The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), Office ofPartnerships (OP), in collaboration with the Office of Foods and Veterinary Medicine(OFVM), is announcing the availability of up to nine cooperative agreements to beawarded under a Limited Competition. These cooperative agreements are intended todevelop, implement, maintain and sustain multi-jurisdictional Rapid Response Teams(RRTs) that operate using Incident Command System (ICS)/National IncidentManagement System (NIMS) principles and a Unified Command structure to supportintegrated all-hazards preparedness, response, mitigation and recovery/preventionefforts for food/feed within the national integrated food safety system.As a recipient of funding under RFA-FD-08-007 and RFA-FD-11-013, the MinnesotaDepartment of Agriculture (MDA) is eligible to apply for this Cooperative Agreement.The funding provided under the previous Cooperative Agreement has been used todevelop significant response capacity related to foodborne illness outbreaks and otherfood safety events and has also been used to develop a detailed Improvement Plan forthe FDA Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS) and makesubstantial progress towards compliance with the standards.Continuation of the funding will allow the MDA and the Minnesota RRT to build on workand accomplishments from the previous project period in improving the nationalintegrated food safety system. MDA seeks to further develop its coordination offederal/state/local food/feed emergency response efforts through participation in theRapid Response Team (RRT) Capacity Building and Mentorship Program and meetingthe objectives of the RRT Program 5 Year Plan.MDA will focus on improving rapid response capabilities in six key program areas:mentorship, capacity data capture and assessment, post response and prevention,program maturity and maintenance, and sustainability. MDA and its federal, state, andlocal partners in response will also continue to develop, train and implement a foodprotection RRT that incorporates ICS concepts and contribute to a national framework ofRRT best practices through the RRT Best Practices Manual, multi-agency exercises,and other collaborative projects.
Funding provided through this Cooperative Agreement will allow the MinnesotaDepartment of Agriculture to build on work and accomplishments from the previousproject period in improving the national integrated food safety system. MDA seeks tofurther develop its coordination of federal/state/local food/feed emergency responseefforts through participation in the Rapid Response Team (RRT) Capacity Building andMentorship Program and meeting the objectives of the RRT Program 5 Year Plan.
