FAQs-Informational Call on 5.17.2022.pdf

Strengthening the Direct Care Workforce: A Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Initiative

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions from the informational call on 5/17/22

1. Question: Is the award total of $1.3 million over the full five-year period or is the award $1.3 million for each year, totaling $6.5 million over the full five-year period?

Answer: It's $1.3 million per year for five years.

2. Question: Does the requirement of a full-time director have to be one person at 1.0 FTE or can it be split in a co-director roll across initiative partners, given the cross-sector nature and the collaborative nature of this project?

Answer: ACL’s expectation is that there is the equivalent of one full FTE to oversee the work of this project. The project director position could be split across a couple of positions if that's how the partnership proposes to manage the program.

3. Question: Elaborate on the MOU between the grantee and the Indian Tribe or minority entity.

Can you share a little bit more about the scope of what that MOU would need to look like?

And then is it an Indian Tribe and a minority entity or one or the other?

Answer: The application should include documentation that the applicant has a written agreement (MOU) with a minority entity and / or an Indian Tribe which specifies the:

a. Role and responsibilities on the minority entity and / or Indian Tribe in the project

b. Reporting relationship between the applicant and minority entity and / or Indian Tribe

c. Applicant’s commitment (including financial and other resources) to the minority entity and / or Indian Tribe

d. Minority entity and / or Indian Tribe’s commitment to the project

The MOU should also provide documentation that meets the Rehab Act requirements for minority entity and / or Indian Tribe. The term ‘‘minority entity’’ means an entity that is a historically Black college or university, a Hispanic-serving institution of higher education, an American Indian tribal college or university, or another institution of higher education whose minority student enrollment is at least 50 percent.

4. Question: Are you able to clarify how much detail is needed in the letter of intent?

Answer: Letters of intent can be very simple. It can be an email to the DCW mailbox dcw@acl.hhs.gov stating that your organization intends to apply. It does not have to provide any details about what you intend to propose. That will all come in your application.

mailto:dcw@acl.hhs.gov

5. Question :State government entities are eligible to apply. Does this include a state Medicaid agency? Would county public authorities be eligible for funding?

Answer: Yes. These entities are eligible. ACL expects that the grantee will work on a national level, so if the agency is in a particular state, the expectation is that the work that they do would address the needs of the entire nation and not just that state.

6. Question: Are there going to be further instructions about the exact structure of the project narrative or do we sort of base it more on the review criteria that comes later in the RFP?

Answer: Technically the project narrative should include a summary like an abstract. It should include a thorough description of the proposed intervention, the target populations, organizational capacity. Those are the types of things that it should include. But certainly the review criteria would be very helpful.

7. Question: When would the approximate date be that the grantee would be notified if they received the grant?

Answer: The anticipated start date for this particular project is September 1, 2022. We anticipate that the grantee, the successful grantee will receive a Notice of Award sometime near the end of August for a 9/1 start date.

8. Question: What is your vision on where that organization or organization's partner should be at that point since there is no funding to begin to develop subcontracts and so forth? What's your vision of where we would be October 1 if we are recipient of the grant?

Answer: In the organizational capacity section of your application, you can address how you plan to start up the project. That should also be part of your work plan. Oftentimes in the work plan, there is a task about bringing the organization up to a full staffing level for the project and you can anticipate the milestones there. So we certainly want organizations to apply that understand the issue, have background in this issue if possible, but we also recognize that you're not going to come to this necessarily 100% staffed.

9. Question: Could you talk about the reporting requirements?

Answer: This project is a discretionary grant and there are programmatic and financial reporting requirements. The grantee will be expected to submit a progress report, every six months, outlining key accomplishments, progress towards measurable outcomes, products developed and disseminated as well as any challenges that you've had with the project in that particular reporting period and how you've addressed those challenges. Yearly you would submit a federal financial report.

Questions received after the informational call on 5/17/22

10. Question: Where can I find the recording, transcript, and FAQ?

Answer: The recording, transcript, and FAQ are posted in the notice of funding opportunity announcement on grants/gov. Here is the link to the announcement:

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=339375

11. Question: I am not certain that my organization would be considered a “national organization.” Thus, it sounds as if we’d qualify for the grant, but would not necessarily be given priority under the national level-criteria. Can you please provide further guidance?

Answer: If your organization is not currently working at a national level, your application might be at a disadvantage against others, but you should consider the full scope of the Funding Opportunity to determine if it makes sense to apply.

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=339375