Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases (ELC)

The purpose of this program is to protect the public health and safety of the American people by enhancing the capacity of public health agencies to effectively detect, respond, prevent and control known and emerging (or re-emerging) infectious diseases. This is accomplished by providing financial and technical resources to: (1) strengthen epidemiologic capacity; (2) enhance laboratory capacity; (3) improve health information systems; and (4) enhance collaboration among epidemiology, laboratory, and information systems components of public health departments.

To maximize the impact of available funding, the ELC program has chosen to leverage the legislative authorities associated with this funding to limit recipients to those meeting the population thresholds described below. Working with recipients of sizeable populations allows ELC to take advantage of economy of scale in implementing programs and reducing the marginal cost of additional resources added per population served. This strategy allows ELC to reach the greatest number of people for its budget while also balancing the need for direct support to some of the United States’ largest cities and counties.

Pursuant to 42 USC 300hh-31, eligible applicants include:
1. The 51 State health departments or their bona fide agents, including the District of Columbia.
2. Local health agencies or their bona fide agents, if they serve a city population of 1.5M or more (i.e., Chicago, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia). If the city does not have a public health department, then the county covering the jurisdiction may apply (i.e., Los Angeles, CA covered by Los Angeles County and Phoenix, AZ covered by Maricopa County).
3. All U.S. territories and affiliates in the Caribbean and Pacific (American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Puerto Rico, Republic of Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and U.S. Virgin Islands).

*Population for county and city jurisdictions. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division - Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties in the United States: April 1, 2020, to July 1, 2021 - Release Date: March 2022.

Applications that are complete and responsive will be evaluated for scientific and technical merit and receive support. CDC will not review incomplete and non-responsive applications. Applications that are complete and responsive will undergo an objective/technical review process, receive a written critique and be scored according to the published review criteria. Successful applicants will receive a Notice of Award (NOA) from the CDC Office of Grants Services (OGS). The NOA shall be the only binding, authorizing document between the recipient and CDC. The NOA will be signed by an authorized OGS Grants Management Officer. Initial award provides funds for the first budget period (usually 12 months) and the NOA will indicate support recommended for the remainder of the project period, allocation of Federal funds by budget categories, and special conditions, if any.

2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program.
Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO) for this listing will be posted on Grants.gov (opens in new window)(opens in new window).

1. For the first year of the 5-year period of performance, the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is published on Grants.gov. Recipients must complete an application and submit in Grants.gov by the posted deadline. 2. For years 2 through 5, also referred to as continuation funding years, the continuation guidance is published in GrantSolutions for ELC recipients to request financial assistance for the upcoming budget period. The deadline for application is posted in the guidance. 3. ELC recipients may also request additional funds to address emerging issues (e.g., outbreaks) by submitting a recipient-initiated request for supplemental funding at any time during the current budget period.