The Laboratory Upgrade Component of the TB Cooperative Agreement began in 1992 with the primary purpose of facilitating improvements in TB laboratory performance. A particular sum of money (currently about $7.7 million) is distributed between 68 state, territory, and local public health laboratories and that distribution is based on a predetermined (by CDC) Funding Formula. In the past, that formula was not well understood by most grant recipients. In 2008 CDC convened a workgroup tasked with developing consensus-based recommendations for a new formula to be used for the Cooperate Agreements for FY2010-2014. This webpage contains various documents that explain the funding formula in detail as well as resources aimed at making the application process a bit easier.
The CDC TB Cooperative Agreement Workshop Overview and 50-State Call Summary contain information describing the cooperative agreement and the formula used to determine the distribution of funds. The TB Cooperative Agreement Data Templates consist of three templates designed to aid laboratories in the application process. Completing the forms will fulfill the data requirements of the TB Cooperative Agreement application.