fy16 beg project plan and budget template.docx

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

Fiscal Year 2016 – Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program

BORDER ENFORCEMENT GRANT APPLICATION

Program Narrative Template

TO COMPLETE THIS TEMPLATE, REPLACE THE HIGHLIGHTED DIRECTIONS/FIELDS WITH YOUR PROPOSED PLAN.

Border Enforcement Agency: (enter Agency name):

I. Program Overview

Goal: To ensure that motor carriers and drivers operating CMVs in international commerce (primarily those entering the United States from a foreign country) are in compliance with U.S. CMV safety standards and regulations, financial responsibility regulations, registration requirements, and that the drivers of those vehicles are qualified and properly licensed to operate a CMV in the United States.

☐Objective 1: Increase the number of inspections of motorcoaches engaged in international commerce. For FY 2016, FMCSA encourages States examine their data on international motorcoach activity and to use that data to establish reasonable goals that will result in an increase of motorcoach-focused activities. In the application, States must substantiate the goals set and provide the data (or data source references).

☐Objective 2: Conduct international commerce CMV enforcement activities (inspections and traffic enforcement) within corridors where the data indicate that there are a high number of crashes involving vehicles engaged in international commerce.

☐Objective 3: Improve the capability to conduct CMV safety inspections at remote and other sites near the Canadian and Mexican borders. If included, the application should establish data-driven support for how non-fixed location inspections will increase the likelihood of reducing crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving vehicles engaged in international commerce.

II. Program Strategies

Brief Introduction:

Include a 1-2 sentence description of the goal(s) of the application and the applicable program priority(ies) met by the application’s projects. Include in this introduction specific information about the outputs the application proposes to achieve. For each goal identified, the applicant must provide a problem statement, performance objective, program activity plan, and performance measurement plan.

Problem Statement:

Include a brief, quantitative description of the identified program. Include details on the data used to identify the problem and to establish the baseline (include data sources, date, and explain how the applicant collects, maintains, and analyzes the data).

Performance Objectives:

A description of the quantifiable goals related to the above problem statement. This can be measured in numbers or percentages that accurately measure the outputs the applicant anticipates will result from implementing the strategies and activities proposed

The following Critical Information Table (provided below), although not required, is provided for your use to summarize the anticipated project activities.

ANTICIPATED SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES

# of Domestic Commerce Inspections (TOTAL)

# of Regular CMV:

# of HM:

# of Passenger:

# of International Commerce Inspections (TOTAL)

% of Regular CMV:

% of HM:

% of Passenger:

# of Enforcement Activities (TOTAL)

Enforcement Activity (Type):

Enforcement Activity (Location):

Program Activity Plan:

A description of the activities the applicant plans to implement to help mitigate the problem.

Performance Measurement Plan:

A description of how the applicant will measure progress towards the performance objective goal, such as quantifiable and measurable outputs (hours, carrier contacts, inspections, etc.) and in terms of performance outcomes. The measure must include specific benchmarks that will be reported on in the quarterly progress report, if practicable, or as annual outcomes.

Sample Program and Budget Narrative

FY 2016 BEG Project Plan and Budget Page 2 of 10 June 2015 What is a Budget Narrative?

The budget narrative explains the “what, “how” and “why” of a line item cost to carry out grant project goals and objectives. A budget narrative is a narrative explanation of each budget component which supports the costs of the proposed work. The budget narrative should focus on how each budget item is required to achieve the proposed project goals and objectives. It should also justify how budget costs were calculated.

The budget narrative should be clear, specific, detailed, and mathematically correct.

The FMCSA reviews the budget narrative to confirm how costs are allowable, allocable, necessary, and reasonable. A well-developed budget narrative is also an effective management tool; a budget that doesn’t represent a project’s needs makes it difficult to recommend for funding and assess financial performance over the life of the project. The budget narrative serves a number of critical functions:

· Describes your need for or necessity of an expense;

· Documents how reasonable the request is, conveys your judgment as well as the feasibility of the project in context of available and proposed resources.

· Helps FMCSA review high-risk cost items to determine funding.

What Different Costs are in a Budget Narrative?

Personnel: Personnel costs are employee salaries working directly on a grant project. Only include costs for personnel employed by your organization. Costs should be consistent with that paid for similar types of work within the organization. Individuals not employed by your organization will be classified as either a subgrant or contractor. See the contractual object class for additional information.

Below is a sample personnel budget narrative. The FMCSA evaluates the personnel budget narrative to determine whether the proposed number of personnel is appropriate and that there is sufficient staffing to meet the project objectives. The proposed effort should be consistent with the effort required by the work plan. The labor mix should be consistent with the caliber of effort – professional/nonprofessional/clerical – required by the grant work plan. The FMCSA also reviews the personnel budget to determine if the salary ranges proposed are reasonable.

Personnel Budget Narrative

Sub-Total Salary

Total Personnel

Fringe Benefits: Fringe benefits are allowances and services provided by employers to their employees as compensation in addition to regular salaries and wages. Fringe benefits include, but are not limited to, the costs of leave (vacation, family-related, sick or military), employee insurance, pensions, and unemployment benefit plans. The costs of fringe benefits are allowable provided that the benefits are reasonable and are required by law, non-Federal entity-employee agreement, or an established policy of the non-Federal entity. The FMCSA will only reimburse fringe costs for the personnel and only for the percentage of time they devote to the project. Some helpful tips:

· Include how the fringe benefit amount is calculated (e.g., actual fringe benefits, rate approved by the Health and Human Services State Wide Cost Allocation Plan or cognizant agency). Explain what is included in the benefit package.

· Do not combine the fringe benefit costs with direct salaries and wages in the personnel category.

Below is a sample fringe budget narrative. Note that that the personnel in the personnel budget narrative should be reflected in the fringe benefits budget narrative. The level of personnel participation (full time or part time) must also correspond to the fringe charged. This way, we ensure that the correct fringe is attributed to the correct grant.

Fringe Benefits Budget Narrative

Sub-Total Fringe Benefits

Travel: Travel costs include field work activities or for travel to professional meetings. The FMCSA reviews the travel budget to ensure that amounts are reasonable based on the level of effort described in the project plan. Generally speaking, FMCSA will accept in-State travel costs for routine operations as reasonable unless there is a specific reason to question them. The FMCSA evaluates out-of-state to ensure the trips planned are necessary to complete the scope of work (usually training or meeting attendance), and that the number of travelers is consistent with the trip purpose. Some helpful tips:

· Include estimates for unforeseen travel such as possible FMCSA required meetings, with estimated costs of attendance.

· Explain the reason for travel expenses for project personnel (e.g., staff to training, field interviews, advisory group meeting, etc.) and, if known, identify the location/destination of travel.

· Do not include payroll, fringe, or other costs listed as part of the travel. For example, payroll/fringe is included in personnel and fuel costs are included in other.

Below is a sample travel budget narrative. Unexpected conferences, such as with FMCSA, can be put into the budget without the need to breakout what the daily cost will be; however, when it is billed to the budget, it will be billed with actuals expenses, which are auditable. Expenses must be auditable (e.g. able to be backed up with actual days on the road, state per diem costs, hotel expenses, and any allowable miscellaneous costs).

Travel Cost Budget Narrative

Sub-Total Travel

Equipment: Equipment costs are tangible, nonexpendable, personal property items that have a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more per unit. The FMCSA evaluates the need for the equipment (e.g., ration of employees to equipment) in the budget narrative and how it supports project activities. The FMCSA also evaluates the extent to which the equipment is being used to support more than one FMCSA grant. If it does, FMCSA evaluates if the cost has been prorated accurately. Additionally, the FMCSA reviews past performance information to determine if the same equipment for the project/program was purchased in previous years. A sample equipment budget narrative is below. Some helpful tips:

· Indicate in the narrative if your equipment threshold is below $5,000 so FMCSA understands why lower costs items are included in this line. Otherwise, expenses under the threshold of $5,000 per item belong in supplies or other, depending on the item.

· Explain the purpose and use of each item of equipment. Prorate the costs, if applicable.

· Common purchases like a computer system (when purchased as a package - keyboard, monitor and hard drive, etc.) are considered equipment if the total cost exceeds the threshold. If these same items are purchased individually (and not as a package) and each unit is below the threshold, list them under supplies.

· When developing your budget analyze the cost benefits of purchasing versus leasing equipment, particularly high-cost items and those subject to rapid technical advances. List rented or leased equipment costs in the contractual or the other object class, depending upon your procurement method. See the guidance under the other object class for additional information.

Equipment Cost Budget Narrative

Sub-Total Equipment

Supplies: Supplies are tangible personal property other than equipment. The FMCSA evaluates supplies costs to ensure a sufficient level of detail that would allow an informed reader to understand that the standard office supplies are reasonable. For example, an applicant need not provide details on the number of paper clips that it will purchase. At the same time, FMCSA cannot accept an amount for office supplies that would equal, say, $8,000 a year per person without further clarification. Some helpful tips:

· A good way to document supplies is to indicate the approximate expenditure of the unit as a whole (e.g., office supplies cost $XX per month).

· Do remember to include a quantity and unit cost for larger cost supply items such as computers and printers.

Supplies Cost Budget Narrative

Sub-Total Supplies

Contractual: Contractual object class costs include the cost of any contract or subgrant agreement between the applicant and another organization (for example a vendor or local government organization). Contractual costs can be categorized two ways: contract or subgrant.

The FMCSA reviews the contractual budget narrative to ensure it contains sufficient descriptive information about what specific costs (products and/or services) would be charged to the grant, a rationale for how those costs were derived, and the applicability and necessity of each to the grant.

A helpful tip: Include the name of the vendor/subgrantee, if known. If not, indicate that the selection is pending and an estimated timeframe when the vendor/subgrantee will be selected. In the application, the most important component of the contractual budget narrative is the purpose of the contract/subgrant and how the cost was estimated/derived.

Guidance for Contract Costs: A contract means a legal instrument by which a non-Federal entity purchases services needed to carry out the project or program under a Federal award. A contractor provides the goods and services within normal business operations; provides similar goods or services to many different purchasers; normally operates in a competitive environment; provides goods or services that are ancillary (but necessary) to the operation of the Federal program. A contractor is not subject to Federal compliance requirements as a result of the grant, though similar requirements may apply for other reasons.

For example, contractual costs could include training, maintenance contracts, or other service contracts except those which belong in different object classes such as equipment or supplies (depending upon your organization’s policy). The term “procurement” is used to identify the process of acquiring goods and services from sources outside of the grantee organization. When procuring property and services under a Federal award, an organization must follow the same policies and procedures it uses for procurements for its non-Federal funds. Non-competitive procurements should only be used in limited circumstances and should be a last resort.

Guidance for Subgrant Costs: A subgrant means an award provided by the grantee (also known as a pass-through entity) to a subgrantee. A subgrantee has its performance measured in relation to whether objectives of a Federal program were met; has responsibility for programmatic decision making; is responsible for adherence to applicable Federal program requirements specified in the Federal award; and (in accordance with its agreement), uses the Federal funds to carry out a program for a public purpose specified in authorizing statute, as opposed to providing goods or services for the benefit of the pass-through entity.

A subgrant may be provided through any form of legal agreement, including an agreement that the pass-through entity considers a contract. Federal regulations require that all subgrantees obtain and maintain a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and continue to maintain an active System for Award Management registration at all times during an active Federal award.

Below is a sample contractual budget narrative for contractor costs. If you intend to provide funding to another organization as a subaward, provide a new object class budget narrative and line item budget for each subgrantee organization.

Contractual Cost Budget Narrative

Sub-Total Contractual

Other: Other costs are costs that do not fit within any of the other object class categories. Typical costs in this category include rent for buildings used to conduct project activities, utilities, and printing costs. The FMCSA reviews other costs to determine whether these costs are consistent with the proposed work plan and are necessary to complete the approved work plan. The FMCSA also evaluates the costs to ensure that no unallowable costs, such as entertainment expenses, are included. Below is a sample other budget narrative. Some helpful tips:

· A lease is considered an Other cost when you are not the prime on the contract; rather, you are partnering with a different agency in your state or using a shared utility, facility or other services purchased through the state for one or more agencies. A lease is considered a contractual cost when you directly engage, and form a contract with, a vendor.

· Group other object class costs whenever possible (e.g., space, rental, communication, printing, maintenance) in the budget and explain how they support the grant activities.

· Ensure that other costs such as professional services, audit, postage, printing, facilities expenses are not already accounted for in either your indirect cost rate agreement or cost allocation plan.

Other Cost Budget Narrative

Sub-Total Other

Indirect Costs: Indirect costs are costs incurred for common or joint objectives that benefit more than one project. They may be administrative and/or programmatic. The FMCSA reviews indirect cost rates to ensure the rate is valid, calculations are correct in the budget, and that the rate is applied to the appropriate base.

Remember to include your indirect cost rate agreement with your application in Grants.gov. If your rate will not be approved by the application due date, attach the letter of renewal or letter of request that you sent to your cognizant agency. This documentation is used as a placeholder until the rate is approved. Grantees may not receive reimbursement for indirect costs until the rate is approved.