Alternatives to Consultancy services for the development and implementation of capacity-building on ICT laws for public officers and other identified groups – (Phase II).

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) announces up to $10 million to support a National Fund Manager (NFM) to design and manage a Lead-Safe and Healthy Homes Financing Demonstration (the Fund). The Fund will be a national platform to pool public and private capital to accelerate the reduction of residential lead exposure, particularly childhood lead poisoning, and improve housing-related health conditions in low-income communities ("lead-safe and healthy homes activities").While HUD and EPA programs have addressed lead and other environmental hazards in many homes, progress remains slow relative to the scale of need. For example, since 1993, HUD has remediated lead hazards in over 230,000 low-income housing units, but tens of millions of U.S. households continue to face risk from lead and additional residential environmental stressors. Expanding access to private capital alongside public funding is critical to increasing the pace and scale of remediation.Traditional home repair financing remains difficult to access due to strict underwriting, high denial rates, and lender risk concerns, leaving many older homes in disrepair. The Fund will build upon successful local models that combine public and private resources and expand this approach nationally by aggregating capital and supporting local financing programs.The NFM will be responsible for leveraging the initial $10 million in public funds to raise private capital investments, structuring financing mechanisms, and providing technical assistance to support the Fund's operations. The NFM will also be responsible for the distribution of the funds through eligible activities by using no more than $1 million of the federal award for administrative activities, while deploying the remaining capital through loans, grants, and other financial products that flow to state, regional, and local governments and nonprofit organizations selected by the NFM. The NFM will select and enter into agreements with organizations, which will in turn provide financing for conducting lead-safe and healthy homes activities in homes of low-income homeowners and homes owned by small landlords, in low-income communities. HUD will maintain oversight through review of Fund structure, performance, and compliance rather than by participating in investment selection decisions.The organizations selected for funding by the NFM will ensure that the financing conditions require use of appropriately qualified contractors, laboratories, and financial entities in accordance with applicable Federal, state, and local requirements and this NOFO. The NFM will establish and oversee compliance, reporting, and quality assurance processes to ensure that lead-safe and healthy homes activities are performed and financed in accordance with program requirements.

Expected Outcome: Proposals are expected to contribute to one or more of the following: Enhanced security frameworks for both hardware and software supply chains, building on root-of-trust architectures and secure lifecycle management; Secure and trusted chip architectures for next-generation computing and networking systems; Integrated security-by-design approaches in software development, aimed to be aligned with relevant regulatory requirements; Security testing methodologies, including formal verification approaches and AI-driven security testing methodologies; Standardised methodologies for hardware security assessment, also contributing to cybersecurity certification. Scope: The increasing complexity and globalisation of software and hardware supply chains introduce new vulnerabilities that cyber adversaries can exploit. Ensuring the security of both software and hardware components across the lifecycle of digital systems is paramount. This topic aims to develop innovative tools, methods, and processes to secure the entire ecosystem of software and hardware development. Proposals should explicitly select one main area of focus but can also address both: a. Secured hardware…

Panama’s universities have become an increasingly important arena for strategic competition.  The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has expanded its influence through Confucius Institutes, academic exchanges, research partnerships, scholarships, and sustained engagement with students, faculty, and university leadership.  These influence operations foster distrust of the United States and promote CCP narratives at a critical time in the U.S.-Panama relationship.   Embassy Panama seeks to expand the U.S. presence on university campuses by creating sustained opportunities for students, faculty, administrators, and researchers to engage directly with American institutions, experts, companies, and exchange alumni.  Through English-language programming, AI and emerging technology workshops, entrepreneurship initiatives, visiting speakers, research collaborations, and public discussions on academic freedom and research integrity, the program will demonstrate the advantages of partnering with the United States while providing a credible alternative to CCP-sponsored programming.   Working alongside EducationUSA, American Spaces, the Regional English Language Office, and existing Embassy initiatives, the project will complement existing exchange and advising programs by focusing on institutional engagement and public diplomacy.  The Embassy seeks a year-long initiative that establishes enduring U.S.-Panama academic partnerships, expands American visibility across Panamanian campuses, and directly advances U.S. efforts to counter CCP influence in higher education.   

The U.S. Department of State’s Embassy Panama announces an open competition to design and implement a program to strengthen Panamanian journalists’ English language proficiency, applied AI skills, and digital media literacy in order to counter disinformation and advance a more informed public discourse. Panama’s media environment faces growing challenges from disinformation and external influence campaigns that threaten reliable public discourse. This one-year program combines advanced English language instruction with applied artificial intelligence (AI) training and digital media literacy skills, enabling participants to access credible English-language sources, evaluate information critically, and use emerging technologies responsibly in their reporting. By the program’s end, participants will demonstrate improved English proficiency and enhanced digital literacy, enabling them to engage with U.S. expertise and global media resources. They will also apply these skills to identify manipulated media, AI-generated content, and disinformation, and to use fact-checking and verification techniques, effectively strengthening their credibility as trusted, reliable messengers for their communities. This initiative directly advances U.S. foreign policy priorities by countering anti-American propaganda and building resilience against digital disinformation threats, fostering a more informed public discourse in Panama and reinforcing trust in credible, fact-based reporting aligned with U.S. interests in the region.

The Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS) will meet the cost of addressing life safety fire risks associated with cladding on residential buildings over 11m in height (11-18m in London).

Grants for projects that repair, conserve and care for historic places including buildings, structures, monuments, landscapes and areas.

Commissioned Rehabilitative Services General Grant Scheme for support for people with shared protected characteristics or shared experiences or to promote rehabilitation and desistance to support the aims of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to protect the public and reduce reoffending. This includes the aims to improve people’s engagement in, and experience of, probation and other rehabilitative activities; to support an individual’s rehabilitation and desistance journey; and to improve HMPPS’ knowledge of which activities work to support people and to encourage rehabilitation and desistance.

This funding is only available for Local Authorities and Fire and Rescue Authorities. The funding is for them to procure legal advice on pursuing those responsible for remediating buildings.

Expected Impact: The results of the activities should contribute to support common procurement, leading to strengthening the cooperation among Member States and associated countries, as well as to greater interoperability. Furthermore, they should contribute to the building up of strategic stockpile of ammunition, missiles, including their components, or to the increase of existing ones, as well as to the development of low-cost unmanned systems for guided strikes adapted to modern warfare scenarios. Objective: This topic aims at actions supporting the common procurement of ammunition (including small arms ammunition, tank and anti-tank ammunitions, artillery ammunition, guided ammunitions), missiles (all types of missiles) and other explosive weapons (including hand grenade, land and naval mines, mortar, rockets, unmanned systems (aerial, ground, surface and underwater vehicles controlled remotely or operating autonomously using advanced software and sensors) able to perform guided strikes (including attack or kamikaze drones, FPV loitering munitions), torpedoes), or parts thereof, contributing to replenishment of stocks. Scope: Common procurement actions under this topic shall…

Expected Outcome: The primary aim of this action is to create the conditions for a sustained dialogue between policymakers and individuals with lived experience of poverty, ensuring that those directly affected by poverty and/or social exclusion have a real and influential voice in the decisions that shape their lives. A core objective is to empower participants by providing them with the tools, confidence, and platforms needed to engage effectively in discussions on challenges related to combating poverty and social inclusion. This will come together with building trust and breaking down barriers between institutions and marginalised communities. The action will create a more inclusive and respectful exchange , where power imbalances are acknowledged and mitigated giving participants a clearer understanding of how policies are formed. Finally, the action will champion intersectionality : efforts will be made to amplify the voices of the most marginalised groups, ensuring that policies account for the diverse and overlapping challenges they face. By doing so, the initiative aims to create more equitable and inclusive solutions ; ones that reflect the complexities of poverty and…

Scope: Topic scope: Raising awareness of and building capacity for the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CERV-2026-CHAR-LITI-CHARTER) The Charter strategy underlines the importance of strengthening the application of the Charter through awareness raising and capacity building initiatives. Accordingly, projects under this priority are intended to raise the fundamental rights knowledge of relevant actors. While building on the central role of civil society organisations and human rights defenders, funded projects could involve national, regional and local authorities as partners (co-applicants), with the aim of supporting joint capacity building and awareness raising efforts. The projects funded under this priority should address the capacity building and awareness raising needs on the Charter. In particular, relevant projects should focus on raising awareness and building capacity on at least one of the following topics: the Charter in general and/or the contents of an individual Charter right or several of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter; the Charter’s scope of application; the remedies available in cases of breaches of the Charter rights. In accordance with its…

Procurement of Specialized Equipment for Social Service and Rehabilitation Institutions