2015artgrant-appb.docx

FY 2015 ART PLANNING GRANT

Proposal Narrative and Instructions

IMPORTANT - FY 2015 ART PLANNING GRANT PROPOSAL NARRATIVE

· Applications must be submitted to www.grants.gov by 11:59 pm ET, on August 4, 2015. Applications received after this date and time will not be considered for funding.

· When submitted successfully, applicants must notify the FNS Grant Officer Carla Garcia (see email address below) that the application has been accepted by the Grants.gov system.

· Electronic or paper applications sent via any other method will not be accepted.

· All questions regarding the application and notifications regarding electronic submission should be referred to the FNS Grant Officer Carla Garcia via email at carla.garcia@fns.usda.gov.

What to Include in an ART Planning Grant Application Packet

The Planning grant application packet must include:

1. Fully completed Appendix B template (or other format), including the cover page with abstract and responses to questions 1-7;

2. All required Federal forms: SF-424, SF-424A, SF-424B, and SF-LLL;

3. Signed copy of the applicant agency’s approved indirect cost rate agreement with a Federal agency, if indirect costs are included in budget estimates; and

4. Clear justification for any sole source contracts to be funded under the grant, including references/copies of applicable State statutes, regulations, and policies.

Proposal Narrative: For a Planning grant project proposal narrative to be considered complete, applicants must develop their proposal narrative by answering all questions and addressing all items listed in the FY 2015 ART Planning Grant Proposal Template table that follows. Applicants may choose a different format, but must address all questions in the order they are listed. You may expand the template boxes as needed to provide a complete answer to each question. The instructions are intended to simplify both the narrative development for applicants and the evaluation process for reviewers.

Timeline: ART Planning Grants may be awarded for up to one year. Be sure that the project timeline described in the narrative responses matches the proposed project start and end dates in Section 17 of the SF-424 application form.

Appendix B Budget: Applicants may request funding up to $75,000 for an ART Planning Grant: Be sure that all budget estimates contained in the Appendix B narrative responses match the budget estimates entered on the Budget Information Form SF-424A, and the total grant funding requested in Section 18 on the Application for Federal Assistance Form SF-424. Refer to RFA Appendix A and C for detailed instructions and examples on budget calculations.

Appendix B: FY 2015 ART Planning Grant Proposal Template Page 6

FY 2015 ART PLANNING GRANT PROPOSAL TEMPLATE

Cover Page

Enter Applicant Contact Information

State Agency Name and Mailing Address:

Agency Administrator : Name, Job Title & Contact Information (Telephone, Email, Fax)

Application Contact: Name, Job Title & Contact Information for State agency staff person(s) responsible for the application.

PROJECT ABSTRACT

PROJECT ABSTRACT: Enter brief abstract (250 word limit) clearly describing the State’s proposed ART Planning Grant project:

FY 2015 ART PLANNING GRANT PROPOSAL TEMPLATE

1. Project Goals and Objectives: Explain what you want to accomplish with the Planning grant. What are the project objectives and what administrative review, training and oversight focus area(s) will you address? Explain how this project will help you reduce administrative errors, improve program performance and ensure program integrity. Describe the performance measures you will use to assess the success of your project in meeting your goals and objectives.

Enter Response to #1 [expand as needed]

2. Project Design and Organization. Describe the essential features of the project design, including how you will organize the project to accomplish your goals and objectives.

Enter Response to #2: [expand as needed]

3. Proposed Grant Activities: Provide a brief description of how you propose to use grant funds to (A) identify the reasons for your State’s administrative error rate and (B) determine the most effective ways to improve that rate. Your description must be sufficient to provide a specific understanding of your proposed grant activities, and must include a high level gap analysis to identify briefly where your agency is now with where you want it to be at the end of your project. The analysis activities that you carry out during your Planning grant period may then include an intensive system or business process analysis to determine what it will take to get you to where you want to be and the most efficient way to get there (i.e., is online training the answer, do you need to develop a new automated process for data collection and monitoring, etc.).

Examples of potential grant activities include, but are not limited to:

1. Conducting an internal analysis of your administrative system(s) and processes for training, monitoring, reporting and analyzing LEA performance and operational data. Such an analysis might cover a variety of topics, such as Information Technology (IT) capabilities and deficiencies, ability to identify and target error-prone LEAs for improvement initiatives, policies and procedures governing administrative performance requirements, staffing levels and needs, and inter-agency operations and cooperation.

1. Developing business cases by conducting feasibility studies, cost/benefit analyses and detailed gap analyses to support your agency’s decision making for selecting technology solutions and proposing an implementation project.

1. Hiring a contractor, consultant, or university to conduct such analyses or studies.

1. Following completion of research, analyses, and/or studies described above, using the planning activity results to develop an implementation project plan and ART Implementation Grant Application to be submitted for FY 2016 funding consideration.

Enter Response to #3: [expand as needed]

4. Timeline: Provide your proposed schedule for carrying out the ART Planning Grant activities. At minimum, your timeline must identify significant project milestones, indicate when those milestones will be met, and indicate when the grant activities will be completed. Please note that Planning grants must be completed no later than one year after the Planning grant award date.

Enter Response to #4: [expand as needed]

5. Project Management and Quality Assurance. Describe your approach to managing the project to ensure that project activities are completed on time, within budget and with quality results (i.e., help with reduction of administrative errors and ensuring program integrity).

Enter Response to #5: [expand as needed]

6. Staffing: Identify the staff who will manage the grant. At minimum, you must:

1. Identify the employees you will assign to manage the grant. However, if such employees are not currently on your staff, indicate whether you have the resources to hire them and (if so) when you intend to do so;

· For current employees, describe relevant qualifications and experience, and projected roles and responsibilities. For employees not currently on your staff, describe the qualifications and/or experience you will use to identify potential hires;

· Include a discussion or plan on how activities will be fulfilled should key staff leave or be removed;

· Indicate what percentage of each identified employee’s time will be spent managing the grant; and

· Indicate the total cost of these staffing levels.

Enter Response to #6: [expand as needed]

7. Budget: Provide a proposed budget describing appropriate use of ART Planning Grant funds and justifying costs. Proposed costs must be reasonable, necessary and allocable to carry out the project's goals and objectives. The budget must include a line item description for every allowable cost and show how it supports the project goals.

Please use the Budget Checklist provided in Appendix A as a guide to ensure you have addressed all budget items. See OMB Cost Principles in 2 CFR Part 200, which addresses allowable costs. Also, Appendix C (ART Implementation Grant Proposal Template) contains budget examples and tips that are applicable to cost estimations for the ART Planning Grant as well. Refer to Appendix C for further details.

Enter Response to #7: [expand as needed]