FOA HHS 2020 ACL AOA HSSG 0417 Applicant Information Teleconference Transcript FINAL.docx

NWX-HHS-AOA-1 (US)

Moderator: Greg Link 4-1-2020/1:00 pm CT Confirmation # 1026402

FY 2020 Funding Opportunity

Expanding the National Capacity Person-Centered, Trauma-Informed Supportive Services for Holocaust Survivors and Older Adults with Histories of Trauma and their Family Caregivers

Pre-Application Teleconference Transcript with Q&A

April 1, 2020

2:00 PM, ET

Moderator: Greg Link

Note: this transcript has been edited for readability and clarity

Coordinator: Welcome and thank you all for standing by. At this time I would like to inform all participants that your lines have been placed on a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer session of today’s call. Today’s call is being recorded. If anyone has any objections you may disconnect at this time. And I will now turn the call over to Mr. Greg Link. You may begin.

Greg Link: Thank you and welcome everyone to this call to discuss the funding opportunity announcement for fiscal year 2020 entitled “Expanding the National Capacity for Person-Centered Trauma-Informed Support of Services for Holocaust Survivors and Older Adults with a History of Trauma and their Family Caregivers.” I particularly want to thank you for taking the time out of what must be extremely busy days in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

I want to thank you for taking the time to learn more about this funding opportunity announcement and ask any questions that you may have, should you wish to consider applying for the particular funding opportunity announcement that I just named.

The purpose of this call is to provide interested applicants with some background information on the program, walk through the Announcement itself and highlight particular things you should pay attention to, and answer any outstanding questions you may have.

This conference call is being recorded. A printed copy of today’s transcript, including the questions and answers at the end of the call will be available on the grants.gov web site within a week or so.

My name is Greg Link and I’m the Director of the Office of Supportive and Caregiver Services here at ACL. My office oversees a number of formula programs including the National Family Caregiver Support Program and other parts of the OAA and discretionary grant activities within the Administration on Aging, such our dementia programs portfolio, Eldercare Locator, Lifespan Respite Care Program, technical assistance for minority aging.

For this program, my responsibility will be to ensure that grantee works within the requirements for this program and the funding announcement, for the life of the project. I will be your go-to person for all programmatic issues related to this project.

Joining me on the call is: LaDeva Harris, Grants Specialist. LaDeva will be handling the business functions between AoA and the grantee. You would interact with her on questions about budget, reporting, drawing down funds, etc.

This call is scheduled to go for about an hour during which I will go over the program announcement and point out key things to be aware of as you consider applying and hopefully clear up any lingering questions.

Following that, we will open the lines for Q&A.

To get the most out of this call, I really recommend having a copy of the FOA in front of you as I will go through it page/section by page/section.

FOA Overview

As with other Funding Opportunity Announcements issued by ACL, this one contains all the information prospective applicants need to know about why the opportunity exists and then how to go about completing the application.

This FOA is divided into several sections, each of which will be important for you to carefully review and understand.

So let’s get started going through the FOA.

The real content begins on Page 1, after the cover page and table of contents.

At the top of Page 1, you’ll find the ACL center issuing this FOA. In this case, the ACL Center is the Administration on Aging, as this program is funded under Title IV of the Older Americans Act.

You’ll also find the FOA number and two absolutely critical dates for you to keep in mind:

The first date to be aware of is April 3, 2020. That’s this Friday….. This is the date letters of intent are due. I’ll talk more about this in a minute.

The next critical date is May 20, 2020. This is the due date for applications. Applications are absolutely due on this date. No exceptions. I will also talk a bit more about this later in the call.

Page 1 also contains the Executive Summary. This just provides a very high level overview of the Opportunity. More detail is contained in the main parts of the FOA.

The actual Funding Opportunity Description begins on page 2.

Here, you will find some background information for why ACL developed the funding opportunity, including the focus areas, program goals and desired outcomes.

For the purposes of this particular program, ACL seeks to build on the work we started in 2015 when we awarded a grant to develop person-centered, trauma-informed supportive services for Holocaust survivors. Our intent five years ago was to begin building the nation’s capacity to develop and deliver services to Holocaust survivors, in a way that does not further traumatize these individuals.

Throughout the FOA, you will see the term “person-centered, trauma-informed care” used and that is the prime underpinning of this opportunity.

First coined by AoA in its 2015, the term Person-Centered, Trauma-Informed (PCTI) care was envisioned as a holistic approach to service provision that promotes dignity, strength and empowerment of trauma victims by incorporating knowledge about trauma in victims’ lives into agency programs, policies and procedures

The background information on Pages 2 through the top of page 4 explain ACL’s rationale for developing this particular funding opportunity and the desire we have for advancing this work to include other populations of traumatized older adults. We also recognize that trauma can be passed from generation to generation. So in this regard we are looking to expand the populations served to include family caregivers of older adults with trauma histories.

On Page 4, in the section headed “Purpose and Goals and Desired Outcomes,” you will see in the first paragraph that ACL will fund once again fund one cooperative agreement focusing on two priority areas.

The applications you prepare should address both of these priority areas.

The first priority area is to further develop and expand the delivery of PCTI services to three distinct groups: first is Holocaust survivors. This population of older adults is the primary focus of this project. The second group includes other older adults with histories of trauma and the third population as mentioned earlier is family caregivers providing care to older adults with histories of trauma.

The second priority area is the development of a national technical assistance effort to continue growing the capacity of the aging services network to more effectively deliver PCTI to the populations groups I just mentioned.

ACL’s expectations for activity in priority area one, are laid out beginning about half way down page 4. As in the 2015 project, such activities should be grounded in the SAMHSA principles of trauma informed care. Near the bottom of page 4 and over to page 5, we provide several examples of potential focus areas for the interventions. These are suggestions based on the previous five years of work and that are of keen interest to ACL. However, these are only suggestions and applicants should feel free to propose other or additional areas for focus.

At the top of page five, note ACL’s expectations for the prime grantee to issue sub-awards as the primary means by which activities at the local level will be funded and take place. Please be sure to address in your applications the processes and procedures by which you propose to make sub-awards.

In the next paragraph are listed restrictions on how funds may be used. These align specifically with HHS grants policy with two additions made by ACL: medical care and income maintenance. The intent of this project is the provision of supportive services. In that regard, ACL does not view medical care and income maintenance as such.

Priority area 2 lays out ACL’s expectations for the National Technical Assistance efforts of this project. In this portion of the FOA, we lay out potential broad areas for technical assistance as examples of the types of focus areas to consider. Again, these are suggestions and applicants are free to explore other areas of technical assistance as they envision this priority area being implemented.

Near the top of page 6, is the section entitled “additional application elements and considerations.” Please be sure you address these areas in your proposals.

I want to call your attention in particular to the first sub-section called “priority area emphasis and resource allocation.” In the 2015 project, ACL stipulated minimum and maximum percentages of fiscal resources that the grantee would be permitted or required to allocate to either priority area. We stated that no more than 10% of total project funds could be allocated to the technical assistance activities and no less than 90 percent of funds were to be allocated to direct services

In this new project, ACL is being less prescriptive in this regard. We recognize the potential and the need that exists to more comprehensively build national capacity to deliver PCTI. To do this, will take resources dedicated to such activities. In this regard, ACL is encouraging applicants to give careful thought to how much of project funds to allocate to each priority area.

Applicants may wish to allocate different percentages from year to year, depending on anticipated goals in each of the priority areas that would drive activities and focus.

The rest of the subsections from page 6 to page 8 detail other considerations that must be taken into account as you prepare your applications. I encourage you to pay close attention to outcomes and performance measurement as this is an essential component of any ACL-funded project.

All these sections, however are critical, so please be sure to address them in your applications.

Section 2 of the FOA begins on page 9. This is the section that lays out the award information.

You will see that ACL will be administering this grant as a cooperative agreement. What this means is that throughout the life of the project, the grantee can expect substantial involvement by the ACL program officer (me) in much of the work undertaken in this grant.

The terms of the cooperative agreement for both ACL and the grantee are described in detail on pages 9-10.

After the notice of award is made, ACL will work with the successful grantee to understand the terms of the cooperative agreement and answer any questions the grantee may have.

We will be making only one award under this opportunity. The maximum amount of funding for the first year is $4,935,000. We will fund only the first year of the project at this time. Each year thereafter, the amount of funding will be approximately the same, depending on Congressional appropriations activities. Keep in mind that subsequent funding for each of the remaining four years is subject to the availability of funds.

Section 3 on page 11 talks about who is eligible to apply for this funding opportunity.

This is an open competition and is available to the organization types listed.

You must include a copy of your organization’s 501 c 3 status with your application. Failure to do so will result in the rejection of your application.

Please note that individual persons are not eligible to apply for this grant.

Also discussed in this section is the Match requirement. There is a 25% match requirement

Match can come from either non-Federal cash or in-kind resources. You must calculate your match based on the total project cost, and not just on the amount you request from the Federal government. We’ve included a formula example here to help you in this calculation. Additional examples for calculating match are also found on pages 25-26.

The next critical aspect of this section for you to be aware of starts at the bottom of Page 8 and continues over on to Page 9.

Responsiveness criteria is the extent to which your application responds to what is being looked for in the funding announcement.

There are four responsiveness criteria that your applications must meet for them to be accepted for consideration. There are spelled out on Page 11 as follows:

1) The first responsiveness criteria is the inclusion of the organization’s 501c3 status. If that is not in the application, it will be rejected.

2) The second is a documented history working at the national level

3) The third criteria is the commitment of at least a full-time project director with expertise in serving this population

4) And the ourth is demonstrated expertise in working with entities serving the non-Holocaust survivor older adult population. Most likely, this documentation would be included in the “organizational capacity” section of your application.

I want to reiterate, your applications must include each of these criteria in order for your applications to move forward for review and scoring. Failure to include each and every one of these criteria in your applications will result in the application being rejected with no further consideration.

There is also a set of application screening criteria that must be met and those are spelled out on Page 12. These are more technical aspects such as:

1) Was the application submitted on time

2) Did you use correct font sizes and line spacing

3) And is the narrative the correct length? The maximum length for your project narratives is 25 pages.

Section 4 at the bottom of Page 12 and continuing on to Page 13 contains absolutely critical information for how to submit your applications.

You must submit your applications electronically via grants.gov.

You should be sure your agency is registered with grants.gov NOW before you are ready to submit your applications. It can take several days to get registered so please don’t wait until the last minute.

Your agency must also have a DUNS number and be registered with SAM (the System for Award Management). Please start that process now, if your agency is not registered. Again, it often takes up to 48 hours for your SAM registration to be available in grants.gov so don’t wait until the last minute.

VERY IMPORTANT: I nor anyone at ACL can assist you with registering with grants.gov, DUNS or SAM. We do not have access to those systems, they are not ACL systems. If you need technical support for any of those systems, please call the toll-free numbers listed in the FOA. Again, do not call me. I cannot help you with this.

Please be sure to read and follow every step as outlined in Section 4 on Pages 12-13.

At the top of page 14 is the information about where/when to submit the letters of intent.

Letters of intent are not mandatory but are appreciated. Having letters of intent lets me know approximately how many applications to expect so I can set up my grant review panels accordingly.

I would prefer if you emailed me the letter of intent. My email address is shown on page 14.

The letters of intent to not have to be anything more than an email indicating that you may be applying. They do not have to be formal documents, unless that is standard practice in your agency.

Submitting a letter of intent does not bind you to submitting an application. But it is required if you are even just thinking about submitting an application.

Pages 14 through 17 provide a very good description of what your project narratives should include. Your applications will be scored based on the information asked for in the project narratives so it is very advisable that you pay close attention to the required elements of the narrative and address each of those sections.

Again, the page limit for project narratives is 25 pages. The narrative does not include letters of intent, budget narrative, work plan and other supporting documentation you submit with your applications.

The most important thing to remember is that the project narrative is your one and only opportunity to describe how you plan to carry out the project. It is the only thing merit reviewers will have to go on. Please note, reviewers will not be contacting you for clarification or additional information for the narrative. So you have one chance to develop and submit a complete and comprehensive narrative.

Page 17 talks about the requirement for a project work plan and budget narrative. These are required documents and should be very detailed and thorough so that reviewers get a good sense for how funds will be spent and on what and for how you plan to carry out the tasks you propose and who will complete them. Templates for these two elements of the application are available on our web site and examples are provided at the end of the FOA on Pages 39-42.

Letters of commitment are discussed on page 18. These go a long way towards rounding out your application and demonstrating how collaborating partners will participate in the project.

Page 18 of the FOA also talks about submission dates and times.

The due date for applications is 11:59 PM, Eastern on May 20, 2020. Applications received after this date will not be accepted.

Page 19-20 lays out some important information on funding restrictions. In other words, what you can’t use grant funds for. Please be sure you adhere closely to these restrictions as you design and propose your projects.

Pages 20 through 24 lay out the exact criteria against which your applications will be reviewed and scored. You’ll see the weight each section is given and the exact things merit reviewers will be looking for as they review and score your applications.

This section is so important and can be an excellent tool for you as you write your application.

My suggestion to applicants is always this: after you’ve written your application, go through it using these criteria. If you can answer “yes” to every question, you likely have a pretty good application to submit and that it covers at a minimum what we are looking for.

Page 24 near the bottom talks about the review and selection process. We will be using third-party reviewers in panels of three to review and score each application. Only the top scoring application will be selected for funding. Final award decisions are at the discretion of the ACL Administrator.

Finally Page 25 through the end of the FOA contains routine award administering information, reporting requirements, agency contacts, etc. I would encourage you to review this information completely and thoroughly to be sure you understand all the requirements for completing and submitting your applications.

We anticipate making the award sometime in late July. This is only an estimate. Given all that is going on right now with COVID-19, this date could very well be pushed later.

That concludes my review of the Funding Opportunity so let’s open the lines for questions.

Greg Link: Sue, we are ready for Q&A.

Coordinator: If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1, unmute your phone and record your name clearly.

Question: Thank you, Greg. I have two questions. One, do you have profit far more for a 509(a)(1) or a 170(b)?

Greg Link: Yes, you would provide that documentation because …

Question: And my second question the budget justification can it be in an Excel format?

Greg Link: So you said it’s on Page 42? On the ACL.gov website, there are resources for prospective applicants. We have a whole section containing resources for organizations applying for grants.

Question: I’m applying for this grant. Let’s say I have an Excel version of that document. It documents that we have would be would have access to all grants.gov. We don’t actually have an Excel version.

Question: Thank you so much for your dedication to this funding opportunity announcement as we’re going over your (unintelligible) as well as for the very well-thought-out research and citations with (unintelligible) excited about it and excited (unintelligible) we have several questions here so the entire JFNA team is on the line. I will try to streamline the questions in the interest of time and questions were answered during your overview but also some more were raised.

So the first question is Can a federal agency such as the VA be a subgrantee? It doesn’t say anything about federal eligible applicants but I’m wondering about if they could be subcontractors?

Greg Link: Referring to subcontractors to ACL’s prime grant? Is that what you’re asking?

No, you could not award a sub-grant to a federal entity. LaDeva, you may be able to answer this but I don’t which would be a non-federal entity could then make a subaward to a federal entity. Am I correct, LaDeva?

Yes, ACL envisions a range of subawards being made. Certainly the successful grantee which would be ACL’s grantee could you know, come forward and, you know, develop a trauma-informed approach for tribal elders.

Question: Should we consider that list of eligible applicants to be eligible under this FOA to be a subcontractor and play that same note if they’re not eligible to be a prime, they would not be eligible to be a subcontractor. Is that accurate?

Greg Link: But keep in mind that the eligibility in ACL’s (4) are who the eligible applicants for the federal funds from ACL.

Question: Next question that we have an organizational chart and it would be OK for you to have an organizational chart of the entire organization or just the part of the organization responsible this grant program?

Greg Link: I think it’s whatever the applicant thinks would best support our application so keeping in mind that we’re going to have third-party reviewers. So the entire organization included as part of the application would help tell the story of the project in relation to the rest of the applicant organization, then that may be the approach only a particular an organization really needs to be expressed in an organizational chart. Either you feel the information would be most helpful.

Question: Okay, next question in the work plan section, it says that the project narrative and budget should cover every year of the project?

Greg Link: Yes.

Greg Link: Five years, yes. There should be a budget narrative for each individual year of the project and then a narrative that looks at it’s a five-year summary and then there should be individual budget narratives for each year thereafter. And a work plan that covers each year of the project.

Question: Okay, great, so we will do that. Under the application review on Page 23 we’ll just give you some questions. Let me just turn that. Under the organizational capacity section, given the national and local level capacities, Questions labeled Number 1 and they’re very similar questions, just a couple of slight wording differences but their organizational capacity section value section so I just want to make sure that we are answering (unintelligible) there’s a few are repetitive so is there any way that you could clarify the two Number 1s, what the difference is and if there’s any repetition …

Greg Link: Under the main heading organizational capacity the first subheading is a set, something happened when I transferred this from a Word document to (unintelligible) announcement module and so I (unintelligible) separate questions.

First question is does the applicant demonstrate the experience to carry-out the desired activities is the first question and then does the applicant bring-out the project as envisioned by AOA? Two separate questions but I think they’re slightly different. They’re slightly different, so you look at them together. Does that answer the question?

Question: On Page 24 that talks about the reviewers, it says that they are experts in their field. What areas do they have expertise in? Is it trauma or diversity or Holocaust survivors or any of these specific topics at all?

Greg Link: We have a bank of reviewers that we go to from direct service providers, to policy, to program administration folks. We have reviewers that work at the federal level, at the state level, at the community level and what we do is we look at potential reviewers in putting together people from a mixed of orientations and backgrounds so that we get sort of as much of a 360 review as we can

Question: Okay, great, and could some of the reviewers already be familiar with the project from having worked with it or heard about it or reviewed applications last time?

Greg Link: I’d have to go back and see who reviewed the last time.

LaDeva Harris: This is LaDeva Harris. I just want to intervene real quick and I’d like to add that it is probably not something that’s not allowable. I’m not really sure where the questioning is going but (unintelligible) 5 years won’t have anything that states no, but as (unintelligible) in the year before to see if they are doing it again or if there was a specific reasoning for the that it could be someone who did it five years because they are allowed to flip it.

Question: The description includes a lot of information which is really detailed, but some of that information is not necessarily in the scoring breakdown so I’m wondering what really takes precedence in developing that final score. For example, in the FOA, it discusses special target populations. So I was wondering if you could elaborate on that and also FOA there was a more specified list of populations who are in poverty and from limited community and the former Soviet Union and this FOA doesn’t have that specialization of descriptions so the scoring and use that first our guidelines in developing the target.

Greg Link: How I would answer that is that the grant the reviewers will have the here at the back of the proposal. They will be comparing each application to criteria so however, you know, you’re free within the scope of what the funding opportunity description is talking about, you know, the more inclusive, you can be, the more thorough and clearly speak to you what is in the scoring criteria.

Question: On the bottom of Page 25 where the PMS reports and it says the calendar quarters ending 3/31, 6/30, 9/30 and 12/31, what year does this begin?

LaDeva Harris: Due annually so if with this blank would be due the quarter that ends what I’d say, this one’s submitted of December, I don’t believe PMS is going to ask you for one at the end of September. On September 30th, actually just consider the actual financial cash transaction. You do not submit that to them, then until you submit the report, but this isn’t a new process.

Question: So if the grant is issued on September then that means that it would be three months later?

LaDeva If I find out something different, then we can communicate that via email because as far as I know, it is a requirement every single quarter from PMS and that’s not something that before. You would have to submit it every quarter. It’s their quarter that’s not your budget period. It’s based off of PMS’ quarterly requirements.

Question: Will you be available for technical assistance with completing budget forms just to make sure that the right form is completed for the right period. Can we ask you those types of technical assistance questions?

LaDeva Harris: We can provide general information. My contact information is in there. So yes, I am available to answer questions and that I would normally need to communicate via an FAQ that’s posted on grants.gov so that everyone can access it in case of questions.

Greg Link: A lot of this is boilerplate language, is there a specific question about the abstract itself?

Question: Same words are repeated verbatim on Page 43 and on Page 44 from them the example of abstract and then again it talks about the goals, objectives.

Greg Link: Was that probably is, is a mistake. It’s just two examples of the same thing, yes.

Question: Is it OK to add tables or charts or images as appendix items and not included them as part of the 25-page narrative?

Greg Link: Are you going to be referencing them in the narrative?

Question: Yes.

Greg Link: Yes, you definitely would want to make them appendices

Question: Okay, perfect, would this be included in the page count as the narrative or should the reference be a separate appendix or document?

Greg Link: I would do reference as a separate document and include it as an appendix.

Question: All right. Were there any changes in the process for submitting applications that are different from the process five-years ago and what others process changes have there been?

Greg Link: LaDeva, have processes application submission processes changed much that you’re aware of?

LaDeva Harris: I don’t think so. I think two years ago we were already using the work stations functionality in grants.gov so and that was the only significant change we had in grants.gov and site for submission. Do you know whether you used Workspace?

Question: I don’t remember, I don’t know.

Greg Link: Yes, it’s important to remember and this is for anybody on the call now, if you have issues or questions with grants.gov, there is a contact number in the FOA. Please do not call LaDeva or me, because we do not have the ability to assist you with problems in grants.gov. It’s not an ACL system.

Question: Greg, this question’s based on something that you said that the reviewers really just have the narrative to go by. Will they also be able to view our budget and work plan and all the appendices?

Greg Link: Yes, as part of the application packages. What I meant by the narrative is that that’s the only place to really tell your plan for you will carry out the project so you know. The narratives more or less bring your ideas to life and so it should be done completely and clearly. The grant reviewers won’t be reaching out to you to say “hey, what did you mean by this and what did you intend to say here.” They will be looking at everything including the budget, the budget narrative, the work plan, everything that’s part of the application, they will have access to.

Question: Great. Another two questions, one is about the (unintelligible) no access but it will expire in a couple of weeks. It says that you need (unintelligible) some of this RSP because our registration is, we are already registered but we (unintelligible) or is the notary, I’m concerned we might have a problem getting initial distancing. We’ll see.

Greg Link: Do you know what the requirements are for SAMS and DUNS? Have you heard this before?

LaDeva Harris: As far as I know, your registration since you’re already active, I think that was speaking more to people who are initially setting it up but I just want to double-check. I want to know that with the situation that we have going-on, some of the not going inside of sam.gov are automatically being updated, GrantSolutions so that you said yours was supposed to expire in what month ma’am?

“June”

LaDeva Harris: Okay, let me just double-check and see if that needs to be updated.

Greg Link: Did you have another question before we go on to anybody else that might have questions?

Question: Final question, I apologize for so many. We understand that there is a requirement for subawards. Is there anything where there’s a requirement to do so annually so for example the competitive RFP process must happen a certain number of times? Is there the expectation that there will be a certain number of them or is there flexibility to propose a five-year project can best be managed?

Greg Link: It would be up to the applicant to propose their approach for meeting for addressing that TL was looking for and so you know, if that means you know, your project, maybe somebody else would say well we can do two-year for the five-years. It’s not specified. There’s no minimum. There’s no maximum stated so (unintelligible) that meets the expectations laid-out in this FOA against, you know, part of reviewers.

Question: Okay, thank you so much for answering all of my questions.

LaDeva Harris: Okay, and just to the notarization is SAM.gov. It’s not a requirement so they are still going to need that, Their only GSA is only 13th to May the 17th to fall outside of that window, I would say yes, you are going to still need it and as quickly as possible as far as that you should contact the sam.gov help desk directly, any type of a workaround but they have not advised us of any.

Greg Link: Are there other questions?

Coordinator: None in the queue at this time.

Greg Link: Okay, well we are slightly past the 3:00. I want to thank everyone for a check of the grants.gov web page where this funding opportunity is posted. I will have a copy of the call transcript posted that will include all of my comments before as well as all of the questions that were asked. I want to thank you all for joining the call and wish you the best.

Coordinator: That concludes today’s conference at this time.

END