Applicant Questions & INL Answers - Becas NOFO.pdf

Applicant Questions & INL Answers

Opportunity Number: INL20CA0059-Becas-Colombia-08062020

Opportunity Title: Colombian Law Enforcement Scholarship Program

Application Deadline: October 6, 2020

1. Could INL provide exact disaggregated numbers of indigenous, Afro-Colombians, and women who have received scholarships out of the total number of scholarships provided in the last two (2) years?

The following information is for CNP scholarship recipients:

Year Afro-Colombians Indigenous Rural Areas Women

2019 384 128 488 349

2020 331 91 578 402

The following information is for navy scholarship recipients:

Year Afro-Colombians Indigenous Women

2019 110 63 5

2. Could INL provide information on how many CNP-hosted public outreach events have been conducted in the last 2 years in targeted regions and an overall description of these outreach events?

Support for CNP public outreach is not currently part of the INL scholarship program.

However, INL and the current implementer normally conduct several joint outreach sessions with the CNP each year, including Facebook live sessions, interviews on CNP and local radio stations, and public meetings with potential candidates in target regions.

For more information please see the current program website (http://becasinl.org/) and the CNP’s recruitment website (https://incorporate.policia.gov.co:8080/beneficios).

3. Could INL provide information as to whether the current implementer has longitudinal data regarding the performance metrics of past and current scholarship recipients? If so, could INL share that data?

The current implementer has longitudinal data showing that over the past ten years, approximately three CNP scholarship recipients per year on average do not graduate from the basic training academy. The current implementer does not have additional performance metrics such as how scholarship recipients compare to their fellow police or Navy officers in terms of length of service, number of awards, rate of promotion, or other performance metrics. INL would like this type of data to be tracked in the new project, where possible.

4. Does the current program have baseline data regarding the community perceptions of

CNP/Navy in the communities where the scholarship program currently operates? If so, could INL share such data?

http://becasinl.org/ https://incorporate.policia.gov.co:8080/beneficios

INL does not have baseline data on community perceptions currently, but will attempt to obtain this information from the previous implementer and will share it with the next implementer post-award.

5. Does INL have already determined in consultation with CNP and Navy the prioritized geographic areas (Departments and Municipalities) where the scholarship program will focus its efforts? If not, should the proposals provide information as to how the implementer will determine these areas?

Likely geographic areas of focus are Bajo Cauca, Norte de Santander, and Tumaco.

Applicants may suggest, and justify, additional geographic areas, where appropriate.

The targeted geographic areas may be revised or expanded, in conjunction with INL and/or CNP/Navy during the project.

6. Does INL have an estimate of targeted populations (i.e. women, afro descendants, indigenous, rural residents) within the overall number of expected scholarship recipients? If not, should the implementer propose a tentative number for each category of the underrepresented population at the proposal stage or does INL expect these numbers to be agreed upon post-award between INL, CNP, Navy, and the selected implementer?

In past years, INL has looked for at least 30 percent of recipients to be women, 40 percent to be Afro-Colombians, and the majority of all recipients should be from economically-marginalized rural communities. Applicants should propose realistic target percentages for each population group. These targets may be revised, in conjunction with INL, and CNP/Navy where appropriate, during the project.

7. In the NOFO published on August 6th, 2020, INL20CA0059-Scholarships-Colombia-

08062020, states: "Pursuant to 2 CFR 200.400g, it is the policy of the U.S. Department of State not to award profit under the instruments of assistance”. In the CFR, item

200.400, subparagraph (g) states: "The non-federal entity may not earn or retain any earnings resulting from federal financial assistance, unless explicitly authorized by the terms and conditions of the federal award”. Could you please clarify?

As stated in the NOFO, the U.S. Department of State does not award profit under federal assistance awards. Therefore, the recipient is not authorized to earn or retain earnings resulting from this federal assistance award.

8. What is the procedure to obtain a NICRA agreement? Must a copy of the cost rate agreement be included in the proposal?

Organizations interested in obtaining a NICRA should submit an indirect cost rate proposal to the agency responsible for negotiating indirect cost rates for its cognizant agency. Here is a helpful link with instructions, tips, and FAQs:

https://ibc.doi.gov/ICS/non-profit-instructions. The process to obtain a NICRA can take several months. Only applicants with approved NICRAs must include the NICRA document within its application to this NOFO.

https://ibc.doi.gov/ICS/non-profit-instructions