Reducing Child Labor and Forced Labor in Palm Oil Supply Chains | NOI ILAB 18 09

Opportunity Information: Apply for NOI ILAB 18 09

The opportunity titled "Reducing Child Labor and Forced Labor in Palm Oil Supply Chains" is a Notice of Intent (NOI) from the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), specifically the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB). This means it is an advance heads-up that ILAB planned to release a formal Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) later, and it is not an open call for applications. The notice repeatedly emphasizes that applications were not being accepted at the time of posting, and that the NOI does not include the FOA itself or any required attachments. Any future FOA, if published, would be made available only through Grants.gov rather than by email or paper distribution.

If funding were available, ILAB intended to make a single award using a cooperative agreement, which is a grant-like instrument that typically involves more active federal involvement in the project compared with a standard grant. The program falls under the Employment, Labor and Training activity category (CFDA number 17.401) and was listed as a discretionary opportunity. The planned award ceiling was up to $6,000,000, with one expected award, indicating a single, relatively large project rather than multiple smaller grants.

The project focus is improving how social compliance systems are implemented in palm oil supply chains, with the goal of promoting acceptable working conditions and reducing both child labor and forced labor. Social compliance systems in this context generally refer to the policies, procedures, monitoring tools, remediation processes, and accountability mechanisms companies and supply-chain actors use to prevent labor abuses and respond when problems are identified. The intent is not simply to study the issue, but to strengthen real-world systems that private sector actors use to detect, prevent, and address labor violations connected to palm oil production and sourcing.

ILAB laid out two main outcomes the eventual project would be expected to deliver. The first outcome is strengthening the capacity of private sector partner or partners in the Colombian and Ecuadorian palm oil sectors to implement a robust social compliance system. In practical terms, this points to hands-on work with companies, producer groups, processors, or industry associations in Colombia and Ecuador to improve how labor standards are managed and enforced throughout their operations and supplier networks. The notice makes Colombia and Ecuador mandatory implementation countries for this outcome, meaning activities tied to building private-sector compliance capacity must occur in both places.

The second outcome is increasing understanding at regional and global levels of promising practices in social compliance systems within palm oil supply chains. This goes beyond firm-level improvements and aims to produce knowledge that can travel: lessons learned, tested approaches, and practices that could inform other companies, countries, or initiatives. For this second outcome, the geographic scope is broader: implementation would be required in Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, and Peru. That requirement suggests the project would likely include comparative learning or dissemination components across multiple palm oil contexts in Latin America, potentially documenting and sharing what works, what does not, and how compliance approaches can be adapted across different production environments and regulatory settings.

The administrative note in the posting indicates the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Office of Grants Management expected to publish the FOA as soon as possible and no later than August 2018, although the notice also flags that timing could change. The original closing date shown in the listing (August 31, 2018) should be read in the context of the NOI: it does not function like a true application deadline because the NOI itself is not an application solicitation. The notice directs interested organizations to ILAB grant webpages for general guidance and examples of previous cooperative agreement applications, which implies that the eventual FOA would likely expect applicants to follow established USDOL/ILAB proposal conventions and compliance requirements.

Finally, eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" with a reference to additional eligibility clarification that would normally appear in the full FOA. Since the NOI does not provide those details, the key takeaway for potential applicants is that the definitive eligibility rules, required partnerships, evaluation criteria, and submission instructions would only be available once the FOA was released on Grants.gov.

• The Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs in the employment, labor and training sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Reducing Child Labor and Forced Labor in Palm Oil Supply Chains" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 17.401.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 12, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 31, 2018 NOTE This is a Notice of Intent. An announcement is not related to this notice. We are not accepting applications at this time.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $6,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for NOI ILAB 18 09

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