Sin Rutas, Sin Recursos: Hitting Criminal Networks Where It Hurts

The U.S. Department of State, through Embassy Bogota's Public Diplomacy Section in Colombia, is offering the Sin Rutas, Sin Recursos: Hitting Criminal Networks Where It Hurts funding opportunity, opportunity number OFOP0003648, under Assistance Listing 19.040. The program is funded with FY26 Public Diplomacy funds and uses a grant as the funding instrument. One award is anticipated, with an award range of $40,000 to $50,000. The notice is subject to the availability of funding, and the Public Diplomacy Section reserves the right to award less or more than the amounts described when deemed in the best interest of the U.S. government, subject to available funds and Grants Officer approval. The stated total available funding in the overview appears as "$50,0000," which is malformed and should be verified rather than interpreted as a definitive amount. The program seeks an investigative journalist, media production firm, or other eligible applicant to document how reduced illegal migration has disrupted criminal networks, including Clan del Golfo and Tren de Aragua, that prey on migrants originating from or transiting through Colombia. The project is intended to demonstrate the relationship between reduced illegal migration and diminished transnational criminal organization financial capacity, document ecological recovery in border and transit corridors, and advance shared U.S.-Colombia security and stability objectives. Expected work includes an investigative multi-part video mini-series or documentary tracing the financial pipeline between illicit migrant toll revenue and violent criminal activity, as well as high-impact visual journalism or photojournalism documenting environmental regeneration. Content should incorporate verified data and visual graphics and be optimized for social media and broadcast distribution. Eligible applicants expressly include not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks and civil society or non-governmental organizations; public and private educational institutions; individuals; investigative media production firms; independent journalists; visual journalists and photojournalists; Public International Organizations; governmental institutions; and registered media production firms, journalism collectives, or production companies with the required experience. Colombia-based and U.S.-based applicants are eligible. Applicants must demonstrate experience in investigative reporting, documentary production, or photojournalism and the capability to operate in or report on Colombian border, transit, and ecologically sensitive corridor regions. For-profit entities are expressly stated to be ineligible, despite some potentially overlapping applicant descriptions. Organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier and active SAM.gov registration, while individuals are exempt from these registration requirements. Cost sharing or matching is encouraged but is not required. Funding may support costs necessary to implement the approved project, with budgets organized across personnel, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, supplies, consultants or contracts, other direct costs, and indirect costs. Organizations without a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement may request indirect costs of 15 percent of Modified Total Direct Costs. The opportunity will not support partisan political activity, charitable or development activities including direct social services, construction, specific religious activities, fundraising campaigns, lobbying, scientific research or surveys, commercial projects, organizational growth or institutional development as the primary purpose, duplication of existing projects, or illegal activities. Award funds also cannot be used for alcoholic beverages or entertainment-related expenses. Additional restrictions address UNRWA funding, activities encouraging mass-migration caravans toward the United States southwest border, certain asylum-related legal services, construction, direct social services, and generally unapproved pre-award costs. Applications must be submitted through Grants.gov. Required materials include SF-424 for organizations or SF-424-I for individuals, SF-424A, a narrative proposal of no more than three pages, a detailed line-item budget, a budget justification narrative, and applicable attachments. The proposal must address the proposal summary, applicant background and relevant experience, problem statement, program methods and activities, deliverables, project schedule and timeline, key personnel, project partners, future funding or sustainability, and a Monitoring and Evaluation Performance Monitoring Plan. The monitoring plan must explain how performance and progress will be measured and should include If-Then statements and a short datasheet describing activities and indicators. Attachments include resumes of no more than one page for proposed key personnel, applicable partner support letters, the latest NICRA when indirect charges rely on one, proof of nonprofit status, and proof of registration. All documents must be in English, budgets must be in U.S. dollars, and required authorized signatures must be included. Applications are evaluated for Quality and Feasibility of the Program Idea at 30 points, Organizational Capacity and Record on Previous Grants at 25 points, Project Planning and Ability to Achieve Objectives at 20 points, Budget at 10 points, Monitoring and Evaluation at 10 points, and Sustainability at 5 points. Applications are first screened for technical eligibility, and submissions missing required forms or documents are ineligible for review. Eligible proposals are reviewed by a technical review panel. Risk review may consider financial stability, management systems and standards, performance history, audit findings, and the ability to implement project requirements. In a scoring tie, the applicant with the lower indirect cost rate receives preference as a tie-breaking mechanism. Applicants will generally be notified within 120 days after the application deadline. The detailed submission section establishes a firm application deadline of August 31, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time, despite conflicting dates elsewhere in the document, including September 21, 2026 in the overview table. The detailed submission deadline is used because that section expressly identifies August 31 as the firm deadline and states that late applications are ineligible. Questions must be received by August 26, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time and may be directed to GrimaldoJC@state.gov; responses to timely questions will be posted through Grants.gov and the Embassy website. The anticipated project start date is September 20, 2026, although this date precedes the conflicting September 21 deadline shown in the overview and reinforces the need to rely on the detailed August 31 submission instruction. Projects should be completed in 12 months or less. Continuation grants may be considered noncompetitively beyond the initial budget period subject to funding availability, satisfactory program progress, and a determination that continued funding serves the Department of State's interests; this does not establish a recurring application cycle.

Align the project directly with the NOFO's U.S. foreign policy and security priorities and clearly show how reduced illegal migration affects criminal-network financing and Colombian communities. Present innovative but achievable activities, measurable objectives, defined audiences and geographic areas, and a realistic implementation schedule. Demonstrate strong investigative reporting, documentary, or photojournalism capacity and responsible federal financial management. Build a detailed budget from supportable costs rather than rough estimates and ensure every item is reasonable, allowable, allocable, and tied to project activities. Include meaningful output and outcome indicators, milestones, and a credible sustainability approach. Verify that every mandatory form and attachment is present because technically incomplete applications will not be reviewed.