The Private Investment for Enhanced Resilience (PIER) project | OES OCC 17 005

Opportunity Information: Apply for OES OCC 17 005

The Private Investment for Enhanced Resilience (PIER) project is a U.S. government-funded initiative designed to accelerate private sector investment in resilience in developing countries. The core idea is to make it easier and more attractive for businesses and investors to finance projects that reduce vulnerability to shocks such as climate impacts, natural disasters, and other stressors that can undermine development gains. Rather than focusing only on public funding or humanitarian response, PIER centers on the practical steps needed to shift markets so that resilience becomes a normal, investable part of development and infrastructure planning.

The opportunity targets two main problem areas. First, it looks at what developing-country governments and local authorities can do at the national and subnational levels to attract resilient investment. That typically means strengthening policies, regulations, planning processes, and institutional coordination so that resilient projects are easier to originate, approve, and sustain over time. In many settings, private investors are willing to participate only when there is a predictable enabling environment, clear standards, and credible pipelines of projects. PIER is therefore oriented toward identifying and supporting those public-side actions that reduce uncertainty and make resilient investment a more routine choice.

Second, PIER focuses directly on what the private sector needs in order to increase investment in resilience. This includes improving the availability and quality of information (for example, risk and resilience data that can be used in due diligence), shaping market conditions that affect profitability and risk (such as the presence of bankable projects or risk-sharing arrangements), and advancing investment tools and mechanisms that can unlock capital. The grant’s emphasis on tools and mechanisms suggests a practical, finance-oriented approach: helping develop or adapt instruments that can lower perceived risk, improve returns, or better measure resilience benefits in ways investors recognize.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary funding opportunity issued by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which usually indicates an active partnership model where the government expects to be more involved than it would be under a standard grant. The program is categorized under the environment funding activity area and is listed under CFDA number 19.017. The funding opportunity number is OES OCC 17 005.

Eligibility is broad across organizational types but specific in terms of qualifying categories. Applicants may include U.S. nonprofit/nongovernmental organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education), U.S. and foreign not-for-profit/NGOs, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, for-profit organizations, and public international organizations. In practical terms, this means the competition is open to a mix of implementers such as nonprofits with resilience and finance expertise, universities with research capacity, and private-sector entities capable of designing market-based investment approaches, including cross-sector partnerships.

The opportunity was created on February 22, 2017, with an original closing date of May 10, 2017. The listed award ceiling is $5,382,715, indicating the maximum anticipated amount available per award under this announcement. The source data notes “ExpectedAwards:” but does not specify a number, so the total count of awards is not provided in the excerpt.

Overall, PIER is best understood as a resilience finance and market-development effort: it aims to align public-sector enabling conditions with private-sector investment requirements, so that resilience-building projects in developing countries can attract more private capital at greater scale.

• The Bureau of Oceans - Int. Environmental - Scientific in the environment sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "The Private Investment for Enhanced Resilience (PIER) project" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.017.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-02-22.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-05-10. (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 $5,382,715.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others.

Apply for OES OCC 17 005

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: