Foa_Content_of_HHS-2022-ACF-OCSE-FD-0018.pdf

Administration for Children and Families

Office of Child Support Enforcement

Safe Access for Victims’ Economic Security (SAVES) Center

HHS-2022-ACF-OCSE-FD-0018

Application Due Date: 05/29/2022

Table of Contents Executive Summary

I. Program Description

II. Federal Award Information

III. Eligibility Information

III.1. Eligible Applicants

III.2. Cost Sharing or Matching

III.3. Other

IV. Application and Submission Information

IV.1. Address to Request Application Package

IV.2. Content and Form of Application Submission

Required Forms, Assurances, and Certifications

The Project Description

The Project Budget and Budget Justification

Application Submission Options

IV.3. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM)

IV.4. Submission Dates and Times

Explanation of Due Dates

Acknowledgement of Received Application

IV.5. Intergovernmental Review

IV.6. Funding Restrictions

IV.7. Other Submission Requirements

V. Application Review Information

V.1. Criteria

V.2. Review and Selection Process

V.3. Anticipated Announcement and Federal Award Dates

VI. Federal Award Administration Information

VI.1. Federal Award Notices

VI.2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

VI.3. Reporting

VII. HHS Award Agency Contact(s)

VIII. Other Information

Reference Websites

Application Checklist

Funding Opportunity Title:

Safe Access for Victims’ Economic Security (SAVES) Center Announcement Type:

Initial Funding Opportunity Number:

HHS-2022-ACF-OCSE-FD-0018

Primary CFDA Number:

93.564 Due Date for Applications:

05/29/2022 Executive Summary Notice:

Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the entire notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) carefully and observe the application formatting requirements listed in Section IV.2. Content and Form of Application Submission. For more information on applying for grants, please visit "How to Apply for a Grant" on the ACF Grants & Funding Page at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/how-apply-grant.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) seeks to award one cooperative agreement to a state or tribal Title IV-D child support agency to establish a national Safe Access for Victims’ Economic Security (SAVES) Center to increase safe access to child support and parenting time services for victims/survivors of domestic violence. The SAVES Center will provide comprehensive training, technical assistance, and evaluation support to state and tribal child support agencies receiving funding through the SAVES Demonstration Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) (HHS-2022-ACF- OCSE-FD-0017). States and tribes receiving SAVES Demonstration funding will implement comprehensive domestic violence safety policies, procedures, and outreach activities to enhance safety for victims/survivors of domestic violence in the child support program and increase access to child support and parenting time services for parents not currently receiving child support due to safety concerns.

In addition to providing training and technical assistance to SAVES Demonstration recipients, the SAVES Center shall manage the following:

1. Develop and offer a comprehensive array of technical assistance and training resources for state, tribal, and local child support agency staff, judicial officers and court staff involved in child support hearings, domestic violence service providers, legal services providers, and other related public and private agencies;

2. Compile and maintain a national clearinghouse of promising practices for safe access to child support and parenting time services in states, tribes, and local child support agencies and court systems; and

3. Conduct and disseminate national research on domestic violence victims'/survivors’ barriers and needs related to child support and parenting time services.

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/how-apply-grant

Applicants for this cooperative agreement may also apply for demonstration site funding under the companion NOFO, but it is not a requirement for application or selection under this opportunity. A conflict of interest mitigation plan is required if recipients of funding under this NOFO are also recipients of funding in the SAVES Demonstration NOFO.

I. Program Description Statutory Authority Title IV, part D (42 U.S.C. 651 et. seq.) and section 1115 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

1315).

Description Background:

The existence of domestic violence in the child support caseload has been acknowledged for decades, but scant research has been conducted on the incidence of domestic violence between parties in the child support system. The Child and Family Research Partnership (CFRP) at the University of Texas conducted one of the only large-scale studies to gather information on domestic violence, paternity, and child support participation. The CFRP study was based on a representative sample of approximately 1,200 mothers and 300 fathers with a non-marital birth in Texas. The sample was split between parents surveyed 3 months and 3 years after their child’s birth. For the first time, child support program administrators have data specific to domestic violence experienced by custodial parents in the IV-D program and the data highlights several critical issue areas for attention. Unless otherwise noted, all research reference comes from CFRP[i]

1. Underreporting of domestic violence in the child support system is significantly more prevalent than previously estimated. Thirty-seven percent of custodial parents with formal child support orders in the CFRP study reported domestic violence by the time their child was 3 years old - a rate approximately four times greater than the rate of family violence indicator (FVI) flags on custodial parents in the Federal Case Registry (FCR). The rate of custodial parent FVI flags on the FCR is 10 percent. Nineteen states and territories have less than 5 percent of custodial parents with family violence indicators or protections on their cases.

2. Many victims/survivors do not have a formal child support order and would like one.

Almost half of mothers (43 percent) who do not have a formal child support order and who are not receiving any informal support 3 years after their child was born report domestic violence perpetrated by the father of their child. Previous research reported that 90 percent of domestic violence victims/survivors would pursue child support if they could do so safely. The high rates of domestic violence among mothers who are not in the system may be attributable to uncertainty about protections available or fears about lack of protections within the child support system; fears about losing custody or their abuser being granted visitation that does not include safety measures (e.g., supervision, neutral exchange); and the potential for further violence from the father related to pursuing child support.

3. Additional safeguards are needed for in-hospital voluntary paternity procedures. Nearly 1 in 10 unmarried mothers completing a voluntary paternity acknowledgment at the hospital report being injured by the father during pregnancy. When expanded to include risk of physical or emotional harm, approximately 1 in 5 unmarried mothers experienced relationship violence from the father of their child. Among the 20 percent of unmarried fathers who are abusive, half come to the hospital for the birth of their child, and 85 percent of those fathers execute a voluntary paternity acknowledgment with the mother.

Medical clinicians perform regular domestic violence screening as part of pre- and post-natal care, but those screening activities do not appear to carry over into medical records practices. This lack of screening and safety-informed practice results in the significant potential for coerced "voluntary" completions of paternity acknowledgements.

One of the primary reasons that victims/survivors stay with or return to their abuser after leaving is the lack of financial resources to live independently. Two-thirds (67 percent) of survivors surveyed said that they stayed longer than they wanted or returned to an abusive relationship because of financial concerns, such as not being able to pay bills, afford rent or mortgage, or feed their family.[ii] The core purpose of the child support program--ensuring families receive consistent and reliable support--is ideally aligned to promote victims’/survivors' ability to safely leave violent relationships and establish safe, independent living situations for themselves and their children. When victims/survivors do not know what protections are available to them in the child support process, they go without critical financial support. Not only can consistent financial support help victims/survivors leave an abusive relationship, but knowledge of the dynamics of domestic violence can help child support professionals understand customers, lead to improved case processing, and increase safety for parents and staff.

The Title IV-D program has regulatory prohibitions, 45 CFR 303.21 and 309.80, against the disclosure of information. These regulations specifically provide for protections of information that could result in physical or emotional harm to a party. The State IV-D program also has an FVI. The FVI is an indicator on cases in the state computer system that prohibits the release of specific address and contact information when the IV-D agency has reason to believe that the release of that information may pose a risk of physical or emotional harm to the parent and/or child(ren). The Title IV-D program also has the statutorily required good cause exemption. The good cause exemption waives the child support cooperation requirements for recipients of public assistance and allows the IV-D agency to either not open a child support case or close an existing case when it’s determined that proceeding with child support is not safe. Specific evidentiary requirements, policies, and procedures for operationalizing the statutory requirement of the FVI and good cause exemption are left to the discretion of states and tribes, resulting in widely reported inconsistencies.

An additional, overlooked barrier to victims’/survivors' safe and fair access to child support services is the emphasis child support programs place on neutral delivery of child support services. States and tribes emphasize that their agency and the agency attorneys do not represent either party in child support actions. The unintended consequence of this emphasis on neutrality is that it results in victims/survivors being disadvantaged in the child support process. The dynamics of domestic violence are grounded in one partner’s power and control over the other partner. Those power and control tactics must be mitigated through safety-informed child support practices for the process to be truly neutral for a victim/survivor. Absent safety modifications, the child support process will be biased in favor of a battering party who manipulates, coerces, intimidates, or threatens the other party into making child support agreements or parenting time arrangements that are not based on fact or the best interest of the child. From a federal, state, tribal, and county public policy perspective, child support agencies must not be neutral when it comes to violence and parent and family safety. Developing safety-informed practices and taking a proactive policy and programmatic stance to promote safety is not the same as individual legal representation.

In 2020, seven additional questions were added to the Intergovernmental Resource Guide (IRG) requiring states to provide basic information on domestic violence safeguards, FVI practices, and state review of FVI and domestic violence procedures. Responses to the IRG questions indicate that most states are not reporting implementation of specialized policies and procedures for providing safety-informed child support services to victims/survivors of family violence; many states have not reviewed FVI policies for over 15 years; and FVI policies and procedures are markedly inconsistent from state to state.

In recent years, OCSE has provided the following range of non-regulatory guidance to states and tribes:

Information Memoranda

IM-14-03, Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Focus on Resources, Collaboration and Confidentiality (October 3, 2014): https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/domestic-violence-awareness-month-focus-resources-collaboration-and

IM-15-02, Safe Access to Child Support Services: Scope of the Issue (October 21, 2015): https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/safe-access-child-support-services-scope-issue

IM-19-06, Model Procedures for Domestic Violence Cases (August 21, 2019): https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/model-procedures-domestic-violence-cases

Agency Resource Guides

Domestic Violence Expert-informed Model Screening Questions and Practices (August 2019): https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ocse/dv_guidance_and_mo del_questions.pdf

Enhancing Safe Access to Child Support: IV-D Program Inventory and Planning Resource (October 2015): https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ocse/enhancing_safe_access _inventory.pdf

Educational Resources

Safely Pursuing Child Support: A Caseworker Desk Card (September 3, 2021): https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/outreach-material/safely-pursuing-child-support-desk-card

Child Support When You’re Afraid of the Other Parent: Guide for Domestic Violence Advocates and Survivors (October 27, 2020): https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/outreach-material/child-support-when-youre-afraid-other-parent

Training and technical assistance provided to individual state and tribal child support agencies https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/domestic-violence-awareness-month-focus-resources-collaboration-and https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/domestic-violence-awareness-month-focus-resources-collaboration-and https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/safe-access-child-support-services-scope-issue https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/safe-access-child-support-services-scope-issue https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/model-procedures-domestic-violence-cases https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/model-procedures-domestic-violence-cases https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ocse/dv_guidance_and_model_questions.pdf https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ocse/dv_guidance_and_model_questions.pdf https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ocse/enhancing_safe_access_inventory.pdf https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ocse/enhancing_safe_access_inventory.pdf https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/outreach-material/safely-pursuing-child-support-desk-card https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/outreach-material/safely-pursuing-child-support-desk-card https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/outreach-material/child-support-when-youre-afraid-other-parent https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/outreach-material/child-support-when-youre-afraid-other-parent

While OCSE increased the development of domestic violence resources and expanded delivery of domestic violence training over the past 5 years, the demand for training and resources far exceeds OCSE’s current capacity. Resource and training development are also limited by a marked lack of research on victims’/survivors' needs and promising or best practices for safe delivery of child support services. The SAVES Center, and the SAVES Demonstration funded under the companion SAVES Demonstration NOFO (HHS-2022-ACF-OCSE-FD-0017), are designed to address these shortfalls.

Developing and incorporating consistent, comprehensive, evidence-informed domestic violence policies and procedures into the child support program is likely to increase victims’/survivors' access to financial stability, increase safety for staff and program participants, reduce gender and racial bias in access to child support services, and promote greater access to justice for victims/survivors of domestic violence. The child support program cannot take sides between parents when delivering child support services, but it should not be neutral when it comes to domestic violence. Incorporating specialized, safety-informed child support and parenting time services for parents who have experienced domestic violence is essential to overcome the intimidation, manipulation, and coercion used by perpetrators of violence, thereby creating a fair and equitable access to child support for victims/survivors.

Purpose and Goals

Under this NOFO, OCSE will fund one cooperative agreement establishing a national technical assistance, training, and research center to increase safe access to child support, paternity, and parenting time services for victims/survivors of domestic violence. The SAVES Center will support the following:

1. Gather existing resources, including promising practices; guidelines; information on evidence-informed, trauma-informed, and culturally relevant programming; and other information in the form of a clearinghouse, to support state and tribal child support agencies’ capacity to safely provide child support and parenting time services to families affected by domestic violence.

2. Assess and enhance existing domestic violence and child support training curriculum and technical assistance resources and create new technical assistance and training resources, including child support navigator training for domestic violence advocates, where gaps have been identified to enhance the capacity of state and tribal child support agencies to provide culturally competent, safer access to child support and parenting time services.

3. Provide training and technical assistance to OCSE’s SAVES Demonstration site recipients (see companion NOFO HHS-2022-ACF-OCSE-FD-0017), including the following:

o Review and revision of agency domestic violence policies and procedures o Consult and assist with design and production of outreach and education materials o Build capacity of recipients to conduct and sustain domestic violence training for agency and collaborative partner agencies staff o Convene and facilitate collaboration and coordination with key stakeholders from domestic violence agencies, legal services providers, public assistance agencies, and the courts

4. Evaluate SAVES Demonstration site safety informed policies, procedures, and partnerships to identify best and promising practices for increasing victim/survivor safety when receiving child support services; assess gaps in services and partnerships; and develop implementation toolkits based on evidence from the SAVES demonstration.

5. Provide training and technical assistance using a peer learning model to state and tribal Title IV-D child support agencies, judicial officers and related court staff that hear Title IV-D child support cases, and domestic violence service providers in jurisdictions not receiving funding as part of the SAVES Demonstration grant project (see companion

NOFO HHS-2022-ACF-OCSE-FD-0017).

6. Conduct, contribute to, or summarize research related to domestic violence and child support and parenting time. Initial research should establish a baseline on prevalence of domestic violence for parents currently receiving, or eligible to receive, Title IV-D child support services; an assessment of barriers and needs related to safe access to child support and parenting time services; and a compilation of current promising or evidence-informed policies and procedures promoting safe access to child support and parenting time services.

7. Conduct periodic needs assessments of the domestic violence, child support, and parenting time issues and challenges in state and tribal settings to identify and respond to emerging issues, unmet technical assistance requests, including the identification of unaddressed or under-addressed topic areas and audiences.

8. Improve consistent implementation of promising, innovative, evidence-informed, trauma-informed, and culturally relevant strategies for providing safer access to child support and parenting time services.

9. Identify, convene, and establish a national stakeholders and advisory board representing the following:

o Domestic violence programs and resource centers (including tribal and other culturally specific domestic violence programs) o Individuals with lived experience of domestic violence, court and judicial training and technical assistance providers and associations o Legal aid and other access to justice providers specializing in domestic violence o Offices within HHS/ACF with services, funding, or research related to domestic violence o Other federal agencies with funding and policy focus on domestic violence, and state and tribal child support agency directors o Court and judicial training and technical assistance providers o The national stakeholders and advisory board must ensure full representation of people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality.

10. Develop draft regulatory guidance for state and tribal IV-D agency safety protocols and program operations informed by best and promising practices identified by demonstration project evaluation.

For the purpose of this NOFO, evidence-informed practices bring together the best available research, professional expertise, and input from service, advocacy, and prevention communities to identify and deliver services that have promise to achieve positive outcomes for parents in the child support program.

Program Expectations

Leadership, capacity, and expertise

The SAVES Center leadership must be within the state or tribal child support agency applying for funding under this NOFO. Project leadership must not be delegated to a contractor or subrecipient. The recipient must demonstrate the following expertise:

Capacity to recruit and manage nationally recognized domestic violence, legal services, and research/evaluation partners

Experience developing, implementing, managing, and evaluating multiple child support demonstration projects involving multiple community and public agency partners representing multiple disciplines

Experience implementing comprehensive domestic violence policy, procedures, training, and protocols into current agency child support program services

Experience developing innovative public outreach and education resources using multiple methods for distribution

Experience, or commitments from partners with experience, convening or co-leading national meetings with practitioners and research/evaluation professionals

Partner with OCSE under terms of the cooperative agreement in implementing the project deliverables. Recipient shall plan conferences, meetings, or major project meetings with OCSE to allow participation of OCSE staff. Recipient shall plan to develop, review, and discuss a detailed plan for project implementation, a work plan, a trainings/events schedule, an evaluation schedule, and a plan for reporting on the outcomes of the project.

The SAVES Center recipient will need to partner with OCSE program officers in the planning, coordination, and implementation of meetings for SAVES Demonstration recipients. More information on how OCSE will be involved is included in Section II.

Federal Award Information, Description of ACF's Anticipated Substantial Involvement Under the Cooperative Agreement.

The recipient must ensure that the grant approach, workplans, and deliverables follow a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality. Recipients will provide a comprehensive community equity plan that demonstrates the processes and policies the recipient has in place to ensure the proactive identification of systemic barriers to opportunities and benefits for people of color and other underserved populations and strategic incorporation of activities to redress such barriers in ongoing workplans. This plan will also address policies and practices in place to ensure that the grant staffing plan supports the capacity to address those disparities in an ongoing, strategic, and culturally responsive manner, especially for underserved populations with documented history of long-standing significant disparities related to domestic violence.

NOTE: Consistent with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521), under this NOFO, OCSE will not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information covered by such Act, unless it displays a currently valid Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) control number. For any information collection activities that are subject to PRA, the recipient will work with OCSE to obtain OMB approval for the activities, as appropriate.

Partnerships

While OCSE anticipates that the recipient will lead the development, implementation, and management of the SAVES Center, the recipient must partner with a broad range of public and private organizations engaged in domestic violence service delivery, policy development and advocacy, legal services, public benefits administration, judicial and court training and technical assistance, and university or other national research providers with previous domestic violence research experience.

[i] Osborne, Cynthia et al. (2013). A Portrait of Father Involvement and Support in the First Three Years after a Nonmarital Birth. Child and Family Research Partnership.

https://childandfamilyresearch.utexas.edu/portrait-father-involvement-and-support-first-three-years-after-nonmarital-birth [ii]“We Would Have Had to Stay”: Survivors’ Economic Security and Access to Public Benefits Programs (2018) Joint Report from the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and the National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities at Casa de Esperanza. https://vawnet.org/sites/default/files/assets/files/2018- 11/NRCDV_PublicBenefits-WeWouldHaveHadToStay-Nov2018.pdf

II. Federal Award Information Funding Instrument Type:

CA (Cooperative Agreement) Estimated Total Funding:

$5,882,350 Expected Number of Awards:

Award Ceiling:

$5,882,350 Per Budget Period

Award Floor:

$5,000,000 Per Budget Period

Average Projected Award Amount:

$5,882,350 Per Budget Period

Anticipated Project Start Date:

09/01/2022 Length of Project Periods:

60-month project period with five 12-month budget periods https://childandfamilyresearch.utexas.edu/portrait-father-involvement-and-support-first-three-years-after-nonmarital-birth https://childandfamilyresearch.utexas.edu/portrait-father-involvement-and-support-first-three-years-after-nonmarital-birth https://vawnet.org/sites/default/files/assets/files/2018-11/NRCDV_PublicBenefits-WeWouldHaveHadToStay-Nov2018.pdf https://vawnet.org/sites/default/files/assets/files/2018-11/NRCDV_PublicBenefits-WeWouldHaveHadToStay-Nov2018.pdf

Additional Information on Project Periods and Explanation of 'Other' Additional Information on Awards:

Awards made under this funding opportunity are subject to the availability of federal funds.

Applications requesting an award amount that exceeds the Award Ceiling per budget period, or per project period, as stated in this section, will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this funding opportunity. This disqualification applies only to the Award Ceiling listed for the first 12-month budget period for projects with multiple budget periods. If the project and budget period are the same, the disqualification applies to the Award Ceiling listed for the project period. Please see Section III.3. Other, Application Disqualification Factors.

Note: For those programs that require matching or cost sharing, recipients will be held accountable for projected commitments of non-federal resources in their application budgets and budget justifications by budget period or by project period for fully funded awards, even if the projected commitment exceeds the required amount of match or cost share. A recipient's failure to provide the required matching amount may result in the disallowance of federal funds.

For more information on these requirements, see Section III.2. Cost Sharing or Matching.

The total amount available for award represents both section 1115 grant funds and corresponding child support federal financial participation funding. OCSE now awards these together and applicants should request a budget representing both. Guidance on this can be found in IM-20- 06.

The awardee may receive up to $11,782,350 over the 5-year project period. The ceiling for year 1 is $5,882,350. The funding ceiling for years 2-5 is $1,475,000. The SF-424A and budget documents submitted with your application should be for year 1 funds only. The anticipated budget for years 2-5 should be entered into Section E of the SF-424A. Round all budget figures up or down to the nearest dollar amount. Budget requests, including object class categories, should be submitted in whole numbers.

Subsequent year funding will be awarded through non-competing continuation applications. In order to receive continuation funding, grantees must have demonstrated satisfactory progress in the prior budget period. Satisfactory progress is defined as submission of all programmatic and financial documents and reports; attendance at meetings, trainings, and workshops with project officers, technical assistance providers, and peers as required by NOFO; and meeting all terms and conditions of the funding.

Description of ACF's Anticipated Substantial Involvement Under the Cooperative Agreement Award

All awards will be cooperative agreements. A cooperative agreement is an award instrument used when substantial involvement is anticipated between the awarding office and the recipient during performance of the contemplated project. OCSE will collaborate substantially with the SAVES Center recipient throughout the project period. OCSE will provide consultation and will review and approve the work plan for the project. OCSE will also approve any revisions to the work plan or structure of the SAVES Center during each budget/project period. Additionally, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/section-1115-grant-funding-streamlined-process https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/section-1115-grant-funding-streamlined-process

OCSE will propose and approve changes to project scope and activities. OCSE will review and approve final drafts of all updated or new materials, articles, major publications, and research reports that are developed or distributed with resources made available under this cooperative agreement. OCSE will be involved in the development of long-term strategies for implementing the project and will participate in major project activities, such as conferences, topical meetings, or major project meetings.

The SAVES Center recipient will plan conferences, topical meetings, or major project meetings with OCSE staff and coordinate scheduling to ensure participation of OCSE staff. The SAVES Center recipient will provide a detailed plan for project implementation, a work plan, trainings/events schedule, evaluation schedule, and a plan for reporting on the outcomes of the project. As OCSE determines appropriate, OCSE will make changes to the project plan in consultation with the recipient.

OCSE will organize periodic consultations, meetings, briefings, teleconferences, webinars, and other forums to review current and planned activities, to share information, and to promote national coordination. The SAVES Center recipient must plan travel expenses for at least one representative from its organization to participate in at least two OCSE organized meetings each budget period.

The SAVES Center recipient must plan to facilitate a minimum of two OCSE-sponsored webinars annually for each of the 5 years funded under the cooperative agreement. OCSE will keep the SAVES Center recipient informed about expectations for performance, current OCSE policies, priorities, and vision for addressing domestic violence and safe access to child support and parenting time services. The respective responsibilities of OCSE and the successful applicant will be identified and incorporated into the terms and conditions of the award and the cooperative agreement during the pre-award negotiations. It is anticipated that the cooperative agreement will not change the project requirements for the recipient under this opportunity.

OCSE does not anticipate substantial involvement in the recipient’s creation of data collection activities such as those related to needs assessments, evaluations, and requests for feedback, and the recipient is not expected to submit such data collection instruments for OCSE approval.

OCSE will not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information covered by the PRA, unless it displays a valid OMB control number. In cases where OCSE is directly involved in creating data collection activities under this NOFO, data collection will be conducted consistent with the PRA of 1995, (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521) and display a valid OMB control number.

III. Eligibility Information III.1. Eligible Applicants State Title IV-D agencies, or the umbrella agency, and tribal Title IV- D agencies operating comprehensive programs.

Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this funding opportunity. See Section III.3. Other, Application Disqualification Factors.

III.2. Cost Sharing or Matching Cost Sharing / Matching Requirement:

No For all federal awards, any shared costs or matching funds and all contributions, including cash and third-party in-kind contributions, must be accepted as part of the recipient’s cost sharing or matching when such contributions meet all of the criteria listed in 45 CFR § 75.306.

For awards that require matching by statute, recipients will be held accountable for projected commitments of non-federal resources in their application budgets and budget justifications by budget period, or by project period for fully funded awards, even if the projected commitment exceeds the amount required by the statutory match. A recipient’s failure to provide the statutorily required matching amount may result in the disallowance of federal funds.

Recipients will be required to report these funds in the Federal Financial Reports.

For awards that do not require matching or cost sharing by statute, where “cost sharing” refers to any situation in which the recipient voluntarily shares in the costs of a project other than as statutorily required matching, recipients will be held accountable for projected commitments of non-federal resources in their application budgets and budget justifications by budget period, or by project period for fully funded awards. These include situations in which contributions are voluntarily proposed by a recipient or subrecipient and are accepted by ACF. Non-federal cost sharing will be included in the approved project budget so that the recipient will be held accountable for proposed non-federal cost sharing funds as shown in the Notice of Award (NoA). A recipient’s failure to provide voluntary cost sharing of non-federal resources that have been accepted by ACF as part of the approved project costs and that have been shown as part of the approved project budget in the NoA, may result in the disallowance of federal funds. Recipients will be required to report these funds in the Federal Financial Reports.

III.3. Other Application Disqualification Factors Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this funding opportunity.

Award Ceiling Disqualification

Applications that request an award amount that exceeds the Award Ceiling per budget period or per project period ("per project period" refers only to fully funded awards), as stated in Section II. Federal Award Information, will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this funding opportunity. This disqualification applies only to the Award Ceiling listed for the first 12-month budget period for projects with multiple budget periods. If the project and budget period are the same, the disqualification applies to the Award Ceiling listed for the project period.

Required Electronic Application Submission

ACF requires electronic submission of applications at www.Grants.gov. Paper applications received from applicants that have not been approved for an exemption from required electronic submission will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this funding opportunity.

Applicants that do not have an internet connection or sufficient computing capacity to upload large documents to the internet may contact ACF for an exemption that will allow the applicant to submit applications in paper format. Information and the requirements for requesting an exemption from required electronic application submission are found in "ACF Policy for Requesting an Exemption from Electronic Application Submission."

Missing the Application Deadline (Late Applications)

The deadline for electronic application submission is 11:59 pm ET on the due date listed in the Overview and in Section IV.4. Submission Dates and Times. Electronic applications submitted to www.Grants.gov after 11:59 pm ET on the due date, as indicated by a dated and time-stamped email from www.Grants.gov, will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this funding opportunity. That is, applications submitted to www.Grants.gov, on or after 12:00 am ET on the day after the due date will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this funding opportunity.

Applications submitted to www.Grants.gov at any time during the open application period, and prior to the due date and time, which fail the www.Grants.gov validation check, will not be received at, or acknowledged by ACF.

Each time an application is submitted via www.Grants.gov, the submission will generate a new date and time-stamp email notification. Only those applications with on-time date and time stamps that result in a validated application, which is transmitted to ACF will be acknowledged.

The deadline for receipt of paper applications is 4:30 pm ET on the due date listed in the Overview and in Section IV.4. Submission Dates and Times. Paper applications received after 4:30 pm ET on the due date will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this funding opportunity. Paper applications received from applicants that have not received approval of an exemption from required electronic submission will be disqualified from competitive review and from funding under this funding opportunity.

Notification of Application Disqualification Applicants will be notified of a disqualification determination by email or by USPS postal mail within 30 federal business days from the closing date of this NOFO.

IV. Application and Submission Information IV.1. Address to Request Application Package Michael Hayes https://www.grants.gov/ https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ACF_Policy_for_Requesting_an_Exemption_from_Required_Electronic_FINAL_0.pdf https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ACF_Policy_for_Requesting_an_Exemption_from_Required_Electronic_FINAL_0.pdf https://www.grants.gov/ https://www.grants.gov/ https://www.grants.gov/ https://www.grants.gov/ https://www.grants.gov/

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families 330 C Street SW Washington

DC

20201 202-401-5651 michael.hayes@acf.hhs.gov Application Packages

Electronic Application Submission:

The electronic application submission package is available in the NOFO's listing at www.Grants.gov.

Applications in Paper Format:

For applicants that have received an exemption to submit applications in paper format, Standard Forms, assurances, and certifications are available in the "Select Grant Opportunity Package" available in the NOFO's Grants.gov Synopsis under the Package tab at www.Grants.gov. See Section IV.2. Request an Exemption from Required Electronic Application Submission if applicants do not have an Internet connection or sufficient computing capacity to upload large documents (files) to www.Grants.gov.

Federal Relay Service:

Hearing-impaired and speech-impaired callers may contact the Federal Relay Service (FedRelay) for assistance at www.gsa.gov/fedrelay.

IV.2. Content and Form of Application Submission

FORMATTING APPLICATION SUBMISSIONS

Each applicant applying electronically via www.Grants.gov is required to upload only two electronic files, excluding Standard Forms and OMB-approved forms. No more than two files will be accepted for the review, and additional files will be removed. Standard Forms and OMB-approved forms will not be considered additional files.

FOR ALL APPLICATIONS:

Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) AOR is the designated representative of the applicant/recipient organization with authority to act on the organization’s behalf in matters related to the award and administration of grants. In signing a grant application, this individual agrees that the organization will assume the obligations imposed by applicable Federal statutes and regulations and other terms and conditions of the award, including any assurances, if a grant is awarded.

Point of Contact In addition to the AOR, a point of contact on matters involving the application must also be identified. The point of contact, known as the Project Director or Principal Investigator, should not be identical to the person identified as the AOR. The point of contact must be available to https://www.Grants.gov/ https://www.Grants.gov/ https://www.grants.gov/ http://www.gsa.gov/fedrelay answer any questions pertaining to the application.

Application Checklist Applicants may refer to Section VIII. Other Information for a checklist of application requirements that may be used in developing and organizing application materials.

Accepted Font Style Applications must be in Times New Roman (TNR), 12-point font, except for footnotes, which may be TNR 10-point font. Pages that contain blurred text, or text that is too small to read comfortably, will be removed.

English Language Applications must be submitted in the English language and must be in the terms of United States (U.S.) dollars. If applications are submitted using another currency, ACF will convert the foreign currency to U.S. currency using the date of receipt of the application to determine the rate of exchange.

Page Limitations Applicants must observe the page limitation(s) listed under "PAGE LIMITATIONS AND CONTENT FOR ALL SUBMISSION FORMATS:". Page limitation(s) do not include SFs and OMB-approved forms.

All applications must be double-spaced. An application that exceeds the cited page limitation for double-spaced pages in the Project Description file or the Appendices file will have extra pages removed, and those pages will not be reviewed.

Application Elements Exempted from Double-Spacing Requirements The following elements of the application submission are exempt from the double-spacing requirements and may be single-spaced: the table of contents, the one-page Project Summary, required Assurances and Certifications, required SFs, required OMB-approved forms, resumes, logic models, proof of legal status/non-profit status, third-party agreements, letters of support, footnotes, tables, the line-item budget and/or the budget justification.

Adherence to NOFO Formatting, Font, and Page Limitation Requirements Applications that fail to adhere to ACF’s NOFO formatting, font, and page limitation requirements will be adjusted by the removal of page(s) from the application. Pages will be removed before the objective review. The removed page(s) will not be made available to reviewers.

Applications that have more than one scanned page of a document on a single page will have the page(s) removed from the review.

For applicants that submit paper applications, double-sided pages will be counted as two pages.

When the maximum allowed number of pages is reached, excess pages will be removed and will not be made available to reviewers.

NOTE: Applicants failing to adhere to ACF’s NOFO formatting, font, and page limitation requirements will receive a letter from ACF notifying them that their application was amended.

The letter will be sent after awards have been issued and will specify the reason(s) for removal of page(s).

Corrections/Updates to Submitted Applications When applicants make revisions to a previously submitted application, ACF will accept only the last on-time application for pre-review under the Application Disqualification Factors. The Application Disqualification Factors determine the application's acceptance for competitive review. See Section III.3. Other, Application Disqualification Factors and Section IV.2.

Application Submission Options.

Copies Required Applicants must submit one complete copy of the application package electronically. Applicants submitting electronic applications need not provide additional copies of their application package.

Applicants submitting applications in paper format must submit one original and two copies of the complete application, including all Standard Forms and OMB-approved forms. The original copy must have original signatures.

Signatures Applicants submitting electronic applications must follow the registration and application submission instructions provided at www.Grants.gov.

The original of a paper format application must include original signatures of the authorized representatives.

Accepted Application Format With the exception of the required Standard Forms (SFs) and OMB-approved forms, all application materials must be formatted so that they are 8 ½" x 11" white paper with 1-inch margins all around.

If possible, applicants are encouraged to include page numbers for each page within the application.

ACF generally does not encourage submission of scanned documents as they tend to have reduced clarity and readability. If documents must be scanned, the font size on any scanned documents must be large enough so that it is readable. Documents must be scanned page-for-page, meaning that applicants may not scan more than one page of a document onto a single page. Pages with blurred text will be removed from the application.

PAGE LIMITATIONS AND CONTENT FOR ALL SUBMISSION FORMATS:

With the exception of SFs and OMB-approved forms, the application submission is limited to 100 pages. The application must be uploaded in the following two files:

File One (Project Description).

Project Summary/Abstract Table of Contents Project Narrative (suggested 40 pages or less) Budget and Budget Justification

File Two (Appendices)

Resumes and curriculum vitae Third-Party Agreements and/or Other Supporting Material Optional Governing Body Documentation (if necessary)

Do not submit required SFs and OMB-approved forms in these files.

ELECTRONIC APPLICATION SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Applicants are required to submit their applications electronically unless they have requested and received an exemption that will allow submission in paper format. See Section IV.2. Application Submission Options for information about requesting an exemption.

Electronic applications will only be accepted via www.Grants.gov. ACF will not accept applications submitted via email or via facsimile.

Each applicant is required to upload ONLY two electronic files, excluding SFs and OMB-approved forms.

File One: Must contain the entire Project Description, and the Budget and Budget Justification (including a line-item budget and a budget narrative).

File Two: Must contain all documents required in the Appendices.

Adherence to the Two-File Requirement No more than two files will be accepted for the review. Applications with additional files will be amended and files will be removed from the review. SFs and OMB-approved forms will not be considered additional files.

Application Upload Requirements ACF strongly recommends that electronic applications be uploaded as Portable Document Files (PDFs). One file must contain the entire Project Description and Budget Justification; the other file must contain all documents required in the Appendices. Details on the content of each of the two files, as well as page limitations, are listed earlier in this section.

To adhere to the two-file requirement, applicants may need to convert and/or merge documents together using a PDF converter software. Many recent versions of Microsoft Office include the ability to save documents to the PDF format without need of additional software. Applicants using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software will be able to merge these documents together. ACF recommends merging documents electronically rather than scanning multiple documents into one document manually, as scanned documents may have reduced clarity and readability.

Applicants must ensure that the version of Adobe Acrobat Reader they are using is compatible with Grants.gov. To verify Adobe software compatibility please go to Grants.gov and click on “Applicants” at the top bar menu and select “Adobe Software Compatibility", which is listed under "Applicant Resources." The Adobe verification process allows applicants to test their version of the software by opening a test Workspace PDF form. Grants.gov also includes guidance on how to download a supported version of Adobe, as well as troubleshooting instructions for use, if an applicant is unable to open the test form.

The Adobe Software Compatibility page located on Grants.gov also provides guidance for applicants on filling out a Workspace PDF form. In addition, it addresses local network and/or computer security settings and the impact this has on use of Adobe software.

Required Standard Forms (SFs) and OMB-approved Forms Standard Forms (SFs) and OMB-approved forms, such…