FY 2024 LRLR Pre-App Teleconference Transcipt.4.24.2024.docx

Coordinator: Welcome and thank you for standing by. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer session of today's conference. At that time, you may press Star 1 on your phone to ask a question. I would like to inform all parties that today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I will now turn the call over to Emily Anozie. Thank you. You may begin.

Emily Anozie: Thank you, (Denise). Good afternoon or good morning, depending on where you're calling from. I want to welcome you to today's teleconference to discuss the Notice of Opportunity for the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the fiscal year of 2024 Lifespan Respite Care Program grants to new states and states reestablishing their core respite infrastructures.

This call will only cover this NOFO, and that Funding Opportunity Number is HHS-2024-ACL-AOA-LRLR-0020. If you are from a state interested in applying for a Lifespan Respite Care Program, State Program Enhancement Grant, your call was yesterday, April 23, at 2 p.m., and the transcript of that call will be available on grants.gov with information for that NOFO in about a week or so.

The purpose of this call is to provide interested applicants with some background information on the program. I will also walk through the announcement itself and highlight particular things that you should pay attention to and answer any outstanding questions you may have.

This conference call is being recorded and a printed copy of today's transcript, including the questions-and-answers at the end of the call, will be available on grants.gov along with other parts of the application package within a week or so. My name is Emily Anozie, and I'm an Aging Services Program Specialist here in the Office of Supportive and Caregiver Services in the Administration on Aging, Administration for Community Living. I'm also a Federal Program Officer in the Lifespan Respite Care Program.

My responsibility is to ensure that grantees work within the federal requirements of the Act and the funding announcement for the life of each project. I will be your go-to person for all programmatic issues related to each project.

Joining me on the call today, as well, from ACL is Greg Link, Director of the Lifespan Respite Care Program and Office of Supportive and Caregiver Services; as well as the Grants Management Specialist, Aiesha Gurley-Parry, who will be handling the business functions between ACL and AOA, for the grantees that are selected, and also answer questions about budget, financial reporting, as well as drawing down funds. We also have the pleasure of our newest member of the Grants Management Specialist Team in the Office of Grants Management, who is also on the call, Mr. Clayten Eggleston, welcome.

This call is scheduled to go for about an hour, and we may not need that much time, but I want to take this opportunity to go over the program announcement and hopefully clear up any lingering questions. So, we will be looking at the PDF document of the NOFO, which is 63 pages. These NOFOs are part of the Simpler NOFOs Pilot. So, they may look different, which they are, and we really try to streamline and make them easier to navigate, making the content more straightforward, and we focus on the key points.

This NOFO has been restructured to be accessible and simplified. And to help find what you need, this NOFO also uses internal links. So, in Adobe Reader, you are able to go back and forth by pressing the Alt plus left arrow (Windows) or Command plus left arrow (Mac) on your keyboard. On top of the pages, you will also see steps; step one, review, through step six, award contacts, so, you will be able to jump from step to step to get to the particular area that you may need to learn more about that information within the NOFO.

You will also see links and embedded information that is clickable. So, you should always be able to access information if you need it. There is also a readiness checklist and an application checklist that can help you ensure that you have provided all the necessary information with your application. You will also see an appendix section that has additional resources and highlighted information throughout the NOFOs. If awarded, you may be asked to supply your ideas based on your experience using this new simplified NOFO as part of a survey, which will be handled by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources (ASFR).

So, now I will spend the next couple of minutes providing an overview of the Lifespan Respite Care Program, followed by reviewing key dates that you need to be aware of in preparing your application. Finally, I'll go through the announcement and highlight key points, if necessary. Following that, we will open the lines for the Q&A portion.

The Lifespan Respite Care Program was authorized by Congress in 2006 and reauthorized in 2020 to include a data reporting criteria that we'll go over later. Nothing much really changed in that reauthorization, other than that. Lifespan Respite Care programs are coordinated systems of accessible community-based respite care services for family caregivers of children and adults of all ages with disabilities and or chronic conditions.

Respite can strengthen family systems while protecting the health and well-being of both the caregiver and the care recipient. And it is a key component of community-based long-term services and support. The term respite care means planned or emergency care provided to a child or adult who needs help in order to provide temporary relief to the family caregiver of that child or adult.

Since 2009, Congress has gradually increased appropriation for implementation of the program. In fact, as of 2023, ACL has funded 38 states and D.C. with at least one grant to implement the requirements of the program. In the fiscal year 2024 final appropriation, Congress appropriated $10 million for the Lifespan Respite program, which is an increase of $2 million above the fiscal year of 2022 and after level.

This year, ACL has released two new funding - two new program funding announcements for grants to states under this program. With this program announcement, ACL anticipates funding approximately two cooperative agreements at a federal funding level up to approximately $250,000 per year for three years for a potential maximum funding of $750,000 over the course of the three-year project period.

So, the actual number of grants that we fund from this announcement will depend on the number of states that we fund under the new program enhancement grant notice of funding opportunities. ACL recognizes the considerable need for respite services for all caregivers across the country. These grants will be funded annually for three years for a 36-month project period with three 12-month budget period. By providing funding each year for three years, states will have the flexibility to develop a range of services and begin fully implementing authorized direct services by the second year of the project.

In an effort to ensure robust Lifespan Respite Care Programs, ACL expects applicants to request a minimum of $200,000, which is the award floor, in federal funding to ensure that the projects are of sufficient scope and viability. By statute, awards may only be made to the eligible state agency that administers the state's program under the Older Americans Act of 1965, administers the state's program under Title 19 of the Social Security Act, is designated by the governor of such state to administer the state's programs under this title.

ACL is seeking applications from eligible state agencies as defined in the statute, who will fall within one of the following two categories: New states. New states are defined as states who have not previously received a grant under this program. Returning states. Returning states are defined as states that have had at least one Lifespan Respite Program grant, but these programs have gone dormant or lapsed since the federal funding ended and thus desire to re-establish their core-state respite infrastructure rather than apply for a program enhancement grant.

To underscore, applicants' agencies must be the state unit on aging, the state Medicaid agency or another state agency identified by the governor to administer the Lifespan program. No other entities are eligible to apply, so if you are listening on the call now, and you are not from the state, you should please contact and work with the eligible entities in your state to encourage them to submit an application.

Additionally, the eligible agency must be or work in collaboration with an Aging and Disability Resource Center, No Wrong Door program, and must work in collaboration with a public or private nonprofit statewide respite care coalition organization. In this case, if there isn't a formal respite care coalition in place, a respite organization working in the state on behalf of the entire state would suffice.

These grants will still focus on state systems and capacities to deliver respite care and related services to family caregivers of children and adults across all age groups, disabilities, and chronic conditions. Applicants must propose to use grant funds to plan, establish, expand, or re-establish Lifespan Respite Care systems and programs, including new and emergency respite services, undertaking activities to recruit and train respite workers and volunteers, and assist caregivers with gaining access to the needed respite services, and provide other authorized services as outlined in the Lifespan Respite Care Act, also known as the Act.

So, now I'll provide the program overview and the purpose of this Act. The purpose of the Lifespan Respite Care Act is to expand and enhance respite services, improve coordination, and also improve respite access and quality. So, the Lifespan Respite Care Program really look at the service of respite for all family caregivers and work to make it more accessible, available, and of higher quality, again, regardless of the age of the caregiver or care recipient.

The act is unique in that it addresses the caregiver respite needs across all age and disability categories. So, it really has that cross age and disability focus without any preference to a particular group. In fact, congressional intent requires that states ensure that respite is made more available and acceptable regardless of age or disability of the care recipient.

So, this is just a very brief overview of the Act. Applicants should be aware that this is a highly competitive grant opportunity. Limited funds are available to support applicants' proposed projects. Therefore, only those applications deemed to show the greatest likelihood of reestablishing or reinvigorating their Lifespan Respite Program efforts to deliver Respite care-related services to family caregivers of children and adults across a lifespan and responding to the comprehensive needs of their state will be selected for funding.

So please, before beginning work on your application, for either option that I've explained earlier, we encourage you and or those who are working with you to complete your application, to please read the full language of the Act, which is referenced in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Likewise, as you convene your stakeholder groups to discuss the application and the program development, it would be a great idea to ensure that each of them reads the act as well. That way, everyone is on the same page.

The Act is relatively short and very straightforward. And by reading the Act, you will also see much of that language that is repeated in the program announcement itself. So, once again, for more information, please read the full text of the act, and the link is in the NOFO, as well as other resources too, and about the Lifespan Respite Care Program in the NOFO.

So, now I will go over two dates. First, I want to touch on the dates that are in the NOFO. So, April 24, which is today's teleconference, and we will have a printed transcript of today's call posted on grants.gov next to the funding opportunity itself in about a week or so. And the transcript will include a Q&A that takes place at the end of the call.

Regarding letters of intent, letters of intent are due April 26, 2024. This is optional, but I do want to encourage you to consider completing one, even if you don't ultimately submit an application. But submitting this letter of intent, again, it doesn't commit you to actually completing the application, but it's a great planning tool for me, for us, for the team, to use in structuring the Grants review process. And also knowing ahead of time, approximately how many applications come in will help us to determine the number of grant reviewers that we'll need to structure the review process.

The letters of intent should be emailed to me. It doesn't have to be a long letter. And it could just be a statement that you wish to apply. Again, it's optional. And my email address is in the NOFO, and my email is Emily.Anozie@acl.hhs.gov. I'm also listed under Agency Contacts in the NOFO. The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. Applications must be submitted electronically via www.grants.gov. The due date is non-negotiable. Applications received after the due date will not be considered for funding. And I'll talk more later about specific application submitting instructions.

The projected start date for your project is September 1 of 2024, however, this is an approximate date that the project will start. Your actual project start date may be a little bit later or even earlier, depending on how quickly we are able to process your applications. So, we're aiming for this date that could change. So, these are the two dates to keep in mind. They're also printed in your NOFO as you begin your work. And I'll talk later about the grant submission process and what you need to begin preparing your application before you submit it, of course.

So, now I will take the next few minutes to walk through the program announcement page-by-page in the 63-page PDF document of the Notice of Funding Opportunity. I will try to call your attention to those issues I believe to be of greatest importance. If I don't answer your question during this time, you may ask me during this Q&A period.

So, first and foremost, please be aware that this particular announcement is only applicable to new states, which are defined as states who have not previously received a grant under this program, or returning states, excuse me, which are defined as states that have had at least one lifespan respite program grant, but those programs, again, have gone dormant or lapsed since the federal funding ended, and you're desiring to reestablish the core state respite infrastructures, rather than apply for the program enhancement grant, which is published under the Funding Opportunity Number HHS-2024-ACL-AoA-LRLI-0019 on Grants.gov.

Therefore, applications will only be accepted from states that meet this eligibility. So, beginning on Page 3 of 63 of the PDF of the NOFO, it provides information on what to do before you begin your application, such as securing your Grants.gov and SAM.gov registration and accounts. Then, the next step is to review the opportunity itself, and beginning on Page 5, there is also a summary. There's information on funding details and eligibility requirements beginning on Page 6.

Page 7 discusses cost sharing and recipients must follow through on their promise of cost sharing funds. So, on Page 7, we do provide details on this federal requirement that is written in statute. This program requires you to contribute 25% of the project's total cost. You can meet match requirements through any combination of cash contributed by partners or other third parties and in-kind non-cash contributions from organizations, partners, or other third parties.

Page 16 also has information on cost sharing or matching. And this is an important issue for applicants. Again, by statute, cost sharing or matching of that 25% cash or in-kind is in statute, and there is no - and Congress has not permitted waivers to this federal match requirement. As with most other federal grants, the match must be from non-federal sources.

The cash match comes from non-federal funds, such as the cash contributions from individual organizations I mentioned earlier, and the in-kind contributions are non-federal, third-party, non-cash contributions made directly to the grant project and can include things like donated time, real and non-expendable property and goods and services. So, be sure your match is based on the project's total cost, not the amount that you request from us. This essentially requires you to develop your project work plan and budget first before determining how much to request.

There are detailed instructions for calculating the match in the Notice of Funding Opportunity as well. Again, there are no waivers to the match. Also, one last note about the match, please remember that regardless of the source of the non-federal match, once it is committed as a match to this grant, it can't be used as a match for another federal grant. And matching funds are subject to the same requirement as the federal funds that you requested.

Finally, please note that if you do propose to exceed the match requirement of the 25%, it will not boost your score during the objective review, plus you will be required to fully spend the match amount that you are proposing. And there's more information on that, in the funding opportunity. Page 9 through 14 of the PDF, of the 63-pager, we do provide background information on the Lifespan Respite Care Act.

The purpose of this program, which as I mentioned earlier, is to improve access to and quality of respite care services to all family caregivers, thereby reducing the family caregiver demand while supporting individuals. Also, we do provide background information. We do provide additional resources to review and all this information supports the family caregiver.

ACL's Lifespan Respite Technical Assistance and Resource Center, the ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center also offers access to a wide array of best practices, training, and technical assistance to help stakeholders strengthen the direct care workforce, and we provide that information in the NOFO.

Page 9 also has a program description, and Page 11 provides a more detailed background information on family caregivers to learn more. On pages 14, 15, and 16, we outline the program's priority areas. We also list the required services and optional services under this grant and begin laying out the required application elements. So, please read these pages very carefully. They are intended to really build upon the requirements in the Lifespan Respite Care Act.

So, to that end, you are required to use the funds to provide the required services as specified in the act. And you also have the option to provide the optional services as well. On Page 14, we also include information about the national strategy to support family caregivers. We provide resource links to the goals and actions that states and communities can take that are most appropriate. Please be sure that you design your program so that all required activities and services are delivered. The Act is not specific with respect to how much of each service is provided, so it will be up to each state to determine the appropriate service mix.

And we do want to acknowledge that states will be starting at different points. Further on Page 16 of the 63-page NOFO, we lay out required elements that must be in your application. Again, these are mainly drawn from the statute, but they also reflect the priorities of the Administrator of ACL as well. Please note that your application should describe how you will implement the required services while focusing on the following key areas, such as required respite service delivery and understanding of the populations to be served, a person and family-centered approach, the cross-age and disability focus that I talked about earlier, and of course, collaboration, partnerships, and consumer inclusion.

Now on Page 18, it is very important to note here that your application package must include a copy of the Memorandum of Agreement, MOA, or Memorandum of Understanding, MOU. This is written in statute. These two terms, MOA and MOU, are used interchangeably regarding the joint responsibility for the development of the State Lifespan Respite program. And this is between the eligible state agency and the public or private nonprofit statewide Respite coalition organization.

This must be in place at the time of application and submitted with the application. Applicants are encouraged to embed flexibility within the MOA so that all parties to the agreement can modify the scope, task, or partnership as the need arises. A copy of such memorandum, again, must be included as part of all application packages. If your state does not have a formal respite coalition, an organization in the state that provides or coordinates respite could also be used.

If you do not provide the MOA or MOU with the application, the application will be rejected and not reviewed. On Page 19, we talk about the data collection and reporting requirements, so grantees funded will use the Office of Management and Budget-approved data collection tools developed for this. We have also added some additional information in the program performance measurement section. This is in response to ACL's need to develop a system for ultimately gathering specific performance metrics that relates to the Lifespan Respite program in compliance with the Act.

Under sustainability, applications are encouraged to consider a range of materials and resources for developing sustainable programs that may be found as well as the resources provided at the Lifespan Respite Technical Assistance Center Sustainability Tools webpage, and we provided that link. So, please review that information as well in the NOFO, as well as reading and addressing the specifics associated with this in those key areas in the application.

So, moving forward, on Page 20 of 63, here we discuss expectations for products that will advance and amplify programs that are being developed by grantees and participation in - accepted participation in technical assistance activities. So, this section pertains to product, information sharing and dissemination, and collaboration and participation in TA efforts or technical assistance that are really expanded and are ongoing so that we are continuing to engage and expect our successful applicants and grantees to participate in.

The Technical Assistance Resource Center activities are ongoing via a separate grant and are integral to development efforts. Should your application be successful, you'll be expected to work with the TA provider regarding your developmental efforts and participate in conference calls and training opportunities and other activities designed to assist you with program development. So, this is really exciting, and we also have on Page 20 subawards and subcontracts. This is one of those optional elements that I mentioned earlier. So, some of you may decide that you need a subgrantee or a subcontract to carry out the required or optional activities. This is permissible.

A number of states have done this on their projects, and here we really discuss grants and subgrants and subcontracts. So, in addition to describing the reasons why several awards might be needed, applicants should outline their processes for actually sub-contracting these activities. So, applicants should also describe clearly the role of the project director along with the stakeholder group that will guide the design and implementation of the Lifespan Respite Care Program in the state.

However, the state agency or the applicant must demonstrate an active role in the program development, implementation, and management. In other words, do not propose a project that simply passes funds to another entity. We will not fund pass-through projects. If you do decide to subcontract specific activities, be sure to clearly describe the process for this and how you as a grantee will continue to be in the lead role of this activity. Again, please be sure to describe the role of the project director, as well as the makeup of the stakeholder group.

Stakeholder involvement and partnerships are discussed more fully in the NOFO. And we have seen states where lifespan respite activities and programs are successful and there is a very strong collaboration among all relevant stakeholders, so please be sure to address this in your application.

Moving forward, on Page 20, it has cooperative agreement terms. This information will also be in your notice of award. We also describe your responsibilities as well as ours in the project. And on pages 22 and 23, we have funding policies and limitations laid out. So, once you get step two, which is getting ready to apply, you will need to ensure that you are registered on SAM.gov and Grants.gov.

And we have provided detailed instructions, as well as links to more information on how to locate the application package itself and the readiness checklist on Page 25 to help you. So, please review and begin all the necessary steps that you need to take in order to make sure that your registration is completed and finalized, because it could take several weeks.

Step three is preparing your application. So, on application content and format information, we do have details on that on Page 29, so you'll know what to do. There is a Page limit of 20 pages for the Project Narrative. The project work plan, the budget narrative, the memorandum of understanding or agreement, the letters of commitment, the resumes of key project personnel, all of that information is not counted as part of Project Narrative, neither is the project abstract.

The project problem statement can be part of your Project Narrative. So, Page 19, we provide more detail on the Project Narrative. Something to keep in mind is that the Project Narrative section is critical information regarding structuring the project, and it is the heart of the application. So, this is where the applicant really tells the story and lays out the project in the Project Narrative. So, this is your opportunity to tell the reviewers what you will do, and it is the primary means on which the application scores are based.

Remember that we have only 20 pages to do this, so planning, careful writing, is key. We will be using outside review, independent review panels to review and score each application. The narrative is your only opportunity to fully describe your project and respond to all elements of the program announcement. Page 29 has the project abstract. This section should be brief, no more than 265 words at maximum, and really it should have a description of the proposed project, including goals, objectives, outcomes, and products to be developed.

We provide detailed instructions for completing this model abstract summary, as well as providing an example of a model abstract summary in the appendix section on Page 55 of the NOFO. Again, the project abstract is not part of the narrative count of 20 pages.

Page 29 has a problem statement, and we do provide bullet points and describe the elements that must be included as well in the narrative. So, this information is really taken directly from the Lifespan Respite Care Act itself. The law requires applicants to address each one of these elements in their application. So, in this funding opportunity, applicants are required to include the following descriptive information in this section that is detailed as it pertains to the family caregiving needs and current respite care infrastructures regarding your particular state.

So, this is part of your narrative and we provide that information in the NOFO. Page 30 also has the goals and objectives details. Again, this section should consist of a description of the project goals, and their major objectives. And unless the project involves multiple complex interventions, we really recommend you have one overall goal and stick with it. You can include the goals and objectives on your work plan.

On Page 30, has proposed intervention information. This section should provide a clear and concise description of the intervention that you are proposing to you in this project and also how you are going to address the problem that you have already described in the problem statement. So, you really want to think about and also demonstrate describing a rationale for using the particular intervention. So, you can include some factors such as evidence-based intervention or lessons learned on similar projects that have previously been tested in your community or in other areas throughout the country that you've learned from.

On Page 31, we have the special target population organization's information, so this section should really describe how you plan to involve family caregivers of older adults and children with disabilities and adults with disabilities who use or are in need of respite care, as well as stakeholder organizations in a meaningful way in the planning and implementation of a statewide Lifespan Respite System, and how you aim to increase efforts to target underserved populations across the Lifespan.

On Page 32, which is the outcome section, this section of the project narrative must clearly identify the measurable outcomes that will result from the project. Page 32 and 33 details more information and definitions and examples of the measurable outcomes. Please note, ACL will not fund any project that does not include measurable outcomes, so please read this section carefully on Page 32.

Moving along, Page 33 has information on project management. This section should include a clear delineation of all the roles and responsibilities of the applicant's project staff , as well as the particular state project director. And due to the nature of the program, the state project director must maintain an active role in the management of this project by managing and leading all aspects of the project. For purposes of this program, ACL defines an active role of the state's project director as no less than 0.20 FTE.

Page 34, under evaluation, this section should describe the methods, techniques, and tools that will be used to: one, determine whether the proposed intervention achieved its anticipated outcomes; and two, document the lessons learned, both positive and negative, from the project that will be useful to people interested in replicating the intervention, if proven successful.

Page 34 has information on dissemination. In this section, we define methods that you will be using to disseminate the project results and findings in a timely manner on an easily understandable format, accessible to all. Also, regarding parties that might be interested in using some of the results from the project, this will also further help inform best practices, service delivery, program development, and policy-making as well, including especially those parties interested in replicating the project. So, this is a very important section on dissemination.

On Page 34, which is the Organizational Capability section, we discussed that each application should include an organizational capability Statement and vitae for key project personnel. So, the organizational capability statement should really describe how the applicant agency or the division of a larger agency, which you will have responsibility for in the project, is organized, and the nature and scope of the work, as well as the capability that it possesses. So, it should also include the organizational capability to sustain some or even all of the project activities, even after federal financial assistance has ended.

On Page 34, we have the Equity Experience of the Project Team section. This section should describe the approach to and the staff experience in advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality. So, please see the Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government, January 20, 2021, for additional information as presented in the NOFO.

On Page 35, we have the Budget Narrative Justification section. So, please see the appendix for the sample template to use. This is just a sample. You're not required to use it, but it's a great one. The Budget Narrative Justification can be provided using this format, including the document. Applicants are encouraged to pay particular attention to this document, which provides, again, an example of the types of level of detail that we're looking for in the Budget Narrative Justification. So, your reviewers are going to be looking for this information.

So, a combined multi-year Budget Narrative Justification, so multi-year, as well as a detailed budget narrative justification for each year of potential grant funding is required, in this case, three years. Please be sure that you include a budget narrative with your application. Failure to do so - whatever format you decide to use, failure to do so to include it, will result in a zero score for the budget section of the application review.

Page 35, similar to the budget narrative, we have the work plan section, which is required. Again, it's a sample that we provide, but we do need you to include a work plan. So, the project work plan should reflect and be consistent with the project narrative, with the budget, and include, as I mentioned earlier, a statement of the goals, your anticipated outcomes, as well as key objectives and major tasks for the project and the action steps, and the key individual completing those activities. So, please see the project work plan sample template at the end of the NOFO for more information.

Of note, for each major task or action step that you have on your work plan, you should identify the timeframe involved. So, include the start and the end date. As mentioned, you're going to really need to include the lead person that is responsible for completing the task, as mentioned. Again, you'd want to include the measurable outcomes. As you see, we give examples again at the end of the NOFO.

So, please be sure that you include this information in your work plan. Please review this section carefully. Again, failure to include a work plan, like the budget narrative, will result in a zero score for the section of the application review.

So, moving along, on Page 36, we reiterate that it is required to have an MOA or MOU, the Memorandum of Agreement or Memorandum of Understanding, included in your application, along with the application attachments that you see listed. So, Page 37 lists the required standard federal forms that you will need to complete as part of your application. And you will need to submit these forms on Grants.gov, and instructions are provided in the NOFO as well as on Grants.gov.

On step four, you'll learn more about the review process and the awarding process. So, the application review information is on Page 39 of 63 of the NOFO, the merit review information begins on Page 39, and the award notice information is on Page 45.

Page 39 goes over the application merit review, so please be sure your applications address the responsiveness and screening criteria. This is the first thing that will be looked at, whether or not the applicant meets the eligibility requirements as specified in the statute and as we have clarified in the NOFO. All applications will go through an application responsiveness screening to verify that the applicant is the applicant an eligible state agency.

So, as outlined in the section, in the NOFO as well as the Act, we're going to look for if this applicant a state unit on aging, Medicaid agency, or other state agency. So, we're looking for that. Also, the reviewers are going to look to see, did the applicant request the minimum award amount/award floor or more to fund their project. And important, has the application included a memorandum of agreement between the eligible state agency and the statewide respite coalition organization?

So, we'll be going over the information on eligibility that is presented in the NOFO and that I went over earlier, and also address the other aspects to see if the applicant meets the application responsiveness criteria screening. Again, if your application misses any of the technical criteria of this, the application will not be further reviewed. Furthermore, during the merit review process, as I mentioned earlier, this is an independent review panel.

So, this review panel is going to consist of at least three individuals who will evaluate the applications that pass through that screening and meet the responsiveness criteria. These reviewers are really experts in the field. They come from academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, state and local governments, and federal government agencies, so they're really subject-matter experts. And the criteria is listed on pages 40 through the top of Page 44, so the application review information criteria is laid out here, exactly what criteria will be used against your applications and how it will be scored.

So, in other words, the scoring form used by the reviewers will ask them to look exactly at each of these listed elements in your application. So, my suggestion would be to read through, make sure that your applications answer each of the questions under each of the five sections or subsections of the application review section. Please keep in mind that these are only the criteria against which reviewers will be scoring your application, so just these questions alone.

And this will really give you or whoever is assisting you, through the application, an overview of the review process that will take place once your application has been submitted. Again, each application that passes through the initial screening mentioned earlier will be reviewed by a panel of three experts in their field, but if it doesn't meet those preliminary thresholds, it won't move forward. So, their recommendations, as in the key reviewers, will be included in the final award decision, and the reviewers will be using scoring forms that contain each of the questions in each of the five sections.

On Page 49, we have an application checklist, so please use that as a useful tool for you to make sure you've completed all the necessary requirements. On Page 28, again, earlier we talked about submission dates and time, but we also want to - I want to reiterate that there is a letter of intent that we'll be due in the next few days, on April 26. Again, this is optional, but it is a great planning tool for me, so you can feel free to send me an email. My email address is in the NOFO under contacts. And once again, the due date for the application is June 11 of 2024.

Okay. Great. So again, please familiarize yourself with all of these sections that I've laid out on the 63 pages of the NOFO that I've tried to really highlight the key points. After the June 11 application deadline, our Grants office will compile each application and within a few days or so, they will be available for the independent panel of reviewers. The reviewers have about ten days or so to review.

And in general, we do anticipate conducting the review panels by mid-June or so and notifications going out to successful applicants sometime around August for that start date, expected around September 1. So, this is really as specific as I can be. The dates could change, but this is just what I wanted to share regarding timelines to keep in mind. As long as you have the information on all the other key dates that I've talked about throughout this presentation, and you have all the information, and you're reading the actual PDF of the NOFO document, you should have a pretty good idea of what will be happening as this process unfolds over the summer.

So, Page 54, in closing, through the end of the NOFO, we provide administrative information, reporting requirements and expectations, performance reporting details, as well as the appendix and the model or example project abstract that I alluded to earlier. And we also have sample formats for the budget narrative, the work plan, charts to look at as you create your own or use those, again, they're optional, as well as the end notes to all of the references and resources and the abundance of information that we have included in this simplified NOFO. So, this concludes my portion of the call. Thank you all for your time and attention. And now we will go ahead and open the line to your questions. And I will turn it back over to (Denise). Thank you.

Coordinator: Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press Star 1 on your phone. If you'd like to withdraw your question, it is Star 2. One moment, please. Once again, it is Star 1 if you have a question. One moment for the first question. The first question comes from (Don Rudolph). Your line is open.

(Don Rudolph): Thank you. My question is kind of in the weeds regarding the eligibility. I'm understanding very clearly that the eligible entities, the applicants, the lead applicant must be the state unit on aging, the Medicaid agency, or the entity designated by the governor to implement OAA. Our question is sort of a sub-question to that. Does the project director need to be at one of those entities, or could that entity be the applicant and subaward the whole effort to another entity in the state who holds the project director role?

Greg Link: Hi, this is Greg Link, the Director of the Office of Supportive and Caregiver Services. I can answer that question. So, the situation that you proposed would be considered a pass-through grant if you, as the eligible entity for the grant, was looking to just pass through the funds to some other organization in the state to then run it and have the project director there. And that's something that we outlined in the funding announcement that it's not permitted.

(Don Rudolph): Okay, thank you.

Greg Link: Mm-hm.

Coordinator: Thank you. The next question comes from (Sondra Cunningham). Your line is open.

(Sondra Cunningham): Hi, everyone. How are you? I wanted to ask, how do you submit the memorandum, MOU/A? Or how do you get one in place with an eligible agency?

Emily Anozie: Hello. Thank you so much for your question. You would submit the Memorandum of Agreement or Memorandum of Understanding with the actual application in Grants.gov under Other Attachments. So, you would need to include it with your application.

(Sondra Cunningham): Okay. Thank you.

Emily Anozie: You're welcome. Thank you.

Coordinator: There are no other questions at this time.

Emily Anozie: Great. Thank you so much. And thank you, Greg, for supporting that question-and-answer.

Greg Link: Sure.

Emily Anozie: Thank you all for your questions. Thank you all so much for your participation and for your questions today. And thank you, (Denise), as well. It's really been a true privilege and opportunity to be in today's call and share this valuable information with all of you. Thank you for your time and attendance again. We really look forward to receiving the applications, best wishes throughout the application process and have a wonderful day. Thank you.

Coordinator: Thank you. That does conclude today's conference call. We appreciate your participation. Have a great rest of your day. And you may disconnect.

END