Call For Proposals
Issued:  May 21, 2010
Proposal Deadline:  August 6, 2010

The Agricultural Biosecurity Program (ABP) flows out of the Canada-Ontario bilateral agreement to implement Growing Forward, a Federal-Provincial-Territorial initiative. The ABP is part of the Best Practices Suite of programs for Growing Forward in Ontario.  

The ABP is aimed at supporting Ontario’s agricultural sectors including service and supply sectors, to address their specific biosecurity needs through education, training, studies, and applied pilot projects that impact at the farm level.  The focus is on initiatives that enable the sector to protect the agricultural resource base from disease, pests, and pathogens, and reduce the associated biological and economic risks.  The ABP will engage industry stakeholders at the organizational level through cost-shared funding of projects. 

The ABP will be administered by the Agricultural Adaptation Council (AAC) and is supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The AAC has issued this Call for Proposals (CFP) to solicit project proposals for funding consideration under the ABP.

Proposals developed by eligible applicants to be funded under the Program should contribute to the following objectives:

·         Build awareness of biosecurity risks, and build capacity in the sector to adopt preventive measures and management practices;

·         Improve the preparedness of the agri-food sector to deal with risks;

·         Increase the level of understanding and awareness of biosecurity; risks/issues/measures/importance across the sector;

·         Encourage key players in the sector to promote and incorporate biosecurity measures into their operations/activities;

·         Foster information-sharing across and/or between sector(s) to improve biosecurity along the supply chain;

·         Improve biosecurity information available to the sector; and

·         Assist sectors in preparing for implementation of national standards as they become available.

Eligible applicants:

·        Agri-food sector organizations (such as plant/crop and livestock/poultry sectors and organizations, including service and supply sectors) registered as a Canadian legal entity;

·         Partnerships between organizations/sectors.

Excluded from eligibility are:

·        Individuals and individual businesses, public agencies, federal or provincial departments, and academic institutions, although these entities may be partners on the project, with the primary applicant being eligible as outlined above; or

·         Organizations who do not meet the Terms and Conditions included in Appendix B.

Eligibility criteria:

Projects may include, but are not limited to activities such as: the development of resource materials, industry gap analysis, attitudinal studies, awareness workshops, assessment studies, and applied research.  All projects and project activities must respect the overall objectives of the Program (Section 2.0) and describe how they will meet the following criteria:

·     Enhance biosecurity in the sector, reduces biologic and related financial risks and improves related information and awareness;

• Focus on specific opportunities or challenges directly related to biosecurity for animals/plants;

• Have projected benefits that exceed the costs;

• Benefit the sector, and/or the province of Ontario, as a whole;

• Be a  new, innovative study/research/project that specifically addresses a biosecurity-related need in the sector;

• Have a demonstrated impact on biosecurity at the farm level;

• Demonstrate the economic viability and long-term self-sufficiency of the proposal, where the nature of the project warrants;

• Outline a knowledge transfer plan to share details of the project and the results with stakeholders in the sector;

• Outline a plan to collect and report any information on adoption of biosecurity measures at the farm level;

• Demonstrate direct agricultural sector financial support and partnerships/alliances with others;

• Comply with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and its regulations, if applicable for the proposed project; and,

• Complete all activities within 24 months of the start of the project or by September 1, 2012, whichever comes first.

Eligible Expenditures

Direct expenditures required to implement the project are eligible for reimbursement. These can include but are not limited to:

·         Cost of goods and services and all related shipping and transportation costs, including but not limited to the applicant’s: project costs, costs of developing project materials, project communications, project advertising, outreach/extension activities and project public notices;

·         Incremental cost of services, such as salaries and benefits, specific per diem fees of personnel working directly on the development and delivery of the project, including outreach/extension services;

·         Incremental costs for rental or lease of facilities, equipment or machinery;

•  Costs of accommodations, telecommunications, hospitality and travel, transportation, and postage directly related to the project     delivery, not greater than Provincial guidelines;

·         Eligible Costs incurred by applicants are those that occur on/or after the submission dateline of the project.  For the first Funding Year, eligible costs may be accepted retroactively to April 1, 2009 based on recommendation from the Biosecurity Review Committee; and

·         Non-reimbursable portion of the Good and Services Tax or its successor.

Ineligible costs

Expenditures that are not eligible include but are not limited to:

·         Normal overhead costs associated with carrying out the business of the applicant and/or its partners;

·         General management costs other than as noted above under eligible expenditures;

·         Costs incurred prior to the approved project start date;

·         Direct income support;

·         Any costs associated with preparing and submitting the project proposal;

·         Capital costs such as the construction of buildings, or the acquisition of land and/or equipment;

·         Normal commercial expansion. (Normal commercial expansion is defined as the acquisition of land, labour, buildings and/or the acquisition and use of conventional equipment/technologies for the exploitation of established market opportunities.);

·         Costs covered under any Federal and/or Provincial and/or Municipal programs;

·         Costs associated with undertaking basic research (research aimed strictly for the advancement of knowledge); and

·         On-farm equipment or facility upgrade, unless it is part of a demonstration or applied research project with broad industry application.

For more information, application forms and timelines please click on the links below.

• Intake Proposals - Information Guide

• ABP Application Form - Call for Proposals

• ABP Budget and Milestone Performance Sheets