Location: Animal Production and Protection
Project Number: 0208-32000-001-091-M
Project Type: Memorandum of Understanding
Start Date: Jun 2, 2021
End Date: Jun 1, 2026
Objective:
This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) defines in general terms the basis on which the Parties concerned will cooperate. The NP 104 mission is to eliminate arthropod vectors and the disease that they transmit to livestock, humans and other animals and to nullify their economic impact. Similarly, one mission of the Department of Defense (DoD) is to prevent arthropod disease vectors from adversely affecting DoD operations. Since the 1940s, USDA, ARS and DoD have collaborated in a close interagency relationship to develop novel public health insecticides and personal protection technologies to prevent the transmission of vector-borne diseases. The DoD seeks to continue supporting research projects to develop these technologies at USDA, ARS through the DoD’s Deployed Warfighter Protection Research (DWFP) Program. In addition, both USDA, ARS and DoD seek to collaborate in other mutually beneficial collaborative research efforts to develop novel tools and technologies that control arthropod disease vectors.
Approach:
This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) does not constitute a basis for financial obligations or expenditures. Any transfer of funds between the Parties of this MOU will require separate agreements or contracts. Each subsequent agreement or arrangement involving the transfer of funds, services, or property among the Parties to this MOU must comply with all applicable statutes and regulations, including those statutes and regulations applicable to procurement activities, and must be authorized by appropriate statutory authority. In previous iterations of the MOU, USDA, ARS and DoD maintained an interagency collaboration through a “Master” MOU that broadly described many potential areas of collaboration, in addition to a MOU “Supplement” which specifically described the DWFP Program. Under this paradigm, DoD provided funds annually to USDA, ARS for a broad range of research projects. During the most recent iteration of the Master MOU & Supplement (now expired), DoD ceased to provide funds to USDA, ARS on a non-competitive basis; instead, DoD has been providing funds to USDA, ARS in a competitively funded grants process which has narrowed the scope of the MOU. Thus, in the present MOU, USDA, ARS and DoD seek to simplify their interagency collaboration through a single MOU that includes both the DWFP Program and other mutually beneficial collaborative research efforts that align with the mutual missions of NP 104 and the DWFP Program. The intent of USDA, ARS and DoD is to continue their close collaboration under the present MOU and allow the DoD to continue providing DWFP Program funds to USDA, ARS using Military Interdepartmental Purchase Requests (MIPRs) to transfer funds.
