030ADV24R0029 - NOFO - TPS Regional Awards.pdf

The Library of Congress

Teaching with Primary Sources Program Regional Awards Notice of Funding Opportunity 030ADV24R0029

NOTICE – 030ADV24R0029

8/20/2024 1

Table of Contents

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

A.1 Background A.2 Purpose A.3 Expected Results

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

B.1 Questions and Answers B.2 Intellectual Property Rights and Data Availability, and Accessibility B.3 System for Award Management (SAM.gov) Registration

C. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

D. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

D.1 Email Submission Requirements D.2 Application Package

D.2.1 List of Required Documents D.3 Agency Point of Contact D.4 Other Information – As Applicable

E. APPLICATION REVIEW

E.1 Criteria for Proposal Evaluation

F. Pre-Award/Notice of Federal Award G. Pre-Award Risk Assessments

H. PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND REPORTING

H.1 Approval Needed for Modifications to Proposed Work or Budget H.2 Project Reporting

I. FEDERAL AWARD ADMINISTRATION

I.1 Administrative and National Policy Requirements I.2 General Terms and Conditions I.3 Certifications I.4 Disclosures and Other Required Notifications

J. FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY CONTACTS

K. OTHER INFORMATION

APPENDIX A: SAM.gov APPENDIX B: Assurances and Certifications APPENDIX C: ICT Accessibility Requirements Statement APPENDIX D: Key Performance Indicators

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A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

This funding opportunity is authorized under the “Library of Congress Digital Collections and Educational Curricula Act of 2005” (2 U.S.C. § 184). The resulting award will be subject to the Library of Congress Regulation (LCR) 7-310 and provisions of 2 CFR 200 – Uniform Administrative Requirements, Costs Principles and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards as indicated.

A.1 Background About the Library of Congress The Library of Congress, primarily located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington, D.C., is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts, and more. The Library has three main buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. (Adams, Jefferson and Madison), which house physical collections, reading rooms, exhibition spaces, auditoriums and offices and the Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Virginia.

The Library’s mission is to engage, inspire, and inform Congress and the American people with a universal and enduring source of knowledge and creativity. We are the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and serve as the research arm of Congress.

About the Teaching with Primary Sources Program (TPS) The Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program has been the Library of Congress’s premier educational outreach program. The goals of the program have included providing instructional materials, tools, education, and professional development that enhance teachers’ ability to integrate digitized primary sources from the Library of Congress into instruction that builds student literacy, critical thinking skills, content knowledge and ability to conduct original research. Since the establishment of the Center for Learning, Literacy and Engagement in 2018, and the release of the Library’s 2019-23 and 2024-2028 Strategic Plans, the TPS goals are both influencing and reflecting the Library’s broader outreach goals. TPS Consortium members are valued as “Connectors” who help the Library achieve its vision of connecting to all Americans. www.loc.gov/teachers

About the Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative (LHI) The Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative (LHI) is a new initiative included under the TPS program. Awardees under this Notice may make subawards not only under the TPS program, but also under the LHI. In the joint explanatory statement for the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2023, Congress established the Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative and appropriated funds to the Library of Congress to administer an educational program as a part of the Initiative, and fund eligible organizations within the United States (U.S.) and its territories to develop digitally-enabled comprehensive, assessable teaching project-based creative arts driven curricula programs focused on using the digitized primary sources of the Library of Congress related to history, civics and democracy.

Subawards made under the LHI must include rights-free materials from the Library’s vast collections of music and creative arts-related resources to develop curriculum, teaching materials, and tools for history, civic and democracy instruction targeted toward high school students.

About the TPS Consortium Since 2006, the TPS Program has provided awards of up to $100,000 a year to support the use of Library resources to enhance engagement in learning, improve literacy and critical training skills, build content knowledge, and encourage original research. A wide variety of educational organizations including school districts, libraries, associations, cultural institutions, universities, local, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200?toc=1 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200?toc=1 http://www.loc.gov/teachers

8/20/2024 3 and state organizations have received Library funding to deliver programs, create teaching materials, and develop tools such as apps and online interactives based on Library of Congress materials.

In addition, the TPS Program has supported a regional award program that provides pass-through awards to regional awardees for the distribution of smaller awards to other organizations across the country. These funds have supported smaller-scale, community-based projects, with significant success.

All awardees, including those receiving funding directly from the Library’s TPS and LHI Award Programs and those receiving awards through the regional awardees (Regional Partners), can become members of the TPS Consortium, a group of organizations which helps extend the Library’s reach by connecting hundreds of thousands of American teachers and their students to Library of Congress resources. TPS Consortium members are valued as “Connectors” who help the Library achieve its vision of connecting to all Americans. They collaborate, co-create, share ideas, network, and actively participate as an educational community.

Collectively, the 252 current Consortium member organizations have helped expand the body of innovative strategies, tools, and materials for meaningful teaching and learning with Library of Congress materials. These products have benefited learners who have a variety of interests, skills, and designations, in every congressional district in the country.

Additional Information about the TPS Regional Program In 2018, after a multi-year pilot, the Library formally incorporated the TPS Regional Program into the TPS Program. The Library currently has three Regional Partners – Waynesburg University, Illinois State University, and Metropolitan State University of Denver. They have offered subawards of between $5,000 and $25,000, on behalf of the Library, to educational organizations in the Eastern, Midwestern, and Western regions, respectively.

As of January 2024, Regional Partners have made subawards to 511 organizations in all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, to incorporate Library of Congress materials and TPS methods into their educational programming. Eligible awardee organizations include but are not limited to: K-12 school districts, libraries, universities, state departments of education, cultural institutions, foundations, non-profits, and community organizations.

Funded projects are diverse and tailored to the unique needs of learners in various communities. For example, subawards have provided resources for nonprofits to reach teachers working in a remote part of their states. They have helped local cultural institutions connect items in their holdings with digitized primary sources from the Library to provide learners with both a local and national view of important historical events. TPS regional awards have helped youth from ethnic minorities use Library resources to delve into their communities’ experience in America.

A 2017 evaluation conducted by Gallup confirmed that the regional program has helped educators provide primary source-based teaching and professional development, which is required in all state curriculum standards. Most teachers who attended TPS workshops and academic courses offered by sub-awardees told evaluators that using Library materials allowed them to engage students of varying abilities, deepened their students’ content knowledge and built their critical thinking and analysis skills, and improved their literacy overall. The vast majority intended to continue to incorporate primary sources from the Library of Congress into their instruction.

https://www.waynesburg.edu/community/tps-eastern-region https://teachingprimarysources.illinoisstate.edu/ https://teachingprimarysources.illinoisstate.edu/ https://sites.msudenver.edu/tpswesternregion/

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TPS Regional Awardees become members of the TPS, affording them the opportunity to share information, strategies, and materials with other awardees. The knowledge of the TPS program that regional awardees develop through their Consortium membership increases the likelihood that they will be able to successfully apply for larger awards directly from the Library.

Regional awards help fund educational efforts in large and small communities, and a diversity of settings. In doing so, they support the Library’s desire to connect to Americans with various interests, identities, and beliefs.

A.2 Purpose With this notice, the Library seeks to solicit project proposals from organizations interested in becoming Regional Partners.

The purpose of this notice is to identify awardee organizations to carry out all administrative and programmatic functions associated with managing TPS and LHI regional subawards on behalf of the Library of Congress. Awardee organizations must have the capacity, reputation, and relationships to conduct outreach and marketing to educators, operating in large and small communities, who wish to enhance their teaching programs with Library of Congress materials and pedagogical approaches.

Regional Partners must promote the program, solicit proposals for subawards, form proposal review panels, evaluate proposals, select recipients, distribute subawards, process subawards, monitor performance, close out subawards, and provide required narrative and financial reports to the Library of Congress. They must assist regional awardees in benefiting from association with the thousands of awardees, educators, and learners who make up the Library of Congress TPS community. Regional Partners must monitor educational trends in the states that they service and advise Library staff on the development of the overall TPS Regional Program. Further, Regional Partners must connect the Library to communities of educators and learners across the country with high-quality resources and teaching strategies.

Awardees must serve all states/territories in at least one designated region. Applicants may only select one (1) region from the list provided below.

Regions to be Served:

• Eastern Region: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia

• Midwest Region: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin

• Western Region: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington

• Southern Region: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee

• Great Plains Region: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Oklahoma, Wyoming

• U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, U.S. Virgin

Islands

Awardees must have the ability to provide the following services:

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Administration

• Administer the TPS Regional Program, serving TPS and LHI sub-awardees in all states/territories within at least one designated region.

• Administer subawards (TPS and LHI) to organizations in the states/territories defined in their proposal and subsequent cooperative agreement. Administration includes providing all services related to pre- and post-award administration, which includes but is not limited to, ensuring the competition and promotion of the availability of the subawards, managing the subawards and closing out the subawards in a timely manner.

• Meet all the administrative and financial requirements necessary to award, monitor, report, and close out subawards, in accordance with 2 CFR 200.

• Support the development of curricula, syllabi and teaching materials by sub-awardees. Collect these teaching materials from sub-awardees as part of reporting requirements.

• Partner with other organizations to meet recruitment goals for specific types of sub-awardees such as minority-serving organizations, educators operating in rural or sparsely-populated areas, groups serving learners with disabilities, community-based organizations, and others identified in consultation with other Regional Partners and Library of Congress staff.

Subawards

• Award and actively monitor at least 15 to 25 subawards of up to $25,000, per year, with period of performance lasting between six (6) and twelve (12) months. The number of subawards issued will depend on the number of states and population density of the territory managed, and the goals of projects funded. Awardees must ensure that the period of performance of the subawards issued does not end later than 90 days before the end of the awardee’s cooperative agreement’s period of performance end date.

o Awardees may but are not required to offer subawards to local education organizations, including members of networks created by other Library programs such as the Center for the Book, the Literacy Awards Program, and the Connecting Communities Digital Initiative, who wish to extend their previous Library projects.

• All subawards must be within the awardee’s region.

• All awardees must follow the requirements of § 200.332 (Requirements for pass-through entities).

TPS Consortium Participation and Leadership

• Take a leadership role within the TPS Consortium to maximize synergies between the Library of Congress TPS award program and the TPS regional program to support the Library’s mission.

• Plan and convene at least one meeting per calendar year within the region managed of current, past, and prospective sub-awardee organizations, to encourage partnerships with other TPS funding recipients, sustained use of Library of Congress resources, and participation in the TPS Program.

• Identify educational trends in each state in the region managed; devise and implement strategies designed to support local educational goals and encourage participation in the TPS Regional Program.

• Provide funds to TPS Consortium members, in the form of stipends averaging $2,000, to help cover costs associated travel, conference attendance, convening meetings, and action research directly related to TPS project goals.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR031321e29ac5bbd/section-200.332

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A.3 Expected Results

Administration

• Meet required Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the TPS Program, per the list provided in Appendix D.

• Manage all aspects of TPS sub-awarding activities in determined region, including promoting the program, soliciting proposals for subawards, forming panels of proposal reviewers, evaluating proposals, selecting recipients, processing subawards, monitoring performance, closing out subawards, and providing required program and financial reports to the Library of Congress.

• Design, develop, and implement a strategy for creating interest and participation in the TPS Regional program among educational organizations. The strategy should identify specific categories of targeted potential sub-awardees.

• Conduct promotional efforts and outreach activities that inform potential program participants of the availability of TPS subawards, educational resources, and partnerships.

• Ensure that sub-awardees obtain all necessary permissions, releases and/or other clearances that must be acquired for use of any content to be included by awardee in awardee’s promotional and educational materials. Such permissions, releases and/or other clearances may pertain to, but are not limited to, copyright, right of publicity, right of privacy, defamation, or any other right whatsoever. This does not include Library of Congress rights-free digital materials and public domain use.

• Create ongoing face-to-face or online enrichment programs that support sub-awardees in their successful delivery of the TPS program.

• Ensure that sub-awardees understand and adhere to TPS program policies and requirements.

Monitor awardees’ adherence to government and program requirements for managing and reporting on the use of government funds.

• Participate in a TPS orientation and fundamentals program. (The Library intends to offer virtual and onsite options). Awardees should be available to participate in up to 16 hours of the orientation.

• Attend and participate in monthly virtual TPS regional meetings.

• Seek advice from Library staff about any situation or request that falls outside of written guidelines and parameters of the program created by the Library in consultation with TPS regional grantees.

Subawards

• Use criteria common across all TPS regions to evaluate subaward proposals, which assess:

o The access that the proposed project will offer to geographic areas and populations not currently served by TPS Consortium members.

o The scope of the proposed workshop or course and its likely success in helping learners achieve learning objectives.

o The professional development activities and partnerships of the proposing organization.

o The sustainability of an awardee’s use of TPS content within their professional development programs for teachers.

o The extent to which the project plan describes sound planning, recruitment, implementation, evaluation, and resource allocation.

• Abide by monitoring and evaluation guidelines that will apply across all regional awardees, that will be provided by the TPS Program during orientation and may be refined in subsequent

8/20/2024 7 regional meetings as necessary. Such guidelines will include reporting schedules, a list of evaluative information to review, engagement with the Consortium and distribution expectations.

• Provide the TPS Program Manager with the following information before selection of sub-awardees: a list of prospective sub-awardee organizations, the goals of each project, its reach, the time period within which the subaward will be performed, and the amount to be awarded.

TPS Consortium Participation and Leadership

• Promote educational materials created by sub-awardees to members of the TPS Consortium, and participating TPS teachers, through the TPS Teachers Network. Disseminate the curriculum, instructional materials and tools developed under the award through existing networks of subsidiary and partner organizations. Ensure that the educational materials and tools created under subawards are made available online through channels approved by Library of Congress staff.

• Keep abreast of state educational initiatives, funding levels, participants, and factors that encourage or inhibit the spread of the TPS program in the region managed. Use this knowledge to act as a conduit for Library staff and partners to tap into local networks with high-value materials and pedagogy.

• Attend and participate in at least two in-person TPS Consortium meetings per year held in Washington, D.C., or elsewhere in the U.S., and at least one in-person TPS regional meeting.

• Join and become active in at least one Consortium Interest Group created to build other Consortium members’ capacity to enhance their materials, programming, or tools to reach underserved groups of educators or learners.

• Participate in Consortium-wide TPS program design, testing, research and evaluation activities, as requested, to support the quality of TPS resources and the efficacy of TPS program processes.

Participate in ongoing development exercises with Library and other regional program staff to enhance the effectiveness of the national TPS Regional program.

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

Federal Agency Name: Library of Congress Opportunity Title Teaching with Primary Sources Program: Regional Awards Opportunity Number 030ADV24R0029 Period of Performance 1/1/2025 – 6/30/2026 (18 months) General Questions Deadline September 18, 2024 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time Technical Questions Deadline September 30, 2024 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time Proposal Submission Deadline October 2, 2024 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time Expected Start Date: January 1, 2025 Estimated Funds Available and Number of Awards

The Library’s intention is to make up to six (6) cooperative agreement awards of up to $900,000 for each award period (eighteen [18] months). Actual awards may be less. The Library may choose to make no awards or more than six (6) awards.

The Library may make additional funds available to awardees for a maximum of four (4) award periods (18 months per

8/20/2024 8 award period) at the government’s sole discretion, without competition, subject to awardee’s satisfactory performance under the current award, and subject to the availability of funds and awardee’s submission of a fundable proposal.

Awards may not exceed six (6) years in length and $3,600,000 total per award.

Subawards The period of performance for all subaward agreements must not exceed twelve (12) months and must end no later than 90 days before the end of the period of performance in the regional awardee’s cooperative agreement.

Funding Instrument Type Cooperative Agreement

Individual funding levels will depend on the effective educational use of Library of Congress materials;

content, quality and feasibility of the proposed project; the value and utility of the project to its targeted audience; and the number of applications received and available funding.

The Library will accept only one proposal per organization.

The Library reserves the right to select for award any, all, part, or none of the proposals received in response to this Notice. Additionally, the Library may modify the schedule or program areas by amending this Notice. The amendments will be posted in the same space as this Notice. It is the responsibility of the applicant to be aware of the amendments by regularly checking grants.gov.

Applicants cannot recover expenses for proposal/application preparation or submission from any awards resulting from this Notice.

B.1 Questions and Answers All questions relating to this Notice must be submitted via email to tps-grant@loc.gov no later than the date stated above. Applicants with problems submitting via email can request assistance until the date specified above (“Technical Submission Questions Deadline”). The subject of each e-mail must read as follows: Notice 030ADV24R0029 – Teaching with Primary Sources Program Regional Awards.

Answers will be provided in Q&A Documents uploaded to the Related Documents section of this Notice on grants.gov. Questions received after the due date may not be answered.

B.2 Intellectual Property Rights and Data Availability, and Accessibility

B.2.1. Intellectual Property and Data Availability. The Awardee and their sub-awardees must provide an open license to the public for any new copyrightable materials created in whole, or in part, with these award funds and must openly license to the public any copyrightable modifications made to pre-existing content using these award funds. The Awardee and their sub-awardees are solely and exclusively responsible for obtaining any necessary clearances, permissions, and/or releases for the creation, distribution, performance and other uses of the Project Content. The Awardee(s) will ensure that neither the Project nor any related materials associated with the Project will interfere with or violate any rights of third parties, any copyright, trademarks, license, or any other right, and will contain no matter that is libelous or in violation of any rights of privacy or that is otherwise contrary to law. To mailto:tps-grant@loc.gov

8/20/2024 9 the maximum extent possible, the Awardee(s) will obtain necessary consents and open licenses for non-commercial public use.

The license must be worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, and irrevocable, and must grant the public permission to access, reproduce, publicly perform, publicly display, adapt, distribute, and otherwise use, for any purposes, copyrightable intellectual property created with the funds, provided that the licensee gives attribution to the designated authors of the intellectual property. All materials must be labeled as open educational resources (OER). All computer software source code developed or created with these award funds must be openly licensed under an intellectual property license that allows the public to freely use and build upon source code created or developed pursuant to this grant of funds.

Awardee(s) shall also provide the Library a royalty-free, nonexclusive and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use all projects created under this award for Federal purposes, and to authorize others to do so.

All data, methodology, factual inputs, models, analyses, technical information, reports, conclusions, valuation products or other scientific assessments in any medium or form, including textual, numerical, graphic, cartographic, narrative, or audiovisual, resulting from a financial assistance agreement is available for use by the Library of Congress, including being available in a manner that is sufficient for independent verification. The Federal Government has the right to: (1) Obtain, reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the data, methodology, factual inputs, models, analyses, technical information, reports, conclusions, or other scientific assessments, produced under a Federal award; and (2) Authorize others to receive, reproduce, publish, or otherwise use such data, methodology, factual inputs, models, analyses, technical information, reports, conclusions, or other scientific assessments, for Federal purposes, including to allow for meaningful third-party evaluation.

B.2.2. Accessibility Requirements. The Library is committed to ensuring that information communication technology (ICT) allows Library employees and members of the public with disabilities to access and use information and data comparable to access and use by individuals without disabilities.

For purposes of ICT, the Library has adopted standards used by executive branch agencies under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), established in appendices of 36 C.F.R. 1194.1 and the references cited therein (hereinafter “Section 508 Standards”). Because the goal is that Awardee project materials be as widely accessible as possible including potential access via Library websites, all Awardee project materials and materials required to be provided to the Library must meet or exceed applicable Revised Section 508 Standards and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Standards. Appendix C of this NOFO provides a definition of ITC and additional information regarding the accessibility standards.

Applicants may identify exemptions to the requirements in the Section 508 Standards that they consider applicable to project materials. In such cases, the applicant also must identify any additional measures that would be required to bring the project materials into compliance with the Section 508 Standards, so the Library can assess the feasibility of implementing such measures as necessary.

Awardees must certify compliance with the accessibility standards when providing project materials to the Library.

B.2.3. Restriction on use of Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools. Awardees must not use generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) to create or produce any project materials. For purposes of this https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-36/chapter-XI/part-1194/section-1194.1 https://www.access-board.gov/ict/ https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/glance/

8/20/2024 10 restriction, generative AI tools are those that produce synthetic text, images, code, video, and music in response to user prompts and include, but are not limited to, ChatGPT, BARD, DALL-E, MidJourney, and Stable Diffusion. For purposes of this restriction, generative AI does not include the use of AI-enhanced word processing, email, or search tools that are already widely incorporated in day-to-day life such as AI tools embedded in image editing applications and spelling or grammar checking functions.

B.3 System for Award Management (SAM.gov) Registration Successful applicants must be registered on SAM.gov before an award is made. Information on how to register on SAM.gov can be found on the SAM website. This process can take several weeks, so if an applicant is not already registered, it should start that process immediately. Registration is free and is required for any organization that wants to receive any kind of federal award or contract. An award will not be given to an applicant without a completed SAM.gov registration by the time the award is made.

C. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

C.1 Eligible Applicants must

• Have the partnerships, and programmatic, managerial, and administrative capacity to administer all aspects of sub-awarding under the TPS Regional Awards program per the requirements listed in Section A;

• Be public or private organizations, both not-for profit and for-profit organizations and including institutions of higher education, colleges, universities, professional associations, library systems, cultural institutions, other educational organizations such as K-12 schools, after-school programs, literacy organizations, centers, clubs, associations of home-schooling parents, honor societies, and other professional, civic, regional, state, and community groups, and collaborative partnerships (such as an organization with content expertise paired with a state or regional educational entity); states; public or private agencies, including for-profit agencies; and Indian tribes and tribal organizations;

• Be based in any of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, territories, and commonwealths (Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands); and

• Propose a project that must be conducted within the U.S. or U.S. commonwealth or territory.

C.2 Other Eligibility Information

• Late, incomplete, or ineligible applications will not be considered for funding under this Notice.

• Applications from other federal agencies will not be accepted.

• An Applicant (or a principal member of an Applicant) that has been convicted or found to be at fault in connection with the award or the performance of a Federal award or contract in the past five years may be disqualified.

D. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

All submissions must be in English, submitted by the due date at the time specified in Section B above, provide budget and cost information in U.S. dollars, and meet the specifications of this Notice. All applications must be submitted via email to tps-grant@loc.gov as described in this notice.

Applications submitted to grants.gov will not be accepted.

https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration

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D.1 Email Submission Requirements All proposals must be submitted electronically via email to tps-grant@loc.gov as described and by the day and time specified in Section B and with the following requirements:

a) The email must include the opportunity number (030ADV24R0029) in the subject line.

b) Required file naming conventions are as follows:

o [Notice #] – [Institution Short Name] – [Document Name] E.g. 030ADV24R0029 – UDC – Proposal Narrative

c) Applicant must not submit zipped or locked files.

d) Applicant must not submit files via a third-party website (such as OneDrive or Box.com).

e) The file size limits for Library email are as follows:

o The maximum size file allowed through the Library’s email system is 20MB. In addition, certain files might need to undergo a conversion to be accepted by the Library’s servers.

This conversion increases the file size by 30% to 40%; therefore, please take this into consideration when determining file sizes.

o The Library’s email system cannot accept files greater than 20MB. If needed, an applicant may send the application materials across multiple emails but must ensure they are all clearly identified, with the opportunity number (030ADV24R0029) and an identifier (“1 of X emails”, “2 of X emails”, etc.) in the subject line.

If an applicant feels that the application materials will exceed the size limits stated above and is unable to send the documents on separate emails as stated above, the applicant may send an email to tps-grant@loc.gov, by the “Technical Questions” deadline specified in Section B to request help with sending the application materials. Please note that this is a day before the due date for applications stated in Section B. The Library will not provide assistance if the email is received after this deadline.

Applicants should use the checklist provided with this Notice to ensure that they complete all required documents.

D.2 Application Package

The application package consists of the following:

a) PROPOSAL NARRATIVE:

Applicants must provide a proposal narrative using the template attached to this notice. Applicants must complete all sections of the template. If a section is not applicable, state that it is not applicable.

b) BUDGET PLAN WORKBOOK (Excel Workbook – Attached to Notice):

Applicants must complete the attached Excel Workbook (note there are multiple tabs for various costs categories). Applicants must provide detailed costs for all items that will be funded under the project.

Instructions on how to complete the Workbook are included on each tab.

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NOTE: At the end of the Workbook, two red tabs – “Federal Awards” and “Single Audit Requirement” – must be completed by applicants as applicable.

c) BUDGET PLAN NARRATIVE Applicants must complete the attached Microsoft Word document that shows a clear connection between the required budget items in the Budget Plan Workbook and the project plan. The Budget Plan Narrative is distinct from the Proposal Narrative.

Applicants must provide a narrative justifying the costs proposed. All assumptions must be clearly stated. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that the information provided is sufficient to provide the basis for the Library to determine if the costs are reasonable, allowable and allocable.

Examples of Unallowable and Allowable Costs All costs must be reasonable, allocable, and allowable as described in 2 CFR 200 Subpart E and permitted under the grant program’s authorizing legislation.

The table below provides examples of unallowable and allowable costs under this Notice.

Activity Unallowable Allowable Advocacy/ Fundraising Any activity that can be construed as advocacy or fundraising, including the preparation of awards, fundraising committee meetings, contributions to endowments, and lobbying.

None.

Alcohol All Non-alcoholic beverages.

Audit Allowable.

Conferences Costs of entertainment, including amusement, diversion, and social activities.

Alcoholic beverages. Programs, contests, festivals, or similar events and activities that do not directly impact a TPS effort.

Rental of facilities, speakers’ fees or stipends, costs of meals and refreshments, transportation, and other items incidental to such meetings.

Digitization Digitization of non-Library of Congress collections.

None.

Evaluation None. Costs associated with participating in evaluative activities initiated by the Library to measure the impact and reach of the TPS program, OR evaluation activities developed and described as part of a cooperative agreement.

Food Food and beverages for general meetings.

Per diem for subsistence while in travel status (up to the

8/20/2024 13 amount allowable per GSA rates); food and beverages needed for TPS workshops.

Public education and outreach General pedagogy or education methods.

Professional development, materials, and products specific to TPS and to the Library of Congress’ collection.

Honoraria Unallowable when the primary intent is to confer distinction on, or to symbolize respect, esteem, or admiration for, the recipient of the honorarium.

A payment for services rendered, such as a speaker's fee under a conference grant, is allowable.

Stipends Stipends to defray participation costs directly serving the TPS mission

Training Project personnel professional development training.

Project target audience professional development training, including for staff and volunteers.

Cost Share (if applicable): There is no requirement for matching funds or cost sharing from applicants Institutions. However, proposals that include matching or cost sharing elements may be rated more highly. Examples of types of cost sharing may include salaries, space or studio rental costs, equipment not part of an existing indirect cost rate calculation, or supplies.

- As with award funds, all cost share expenses must be incurred during the award period of performance unless otherwise specified and allowed by law.

o Federal funds from other federal awards may not be used for cost sharing.

o All federal, Library, and program requirements regarding the use of funds apply to both requested Library award funds and to cost sharing. See 2 CFR 200.1 and 200.306 for more information on cost sharing.

If the budget includes Cost Share, applicant should identify any cash or in-kind contributions that a partner or other entity will contribute to the project and describe how the contributions directly and substantively benefit completion of the project. For in-kind contributions, include the source, the amount, and the valuation methodology used to determine the total value. See 2 CFR 200.306 “Cost sharing or matching” for more information. If cost share is being provided by unpaid volunteers, applications should explain how they arrived at the dollar amount used to represent the value of their services.

d) REQUIRED FORM SF-424 All applicants must complete the appropriate standard SF-424S, Application for Federal Domestic Assistance – Short Organizational. (OMB 4040-0003, Expiration 2/28/2025) https://www.grants.gov/forms/forms-repository/sf-424-short-organization-family https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-A/subject-group-ECFR2a6a0087862fd2c/section-200.1 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/section-200.306 https://www.grants.gov/forms/forms-repository/sf-424-short-organization-family

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Note: For Block 2 of the SF-424S form, the CFDA number is 42.010 for this award. The CFDA Title is “Teaching with Primary Sources.”

If you experience any issues downloading or opening the form, please follow these instructions from grants.gov. If you still encounter problems with the form, please reach out to the grants.gov support team.

D.2.1 List of Required Documents

Document Title Description Proposal Narrative Includes the Cover Page, Project Details, and Appendices sections of the Proposal.

Budget Plan Workbook Includes all applicable Direct and Indirect project costs across multiple tabs. Includes a list of previous Federal awards (as applicable) and confirms if applicant is subject to the Single Audit Requirement.

Budget Plan Narrative Includes detailed explanations for all Direct and Indirect project costs listed in the Budget Plan Workbook.

SF-424 Application for Federal Domestic Assistance – Short Organizational

Includes detailed information about the applicant, including Address, UEI, Project Information, Primary Organizational Contact, and Certification.

D.3 Agency Point of Contact

Miriam Grinberg Grants Officer – Contracts and Grants Directorate

Email: tps-grant@loc.gov

Library of Congress - 101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington D.C., 20540

D.4 Other Information – As Applicable If any of the following circumstances are relevant to your specific circumstances, you must include certain information as an attachment to your proposal. List under “Other Information – [Insert Name of the Relevant Section].”

A) Conflict of Interest Disclosure Recipients must notify the Grants Officer (GO) immediately in writing of any conflict of interest that arises during the life of their Federal award, including those reported to them by any employee or sub-recipient under the award. The term employee means any individual engaged in the performance of work pursuant to the Federal award. Recipients should have policies that require each employee to disclose to a responsible representative of the recipient institution all significant financial interests of the employee (including those of the employee’s spouse and dependent children) (i) that would reasonably appear to be affected by the activities funded or proposed for funding by the Library; and (ii) in entities whose financial interests would reasonably appear to be affected by such activities. The Library will examine each conflict of interest disclosure based on its particular facts and the nature of the project and will determine if a potential conflict exists. If a conflict exists, the Library will work with the recipient to determine an appropriate resolution. Failure to disclose and resolve conflicts of interest in a manner that satisfies the Library may result in any of the remedies described in 2 CFR 200.339 Remedies for Noncompliance, including termination of the award.

B) Finding of Fault or Convictions in Past 5 Years https://www.grants.gov/help/html/help/index.htm?callingApp=custom%22%20%5Cl%20%22t=ManageWorkspaces/DownloadPDFForms.htm&rhsearch=adobe&rhhlterm=adobe&rhsyns=%20#rhsearch=adobe&ux=search https://www.grants.gov/support.html https://www.grants.gov/support.html mailto:tps-grant@loc.gov https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR86b76dde0e1e9dc/section-200.339 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR86b76dde0e1e9dc/section-200.339

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If, within the past 5 years, applicant institution or any principal has been subject to a finding of fault or conviction in any Federal or state criminal, civil, or administrative legal proceeding in connection to the award to or the performance of a Federal award or contract, then you must provide an explanation. The explanation should include information about each proceeding, namely:

• Instrument. This is the type of proceedings instrument, such as U.S. Federal issued contract, U.S. Federal issued award/assistance instrument, State issued contract, and State issued award.

• State. The state where proceeding occurred.

• Instrument Number. The official number of the proceeding as assigned by instrument.

• Type of Proceeding, i.e., Administrative, Criminal, or Civil.

• Disposition, either Conviction/Finding of Fault or Other acknowledgment of fault.

• Description of the Proceeding. A comprehensive description (approx. 500 words) of the proceeding.

C) Overlap or Duplication of Effort Statement Applicants must provide a complete description of overlaps or duplications between this proposal and any other federally funded project or application in regard to activities, costs, and time commitment of key personnel, as applicable. In the description, you should:

• Identify when that proposal was submitted, to whom (entity name and program), and when you anticipate being notified of their funding decision.

• Provide a copy of any overlapping or duplicative proposal submitted to any other potential funding entity and end the statement with “We understand that if at any time we receive funding from another source that is duplicative of the funding we are requesting from the Library of Congress in this application, we will immediately notify the Library of Congress point of contact identified in this Funding Opportunity in writing.”

D) Single Audit Reporting Statement for Institutions Expending More than $1,000,000 USD in federal awards.

All U.S. state, local governments, federally recognized Indian tribal governments, education institutions, and non-profit organizations expending $1,000,000 USD or more in Federal award funds in the applicant’s fiscal year must submit a Single Audit report for that year through the Federal Audit Clearinghouse’s Internet Data Entry System.

U.S. state, local government, federally recognized Indian tribal government, and non-profit applicants must state if your institution was or was not required to submit a Single Audit report for the most recently closed fiscal year. If your institution was required to submit a Single Audit report for the most recently closed fiscal year, provide the EIN associated with that report and state if it is available through the Federal Audit Clearinghouse website.

See the Budget Plan Workbook template attached to this Notice, where applicants can indicate if they are subject to a Single Audit.

E) Applications with Proprietary Data. The Library may share award applications, work products, and reports with Library employees, external reviewers, or the general public to further the mission of the agency. Therefore, the Library discourages inclusion of proprietary data or information in applications.

However, if a proposal contains information that constitutes a trade secret, proprietary commercial or

8/20/2024 16 financial information, or similar confidential information, the Library will handle such information in accordance with applicable law, provided that the information is clearly marked by the applicant. Note that any funded proposal will be considered an integral part of the award and normally will be made available to the public upon request and in accordance with applicable law.

Applicants who include proprietary data must mark the cover page with the following: “This application includes marked proprietary data that must not be duplicated, used, or disclosed for any purpose other than to evaluate this application. If, however, an award is made as a result of – or in connection with – the submission of this data, the U.S. Government will have the right to duplicate, use, and disclose the data. This restriction does not limit the U.S. Government’s right to use information contained in this data if it is obtained from another source without restriction. The data subject to this restriction are contained in sheets {insert sheet numbers}.” Additionally, the applicant must mark the specific data it wishes to restrict with the following: “Use or disclosure of this data is subject to the restriction on the title page of this application.”

E. APPLICATION REVIEW

The Library will evaluate applications received as described below. However:

a) Applications not received by the deadline specified in this Notice will not be reviewed.

b) Incomplete applications that do not include all required documents will not be reviewed.

c) Applications submitted by applicants that do not meet eligibility requirements listed in Section C will not be reviewed.

d) Applications that are not sent by email to tps-grant@loc.gov will not be reviewed.

E.1 Criteria for Proposal Evaluation The Library will assemble panels comprising Library of Congress staff, staff from other government agencies, and senior professionals, from organizations across the country, to review and evaluate submissions.

Specifically, Library staff and review panels will evaluate applications based on the following criteria:

a) Expertise

• Extent to which an applicant has a demonstrated regional or national reputation for providing the type and scope of activities proposed under this Notice.

• Evidence of the applicant’s understanding of the educational landscape in their selected region, including state initiatives, educational institutions and their activities, sub-populations of learners and their needs, and the status of past and current educational programs.

• Extent to which applicant’s expertise in educational leadership and methods instruction can be brought to bear while managing a TPS regional award.

• Evidence that methodology and design are appropriate to the scope of the project proposed.

• Evidence that the project uses existing or emerging standards or effective practices.

• Demonstrated expertise and skill of personnel to be assigned to the project, including capacity for making and administering subawards and all other aspects of award management as outlined in Section A of this Notice.

b) Programmatic Financial Capability

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• Evidence that the applicant will complete the project activities in the time allocated, through the effective deployment and management of resources, including personnel, money, facilities, equipment, and supplies.

• Evidence of the applicant’s plans to keep the Library fully informed of project progress throughout the award period, including lessons-learned, modifications and project results. Evidence of sound financial management and submission of an appropriate and cost-efficient budget.

c) Educational Networks and Affiliations

• Extent to which the applicant can demonstrate past collaborations with other educational entities leading to the design, testing and distribution of curricula, instructional materials, or tools.

• Extent to which the applicant includes a sound plan to disseminate the curriculum, app/online interactive or instructional materials, developed under this award, through already-existing affiliations and networks, and by recruiting additional dissemination partners to reach their distribution targets, where needed.

• Extent to which the applicant demonstrates an ability and commitment to incorporate knowledge, materials and activities…