Freedom Shield: Global Forced Labor Import Prohibition Initiative

Freedom Shield: Global Forced Labor Import Prohibition Initiative is a federal discretionary funding opportunity administered by the U.S. Department of Labor through the Bureau of International Labor Affairs. The opportunity is identified as FOA-ILAB-26-44 and is associated with Assistance Listing 17.401, International Labor Programs. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, and the Grants.gov synopsis classifies the funding activity as Other while explaining that the opportunity is a cooperative agreement. The notice was posted on August 21, 2026. The opportunity is titled Freedom Shield: Global Forced Labor Import Prohibition Initiative. Based on the title and the administering bureau, the initiative concerns international labor and forced labor import prohibition activities. The provided Grants.gov synopsis does not state additional program objectives, required activities, target countries, deliverables, allowable expenditures, prohibited expenditures, indirect cost restrictions, subaward limitations, or other detailed spending rules. Applicants should therefore rely on the full funding opportunity announcement and application package for requirements beyond those expressly included in the provided synopsis. The Department of Labor expects to make two awards under this opportunity. Estimated total program funding is $18,000,000. The stated award floor is $7,000,000 and the stated award ceiling is $18,000,000. The opportunity does not require cost sharing or matching. Because the source identifies the funding instrument as a cooperative agreement, awards will be made using that instrument rather than a standard grant. The provided synopsis does not state a period of performance, project start date, project end date, or separate funding tiers. Eligibility is broad and includes commercial, international, educational, and nonprofit organizations. The notice specifically states that faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, and public international organizations may be eligible. Faith-based organizations are encouraged to apply, as are all organizations meeting the eligibility requirements. The Department of Labor states that it will not discriminate in recipient selection or award administration based on an organization's religious character, affiliation, exercise, or lack thereof, or based on conduct that would not constitute grounds to favor or disfavor a similarly situated secular organization. No U.S. state or territory restriction is identified in the provided eligibility information. Applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov. The opportunity was posted August 21, 2026, and the current and original closing date is September 21, 2026. Applications must be submitted electronically no later than 11:59 pm Eastern Time on that date. The provided synopsis does not identify a letter of intent, concept paper, pre-proposal, notice of intent, or other pre-application gating requirement. It also does not provide specific narrative questions, required attachments, evaluation criteria, scoring factors, review priorities, notification dates, award dates, or performance-period dates. No recurring or annually repeated application cycle is stated. Questions concerning the funding opportunity announcement may be emailed to OGM_ILAB@dol.gov. For difficulty accessing the full announcement electronically, the synopsis identifies Sue Levenstein and provides the same OGM_ILAB@dol.gov email address. No telephone number is provided. The source does not contain an explicit direct PDF URL for the funding opportunity announcement. Based on the stated dates, the opportunity is currently accepting applications as of August 24, 2026, with the final electronic application deadline occurring September 21, 2026.