Tajikistan: Early Detection and Response Pilot | DFOP0017310

Opportunity Information: Apply for DFOP0017310

The "Tajikistan: Early Detection and Response Pilot" is a U.S. government counterterrorism grant opportunity from the Department of State's Bureau of Counterterrorism focused on strengthening early warning and community-level response capabilities in Tajikistan, particularly in frontier areas. The premise is that Tajikistan sits at a key counterterrorism crossroads in Central Asia, a region that ISIS-K is actively looking to exploit for recruitment and cross-border illicit activity. While the country has notable vulnerabilities tied to its remote, rugged, and difficult-to-monitor borders, the opportunity emphasizes that the most significant threat to regional stability and U.S. security is not only physical movement across borders, but the ability of terrorist groups to inspire, recruit, and organize Central Asians to carry out attacks. In practical terms, the project is aimed at stopping terrorist activity earlier by identifying and addressing warning signs where they first appear, rather than responding only after networks or plots have matured.

The grant supports a pilot-style project designed to help at-risk communities detect, report, and respond to suspicious trends and illicit activities. The description points to building "early detection strategies" that can be used locally, with an emphasis on frontier localities where the combination of geographic isolation and cross-border dynamics can create opportunities for extremist facilitation, recruitment pipelines, and other illicit movement. The intent is to improve Tajikistan's ability to interdict terrorist activity and movement by creating stronger community-to-authority pathways for recognizing risks, sharing information appropriately, and triggering timely responses. Framed from a U.S. national security perspective, the project is positioned as addressing threats closer to their source, thereby reducing downstream risks that could eventually affect U.S. borders and security interests.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity offered through a cooperative agreement, meaning the U.S. government expects to have substantial involvement during implementation compared to a standard grant. The funding activity category is Law, Justice and Legal Services, and the listed CFDA (Assistance Listing) number is 19.701. The opportunity number is DFOP0017310, and it was created on 2025-06-24 with an original application closing date of 2025-08-07. The program anticipates making a single award, with an award ceiling of $1,497,975, indicating a one-implementer pilot of relatively significant size rather than multiple smaller grants.

Eligible applicants are broad and include not-for-profit organizations (including think tanks and civil society/non-governmental organizations), public and private educational institutions, and public international organizations and governmental institutions. Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a targeted capacity-building effort that seeks to formalize and strengthen early detection and response mechanisms at the community level in Tajikistan's border-adjacent and high-risk localities, with the wider goal of disrupting terrorist recruitment and facilitation networks before they can generate attacks or enable cross-border terrorist mobility.

• The Bureau of Counterterrorism in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Tajikistan: Early Detection and Response Pilot" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.701.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-06-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-08-07. (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 $1,497,975.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for DFOP0017310

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