Plant Protection Act Section 7721 Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention Program (PPDMDPP)

Why it matters

Program pool versus individual award

Estimated PPDMDPP program funding

$73 million

Expected funded suggestions

Approximately 325 to 350

Typical upper amount in the NOFO

Most agreements will not exceed $400,000

FY 2026 average funded suggestion

Approximately $130,000

Meaningful minimum request

None stated; the listed $1 floor is administrative

Required cost share

None

Separate combined PPA Section 7721 amount

$90 million across PPDMDPP and NCPN, not PPDMDPP alone

Who can actually apply

• Eligible submitters include federal agencies, states and their agencies, Tribal Nations and Tribal partners, Tribal colleges and universities, nonprofit organizations, colleges and universities, and industry organizations.
• Foreign entities cannot submit a suggestion directly. They may collaborate with an eligible domestic entity that serves as the submitter.
• Every suggestion must select one of six goal areas: analysis and survey; domestic inspection; pest identification and technology; nursery and plant-product safeguards; outreach and education; or mitigation and rapid response.
• The selected goal area must match an objective and strategy in the FY 2027 implementation plan. Applicants should use the current plan, not a prior-year goal label or a broad description of plant-health value.
• No cost share is required. Cooperator budget information still must be complete and consistent across the ServiceNow form and the applicable current-year template.
• An applicant with PPDMDPP funding for a similar or continuing project in a prior year must follow the NOFO rules for identifying the prior suggestion and supplying the required narrative report.
• The implementation plan excludes vehicle purchases and construction or purchase of structures. It also bars permanent APHIS PPQ staff salaries and IT applications or systems that duplicate other PPQ or PPA 7721 work, contain personally identifiable information, or require long-term PPA funding. Vehicle leases, fuel, and routine maintenance may be allowable under the plan, but the complete use-of-funds rules still control.

Deadline, forms, and submission sequence

1. Choose the single goal area, objective, and strategy that best fit the suggestion using the FY 2027 implementation plan. Submit a separate ServiceNow form for every suggestion.
2. Confirm the domestic submitting entity and any collaborator roles. If a foreign organization participates, an eligible domestic entity must submit the suggestion.
3. Maintain active SAM.gov registration. Set up either a Level 1 USDA eAuthentication account or Login.gov access and confirm entry to the PPA 7721 Suggestion Submission Portal before drafting in ServiceNow.
4. Use the current-year template that matches the suggestion: the Goal 1S Survey template, the Goal 1S Diagnostic Laboratory template, or the Budget template for the other applicable goal areas. Include complete cooperator budget information.
5. If the applicant received prior-year PPDMDPP funding for a similar or continuing project, attach the required Narrative Report in PDF or Word format and identify the most recently funded suggestion as directed.
6. Complete the ServiceNow fields with the project need, approach, expected plant-health or industry benefit, timeline, deliverables, experience, technical basis, APHIS PPQ support needed, and a detailed justified budget. Summarize relevant experience in the form; curricula vitae are not required.
7. Write and submit the suggestion in English. In the Technical Approach, identify applicable environmental-review work. If the project imports, moves interstate, or releases regulated plant pests, soil, or potentially infected materials, document the required PPQ 526 or other permit or the process for obtaining it. A suggestion using federal funds to procure an unmanned aerial system must document compliance with OMB Memorandum M-26-02.
8. Scope the suggestion to a 12-month funding year. For a multi-year effort, identify the current-year deliverables, use a one-year budget, and explain the exit strategy or path toward self-sufficiency without assuming later funding.
9. Optional letters should be concise and come from relevant State or Tribal plant-health officials or specialty-crop organizations. Do not request support letters from APHIS PPQ staff.
10. Draft narrative responses outside ServiceNow because the portal times out after 30 minutes of inactivity. Keep each attachment at or below 20 MB, then reconcile the form, template, collaborator budget, and any narrative report before upload.
11. Submit by September 21, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern and retain the portal confirmation. Missing or incomplete required material can make the suggestion ineligible for review.

Primary sources

• Official FY 2027 PPDMDPP notice of funding opportunity
• Grants.gov record 363328
• APHIS FY 2027 PPDMDPP funding opportunity page
• APHIS PPDMDPP program hub
• APHIS application access and registration primer
• APHIS FY 2027 implementation plan announcement
• Official FY 2027 PPA 7721 implementation plan

Related opportunities and the next search

• Search current plant-pest and disease grants

  Compare current source-linked plant-health programs, then save the search or start an alert if surveillance funding is a recurring responsibility.

• Search agricultural biosecurity funding

  Use a separate monitoring lane for prevention, diagnostics, rapid response, and invasive-species opportunities across agencies.

• Review the food and agriculture funding guide

  Compare this specialized plant-protection program with broader research, crop, food-system, and rural-development funding routes.