MODIFICATION Research NOFA 4.10.17.pdf

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Office of Policy Development and Research

Research and Evaluation, Demonstration, and Data Analysis and Utilization

FR-6000-N-29

Application Due Date: 05/11/2017

Research and Evaluation, Demonstration, and Data Analysis and Utilization

FR-6000-N-29

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Funding Opportunity Description. I.

Award Information. II.

Eligibility Information.

Eligible Applicants. A.

Cost Sharing or Matching. B.

Other. C.

III.

Application and Submission Information.

Obtaining an Application Package. A.

Content and Form of Application Submission. B.

System for Award Management (SAM) and Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number.

C.

Application Submission Dates and Times. D.

Intergovernmental Review. E.

Funding Restrictions. F.

Other Submission Requirements. G.

IV.

Application Review Information.

Criteria. A.

Review and Selection Process. B.

Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates. C.

V.

Award Administration Information.

Award Notices. A.

Administrative, National and Departmental Policy R equirements.

B.

Reporting. C.

VI.

Agency Contact(s). VII.

Other Information. VIII.

Appendix. IX.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Program Office: Office of Policy Development and Research Funding Opportunity Title: Research and Evaluation, Demonstration, and Data Analysis and

Utilization Announcement Type: Modification Funding Opportunity Number: FR-6000-N-29 Primary CFDA Number: 14.536 Due Date for Applications: 05/11/2017

Overview For Further Information Contact: Please direct questions regarding the specific program requirements of this Program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) to the agency contact identified in Section VII. Please direct general questions regarding the FY2017 NOFAs to the Office of Strategic Planning and Management, Grants Management and Oversight Division, at AskGMO@hud.gov.

Additional Overview Information Incorporation of the General Section. HUD publishes a General Section each fiscal year that contains requirements for all applicants to HUD’s various competitive grant programs, including this NOFA.

Applications must meet all of the requirements of the General Section in addition to the requirements of this NOFA to be considered and potentially receive funding. The full title of the General Section is the General Section to HUD's Fiscal Year 2016 Notice[s] of Funding Availability for Discretionary Programs. Copies are available at Grants.gov or HUD's Funds Available page, http: //portal.hud.gov /hudportal /HUD?src= /program_offices /administration /grants /fundsavail.

1. Participative Planning and Implementation. HUD encourages all applicants to HUD’s competitive programs to ensure, where applicable, public decision making and meaningful participation throughout the visioning, development, and implementation of funded projects, by residents of affected areas and especially communities traditionally marginalized from planning processes. In seeking public participation, applicants and grantees must ensure that all communications are provided in a manner that is effective for persons with hearing, visual, and other communications-related disabilities consistent with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and, as applicable, the Americans with Disabilities Act. In addition Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000(d) and Executive Order 13166 require that grantees take responsible steps to ensure meaningful access to services, programs, and activities by persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP persons).

2. OMB Approval Number(s): 2528-0299

The Research and Evaluation, Demonstrations, and Data Analysis and Utilization program (referred to as "HUDRD") is managed by HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R). Through this NOFA, HUD is announcing the availability of up to $2,900,000 in FY 2016 funding.

I. Funding Opportunity Description.

A. Program Description.

1. Purpose.

mailto:AskGMO@hud.gov http://www.grants.gov http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/administration/grants/fundsavail http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/administration/grants/fundsavail

The Research and Evaluation, Demonstrations, and Data Analysis and Utilization program (referred to as "HUDRD") is managed by HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R). Through this NOFA, HUD is announcing the availability of up to $2,900,000 in FY 2016 funding.

The following projects are eligible for award in the amounts listed:

Accessible Housing and Technology Research and Demonstration (HUD may award 1-4 grants, with the sum total of all awards not to exceed $2,000,000).

1.

Technical Assistance Assessment (1 award of approximately $900,000).2.

NOTE: Applicants are not required to apply for both projects; however a separate application for each project is a requirement.

Objective

HUDRD seeks to further PD&R’s mission to inform policy development and implementation to improve life in American communities through conducting, supporting, and sharing research, surveys, demonstrations, program evaluations, and best practices. This broad mission addresses the following strategic goals contained in HUD’s Strategic Plan:

(1) Strengthen the Nation’s Housing Market to Bolster the Economy and Protect Consumers;

(2) Meet the Need for Quality Affordable Rental Homes;

(3) Use Housing as a Platform to Improve Quality of Life; and

(4) Build Strong, Resilient, and Inclusive Communities.

HUD is seeking proposals on the following projects:

A. Project Description.

Project 1 - Accessible Housing and Technology Research and Demonstration (HUD may award 1-4 grants, with the sum total of all awards not to exceed $2,000,000)

The objective of this assessment is to provide funding to conduct a study on innovations in the design and construction of affordable, accessible and aesthetically pleasing housing, with a particular focus on technological adaptations that can be made to existing housing designs for persons with disabilities, and to identify, evaluate, and test the home modifications and technology innovations necessary to make existing housing accessible. For purposes of comparing proposals and demonstration results, the project is limited to research regarding innovations in the design and retrofitting or renovation of non-detached single family homes, semi-detached townhomes, and structures with four (4) or fewer residential units. The intention of these grant funds is not to fund the renovation of existing housing that can or will be used for residential purposes. The intention is to research, explore, develop and test potential innovations.

The objective is not to use the funding to renovate housing for living purposes. These grant funds are not intended for those purposes and may only be used to create study conditions for research, testing and demonstration purposes.

Under this project, the grantee will function as the lead of an interdisciplinary team with the goal to show how to affordably use physical and technological adaptations of existing housing stock to meet residents' needs for affordable and accessible housing. Although not limited to adaptations that can assist households in their existing homes, proposals must include that as a focus area.

(1) Research and Demonstration Objectives

This solicitation seeks proposals to demonstrate low-cost, low-effort physical configurations and technological adaptations that can be made to multiple types of existing homes to make them accessible to persons with disabilities. Making these determinations can be accomplished using any variety of research and demonstration approaches, but each needs to be based on the collection and analysis of evidence that takes into account physical configurations of designs of currently constructed and existing housing, innovative technological adaptations, affordability, and contributions from multiple parties who work with these issues every day. While meeting the goals of low-cost, low-effort, aesthetically pleasing and using or accommodating technological adaptations, the designs must meet applicable federal architectural accessibility standards, including the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards or the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, except for certain specific identified provisions, as detailed in HUD’s Notice on “Instructions for use of alternative accessibility standard,” published in the Federal Register on May 23, 2014. Designs must also help facilitate the integration of individuals with disabilities within a housing development, neighborhood, or community consistent with the Section 504 regulation.

(2) Background

Persons with disabilities in need of accessible housing comprise only 16 percent of the American population.

This includes persons with age-related disabilities. The most common causes for persons with disabilities were reported as arthritis or rheumatism (affecting an estimated 8.6 million persons or 2.9 percent), back or spine problems (7.6 million or 2.6 percent), and heart trouble (3.0 million or 1 percent). (U.S. Census.

People and Households. “Americans with Disabilities” 2010). However, an increasing number of individuals, households, and communities are searching for affordable and aesthetically pleasing housing options for persons with disabilities, that accommodate the assistive technology that persons with disabilities use. A larger number of older persons are aging in place, and an increasing choice of technological tools are allowing them to accomplish that goal; the U.S. is housing more veterans with major physical disabilities, and an increasing number of persons with disabilities are moving to community-based residential arrangements. The result is a greater demand in both the public and private sector for housing that meets standards for physical accessibility and incorporates assistive devices and technologies that facilitate greater community integration of housing and greater access to home-based technology for persons with disabilities.

The least expensive way of incorporating accessible design and assistive technology in a home design is to integrate the required elements into the initial design, but approximately 85 percent of monthly home sales are for existing housing. But as any builder, remodeler and home owner who has been through this process can attest – incorporating design elements to maximize accessibility, and other aspects that expand accessibility, including assistive technology, is much more difficult and expensive in an existing home than one initially designed with those needs addressed. Because the bulk of home sales are existing homes – effectively and efficiently renovating existing housing to incorporate accessible design features is key.

There is a need to develop design elements for those homes to facilitate a healthy and safe lifestyle for residents with disabilities, along with the types of physical configurations and technological adaptations that make them accessible for persons with disabilities.

(3) Eligible Activities

Required activities include:

Conducting a literature review of issues relevant to the proposed research and related issues;

Development of and conferral with an interdisciplinary advisory team that will include a combination of persons representing a variety of interests in the field of accessible housing and technological adaptations in the home. Examples of such persons include persons with disabilities, academics from disciplinary fields to be explored in this project, policy makers, architects, builders, building contractors and renovators, care givers, family members of persons with disabilities, and the general public;

Development of a research and demonstration design;

Finalization of a work plan and research and demonstration design. The work plan and research and demonstration design will determine the nature and scope of the research and analysis needed to answer the critical research and demonstration questions. This includes task descriptions, task budgets, a timeline and allocation of staff by task, including review and comment periods for advisory team members and HUD staff. The development of these materials would be done in close consultation with the HUD Government Technical Representative (GTR), an interdisciplinary advisory team, and/or other staff and experts as the HUD GTR directs;

Execution of the research design and work plan, Data and information collection and analysis;

Comparison of costs and benefits of multiple approaches and designs;

Regular reports to the GTR, and Submission of all deliverables to the GTR.

Other Eligible Activities could include:

Expert consultation, including reasonable consultation fees;

Determining and documenting the deficiencies that exist in the types of physical designs and standards for aesthetically pleasing, affordable designs and home configurations for existing homes, including technological adaptations;

Creation of one or more research prototype rooms. A “protoype” room used to conduct research on accessibility and technology may not be used to provide daytime or overnight accommodation, but will be used only for providing appropriate conditions for implementing and evaluating test designs, technological adaptations or other research elements.

Creation of other design testing tools and activities outlined in the Research Plan, evaluating test designs, technological adaptations, costs and other research elements. Testing and evaluation of the prototype designs or other research elements through research mechanisms such as design reviews, participatory workshops, use of prototype rooms, cost analysis or other methods, with different stakeholders at multiple stages of design development. These stakeholders might include persons with disabilities, family members, building contractors, assistive technology or other technology experts, or other persons with a stake in providing affordable, accessible, and aesthetically pleasing residential life.

NOTES:

(1) Because the award for this research and demonstration will be a cooperative agreement, applicants are required to propose and plan to implement an approach for working with HUD in this effort. Each applicant should describe how it intends to work in collaboration with HUD in both developing and assessing the viability and costs of the design and construction prototypes, and their incorporation into existing housing.

(2) HUD will not fund an applicant requesting funding for ineligible activities outlined in IV.F Funding Restrictions of this NOFA.

(3) A Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) with respect to the environment has been made for this NOFA in accordance with HUD regulations at 24 CFR Part 50, which implement section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). The FONSI is available for inspection at HUD's Funds Available web page at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal /HUD?src=/program_offices /administra tion /grants /fundsavail.

B. Data and Information Collection and Analysis:

This must include:

Carrying out methods of data and information collection and analysis described in the research design.

Eligible activities could include:

Collection of other relevant data, information and evidence, when applicable;

Conducting site visits to collect data;

Conducting interviews and participatory workshops with multiple types of interested parties;

Analysis of initial and ongoing results to redefine home designs, renovations, use of adaptive technology, or other identified issues;

Observing and recording all findings from all other information and data collection activities that might include activities such a site visits, workshops, interviews or other data collection methods;

Conducting and documenting cost analyses of planning, designing and implementing aesthetically pleasing accessible designs for existing housing, along with technological adaptations used in the designs analyzed in the study;

Interviews, visual recording, measurement, and other data collection activities;

Collection and organization of collected data in a manner making the data easily retrievable;

documenting the research process, data and findings used in the demonstration, and Documenting the prototypes to the point of functionality for future testing with persons with disabilities in everyday domestic situations

C. Reporting.

Reporting. This activity includes the synthesis of the information gathered and analyzed for the purposes of conducting the research and demonstration of physical configurations and technological adaptations to make existing housing accessible for persons with disabilities, and the development of written products that clearly articulate the findings for a broad audience, including researchers, policy makers, architects, building contractors, care givers, family members, and the general public. The written products will be submitted to HUD for review and possible HUD publication. This activity also includes regular reporting to HUD's GTR on the status of the project. At a minimum this must include;

Quarterly progress reports providing detailed updates on the work conducted and costs expended for the project during each month of the period of performance of the cooperative agreement;

Development of annual and final reports synthesizing findings, information collection and analysis;

Annual “snapshot” reports that describe the outcomes of the research and demonstration program for each year of program operation;

Preparation of a set of regularly released reports documenting the analysis of all collected data and sufficient narrative and illustrative material to guide the reader in interpreting the material properly, and Development of short papers or policy briefs on specific findings, subject areas, or describing particular analysis activities.

D. Deliverables HUD is expecting:

HUD expects to work closely with the cooperative awardee, and anticipates the opportunity to review and comment on the following documents, at a minimum:

Management & Work Plan that will depict the overall strategy for completing this research and demonstration effort within the budget and time frame allotted, including a description of the research and demonstration activities to be undertaken, the sequence of tasks, key milestone dates, and key staff engaging in each project activity.

Development and management of an Interdisciplinary Advisory Team. This includes at a minimum a list of proposed individuals and organizations the grantee plans to approach to serve in the IAT, an outline of their role in providing advice and direction on the design, implementation and reporting of the research and deliverables. This will be accomplished, at a minimum, using semi-annual meetings, in person, by phone or internet, involving the Team’s review and feedback to the Project Manager and GTR of project activities and deliverables, Drafts of all deliverables outlined in the cooperative agreement, research design and management and work plan, providing the GTR an opportunity to contribute to the shape and content of the deliverables, and Final review of all deliverables outlined in the cooperative agreement, research and demonstration design, and management and work plan.

Project 2 - Technical Assistance Assessment (1 award of approximately $900,000)

(1) Objectives

The objectives of this assessment are to provide a picture of (1) the overall operations of HUD’s Technical Assistance (TA) program(s) including the data systems that support HUD TA projects, the NOFA process, and the process by which TA funds are allocated. This objective may include an assessment of the utilization/uptake of each type of intervention and recommendations for change; it could also include evaluation of the demand-response construct; and (2) an in-depth analysis of three to four large, high priority TA projects. These twin overarching objectives will require a detailed accounting of the purposes to which TA funds are being allocated, the amount of money being spent on those purposes, and, for a selection of priority projects, an assessment of the effectiveness of the TA interventions. For the specific project assessments, the researcher should expect to provide a full assessment of the projects including the tasks undertaken, the types of TA provided, the amount of money spent, and the effectiveness of the technical assistance delivered.

This research work should focus primarily on FY2014 TA funding and priorities because FY2014 was the first year that HUD TA was organized under the Community Compass umbrella and the first year that most awardees and activities were tracked in the HUD administrative data systems specific to HUD TA: The HUD TA Portal and the Disaster Recovery Grant Reporting System (DRGR).

(2) Background

TA enables housing and community development providers to be more effective stewards of HUD funding by equipping them with the knowledge, skills and tools to better manage HUD programs. Recipients of TA include State and local governments, Tribes, Tribally-Designated Housing Agencies, Public Housing Authorities (PHAs), participating jurisdictions, housing counseling agencies, multifamily owners/operators, nonprofit organizations, and Continuums of Care (CoCs).

Through TA, HUD supports effective and efficient program administration, standardizes training and education, and provides support for implementation of new programs and processes.

a. Types of TA offered by HUD:

Direct Technical Assistance and Capacity Building (CB): TA providers are tasked to work on site and/or remotely with HUD’s customers to improve PHA operations, help implement new programs, train staff, and provide other technical assistance activities. These engagements are long term and often comprehensive.

On-call TA: These engagements can be on-site and/or remote but are limited to a set number of hours and generally less than 16 hours of TA. They can serve the same purposes as direct TA.

Needs assessments: This process helps to determine the nature and scope of TA and CB needed.

Assessment requests can be generated by program grantees, the field office and/or the TA provider Tools and products: Materials developed to assist HUD customers with understanding complex program statutes and regulations and federal requirements. These products may take the form of web-based courses, trainings, videos and interactive tools.

Self-directed and group learning: This TA is intended to increase capacity and close competency gaps among customers by equipping the grantees with the necessary program knowledge and skill sets needed to administer and manage HUD programs.

Knowledge Management: This TA includes the development, operation, maintenance, and/or hosting of websites.

Data reporting, analysis, and management: This TA includes analyzing data to better understand the impact of program, policy, and reporting changes on grantees, trends in grantee performance, and grantee technical assistance needs as well as assisting grantees with using and reporting data.

Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA) allocation formula administration and negotiated rulemaking support: This TA includes administration of the allocation formula, assistance with formula determinations and census challenges, notification letters, data corrections, and report preparation.

corrections, and report preparation.

Help Desk Support: Includes services such as Ask-A-Question.

b. FY2014 Sources of TA Funding:

This assessment will focus primarily on completed and ongoing TA projects being funded using FY14 TA funding. Specifically, the FY14 Community Compass NOFA combined and made $51 million available through 5 appropriations accounts. These sources, purposes and amounts were:

Departmental Funding (Transformation Initiative) TA: $24 million (Departmental funding includes TA funding for the Community Planning and Development (CPD), Public and Indian Housing (PIH), Housing, and Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) offices);

McKinney-Vento Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) TA:

$10 million;

McKinney-Vento National Data Analysis Project (formerly Homeless Management Information System TA: $6 million (also collectively known as SNAPs (Special Needs Assistance Programs TA), Public Housing Receivership and Recovery: $3 million; and Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA) TA: $8 million.

A complete description of the objectives, eligible activities, and desired outcomes from the FY14 TA awards can be found in the HUD Community Compass Technical Assistance and Capacity Building NOFA

(FR-5800-N-12).

c. TA at HUD between 2010 and 2014

HUD TA has evolved over time from numerous program-specific TA funding streams and objectives to a cross-program community place-based approach to problem solving. The 2002 GAO report on HUD TA, “HUD Management: Impact Measurement Needed for Technical Assistance” (GAO-03-12), states that between 1998 and 2002, HUD was administering 20 different technical assistance programs through 5 offices. TA funding between 1998 and 2002 ranged between $85 and $148 million dollars with an average of $124 million over these five years (not including Section 4 and Section 107 funds, which are not included in this evaluation). CPD’s 2010 Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) began the TA transformation from “program-specific” TA to “cross-program” TA (Docket No.

FR-5415-N-30). In this NOFA, CPD announced the OneCPD Integrated Practitioner Assistance System that “is intended as a collaborative effort among HUD, our state and local partners and successful applicants focused on building the kind of grantee management systems and functional capacity necessary to successfully carry out comprehensive and sustainable “place-based” development and revitalization strategies”.

The 2010 NOFA made $23 million available for OneCPD and $595K for “Core Curricula”, a program designed to “support the development and delivery of training courses and seminars to improve grantee skills in the areas of development finance, energy efficiency and green building, environmental review and compliance, asset management and preservation, and construction and rehabilitation management.” Other HUD programs issued their own TA NOFAs.

In FY2013, Public and Indian Housing and the Office of Housing started issuing their TA funding notices through the CPD NOFA and OneCPD became OneCPD+. The 2013 OneCPD+ NOFA made $16.5 million dollars available for CPD, SNAPS, PIH and Housing programs. Indian program TA and Homeless program TA were still funded separately.

By FY2014, OneCPD+ transformed into Community Compass. The FY2014 Community Compass NOFA added two new TA funding streams: Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination (NAHASDA) and McKinney-Vento funding (includes both Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) and National Data Analysis Project (NDAP – formerly HMIS)), making this NOFA inclusive of all HUD TA except Section 4 TA (Section 4 Capacity Building for Affordable Housing and Community Development Program TA is not included in this evaluation effort). FY14 funding

Housing and Community Development Program TA is not included in this evaluation effort). FY14 funding was $51 million and FY15 finding was $45 million. Also, during this period, HUD Exchange was created.

HUD Exchange is an online platform (website) for providing technical assistance tools and services to HUD’s customers, including state and local jurisdictions, nonprofits, public housing authorities, and tribes.

Between 2012 and 2014, HUD Exchange was created from OneCPD Resource Exchange, the Homelessness Resource Exchange, and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) TA website. Late in this period, the TA needs of the Office of Housing, the Office of Public and Indian Housing and the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity were added to the site. HUD Exchange contains the Learning Management System and Training Calendar which provides information about what training is available and when, the “Ask a Question” function which allows HUD customers to submit their policy and technical questions about programs, systems, and crosscutting topics, the TA Portal which allows HUD customers to request technical assistance, and Auto-import of Reports and Plans, which makes reports accessible to the public by connecting a restricted access reporting system (e.g. IDIS) to the public-facing HUD Exchange.

In addition, new participants in the Community Compass TA omnibus, such as PIH, could now not take advantage of the cooperative agreement and demand-response funding management instead of having to let full contracts for this work. Cooperative agreements provide flexibility between HUD and providers to tailor responses to local needs and requirements. Demand-response funding management allows HUD to make assignments to TA providers based on priority projects and grantee needs. Large or complex projects can be scoped in phases. Needs assessments can be executed before projects are scoped if need be. And, for large, jurisdiction wide solutions that require local agencies or political commitment, MOUs can be developed and implemented before work begins.

d. Primary Sources of Administrative TA Data

TA Portal:

The TA Portal, which can be found on HUD Exchange, was developed to provide a central web-based location to document requests for TA, make TA provider assignments, develop work plans to deliver TA, and report on outcomes and outputs of TA. Through the TA Portal (https://www.hudexchange.info/get-assistance/technical-assistance/), HUD’s customers can request in-depth, program assistance and capacity building to improve the design and delivery of programs and services funded by HUD (Direct and On-call TA), needs assessments, new materials and tools development, and training delivery. Through the TA Portal, HUD receives requests for TA, reviews and allocates those requests to the appropriate provider, assigns TA providers to TA requests, reviews and approves work plans and tracks work flow. Through the TA Portal, TA providers receive assignments, submit and revise work plans and report on work progress.

Some TA projects are not handled through the portal. Review of product development and training delivery TA as well as some larger TA projects such as Troubled PHA interventions will have to be conducted in cooperation with program offices, field offices and/or HQ.

The Disaster Recovery Grant Reporting System (DRGR):

The Disaster Recovery Grant Reporting (DRGR) system was developed by HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development for the CDBG Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program and other special appropriations such as the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). It is also now used for most of the funds awarded through the Community Compass NOFA. TA Providers use the system to: (1) identify staff rates and have HUD staff approve them in the Admin Module, (2) submit individual work plans in DRGR, including budget line items, staff hours and tasks (some of this information is also submitted through the TA portal), and (3) submit invoices in the Drawdown Module to be reviewed by HUD staff. These approvals are used to authorize payment of individual line items that each invoice represents. GTRs approve line item vouchers in DRGR, providing payment to the TA provider for technical assistance delivered. More information on the DRGR is available at: https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/drgr/.

https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/drgr/

The data available from these two systems overlaps significantly. However, each system has a primary function. TA Portal data provide details about project scope, work plans, tasks, and outcomes while DRGR data provide enhanced information about the financial details of each project. Table 1 shows what is available in each system.

TABLE 1

Work Plan Elements TA Portal DRGR

Basic Work Plan Information (Name, number, period of performance (POP), etc.) X X

Work Plan Level Budget X X

Work Plan Scope X

Proposed Outcomes X

Task Level Budget X X

Task Narratives X

Total Hours by Task X X

Number of Hours by Staff Type (Labor Category) X X

Number of Hours by Staff Rates/Individuals X

Team Leads X X

Key Personnel X X

Travel Information X X

Other Costs (Telephone, shipping, etc.) X

e. The Technical Assistance Process

HUD TA funding is appropriated by Congress. Departmental TA is funded under the Research and Technology account managed by PD&R; other TA funds are allocated under various program accounts within PIH, CPD, FHEO, and Housing. In FY14 and FY15, Congress required HUD to submit its TA plan for review before Departmental funds were allocated to specific programs. This plan must declare how Departmental TA funds will be allocated to participating program offices.

These allocations are worked out in advance by the TA Executive Committee.

HUD issues the TA NOFA. The FY14 NOFA was issued under the HUD Community Compass Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Program NOFA structure.

HUD selects TA providers from NOFA applicants and works with successful applicants under cooperative agreements.

Through HUD Exchange and other outreach processes, HUD receives requests for help from HUD program offices and HUD partners.

HUD field offices and HUD HQ evaluate the requests for TA. The review process differs depending on the office of interest (CPD, PIH, Housing, FHEO, ONAP) and the type of TA required. Details of the review process for CPD program can be found in the TA Portal Protocols and Procedures document. The review process for other offices may have to be discerned through interviews with program staff.

Once a project is approved, HUD, TA providers and TA recipients work together to scope the project.

If the project is not well specified or the problem not well understood, a needs assessment might be

If the project is not well specified or the problem not well understood, a needs assessment might be conducted. Some large or complex projects are scoped in phases, starting with an assessment of grantee needs and issues affecting implementation and grants administrations. For especially large or comprehensive projects involving local jurisdictions, MOU may be required as evidence of intent to participate in the TA work. Providers then develop a work plan for the assignment. A number of different providers may be assigned to work together on a single assignment.

Projects, assignments, work plans, and tasks are tracked through the TA Portal, a component of HUD Exchange, and the Disaster Recovery Grants Reporting system (DRGR). Currently, most TA funding is routed through DRGR.

Work plans and tasks are accomplished.

Monthly and periodic status reports are submitted via the TA portal and the DRGR.

Projects are closed out in DRGR.

(3) Technical Assistance Research Objectives

The objective of this research is to assess the effectiveness of the HUD TA program at accomplishing its stated objectives. The FY14 Community Compass NOFA outlined the FY14 TA objectives as:

Facilitate local collaboration, strategic planning, and service coordination among HUD customers and stakeholders, including jurisdictions, Continuums of Care, public housing authorities, and non-profit organizations and consultation with tribes. Planning may include input on and development of Consolidated Plans, Analyses of Impediments to Fair Housing, PHA plans, tribal plans, and other community planning processes, and should use data to inform decision-making.

Develop and implement strategies to repair, preserve and recapitalize federally assisted rental housing, tribal housing, public housing, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and other multifamily and single family affordable housing that uses HUD grant funds such as HOME or CDBG.

Improve financial, management, physical and governance deficiencies at public and tribal housing agencies and tribally-designated housing entities, state and local units of government, and non profit customers and build capacity to sustain these improvements in performance over the long term.Ensure that a PHA is financially and operationally viable and can provide safe, well-maintained housing units that are viable over the long term.Design and implement programs for affordable housing and community and economic development, including assessing local housing markets and effectively targeting resources.

Provide housing and supportive services for special needs populations, including homeless individuals and families and those at risk of homelessness, elderly individuals, disabled individuals, persons with HIV/AIDS, veterans, and youth. Implement evidence-based practices around housing with supportive services, including targeting priority populations, leveraging a range of funds, and collaboration with federal and state-funded health services and community based health care services.

Facilitate better delivery of housing counseling services, through networks of housing counseling agencies, improve accessibility of services to city and county residents, and increase awareness among nonprofits, city agencies, and the public that housing counseling services are available. Increase homebuyer knowledge by providing homebuyer education, individualized counseling, and access to information and resources.

Increase understanding of strategies to reduce energy consumption, on-site renewable energy deployment and related financing to accelerate clean energy solutions. Track and benchmark energy and water usage in order to realize cost savings and improve energy and water efficiency through new and existing tools, such as EPA Portfolio Manager, the Physical Needs Assessment, or the Capital Needs Assessment.

Improve management of HUD funding, including compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements and resolution of HUD monitoring findings and/or audit findings. Compliance includes all applicable fair housing and civil rights laws, including, but not limited to, the Fair Housing Act of 1968, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Develop and implement policies and procedures that support affirmatively furthering fair housing, per applicable federal regulations, and employment, training, and contracting opportunities to low- and very low-income persons and the businesses that employ them (Section 3, Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968).

Ensure that Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) funds are used effectively and effective delivery of housing and NAHASDA eligible services, including providing access to housing that is safe and healthy, including mold prevention and remediation and improving air quality.

Assist with IHBG formula administration, including managing formula-related correspondence with grantees, formula determinations, processing census challenges, data correction, reporting, and providing logistical and technical support for the Department’s negotiated rulemaking with Indian tribes, and effective delivery of affordable housing, implementation of HUD’s Indian programs, and consultation support.

Develop and implement strategies for improved data collection, validity, analysis and use by customers for reporting, planning, decision making, measuring performance, and tracking outcomes, including data for the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), Annual Performance Report, Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER), Tribal Performance Assessments, Choice Neighborhoods reports, and other reports and analyses as assigned. Assist customers with using data to drive decision making and assess program effectiveness, and use data to identify trends and needs related to HUD’s customers.

Effective management, use, and reporting of HMIS data, including coordination and facilitation of federal partners and HMIS vendors, maintenance and support of reporting tools, distributed reporting models, mobile applications for data collection and reporting, identifying data gaps, opportunities to use and publish data to increase transparency, usability testing and user focus groups.

Use technology and the internet for effective knowledge management to improve access to information and resources, build skills, reduce errors, enhance data collection, and streamline processing requests for assistance via websites, mobile applications, virtual help desks, remote and virtual learning modalities, and automated tools and calculators.

To assess the effectiveness of TA in achieving the stated objectives, research questions may include, but not limited to:

Is there evidence that specific projects have achieved their stated objectives and improved program performance? Project/program-specific research questions may include, but are not limited to:

o What evidence is there that TA is helping HUD HOME and CDBG grantees develop strategies to repair, preserve and recapitalize federally assisted rental housing?

o Has there been improvement of services to special needs populations (homeless or at risk of homelessness, elderly, disabled, persons with HIV/AIDS, veterans, and youth) through TA projects?

o Is TA expanding access to and knowledge about housing counseling services? Are there populations or subpopulations for which such TA has been more or less effective to improve housing access or outcomes?

o Is understanding of strategies to reduce energy consumption and use renewable energy improving through TA? Are HUD partners increasing both their knowledge and use of energy reduction strategies?

o How is TA supporting HUD’s efforts to roll out the AFFH rule and provide the tools necessary to comply? Is use of TA for this purpose cost effective?

o NAHASDA TA funds are meant to be used for improving delivery of safe, healthy affordable housing and help with the IHBG formula administration. Are these TA efforts helpful and effective?

TA is provided for a number of data systems: Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), Annual Performance Report, Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER), Tribal Performance Assessments, Choice Neighborhoods reports, Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and other reports and analyses as assigned. How is TA being used for this support and what difference is it making?

What are the perceptions of the HUD Exchange website from users? Do they find it helpful?

Accessible? Properly organized?

In what ways could HUD do follow-on research to provide evidence that HUD partners who have been recipients of HUD TA (PHAs, Tribes, state and local governments) have improved financial, management, physical and governance policies? In what ways could HUD improve existing TA-related reporting processes to improve TA implementation?

One of the objectives of HUD TA is to standardize materials, learning, and responses to common questions or misunderstanding of HUD programs and policies. Are responses and training being standardized? Is this being done effectively even though many engagements are being addressed by different TA providers? Alternative questions here might be: How well are TA providers working together to accomplish HUD’s objectives? What could TA providers or HUD do to reduce duplication or lack of standardization?

The first objective of FY14 TA funding is to “Facilitate local collaboration, strategic planning, and service coordination among HUD customers and stakeholders…” This research could evaluate whether there is evidence that service providers such Continuums of Care, Public Housing Authorities, Non-profit organizations, and tribes are collaborating and coordinating services. If not, why not? If so, to what extent and to what effect?

Programs allocate TA differently. For example, CPD responds to requests for help from troubled grantees (PJs) while PIH directs TA to troubled PHAs based on field office recommendations. Is there any indication that one process is more effective or efficient than the other? Is Community Compass, the current comprehensive TA NOFA, working for program offices (CPD, PIH, Housing, FHEO, SNAPS, ONAP)? What would program offices do to improve the TA funds allocation process?

(4) Eligible Activities

In support of this research effort, awardees may undertake a variety of research planning, data gathering, data analysis, and evaluation activities, from articulating research questions to conducting the research itself, to communicating research findings. Eligible activities include but may not be limited to:

a. Developing a work plan and research design. The work plan and research design will determine the nature and scope of the research and analysis needed to answer the critical research questions. The development of these materials would be done in close consultation with the HUD Government Technical Representative (GTR), Government Technical Monitor (GTM), and/or other staff and experts as the HUD GTR directs. This activity may include but not be limited to:

Articulating research questions and explaining their significance;1.

Conducting a literature review;2.

Expert consultation, including reasonable consultation fees;3.

Comparison of costs and benefits of different approaches;4.

Developing a research design;5.

Formulating a data collection plan(s), including sampling plans, surveys and pre-testing of survey instruments, detailed data system design and testing, as applicable;

6.

Developing a plan to access administrative data that will support answering the research questions, and completing required protocols necessary for accessing administrative data not owned by HUD;

7.

Developing a work plan, including task budgets, a timeline, and allocation of staff by task; including review and comment periods for HUD staff;

8.

Completing OMB Paperwork Reduction Act, Privacy Impact Assessment, and System of Record9.

Notification documentation, as applicable;

Obtaining Institutional Review Board approval as needed to ensure human subjects research protections-if required -in accordance with federal requirements (see: http ;://www.hhs ;.gov/ohrp ;/human subjects/commonrule);

10.

b. Data and Information Collection and Analysis. This set of activities would include carrying out the methods described in the research design, gathering existing data and/or administrative data on HUD’s TA programs and program participants, and collecting additional data using qualitative and/or quantitative methods that may be in-person, by mail, by phone, site visits, or via the Internet. If the research design and work plan identify circumstances requiring the use of incentive payments to achieve a satisfactory response rate, the awardee may use funds from this award to pay those incentive payments. The awardee would also undertake analysis of data to answer the research question(s). This activity may include:

Preparing applications or paperwork required to access non-HUD administrative data, including the drafting of Data Use Agreements (DUAs) or Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) as required by the administrators of the data sets needed for analysis;

Merging, tabulating, analyzing, modeling, validating, graphing and presenting data from existing administrative data sources (including third-party sources, if applicable) and surveys (if applicable) to answer the questions as stated in the research design and work plan;

Collecting primary data via survey administration, site visits, or telephone interviews;

Synthesis and analysis of multiple sets of data; and Organization of data, evidence and information to facilitate analysis.

c. Reporting. This activity includes the synthesis of the information gathered and analyzed for the purposes of assessing HUD’s TA program(s) and the development of written products that clearly articulate the research findings for a broad audience, including researchers, policy makers, administrators, program operators, and the general public. This activity also includes regular reporting to HUD on the status of the project. This activity may include:

Development of short papers or policy briefs on specific topics or describing particular analysis activities;

Development of an interim or final report synthesizing data collection and analysis;

Preparation of a series of tables, charts, or graphs documenting the analysis of all collected data and including sufficient narrative material to guide the reader in interpreting the tables, charts, or graphs properly;

Monthly progress reports which provide detailed updates on the work conducted for the project during each month of the period of performance of the cooperative agreement.

(5) Deliverables

HUD expects to work closely with the cooperative agreement awardee, and anticipates the opportunity to review and comment on the following documents, at a minimum:

Management & Work Plan that will depict the overall strategy for completing this research effort within the budget and timeframe allotted, including a description of the research activities to be undertaken, the sequence of tasks, key milestone dates, and key staff engaging in each research activity.

Research Design describing the key elements and approach for data collection and analysis, including the administrative data sources to be accessed and analyzed, the development and administration of primary data collection instruments, if warranted, an analysis strategy, and procedures for securely collecting and storing all study-related data.

A preliminary analysis of the outcomes of this research for each project selected. The final content for these reports may be developed in partnership between the research team and HUD.

A final analysis of the outcomes of this research for each project selected. The final content for these http%20:/www.hhs .gov/ohrp /human subjects/commonrule http%20:/www.hhs .gov/ohrp /human subjects/commonrule reports may be developed in partnership between the research team and HUD.

A summative final report…