web-based information resource 
addressing many aspects of food safety risk analysis, as well as 
providing tools

[[Page 26288]]

and resources for food-borne infectious disease epidemiology and 
surveillance; developed a risk analysis professional development 
training program taught through several different modalities (e.g., 
face-to-face and online); developed international food safety education 
and outreach programs that foster implementation of effective food 
safety practices (i.e., Good Agricultural Practices, Good Aquaculture 
Practices, and Commercially Sterile Packaged Foods); and, recently, 
established the first-of-its-kind full-time international food safety 
laboratory training facility at College Park, MD, to train domestic and 
foreign government officials, third party laboratory scientists, and 
food producers on fit-for-purpose analytical procedures that would meet 
global food safety standards.
    Since its inception, JIFSAN has funded over 60 research projects as 
well as provided over 250 internships to undergraduate students to work 
with FDA scientists. JIFSAN food safety research topics are diverse and 
include the development of methods for detecting food pathogens; risk 
assessment studies on nutrients; food packaging materials; dietary 
supplements; microbial dose-responses; and risk communication. JIFSAN's 
unique structure permits it to reach beyond the UMCP campus and support 
research at other universities.
    Moreover, UMCP-JIFSAN provides an environment in which scientific 
and regulatory experts from various sectors can pool their resources 
and ideas and promote more efficient development and dissemination of 
science-based information that can support public policy.

II. Award Information/Funds Available

A. Award Amount

    The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) at FDA 
intends to fund one award up to $2.2 million for FY 2012, with the 
possibility of 4 additional years of support, subject to the 
availability of funds. Future year amounts will depend on annual 
appropriations and successful performance.

B. Length of Support

    The award will provide 1 year of support, with the possibility of 4 
additional years of support, contingent upon satisfactory performance 
in the achievement of project and program reporting objectives during 
the preceding year and the availability of Federal fiscal year 
appropriations.

III. Paper Application, Registration, and Submission Information

    To submit a paper application in response to this FOA, applicants 
should first review the full announcement located at www.fda.gov/food/newsevents/default.htm. (FDA has verified the Web site addresses 
throughout this document, but FDA is not responsible for any subsequent 
changes to the Web sites after this document publishes in the Federal 
Register.) Persons interested in applying for a grant may obtain an 
application at http://grants2.nih.gov/GRANTS/FORMS.HTM. For all paper 
application submissions, the following steps are required:

 Step 1: Obtain a Dun and Bradstreet (DUNS) Number
 Step 2: Register With Central Contractor Registration
 Step 3: Register With Electronic Research Administration (eRA) 
Commons

    Steps 1 and 2, in detail, can be found at http://www07.grants.gov/applicants/organization_registration.jsp. Step 3, in detail, can be 
found at https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons/registration/registrationInstructions.jsp. After you have followed these steps, 
submit paper applications to:
    Applications must be prepared using the PHS 398 research grant 
application forms and instructions for preparing a research grant 
application. Submit one signed, typewritten original of the 
application, including the checklist, and five signed photocopies as 
follows:

Submit one original to: Gladys Melendez, Division of Acquisition and 
Grant Services, Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 
1078, Rockville, MD 20857, 240-731-3905, [email protected].
Submit the five signed photocopies to: Kevin W. Robinson, Center for 
Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (HFS-650), Food and Drug 
Administration, CPK1, Rm. 4C035, 5100 Paint Branch Pkwy., College Park, 
MD 20740, 240-402-2118, [email protected].

    Dated: April 27, 2012.
Leslie Kux,
Assistant Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2012-10648 Filed 5-2-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-P