Surge and Sustain Fund: Solicitation FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions about the Surge and Sustain Application
Tue, 2024-10-15 13:02

Below are responses to the frequently asked questions about the Surge and Sustain Fund application.

Submit your application by 11:59 PM PT on October 30, 2024.

Is this open to individuals and businesses located outside the US?

Yes, applicants don’t need to be based in the United States to be eligible.

OTF is not able to work with vendors within countries that the United States has trade restrictions or export sanctions as determined by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Is any costing documents and information needed for the concept note?

No, all costing information will be gathered at the proposal stage, the second stage of our process for selected applicants. 

What types of costs fall within the infrastructure costs covered by the fund?

Infrastructure costs can include technical costs associated with hosting and running a tool, such as servers, bandwidth, load balancers, and CDNs, among others. They cannot cover the staff-time of organization members maintaining or running the tool.

How does reimbursement through the fund work?

Payment will be dispersed on a monthly basis at an agreed upon rate per user and will be based on the actual number of monthly active users, subject to ceiling thresholds as determined by OTF.

If a tool is functioning in multiple censored countries, should I put in a separate application for each country in which it is running?

No, a tool that is used in multiple countries can be submitted as a single application.

If an organization has multiple circumvention tools that they run, should they put in a separate application for each tool, or can they be combined into a single application?

Either applying separately for each tool or submitting a joint application is allowable. If multiple tools are included in the same application, be sure all tools are taken into account throughout the application when answering questions and addressing the eligibility requirements. Note that one tool in an application can still move forward even if another does not.

What information should applicants include when answering questions about security audits?

Applicants are encouraged to provide as much information as possible when discussing security audits. Beyond the context and scope of the most recent audit, applicants can also include details about past audits and any future audits they are planning to conduct.