final-foa-nga-6-19-15.pdf

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator

Interoperability Roadmap Call to Action:

Alleviating and Removing Barriers to Interoperable Exchange of Data for

Health Within States

Program Guidance

Funding Opportunity Announcement

Fiscal Year 2015

Release/Posted Date: June 22, 2015 Application Due Date: August 24, 2015

Anticipated Award Date: September 25, 2015

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Background B. Purpose C. Scope of Services

II. Award Information

A. Summary of Funding B. Performance Evaluation C. Award Type

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicant B. Cost-Sharing or Matching C. Application Responsiveness Criteria D. Application Completeness Criteria E. Other

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package B. Content and Form of Application Submission Project Abstract Budget Forms Project Narrative (15 pages maximum) Problem Statement Targeted Topic Areas Proposed Approach Collaborator Involvement Project Management Evaluation Work Plan Dissemination of State Roadmap Budget Narrative/Justification C. Submission Dates and Times D. Funding Restrictions

V. Application Review Information

A. Criteria B. Merit Review and Selection Process C. Discussions and Award D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates

VI. Award Administration Information

A. Performance Evaluation B. Public Material Use C. Intellectual Property/Copyrights D. Award Notices

E. Notice of Award

VII. Other Terms and Conditions

A. Administrative and National Policy Requirements B. Post-Award Reporting Requirements C. Audit Requirements D. HHS Grants Policy Statement E. Records Retention F. Financial Status and Cash Transaction Reports G. Performance Reports H. Non-Disclosure Requirements I. Potential for Organizational and Personal Conflicts Of Interest (COI) J. Cooperative Agreement Terms and Conditions of Award K. Standard Terms and Conditions - ONC Grants

VIII. Agency Contacts

IX. Other Information

X. Appendix A - Budget Information

Opportunity Overview

Funding Opportunity Title: Interoperability Roadmap Call to Action: Alleviating and Removing Barriers to Interoperable Exchange of Data for Health Within States

Federal Funding Agency: Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Announcement Type: Cooperative Agreement

Funding Opportunity Number: NAP-AX-15-004

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 93.830

Statutory Authority: Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, Pub. L.

No. 113-235, Division G, Title II, (“For expenses necessary for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, including grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements for the development and advancement of interoperable health information technology, $60,367,000.”) and Title XXX, §3001(e) of the Public Health Service Act.

Approximate amount of funding available: $325,000

Anticipated number of awards: 1

Period of Performance: Two (2) years

Important Dates: The table below sets out the required submission and other useful target dates related to the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).

Public FOA Release June 22, 2015 Applications Due August 24, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. EST Estimated Award Announcements September 2015 Anticipated Project Start Date September 2015

Executive Summary The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, Title XIII of Division A and Title IV of Division B of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act) (Pub. L. 111–5), was enacted on February 17, 2009. Section 3001 of the HITECH Act, establishes and sets forth the duties of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC). Section 3001(b) requires, in part, that ONC perform its duties “in a manner consistent with the development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure”. Section 3001(e) charges the ONC Office of the Chief Privacy Officer to coordinate with “state and regional efforts” with regards to privacy and security for health information exchange. ONC will utilize this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to carry out its duties by awarding a cooperative agreement to convene collaboration among high-level state health policy-making officials, resulting in an in-person, expert roundtable and in-depth learning and dialog session in which states will identify state policy barriers to information exchange and document a state roadmap to facilitate a nationwide infrastructure for health information.

On January 29, 2015, ONC released “Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap Draft Version 1.0” 1 (Roadmap). Among other things, the Roadmap identified one known barrier to nationwide interoperable exchange of health data in the “patchwork” of state privacy laws that are more privacy-protective than the Privacy Rule found in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The Roadmap similarly provides that the state laws, while philosophically aligned, vary in their specific content, causing confusion among potential data exchangers such as providers or individuals. The patchwork of state laws also impedes or eliminates the ability of advanced technology to help move forward health data interoperability in compliance with applicable state or federal health information privacy laws. Ultimately, the confusion caused by the patchwork impedes interoperable exchange of data for health.2 The Roadmap calls on ONC to brief key stakeholders, privacy advocates and Congress on findings regarding the complexity of the rules environment that impedes computable privacy, especially the diversity among more restrictive state laws that seek to regulate the same issues and concepts. This FOA begins the process stated in the Roadmap and will be furthering ONC’s efforts to meet its duties to coordinate with states to address issues related to privacy, security, and data stewardship.

1 Found at: http://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/nationwide-interoperability-roadmap-draft-version-1.0.pdf

2 See Roadmap pp. 62-68 and Roadmap Appendix D.

http://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/nationwide-interoperability-roadmap-draft-version-1.0.pdf http://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/nationwide-interoperability-roadmap-draft-version-1.0.pdf http://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/nationwide-interoperability-roadmap-draft-version-1.0.pdf

I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Background Section 3001(b) of the HITECH Act established ONC to, in part, support the development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure. As part of its work to carry out its mission, ONC published the Roadmap which summarizes ONC’s findings and conclusions about what are factors are impeding the widespread interoperable, nationwide exchange of data for health. The Roadmap’s content also derives from ONC’s obligation to develop and to update a strategic plan for nationwide interoperable exchange of data for health. See section 3001(c)(1) of

HITECH.

One of ONC’s findings is that potential exchangers of data are confused about privacy laws and regulations. Specifically, the Roadmap identifies confusion about what health information one provider is permitted to disclose to other health care providers, for what purpose, whether written permissions to do so are required from the individuals reflected in the data, and if so, when. This confusion results, in part, from a diverse set of privacy laws that are enacted by states in addition to the federal health privacy law of HIPAA, not to mention organizational policies of providers which are beyond the scope of this FOA.3 Given that the impact of variation on nationwide data exchange and confusion of potential exchangers of data are well-documented in the Roadmap,4 ONC is taking the next step and bringing together an appropriate group of state health policy leaders in order to better understand real and perceived barriers to interoperability that are within a state’s purview to address, while appropriately respecting individual privacy rights.

B. Purpose The purpose of this funding opportunity is to create a venue or venues to engage high-level state health policy makers with health policy experts in the areas of privacy, security, and other concepts. This work will not duplicate the support already being supplied by ONC to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation State Innovation Model program (hereafter “CMMI SIM” program).5 It will however, provide a venue in which state policy makers, including those policy makers from CMMI SIM states, can focus specifically on the impact of disparate state privacy laws as a barrier to interoperable exchange of information for health. ONC believes that providing such a venue serves two key purposes:

1. Ensure that state policy leaders develop an understanding of where state policy, or other real or perceived barriers to interoperability, may exist that are within the states’ own powers to alleviate or remove. In doing so, leverage those states desiring to take

3 Roadmap pp. 62-69 and Roadmap Appendix D.

4 Roadmap pp. 62-69 and Roadmap Appendix D.

5 See http://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/state-innovations/ for CMMI SIM program; See http://healthit.gov/providers-professionals/state-innovation-model-health-it-resource-center for ONC resource materials.

http://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/state-innovations/ http://healthit.gov/providers-professionals/state-innovation-model-health-it-resource-center advantage of technological advances to make documenting patient consent choices that are required by state law as easy as on-line banking is today;

2. Provide an opportunity for state policy leaders to share their experiences regarding areas where those state policy leaders observe impediments to interoperable exchange of information for health that derive from federal statutes, regulations or policies.

This is not an activity for information technology experts. This is an activity for policy-makers.

To achieve the purposes of this cooperative agreement, policy must first be addressed. The development of technological approaches and solutions are outside the scope of this FOA.

To ensure that the activities focus on policy development to support health information exchange, participants convened by the successful applicant should be:

1. Representative of all major political parties;

2. From among states that have taken action from 2012-2015 to modify state policies to improve the electronic exchange of data for health, including but not limited to modification of state-enacted privacy laws;

3. From one or more states planning to, or desiring to, make policy changes within their states, and if possible in the 2016 legislative session;

4. Have sufficient state policy authority to initiate policy changes the state desires in the given represented state;

5. Have undertaken or want guidance on stakeholder engagement efforts ( including consumers and providers);

6. From a state or from states that have received a CMMI SIM Implementation grant that calls for disclosure of patient-identifiable mental health data to primary care physicians for improved coordinated care particularly for the state’s Medicaid population, or similar;

7. At least one state participant should be from a state that has received a CMMI SIM Design grant that calls for design of care coordination program that, when implemented, would require the disclosure of mental health information to primary care physicians for coordinated care, or that calls for the state to collect from HIPAA Covered Entities protected health information for state public health or health oversight activities; and

8. Be willing to work with their state’s impacted stakeholders such as consumers and providers.

C. Scope of Services The services sought are set forth below, and shall include deliverables stated below in their respective phases. The scope has four phases:

Phase I: Expert Roundtable: In this phase, the Awardee will convene an expert roundtable consisting of 3-5 state health policy leaders (see criteria below) and other appropriate experts, the purpose of which is to identify particular strategies and tactics that are worthy of more in-depth discussion in Phase II. Dialog may include, but not be limited to what health information the State policy leaders believe may be exchanged under applicable privacy laws and using what electronic methods; comparisons and contrasts, as understood by the State policy leaders, between the varying privacy laws’ treatment of health information in certain clinical categories such as mental health or substance abuse information; and identifying tactics and methods that could be used to (1) alleviate perceived or actual confusion about privacy laws that may be impeding electronic exchange of information for health within and across/among states, or (2) remove state-created barriers to electronic exchange of information for health, when states want to remove those barriers.

Phase II: In-Depth Learning and Dialog: In this phase, the Awardee will convene, manage and facilitate an in-person learning and dialog session that will cover in-depth the topics identified during Phase I, as well as collect appropriate information for the deliverable described in Phase III. In this session, participants will delve deeply into priority issues identified in Phase I, and in a hands-on environment with an interactive dialog, identify policy approaches, issues and tactics states could implement to improve interoperable electronic exchange for health in their communities. This in-depth learning and dialog will build on the issues identified in Phase I, in part, using supportive materials and policy hypotheticals that are developed jointly by ONC and the successful applicant.

Using existing public materials from HHS, and in response to issues and needs identified by the states, ONC will supply educational materials related to federal or state health information privacy law and policy issues, or federal health information security law and policy issues to assist in developing appropriate deliverables for this Phase (ONC does not supply legal or regulatory guidance; all information supplied by ONC will be educational in nature). This Phase may also include, in collaboration with ONC, any additional dialog session between state health policy leaders and federal health policy leaders that the successful applicant and ONC agree are relevant.

The success of Phases I and II of this FOA depends on bringing the right participants to the table and having a dialogue between federal and state policy representatives to develop a meaningful path forward. Therefore, the successful applicant shall choose participants in the Expert Roundtable and the In Depth Learning and Dialog from state health policy leaders; federal policy makers other than ONC, if necessary; and leading appropriate experts that meet the following objectives. The successful applicant will provide a proposed approach of potential participants, job types/positions held, and/or qualifications/experience/knowledge/skills requirements of participants, based on the objectives stated within this FOA.

Phase III: Interoperability Roadmap for States: A key tangible deliverable of the funding opportunity is a written state-focused roadmap (State Roadmap) states can use to improve interoperability for health, or remove barriers to interoperability that exist at a state level. In Phase III, the successful applicant will compile the information from Phases I and II to develop a State Roadmap that states can follow to improve interoperability in their states on privacy, security or other issues identified as potentially impeding the interoperable exchange of information for health. The State Roadmap will be easy to use, contain practical tactics developed in Phase II, include models and examples developed in Phase II, and be appropriately and professionally designed and produced. In this Phase, the successful applicant will collaborate with ONC to successfully rollout and communicate the publication of the State Roadmap, its usefulness, and the process by which it was created. The deliverable in this section will be posted on Healthit.Gov as a public resource, while the successful applicant remains free to use it as well for its purposes, consistent with the Intellectual Property provisions of this FOA.

Phase IV: Learning Applied and Implementation: in Phase IV, the successful applicant will support up to two states to implement the tactics and ideas from the State Roadmap those two states wish to implement. Ideally, a state choosing to implement tactics or ideas from the State Roadmap published in Phase III would be a state already re-engineering an aspect of its health care delivery system, for example, a CMMI SIM grantee. ONC will continue to collaborate and to provide necessary educational materials and support for states that choose to take action.

This Phase also includes a written Implementation Report back to ONC on the outcome of those implementation(s), including any efforts by one or both of the two states to implement tactics and ideas from the State Roadmap that require state legislative action. This Implementation Report required by Phase IV shall be due to ONC by October 2016. If, by the due date of the Implementation Report, no states have been identified that wish to implement tactics and ideas from the State Roadmap, the Awardee will include in the report a discussion of the implementation efforts, barriers, and reasons why states declined to implement. Assuming that at least one state does choose to implement tactics and ideas from the State Roadmap, if that state does succeed in the implementation it chooses, the written Implementation Report should include a detailed analysis of factors leading to success as well as a discussion of challenges or barriers and lessons learned. ONC would expect to build on lessons learned for future planning and assistance to states, and to publicly highlight factors leading to success.

Timelines for Each Phase

Phase Due Date I: Expert Roundtable Is held no later than 4 months after the date of award II: In-Depth Discussion and Learning

To be completed no later than 3 months after Phase I Expert Roundtable is held.

III: Deliver Interoperability Roadmap for States

Delivered to ONC no later than 90 days following the completion of the Phase II In- Depth Discussion and Learning event. An extension of up to 60 days is available from ONC on showing of good cause

IV: Learning Applied and Implementation

October 2016

II. Award Information

A. Summary of Funding

Type of Award Cooperative Agreement

Approximate Total Funding $325,000

Number of Awards One

Anticipated Award Date September 2015

Project Period Length 2 years

Estimated Start Date September 2015

Throughout the project period, ONC’s commitment to continuation of awards will be conditioned on the availability of funds, evidence of satisfactory progress by the recipient (as documented in required reports), and the determination that continued funding is in the best interest of the Federal Government.

B. Performance Evaluation

The recipient is required to cooperate with any ONC-directed program evaluation. Evaluation criteria can include, but are not limited to further inquiry by ONC based on the Implementation Report delivered in Phase IV. Recipients are required to cooperate with the ONC-directed evaluation activities, including but not limited to frank disclosure of lessons learned, successes, and unanticipated detours.

The Awardee’s performance will be evaluated quarterly by ONC to ensure that the project is meeting criteria described under Scope of Services, including meeting the time frames stated therein.

C. Award Type The funding instrument used for this program will be the cooperative agreement, an award type in which substantial ONC programmatic involvement with Awardee is anticipated during the performance of the activities. Under the cooperative agreement, ONC’s purpose is to support and stimulate Awardee's activities by involvement in and otherwise working jointly with the Awardee in a partnership role; it is not to assume direction, prime responsibility, or a dominant role in the activities. Consistent with this concept, the dominant role and prime responsibility resides with Awardee for the project as a whole, although specific tasks and activities may be shared among Awardee and ONC as defined below.

Cooperative agreement is a support mechanism used when there will be substantial Federal scientific or programmatic involvement. Substantial involvement means that, after award, ONC’s program staff will assist, guide, coordinate, or participate in project activities to plan and implement process in a collaborative way.

III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicant This is a non-competitive funding opportunity and is restricted to the organization designated below. Organizations not designated as such are not eligible to apply for this opportunity, and therefore should not submit an application. Applications submitted by organizations not designated below will not be considered.

Designated Organization: National Governors Association

1. Sole Source Justification

In order to be successful in the work outlined above, an applicant must have a unique blend of policy expertise and a background in convening leaders in state government to formulate innovative solutions.

The National Governors Association (NGA) is uniquely qualified to spearhead and provide policy assistance to states related to the development of a national infrastructure for health information exchange. NGA’s unique relationship with senior health and health information policy leaders in executive branches of state government is unmatched by other organizations;

NGA has a direct access to governors in each state, and it is the governors, in turn, who appoint and are advised by the senior health policy makers who will be engaged through this FOA.

NGA has a long history of prior collaborations with parallel organizations that support state legislators and impact state policy in this area. NGA maintains substantial working relationships with state governors and other state leaders and has a lengthy track-record of brokering multi-state consensus arrangements and workable solutions across multiple content areas. NGA has proven its ability to see solutions through to widespread implementation.

These traits are all critical to a successful outcome of this FOA.

Because health delivery system reform has become a crucial state activity, NGA’s Center For Best Practices has a division that supports governors and their advisors on health issues. NGA runs the Center for Best Practices Health Division. This Division provides information, research, policy analysis, technical assistance and resource development for governors and their staff across a range of policy issues. Moreover, through NGA’s relationships and its health initiatives, NGA has had first-hand experience with the complex health privacy rules environment that exists today for patients, providers and state health policy makers.

For example, NGA has supported prior initiatives related to improving and breaking down barriers to state health information exchange, such as the State Alliance for E-Health. Through this effort, NGA proved its ability to leverage relationships with key state health information stakeholders, such as the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Academy for State Health Policy and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, to promote discussion and share information to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of health information technology initiatives. Similarly, NGA previously commissioned the 2011 technical report, “State and Federal Consent Laws Affecting Interstate Health Information Exchange”, for the purpose of providing information to health stakeholders, including state policy leaders, focused on identifying uniform patient consent strategies and legal standards to support electronic health information exchanged. Within these initiatives, NGA worked to identify consensus-based solutions to resolve state level challenges to nationwide health information exchange and made expert use of collaborative tools and contacts to ensure input from widely dispersed state participants, uniquely positioning itself to partner with ONC to assess the current state privacy laws and issues identified by statement policy makers.

B. Cost-Sharing or Matching None

C. Application Responsiveness Criteria

Applications that do not meet the following responsiveness criteria will be administratively eliminated and will not be sent forward for merit review:

• The application clearly addresses the project theme.

• The applicant meets the eligibility criteria as required by Section III.A, Eligible

Applicants.

• The application is complete and includes the required components (Section I.B), including all elements of the program narrative needed to forward it for merit review.

D. Application Completeness Criteria

ONC will screen all applications to identify any that do not meet criteria outlined below. The application screening criteria are:

• The application is received by the deadline required under Section IV.C, Submission Dates and Times.

• The application meets the formatting and length requirements found in Section IV.B, Content and Form of Application Submission.

• The application includes specification of the geographic area and target population (estimated number of individuals and/or providers) of the project.

• Appendices and attachments are not used as a mechanism to exceed page limits of the Project Narrative.

E. Other Applications must be submitted electronically via http://www.grants.gov by August 24, 2015.

The Project Narrative Section of the Application must be double-spaced, on 81/2” X 11” plain white page with 1” margins on both sides, and a font size of not less than 11.

http://www.grants.gov/

The Project Narrative must not exceed 15 pages. Any pages over the limit will not be reviewed.

NOTE: Project Abstracts do not count as part of the Project Narrative.

IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Address to Request Application Package Application materials will be available for download at http://www.grants.gov. ONC requires full applications for all announcements to be submitted electronically through http://www.grants.gov. The applicant will be able to download a copy of the application packet, complete it off-line and then upload and submit the application electronically via:

http://www.grants.gov.

APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED THROUGH ANY OTHER WEBSITE, AND

WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED THROUGH PAPER MAIL, COURIER, OR DELIVERY

SERVICE.

THE APPLICANT IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO COMPLETE AND SUBMIT THE

APPLICATION AS FAR IN ADVANCE OF THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE AS POSSIBLE.

THE APPLICATION INCLUDING ALL REQUIRED ATTACHMENTS AND INCLUDED

FILES FOR POTENTIAL CONSIDERATION IN THE REVIEW PROCESS MUST BE

RECEIVED BY 11:59 PM EASTERN TIME ON THE DATE SPECIFIED IN SECTION IV C,

BELOW.

Application procedures:

● Successful applicant must access the electronic application for this program via http://www.grants.gov. Search the downloadable application page by the Funding Opportunity Number NAP-AX-15-004 or CFDA number (93.830).

● Successful applicant should have a Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and register in the System for Award Management (SAM) Allow a minimum of five days to complete the SAM registration. Organizations applying for federal grants will need to be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM). You can register with the SAM online in about 30 minutes (http://www.sam.gov). If you have already registered with SAM but have not renewed your registration in the last 12 months, you will need to renew your registration at http://www.sam.gov.

● Submit all documents electronically, including all information included on the SF424 and all necessary assurances and certifications.

● Ensure that the application complies with any page limitation requirements described in this Program Guidance.

● After electronically submitting your application, an automatic email notification will be sent to confirm that the application was received. This notification does not provide assurance that your application was complete, only that the email was received.

● After ONC reviews the submission, a return receipt will be emailed to the Awardee contact indicating the files that were received and able to be successfully opened and read.

http://www.grants.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/

B. Content and Form of Application Submission

Project Abstract

The applicant shall include an abstract of the application of no more than two pages single spaced and 500 words. This abstract is often submitted to provide information to the public and Congress and represents a high-level summary of the project. The applicant should prepare a clear, accurate, and concise abstract that can be understood without reference to other parts of the application and which gives a description of the proposed project, including: the project’s goal(s), objectives, overall approach (including partnerships), anticipated outcomes, products, and duration.

The Project Abstract must have a font size of not less than 11 point font.

The applicant shall place the following information at the top of the Project Abstract (this information is not included in the 500 word maximum):

• Project Title

• Applicant Name

• Address

• Contact Name

• Contact Phone Numbers (Voice, Fax)

• E-Mail Address

• Web Site Address, if applicable

Budget Forms

The applicant is required to fill out the following budget forms to include the costs associated with the proposed project activities. These forms will be submitted through grants.gov as part of the application package and will include the following:

• Application for Federal Assistance SF-424

• Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs SF-424A

• Assurances for Non-Construction Programs SF-424B

• Disclosure of Lobbying Activities SF-LLL

Please note that these forms do not replace program-specific guidance provided in this funding opportunity announcement. Additional instruction regarding budget forms can be found in Appendix A.

Project Narrative (15 pages maximum)

The application will include a narrative on the approach to using the funds to develop quality learning resources that meet the evaluation criteria described in Section V. Evaluation Criteria.

The narrative must provide with an understanding of how the applicant will identify specific action steps to meet the project’s objectives.

The Project Narrative must be double-spaced, on 8 ½” x 11” pages with 1” margins on both sides, and a font size of not less than 11. Smaller font sizes may be used to fill in the Standard

Forms and Sample Formats. Project narratives should be concise but complete. The Project Abstract will not be counted as part of the narrative.

The components of the Project Narrative include:

Problem Statement Targeted Topic Areas Proposed Approach Collaborator Involvement Project Management Evaluation Work Plan Process for Dissemination of Learning Resources Budget Justification

The Project Narrative is the most important part of the application because it will be used as the primary basis to determine whether or not the application meets the minimum requirements, and will serve as a primary basis for the review. The Project Narrative must provide a clear and concise description of your goals, objectives, strategy, and outcomes.

Problem Statement

This section should describe, from the applicant’s perspective, the benefits of supporting states’ development of their own roadmap to improve interoperable exchange of information for health as envisioned by the project.

Targeted Topic Areas

This section should describe at a high level the applicant’s experience assisting state health policy leaders with health information technology issues, issues related to health privacy at a state level, as well as the applicant’s experience with the issues identified in the Roadmap as appropriate for conversations with state health policy leaders.

Proposed Approach

This section should provide a clear and concise description of the approach the applicant proposes to use to and address the challenges described in the “Problem Statement.” This should consist of a summary that is supported by the work plan described below, and cover topics such as: the intended method of incorporating information from robust in-person dialog into the State Roadmap, as well as applicant’s understanding of privacy issues that may be of concern to states as they work to improve the interoperable exchange of health in their states. The applicant should also note any major barriers they anticipate encountering, and how their project will be able to overcome those barriers.

Collaborator Involvement

This section should describe the role and makeup of any other strategic collaborators the applicant plans to involve in implementing the approach.

Project Management

This section should include a clear delineation of the roles and responsibilities of project staff, participating, consultants and collaborating organizations, and how they will contribute to achieving the project’s outcomes, as well as the nature of ONC staff resources of which the applicant anticipates taking advantage. It should specify who would have day-to-day responsibility for key tasks such as: leadership of project; monitoring the project’s on-going progress; preparation of reports; communications with other collaborating organizations and ONC. It should also describe the approach that will be used to monitor and track progress on the project’s tasks and objectives.

Evaluation

The applicant will describe how they will, as each Phase is unrolled and completed, evaluate whether the project remains on track with its timeline and its purposes.

Work Plan

The Project Work Plan should reflect and be consistent with the project narrative and budget and should cover all years of the project period. The work plan should identify important milestones and each major task or action step needed to reach those milestones (For each major task or action step, the work plan should identify timeframes involved, including start- and end-dates.

Dissemination of State Roadmap

This section should describe how the Phase II learnings and the Phase III State Roadmap will be disseminated including but not limited to marketing strategies to disseminate the State Roadmap content to applicant’s membership, visual design and usability plans, and desired medium (paper, web, etc.).

Budget Narrative/Justification

The applicant is required to provide a detail proposed budget that includes the costs that would be incurred in support of the project activities. The budget narrative/justification must include the allowable costs that will be incurred in support of the cooperative agreement. Costs may not be incurred until the begin date of the award, as indicated on the official Notice of Award. Whether direct or indirect, costs must be allowable, allocable, reasonable and necessary as indicated in Title 2, Part 200,—Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements For Federal Awards (see: http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=710366c0c4b84d722bcc2721c36fa260&mc=true&node=pt2.1.200&rgn=div5) http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=710366c0c4b84d722bcc2721c36fa260&mc=true&node=pt2.1.200&rgn=div5 http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=710366c0c4b84d722bcc2721c36fa260&mc=true&node=pt2.1.200&rgn=div5

C. Submission Dates and Times The deadline for the submission of applications under this Program Announcement is August 24, 2015. Applications must be submitted electronically by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, August 24, 2015.

Applications that fail to meet the application due date will not be reviewed and will receive no further consideration.

Grants.gov will automatically send Awardee a tracking number and date of receipt verification electronically once the application has been successfully received and validated in Grants.gov.

After your application is retrieved by ONC from Grants.gov, a return receipt will be emailed to the Awardee contact. This will be in addition to the validation number provided by Grants.gov.

D. Funding Restrictions Funds under this announcement cannot be used for the following purposes:

● To supplant or replace current public or private funding.

● To support payment of fees to external subject matter experts on these topics.

● To supplant on-going or usual activities of any organization involved in the project.

● To purchase or improve land, or to purchase, construct, or make permanent improvements to any building.

● To reimburse pre-award costs.

V. Application Review Information

A. Criteria Applications will be scored based on 100 available points. Reviewers will use the following criteria to evaluate applications received in response to this solicitation.

Merit Review Criteria The following criteria will be used to evaluate applications:

● Understanding of Project Purpose – (15 points)

● Approach, Work Plan, and Activities (25 points)

● Applicant Capabilities (20 points)

● Past Performance (10 points)

● Process for Dissemination of Learning Resources (20 points)

● Budget Justification (10 points)

Understanding of Project Purpose (15 points)

• Extent to which the applicant presents a clear understanding of the purpose and scope of the proposal to convene state policy makers for the purpose of identifying state policy barriers to health information exchange and documenting a state level interoperability roadmap to alleviate said barriers.

Approach, Work Plan and Activities (25 points)

● Extent to which the applicant demonstrates a clear knowledge of the complexity and impact of disparate state health privacy laws and policies and has a workplan that will attain the goals of this FOA.

● Extent to which the applicant can convey a clear strategy and experience to convene high-level state health policy leaders for the purposes specified in the FOA. Other relevant items may include: the extent to which the proposed approach is feasible within the timeline; clear benchmarks for robust engagement of state policy stakeholders; an expressed timeline and work plan for creation of the final State Roadmap, and development/dissemination of the State Roadmap to state policy stakeholders. The plan must also include timelines, resources, partners, and major milestones and align with the budget.

Applicant capabilities (20 points)

● Strength of evidence that the applicant brings the critical organizational and personnel capabilities needed for successful project implementation including:

o Demonstrated relationships with senior health and health information policy leaders, including governors, in executive branches of state government;

o Existence of prior or active collaborations with parallel organizations that support state legislators and impact state policy related to health information exchange;

o Demonstrated knowledge of or experience researching and documenting individual state health privacy laws and policies;

o Demonstrated capability to convene state policy experts for in-person and virtual meetings using state of the art tools and technologies;

o Ability to conduct, and experience providing comprehensive policy analysis, and technical assistance to governors, their executive leadership, and gubernatorial staff;

Past Performance (10 points)

● The applicant must demonstrate expertise supporting deep learning of complex policy issues with governors and policy advisor who support governors, in particular on issue of electronic health information. The applicant must demonstrate ability to successfully manage projects of similar size and ability to engage with health information and health information technology experts or industry stakeholders. The staff assigned by the successful applicant must be able to perform tasks on this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) must have the expertise to be able to successfully complete the tasks and all evidence of their past work must be provided in the personnel resumes in the appendix of the applicant’s proposal.

Dissemination (20 points)

● The manner in which the applicant plans to disseminate the State Roadmap and other learnings from the project and to support states which choose to use the roadmap.

Budget Narrative/Justification (10 points)

● Extent to which the proposed levels of effort of the project director, key personnel and consultants are adequate to advance the project in accordance with timelines.

● Extent to which the budget is justified with respect to the adequacy and reasonableness of resources requested, and the amount of the budget allocated to administration is minimized while still allowing coherent management of an integrated project.

● Adequate justification to support costs included in budget

B. Merit Review and Selection Process Applications will be reviewed by staff from the ONC Office of the Chief Privacy Officer and other ONC staff with appropriate expertise. The final award decision will be made by ONC. In making this award, ONC will take into consideration: the merit of the proposed project as determined by merit review; compliance with programmatic and grants management requirements; the reasonableness of the estimated costs; geographic area; and the likelihood that the proposed program will result in the benefits expected.

C. Discussions and Award The Government may enter into discussions with a selected applicant for any reason deemed necessary, including but not limited to the following:

(1) the budget is not appropriate or reasonable for the requirement;

(2) only a portion of the application is selected for award;

(3) the Government needs additional information to determine that the Awardee is capable of complying with the requirements in 2 CFR Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements; and/or

(4) special terms and conditions are required. Failure to resolve satisfactorily the issues identified by the Government will preclude award to the applicant.

D. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates ONC anticipates making award announcements regarding selected application on or around September 2015.

VI. Award Administration Information

Type of Award: Cooperative Agreement Total Amount of Funding Available: $325,000 (Estimated) Number of Awards: 1 Project Period End Date: 2 years

A. Performance Evaluation The Awardee’s performance will be evaluated on a quarterly basis by ONC. Awardee will partner with ONC to establish a quarterly reporting mechanism to track and award progress towards milestones (qualitative and quantitative data). The Awardee shall submit one Final Project Report related to the overall project performance. A specific Final Project Report format will be finalized by ONC following the award date.

B. Public Material Use Section 508-compliant materials developed through this funding will be made publicly available at the end of the project period if not released over the course of the program.

C. Intellectual Property/Copyrights The Government reserves all rights granted by, and the recipient agrees to be bound by, Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and audit requirements as codified in 2 CFR Part 200 regarding rights in intangible property, 2 C.F.R. § 200.315, which is specifically incorporated herein. Generally, the recipient may copyright any work that is subject to copyright and was developed, or for which ownership was purchased, under this award. The Government reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the work for Federal purposes, and to authorize others to do so. For any work owned by a third-party that was licensed by the recipient under this award, Awardee will assure that said license also reserves for the Government a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the work for Federal purposes, and to authorize others to do so.

D. Award Notices A letter of notification will be issued, acknowledging that an award was funded. However, this does not provide authorization for the applicant to begin performance and expend funds associated with the award until the start date of the award as indicated in the notice.

E. Notice of Award

The Notice of Grant Award (NGA) is signed by the ONC Grants Management Officer. The successful applicant’s Authorized Representatives will receive the NGA electronically from ONC. The NGA is considered the official authorizing award document.

The NGA will include the amount of funds awarded, the terms and conditions of the cooperative agreement, the effective date of the award, the budget period for which support will be given, the total project period timeframe and the total approved budget.

The NGA will provide pertinent instructions and information including, at a minimum, the following:

1. Legal name and address of performing organization or institution to whom ONC has issued an award under the terms of this request for applications;

2. Title of project;

3. Name(s) and institution(s) of Project Directors (PDs) chosen to direct and control approved activities;

4. Identifying award number assigned by ONC;

5. Project period, specifying the amount of time ONC intends to support the project without requiring re-competition for funds;

6. Total amount of financial assistance approved by ONC during the project period;

7. Legal authorities under which the award is issued;

8. Appropriate Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number;

9. Applicable award terms and conditions;

10. Approved budget plan for categorizing allocable project funds to accomplish the stated purpose of the award; and

11. Other information or provisions deemed necessary by ONC to carry out its respective awarding activities or to accomplish the purpose of a particular award.

In accepting an ONC award, the Awardee assumes legal, financial, administrative, and programmatic responsibility for administering the award in accordance with the terms and conditions of the award, as well as applicable laws, rules, regulations, and Executive Orders governing HHS assistance awards, all of which are to be incorporated into the award by reference. Failing to comply with these requirements may result in suspension or termination of the award and/or ONC's recovery of award funds.

VII. Other Terms and Conditions

These special terms and conditions of the award are in addition to and not in lieu of otherwise applicable OMB administrative guidelines, HHS grant administration regulations in 2 CFR Part 200, Subparts B through D, and other HHS and ONC policy statements.

Cooperative agreements are for a period of two years. By accepting an award, the Awardee is required to abide by 2 CFR Part 200, Subparts B through D, and other HHS and ONC policy statements.

Drawdown of funding for this cooperative agreement serves as official acceptance of this cooperative agreement. If you do not plan to accept the award, please send a letter of declination to the ONC Project Officer within 30 days of receipt of the Notice of Grant Award.

A. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

The award is subject to HHS Administrative Requirements, which can be found in CFR Part 200, Subparts B through D and the Standard Terms and Conditions implemented through the HHS Grants Policy Statement (GPS) located at http://www.hhs.gov/asfr/ogapa/aboutog/hhsgps107.pdf.

B. Post-Award Reporting Requirements All reporting requirements will be provided to the applicant of a successful application, adherence to which is a required condition of any award. In general, a successful applicant under this guidance must comply with the following reporting and review activities:

C. Audit Requirements Awardee must comply with audit requirements of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Uniform Guidance as codified in 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart F. Information on the scope, frequency, and other aspects of the audits can be found at http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=ed90f54836feb6a994f657188eb05e33&node=2:1.1.2.2.1&rgn=div5

The HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) maintains a toll-free number (1-800-HHS-TIPS [1-800-447-8477]) for receiving information concerning fraud, waste, or abuse under grants and cooperative agreements. Information also may be submitted by e-mail to hhstips@oig.hhs.gov or by mail to Office of the Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services, Attn:

HOTLINE, 330 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20201. Such reports are treated as sensitive material and submitters may decline to give their names if they choose to remain anonymous.

D. HHS Grants Policy Statement ONC awards are subject to the requirements of the HHS GPS that are applicable to the grant/cooperative agreement based on recipient type and purpose of award. This includes, as applicable, any requirements in Parts I and II of the HHS GPS that apply to the award, as well as any requirements of Part IV. The HHS GPS is available at http://www.hhs.gov/asfr/ogapa/aboutog/hhsgps107.pdf. The general terms and conditions in the http://www.hhs.gov/asfr/ogapa/aboutog/hhsgps107.pdf http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=ed90f54836feb6a994f657188eb05e33&node=2:1.1.2.2.1&rgn=div5 http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=ed90f54836feb6a994f657188eb05e33&node=2:1.1.2.2.1&rgn=div5 mailto:hhstips@oig.hhs.gov http://www.hhs.gov/asfr/ogapa/aboutog/hhsgps107.pdf

HHS GPS will apply as indicated unless there are statutory, regulatory, or award-specific requirements to the contrary (as specified in the Notice of Award).

E. Records Retention Awardee generally must retain financial and programmatic records, supporting…