Global Cybercrime and Cryptocurrency Assessment and Intelligence Gathering

The U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, or INL, is accepting applications for the Global Cybercrime and Cryptocurrency Assessment and Intelligence Gathering funding opportunity, number DFOP0019468, under Assistance Listing 19.705, Transnational Crime. INL's mission is to keep Americans safe by countering crime, illegal drugs, and instability abroad through foreign assistance, diplomatic engagement, and policy coordination. This competition addresses cybercrime and cyber-enabled crime, including cyber intrusions, online fraud, online-facilitated drug trafficking, digital piracy, and criminal misuse of cryptocurrency and virtual assets. The overall goal is to disrupt and deter cybercrime networks harming American communities and businesses by strengthening threat understanding, foreign criminal justice institutions, investigative capabilities, and cross-border coordination. The opportunity contains two strategic goals, and applicants must address only one goal per application. Goal 1, Cybercrime Landscape Assessment(s) and Intelligence Gathering, supports work on cyber intrusions, online fraud, online drug trafficking, and digital piracy. Applicants are not required to address all four typologies and should apply only for areas in which they possess specialized knowledge and demonstrated capacity. Required work includes baseline landscape assessments, source-country mapping and profiles, data-gap analysis, situational updates, briefings, and actionable intelligence products. Goal 2, Criminal Misuse of Cryptocurrency Landscape Assessment and Intelligence Gathering, focuses on cryptocurrency-enabled criminal activity harming Americans and requires baseline assessment, source-country analysis, on-chain and off-chain financial analysis, global mapping, situational updates, briefings, and intelligence packages. Assessments must focus on harm to U.S. persons, U.S. businesses, and U.S. critical infrastructure and apply documented methodologies addressing attribution confidence, underreporting, and comparable harm measurements. Total funding available is USD 2,196,890. Across the NOFO, awards may range from USD 200,000 to USD 1,700,000, with an anticipated two to five awards. Goal 1 has an individual award floor of USD 200,000 and ceiling of USD 1,000,000, with one to four awards anticipated. Goal 2 has an individual award floor of USD 800,000 and ceiling of USD 1,700,000, with one award anticipated. The initial performance period is 24 months unless otherwise specified, with an estimated project start in October 2026. Cost sharing is recommended but not required. Suggested budget areas include qualified research and intelligence personnel, OSINT and data-analysis technology, appropriate field research travel, translation services, data visualization and report production, and stakeholder engagement. Unallowable costs include alcoholic beverages, land purchases or leases, partisan electoral support, certain duplicative government services, and costs for U.S. government employees and contractors. Certain costs, including construction, entertainment, program income, and costs outside the award period, require Grants Officer approval as specified in the NOFO. Eligible applicants are organizations, including U.S.-based nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations, qualifying U.S.-based educational institutions, foreign nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations, foreign educational institutions, and U.S.-based and foreign-based for-profit organizations. Public International Organizations are excluded. All applicant organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier and active SAM.gov registration. Applicants may submit one application per strategic goal, and submitting multiple applications for the same goal will cause all applications for that goal to be ineligible for technical review. Consortium applications are permitted when one organization serves as the lead applicant and other organizations are identified as subrecipient partners. Any proposed cost share must be tracked through appropriate accounting systems or supporting documentation and included in the SF-424A, budget, and budget narrative. Applications and all supporting documents must be submitted through Grants.gov. Required materials include the SF-424 and SF-424A, while the SF-424B is optional except as specified for applicants not registered in SAM.gov. The application package also requires a proposal narrative of no more than 30 pages covering the cover page, table of contents, executive summary, project context, theory of change and implementation plan, evidence, prior work, and sustainability; a Performance Monitoring Plan containing a Change Map and Illustrative Performance Indicator Reference Sheet; Project Risk Analysis; project timeline; organizational biography; key personnel information; partner information when a subrecipient is proposed; summary and detailed budgets; Budget Narrative; applicable indirect-cost documentation; history of U.S. government federal assistance awards; the FY2026 INL Applicant Pre-Award Risk Survey and requested supporting documentation; and an organizational audit or required explanation. Letters of support are optional. Application documents must comply with the NOFO's formatting requirements, including English-language submission and budgets stated in U.S. dollars. A technical evaluation committee will score eligible applications on a 100-point scale. Project Analysis and Design accounts for 50 points, Program Monitoring and Risk for 25 points, Institution's Record and Capacity for 10 points, and Cost Effectiveness for 15 points. The strongest emphasis is therefore on accurate problem analysis, an evidence-supported theory of change, a feasible implementation plan tied to outcomes, realistic risk mitigation and sustainability, measurable indicators, sound data collection, institutional and staff capacity, and justified costs. Where technical applications are essentially equal, cost may determine selection, and equivalent scores may be broken in favor of the applicant with the lower indirect cost rate. INL first conducts a technical eligibility review, after which eligible applications proceed to committee review and selected applications are presented to INL management and the Grants Officer for approval. The Department also conducts a pre-award risk review covering financial stability, management systems, performance history, audit findings, and implementation capacity. The NOFO was issued July 29, 2026. Questions were due August 14, 2026, by 11:59 PM EST via email, and the application deadline is August 31, 2026, by 11:59 PM EST through Grants.gov. The question deadline is informational rather than a pre-application gating requirement because applicants are not required to submit questions to advance or gain application access. Successful applicants will be notified by email and may receive conditions, recommendations, or questions from the review committee. The NOFO states that unsuccessful applicants will be notified by October 2026 via email, while also noting that the notification process can take several months. INL points of contact are Dianne Murril at murrildr@state.gov and Harriet Atkinson at AtkinsonSH@state.gov. Recipients must submit quarterly performance reports through INL's DevResults system, and required enrollment forms and templates are due within 30 days of award. The NOFO does not state that this opportunity recurs on an annual or other regular schedule.

Prioritize the 50-point Project Analysis and Design section, particularly the 22-point implementation plan. Provide insightful and accurate problem analysis, a specific evidence-based theory of change, and a feasible implementation plan directly connected to outcomes. Build quantitative and concrete indicators and a thorough data collection plan because Program Monitoring and Risk carries 25 points. Address operating risks and mitigation realistically. Demonstrate relevant country or regional and program experience, qualified staff, clearly divided partner roles, and capacity to manage a similar-sized project. Make all activity, personnel, and administrative costs realistic, necessary, justified, and directly connected to objectives. Where applications are technically equivalent, cost may determine selection, and equivalent scores may be broken in favor of the lower indirect cost rate. Submit every required document because INL conducts technical eligibility review before merit review.