NOFO NV-VSR-24-001.pdf

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy

Notice of Funding Opportunity Supporting Vaccine Confidence

Opportunity Number

NV-VSR-24-001

Application Due Date 08/21/2024 at 6:00 PM Eastern

Technical Assistance Webinar Date 07/24/2024 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM Eastern

OVERVIEW

Opportunity Title Supporting Vaccine Confidence

Program Office Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy

Application Submission and Format Electronic application submitted via Grants.gov ONLY.

Opportunity Number

NV-VSR-24-001

Award Type G (Grant)

Application Deadline 08/21/2024 at 06:00 PM Eastern

Announcement Type Initial

Technical Assistance Webinar Date 07/24/2024 Eastern

Assistance Listing 93.344

Technical Assistance Webinar Details 07/24/2024 at 02:00 to 03:30 PM Eastern Link available on Grants.gov under Related Documents.

Eligible Applicants (see Section C.1 for full details) Any private (either profit or nonprofit) or public entity located in a State is eligible to apply for an award under this NOFO.

Estimated Total Funding Available $1,000,000

Estimated Period of Performance (months)

Estimated Number of Awards

Estimated Award Date 09/25/2024

Funding Range $115,000 to $250,000 per budget period

Estimated Project Start Date 09/30/2024

QUESTIONS?

See contact information in Section G

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy announces the anticipated availability of funds for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 300u-1 and 300u-2 (Sections 1702 and 1703 of the Public Health Service Act).

The Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) and the Office of Regional Health Operations (ORHO) are collaborating to implement this initiative. OIDP and ORHO are operational components in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH).

This initiative seeks to expand, plan, implement, and evaluate promising practices and develop novel approaches to increase vaccine confidence in local communities, particularly partnerships with organizations that work with populations with low vaccination rates (e.g., African Americans and residents in rural communities).

Practical solutions at local levels are needed to help support vaccination efforts in communities by healthcare providers, immunization program managers, immunization advocates, vaccine manufacturers, and other stakeholders.

OIDP anticipates the availability of approximately $1,000,000 for this funding opportunity to support four awards ranging from $250,000 to $115,000 per year for up to three years. OIDP and ORHO will support activities by public health departments, community organizations, academic institutions, professional or trade organizations, and immunization coalitions, among others, that work with populations with low vaccination rates.

Eligible applicants include any private (either profit or nonprofit) or public entity located in a State. We expect funded projects to involve a local government public health agency or local community-based organization as a partner (if the recipient is neither) in order to meet the goals of this initiative. Successful applicants will have demonstrated a clear understanding of the challenges and needs related to each of the following in the community that is the focus of the project:

1. Level of confidence in vaccines.

2. Level of confidence in vaccine providers in traditional or non-traditional settings, and

3. Level of confidence in policies including but not limited to the approval process, recommendations for who should and should not receive a vaccine, and when vaccines should be administered.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) Grants and Acquisitions Management Division (GAM) will administratively support this competition.

GAM encourages all applicants to review all program requirements, eligibility information, application format and submission information, evaluation criteria, and other information in this notice to ensure that applications comply with all requirements and instructions.

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Background

2. Funding Opportunity Goals

3. Expected Performance Goals and Outcomes for Projects

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

1. Legal Authority

2. Award Information

C. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. Eligible Applicants

2. Cost Sharing or Matching

3. Other - Application Responsiveness Criteria

4. Application Disqualification Criteria

D. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

1. Obtaining an Application Package

2. Content and Form of Application Submission

3. Application Content

4. Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and System for Award Management (SAM)

5. Submission Dates and Times

6. Intergovernmental Review

7. Funding Restrictions

8. Other Submission Requirements

E. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

1. Criteria

2. Merit Review and Selection Process

3. Review of Risk Posed by Applicant

4. Final Award Decisions, Anticipated Announcement, and Federal Award Dates

F. FEDERAL AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

1. Federal Award Notices

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

3. Program Specific Terms and Conditions

4. Award Closeout

5. Lobbying Prohibitions

6. Non-Discrimination Requirements

7. Smoke- and Tobacco-free Workplace

8. Acknowledgement of Funding

9. HHS Rights to Materials and Data

10. Trafficking in Persons

11. Efficient Spending

12. Whistleblower Protection

13. Health Information Technology (IT) Interoperability

14. Certain telecommunications and video surveillance services or equipment

15. Human Subjects Protection

16. Research Integrity

17. Reporting

G. CONTACTS

1. Administrative and Budgetary Requirements

2. Program Requirements

3. Electronic Submission Requirements

H. OTHER INFORMATION

1. Application Checklist

2. Acronyms

3. Glossary

4. Object Class Descriptions and Required Justifications

5. Considerations in Recipient Plans for Oversight of Federal Funds

6. Financial Assistance General Certifications and Representations

7. References Cited

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy announces the anticipated availability of funds for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 300u-1 and 300u-2 (Sections 1702 and 1703 of the Public Health Service Act).

The Assistant Secretary for Health is the Director of, and administers, the National Vaccine Program. The Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) is the principal coordinating office for the National Vaccine Program. OIDP provides strategic leadership and coordination of vaccine and immunization activities among federal agencies and other stakeholders to help reduce the burden of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. OIDP is collaborating with the Office of Regional Health Operations (ORHO) in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) in offering this opportunity. ORHO promotes and advances the public health and safety of the American people by connecting people, convening local partners, establishing networks, and providing public policy and programming recommendations that best address the needs of the population in each of the ten HHS Regions.

Vaccine confidence is a critical priority for both offices to improve vaccination uptake for a healthier community.

OIDP has identified strengthening trust in vaccines as a priority. This initiative aligns with HHS's Strategic Plan FY2022-2026 Plan to equitably address vaccine-preventable diseases and conditions and the Vaccines National Strategic Plan 2021-2025, including “Goal 3: Increase knowledge of and confidence in routinely recommended vaccines.” In support of these priorities, we are offering funding for demonstration projects to implement and evaluate innovative community-level approaches to increasing vaccine confidence.

This funding opportunity is an expansion of the initiative started in 2021 (NV-VSR-21-001) by funding a new cohort of demonstration projects. Promising practices developed during those projects included 1) the utilization of trusted messengers to provide vaccine education, 2) tailored culturally competent educational content, and 3) other novel strategies to improve vaccine confidence.

1. Background Vaccines are among the most effective public health interventions to promote health and prevent diseases. According to the World Health Organization, vaccines prevent between two and three million deaths per year globally[1]. To reach high immunity rates, vaccines must be readily available in all communities, including underserved and rural areas.

In addition to vaccine availability, vaccine confidence is crucial for achieving community immunity. This involves addressing vaccine hesitancy and misinformation through a variety of targeted mechanisms, including education campaigns, engagement of community leaders, and use of culturally sensitive communications. The cultivation of confidence in vaccines can lead to broader vaccine uptake by addressing concerns and empowering individuals with accurate information.

https://www.hhs.gov/about/strategic-plan/2022-2026/index.html https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/HHS-Vaccines-Report.pdf

Despite the burden and consequences of vaccine-preventable diseases vaccination coverage among U.S. adults remain low for most vaccines [2]. Vaccination exemptions among children has also increased in recent years. From the 2019–20 to the 2021–22 school year, national coverage with state-required vaccines among kindergartners declined from 95% to approximately 93%, ranging from 92.7% for diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) to 93.1% for polio. Although some exemptions to state-required vaccines are medical (e.g., allergy to a vaccine component), non-medical exemptions from school immunization requirements may hinder higher vaccination coverage in children. During the 2022–23 school year, the exemption rate increased 0.4 percentage points to 3.0% (0.2% medical and 2.8% non-medical). Exemptions increased in 41 states, exceeding 5% in 10 states. Exemptions in excess of 5% limit the level of vaccination coverage that can be achieved, which increases the risk of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. These data suggest a deficiency in public trust in vaccines. If the national trend of reduced vaccine confidence continues, gains made over the past decades in preventing severe and potentially deadly diseases are threatened. Such erosion may result in more frequent and extensive outbreaks of preventable diseases that strain the healthcare system and public health infrastructure and pose an increased threat to national security [3].

2. Funding Opportunity Goals

Projects awarded will contribute to the following programmatic goals for this funding opportunity:

• Develop locally-tailored innovative, effective intervention strategies that increase vaccine confidence in target populations.

• Increased vaccine confidence becomes a routine part of community vaccination programs, particularly among underserved populations with low vaccine rates.

3. Expected Performance Goals and Outcomes for Projects

Build and maintain partnerships with local community to determine what specific barriers are preventing confidence in vaccine

By the end of the first six (6) months of the project, recipients should have established a network of organizations engaged through planned and/or existing partnerships. As part of building that network, recipients should conduct a community needs assessment utilizing various outreach platforms such as community forums, focus groups, and surveys. Recipients should analyze data/findings to determine what specific barriers within the local community are negatively affecting vaccine confidence and engage network partners positioned to address those barriers.

Network members should participate in project activities including ongoing strategic planning, implementation, quality improvement, data collection and analysis, and project evaluation.

Recipients should create a network with the goal of being self-sustaining after the period of performance ends.

Network members should include:

• Public health departments, community organizations, academic institutions, professional or trade organizations, and immunization coalitions--that work with populations with low vaccination rates or significant health disparities.

• Collaboration with organizations who service individuals with low vaccinations rates;

this may include schools, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, community centers, and other partners. These organizations should have experience in health promotion for populations experiencing health disparities.

• Medical organizations (e.g., safety net providers or other medical providers that have trusted relationships with the population(s) of focus)

We encourage recipients to partner with an institution of higher education that has a trusted relationship with the population(s) of focus to conduct evaluation activities.

Develop locally tailored intervention plans to increase vaccine confidence in target populations and evaluation plans

Recipients should use findings from their community needs assessment to develop community level innovations that will reduce barriers among their target populations to track progress and measure effectiveness. The goal is for these strategies to be innovative approaches that reduce vaccine hesitancy leading to increased vaccine uptake among the target population(s). Below are examples of previously funded tailored intervention strategies to increase vaccine confidence:

• Organizations used award funds to develop educational materials and a coordinator to partner with schools, daycares, local health departments, and other community partners to host community clinics among underserved populations with low vaccination rates.

• Organizations addressed vaccine misinformation by creating culturally competent educational materials and videos distributed by trusted messengers such as community health workers.

• Organizations created pre- and post-surveys to determine if knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes changed during the projects. They compared and evaluated baseline data rates/numbers gathered during the onset of the project with programmatic data obtained during the intervention strategy(ies) to measure and gauge project effectiveness. They established collaborative health partnerships with agencies that allowed for the sustainability of project interventions to continue after the three-year project concluded.

Evaluate project processes and outcomes to ensure project effectiveness.

We expect recipients to evaluate processes and outcomes to assess project effectiveness and impact over the period of performance. The process evaluation should determine whether the recipient implemented the community level innovation as planned. The outcome evaluation should determine whether it reached the population(s) of focus and its impact on health outcomes for that population(s).

We expect recipients to build on and refine the baseline population data used in the application with additional data over the course of the project. We expect recipients to participate in technical assistance offered by OIDP and ORHO.

Share information about the project and its findings with the public.

Over the course of the project, we expect recipients to document and share project findings and results (e.g., best practices, lessons learned) with the population(s) of focus, the public, and other interested parties. We expect recipients to share project information with other award recipients within the period of performance. OIDP/ORHO-hosted opportunities for sharing findings typically include virtual meetings.

Recipients should share findings and results at local and national public health conferences or brief reports. Publications should describe the community level innovation and the related impact on health outcomes and health disparities. Recipients are encouraged to involve the partner network and population(s) of focus in the development of publications to ensure transparency and credibility of the results. Any published articles should be freely, immediately, and equitably accessible to the public.

B. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

1. Legal Authority Awards will be made under the legal authority in:

42 U.S.C. 300u-1 and 300u-2 (Sections 1702 and 1703 of the Public Health Service Act)

2. Award Information

We intend to make funds available for competing G (Grant) awards.

We anticipate the total amount of funds available to be $1,000,000 for an estimated four competitive awards. Funding available for the first budget period will have a ceiling of $250,000 per award and a floor of $115,000.

We anticipate issuing notices of award 09/25/2024, with a project start date of 09/30/2024.

Budget period(s) We expect to fund awards in 12-month budget periods for a total period of performance up to 36 month(s). However, we may approve shorter periods of performance. Budget periods may vary from the estimated 12 months as a result of timing of award issuance or other administrative factors.

For multi-year projects, recipients must submit a non-competing continuation (NCC) application for each budget period after the first. We will provide guidance generally 3 months prior to the end of the active budget period. Continuation funding is contingent upon the availability of funds, satisfactory progress of the project, appropriate stewardship of federal funds, and the best interests of the government. Funding for all approved budget periods after the first is generally the same as the initial award amount subject to any offset with funds unused in the previous budget period.

Opportunity for Transition to Post-Award Sustainability

For this opportunity, we anticipate offering a competitive additional budget period for the purpose of funding selected recipients in transitioning successful projects to sustainability once the award has ended. Funding for this additional budget period is not guaranteed nor do we expect it to be at the same level of any previous budget periods. Therefore, this potential for an addition year is not reflected in the estimated performance period on page 1.

C. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. Eligible Applicants Any private (either profit or nonprofit) or public entity located in a State is eligible to apply for an award under this NOFO.

“State” includes, in addition to the several States, only the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and any agency or instrumentality thereof exclusive of local governments. (42 U.S.C. § 201(f) (PHS Act, Section 2(f)), 45 C.F.R. § 75.2).

Eligible entities include private (either profit or nonprofit) or public faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, and American Indian/Alaska Native/Native American (AI/AN/NA) organizations.

Additional examples of eligible Organizations include:

State governments

County governments

City or township governments

Special district governments

Independent school districts

Public and State controlled institutions of higher education

Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)

Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities

Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)

Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education

Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education

Private institutions of higher education

For profit organizations other than small businesses

Small businesses

2. Cost Sharing or Matching You are not required to provide cost sharing or matching in your proposed budget.

If you voluntarily include cost sharing in your application, you must include in your budget narrative a non-federal sources justification as described in Section H.4 or your application will be disqualified (Section C.4). Voluntary cost sharing is not expected for research applications.

During the merit review of an application, cost sharing will only be considered in the overall review of the adequacy of the total proposed budget (Federal and non-Federal share) to support the project proposed. You will not receive any preference, priority, or special consideration in the funding process for voluntarily including cost sharing in your proposed budget.

Awarded applications including cost sharing or matching commitment, whether required or voluntary, will include the commitment on the notice of award at the level proposed in the application (Section D.3.b). Any change in the cost sharing or matching commitment will require prior approval of the grants management officer.

Cost-Sharing or Matching may include any in-kind contributions necessary for the implementation of the proposed project (45 C.F.R. § 75.306).

3. Other - Application Responsiveness Criteria We will review your application to determine whether it meets the responsiveness criteria below.

If your application does not meet the responsiveness criteria, we will disqualify it from the competition; we will not review it beyond the initial screening. The responsiveness criteria are:

The Project Abstract Summary must state the current vaccine rate of the community of focus for the project.

4. Application Disqualification Criteria

Disqualification means we will not review the application and will give it no further consideration.

We will disqualify applications:

• not submitted electronically via Grants.gov

• not submitted by the due date and time indicated in this NOFO (unless an exemption was granted by the grants management officer in writing 2 business days prior to the deadline).

• submitted multiple times for the same project from the same organization, except for the last application received by the deadline.

• not completed or missing required forms in the application package found on Grants.gov including: SF-424; SF-424A, SF-LLL, and the Project Abstract Summary (Section D.2).

• not meeting the formatting requirements (Section D.2), specifically those:

o not in the English language and U.S. dollars (45 C.F.R. § 75.111(a)).

o not with an 8 ½ ” x 11” page size, with 1” margins on all sides (top, bottom, left and right).

with a font size of not less than 12 points.

o with a Project Narrative that is not double-spaced o exceeding the 30 page limit for the Project Narrative.

o exceeding the total 60 page limit for the Project Narrative plus Appendices combined, excluding SF-424, SF-424A, SF-LLL, Project Abstract Summary, and Budget Narrative with budget tables.

• requesting total funds (direct plus indirect costs) that are either:

o Above the Award Ceiling of $250,000; or o Below the Award Floor of $115,000.

• lacking a non-federal sources justification in the budget narrative when including cost sharing (voluntary or required) (Section C.2).

• lacking and failing to address the Other – Application Responsiveness Criteria (Section C.3), if any.

https://grants.gov/

D. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION

INFORMATION

1. Obtaining an Application Package

The complete application package is available on Grants.gov. Search either the Assistance Listing number (93.344) or the NOFO number (NV-VSR-24-001). All materials will be under the Package tab when on the NOFO webpage. If you have problems locating the application package, contact:

OASH Grants and Acquisitions Management Division

Phone: 240-453-8822

Email: OASH_Grants@hhs.gov

2. Content and Form of Application Submission

Your application must be prepared using the forms and information provided in the online application package on Grants.gov. This includes but is not limited to:

• SF-424 Application for Federal Assistance

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

• SF-LLL Disclosure of Lobbying Activities

• Project Abstract Summary

Instructions for each form are found under the Related Documents tab on Grants.gov.

a. Project Narrative Formatting Following the formatting instructions below will help ensure that your application is readable for review process.

1. Names of Individuals We encourage you to use individuals’ full names (first, middle, last) on the standard forms and any other documents such as résumés/curricula vitae/biographical sketches to distinguish them for verification in the SAM exclusion records. Delays may result in award processing if full names are not provided. You should avoid submitting personally identifiable information such as personal contact information (e.g. home address and telephone number) on résumés/curricula vitae/biographical sketches. Do not submit social security numbers.

If you receive an award, only one Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) will be named on the award documents. Although your organization may recognize co-PIs on team-managed projects, we recognize only a single PD/PI who will be responsible for the programmatic aspects http://grants.gov/ mailto:OASH_Grants@hhs.gov?subject=NOFO%20inquiry of the project. Clearly identify the individual to be PD/PI in your application. We typically expect this to be the person named on the SF-424 in box 8.f.

Do not use a placeholder or honorary PD/PI because this does not present an accurate picture about who will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the project. If you have not hired an individual to be the PD/PI, you should name an interim PD/PI, and your application should clearly identify that person as such.

Identify other personnel who are essential or key to the execution of the proposed project clearly in your project narrative.

If you receive an award, a request for a change in PD/PI or key personnel under any circumstance requires prior approval of the grants management officer before becoming effective. See Section F.2.c.

2. Page Formatting If you submit documents that do not conform to the following instructions, GAM will disqualify your application during the review process. must double-space the Project Narrative pages.

You must submit your application in the English language and in terms of U.S. dollars (45 C.F.R. § 75.111(a)).

Use an easily readable typeface, such as Times New Roman or Arial. You must use a 12-point font. You may single-space tables or use alternate fonts but you must ensure the tables are easy to read.

Your project narrative and total application including appendices, must adhere to the page limits indicated in Section C.4. The page limit does not include the budget narrative (including budget tables), the required forms (SF-424, SF-424A, SF-LLL, and the Project Abstract Summary), and any required assurances/ certifications listed in Section C.3.

Do not number pages or include a table of contents. Our grants management system will generate page numbers once your application is complete. If your application exceeds the specified page limits for the project narrative or and total application (i.e., project narrative plus appendices (Section C.4)) when printed on 8.5” X 11” paper, the application will not be reviewed further.

We encourage you to print out your application before submitting it to ensure that it is within the page limits and is easy to read. Pages must not be reduced resulting in multiple pages on a single sheet to avoid exceeding the page limitation.

3. Electronic File Submission We require that all applications be submitted electronically via the Grants.gov portal unless an exemption has been granted in writing by the grants management officer (See Section D.5).

Applications, excluding required standard forms, must be submitted as three (3) files.

File 1 the complete Project Narrative, File 2 the entire Budget Narrative including supporting documentation described in the Budget Narrative content section; and File 3 all documents that make up the Appendices described in Section D.3.c.

Any additional files submitted as part of the Grants.gov application will not be accepted for processing and will be excluded from the application during the review process. Merit reviewers are not permitted to follow embedded links to materials outside of the application. Your content must fit within the page limits of the application.

We only accept the file formats identified below to ensure compatibility across our other systems even though Grants.gov will allow you to attach any file format. To be accepted under this NOFO, all files uploaded for your application must be in an acceptable file format and must contain a valid file format extension in the filename.

Acceptable File Formats

(extension) Unacceptable File Formats

(extension)

• Adobe PDF (.pdf)

• Microsoft Word (.doc or

.docx)

• Image formats (.jpg, .gif, .tif, or .bmp only)

• Microsoft Excel files (.xls)

• Any compressed file formats

(e.g., .zip, .rar, or Adobe Portfolio)

• Any password-protected files

We strongly encourage you to upload your application in the Adobe PDF format. By converting to PDF prior to submission, you may prevent any unintentional changes that might occur with submission of an editable document. Most commonly available electronic document drafting tools have the ability to “Save As” or “Print To PDF.”

We do not recommend submitting scanned copies through Grants.gov unless you have confirmed the clarity of the scan and the readability of the documents.

Any file submitted as part of the Grants.gov application that is not in a file format listed above will not be accepted for processing and will be excluded from the application during the review.

We will not contact you for resubmission of files to correct the file type. We will not contact you for passwords or resubmission of unprotected files. Unprotected information in the application will be forwarded for consideration but password protected portions will not.

b. Budget Narrative Format

The budget narrative should use the formatting required of the project narrative for the explanatory text. Budget tables may be single-spaced but should be laid out in an easily-readable format and within the printable margins of the page. The page limit does not include the SF- 424A or the budget narrative (including budget tables).

c. Appendices Format Your appendices should include any specific items outlined in Section D.3.c. Your documents should be easy to read. You should use the same formatting specified for the project narrative.

However, documents such as résumés/curricula vitae/biographical sketches, organizational charts, tables, Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) or Letters of Commitment (LOCs) may have formatting common to those documents, so long as the pages are easy to read. All of your appendices must be uploaded as a single, consolidated file in the Attachments section of your Grants.gov application. We strongly encourage you to convert your file(s) to PDF format before uploading.

d. Project Abstract Summary Format You must complete the Project Abstract Summary form. The application page limit does not include the Project Abstract Summary Form. Do not include sensitive or proprietary information in your abstract.

The abstract will serve as the application summary going forward. If your project is funded, we will publish the abstract on TAGGS.hhs.gov and USASpending.gov as you submitted it. You may request to edit it later, or we may ask you to edit it later to reflect any changes to the project.

The abstract may also appear on the program office website or other government websites.

Research projects may enter zero for “Estimated number of people to be served as a result of the award of this grant.”

3. Application Content Successful applications will contain the following information:

a. Project Narrative Content The Project Narrative is the most important part of your application, because we will use it as the primary basis to determine whether your project merits an award. The project narrative should provide a clear and concise description of your project. We recommend that your project narrative include the following components and provide the requested information.

1. Project Significance Describe the nature and scope of the specific vaccine confidence demonstration project is designed to address. Use available national and local data to explain your selection of the low vaccinated underserved population(s) which include quantitative and qualitative data of the project’s population(s) and geographic area(s) of focus.

Describe the significance of your proposed community level innovation on promoting vaccine confidence for underserved and disadvantaged populations in the broader public health context. These populations may include racial/ethnic minorities, American Indian and Alaska Native populations, and individuals with limited English proficiency. Emphasize how your demonstration project will affect use of preventive health services among the population(s) of focus. Participation in your project may not be denied to any person based on race, ethnicity, sex, color, or national origin.

2. Project Approach

a. Goals, Objectives, and Outcomes

Describe your demonstration project’s proposed goal(s) and major objectives associated with each goal. Project goals should reflect this NOFO’s goals. Your project goals should be ambitious and achievable in the period of performance

Use baseline data and quantifiable time-frames to describe SMARTIE (specific, measurable, accurate, relevant, time-bound, inclusive, and equitable) objectives.

Identify specific, quantified, measurable outcomes expected to result from the project. Connect the proposed goals, objectives, and outcomes to the activities described in your work plan. Outcomes should be reflected in your logic model.

Consider the benefits to the fields of vaccine equity, vaccine disparities, and preventive health strategies for underserved and disadvantaged populations.

b. Project Plan

Explain the rationale for your approach and activities. Describe how your community level innovations will address vaccine confidence barriers among the population(s) of focus to increase vaccine trust, leading to increased vaccine uptake.

Apply community level public health novel intervention strategies to the planned approach and activities. Propose an approach for developing activities to reflect the cultural and linguistic preferences of the population(s) of focus. Detail the nature of the activities, why they were selected, and how they address your identified gaps and barriers. Support your proposed approach with the summary of proposed activities included in your work plan.

Identify public, private, and community partners, including trusted messengers, who will participate in the development and implementation of project activities. Explain your rationale and approach for engaging these partners and describe how they will contribute to the project.

Describe anticipated project challenges. These might include challenges around planning, implementation, evaluation, or other activities. Explain your approach to addressing identified and unanticipated barriers.

c. Project Management

Describe how you will monitor and track progress of the project at the task level to ensure timeliness and project integrity. Describe how you will oversee and maintain partner engagement to accomplish project activities within the period of performance. Explain your risk management approach to avoiding major disruptions to project timelines (e.g., loss of staff, partners, or project participants), including a plan for managing key staff transitions such as promotions or turnover. Describe your organization leadership's role in oversight of the project.

3. Evaluation

Describe the methods you will use to evaluate whether the project achieves its SMARTIE objectives and measurable outcome(s). Summarize your evaluation plan, identifying individuals/organizations responsible for evaluation activities and including your approach to:

• Monitoring, documenting, measuring, and reporting key project outcome(s) and progress towards reducing vaccine confidence related barriers

• Collecting baseline, interim, and post-intervention data related to process and outcome measures

• Anticipating and overcoming any potential obstacles to data collection

• Using quantitative and qualitative tools, and process and outcome evaluation techniques to analyze the goals and objectives of the project

• Document lessons learned

• Ensuing evaluator independence

4. Dissemination Describe the method(s) you will use to disseminate the project's results and findings to the population(s) of focus, the public, stakeholders, and other parties interested in using the project results. Include any innovative approaches as well as traditional forms of dissemination, such as abstracts or presentations at national public health conferences. Consider how your results may inform practice, service delivery, program development, and policymaking.

5. Organizational Capability

a. Applicant Organization Description

Summarize your organization’s capability and capacity to successfully implement the proposed project. Include your organization’s current mission, scope of activities, and readiness to demonstrate impact within the period of performance. Describe your organization’s experience with successfully administering grant projects of similar size and scope related to vaccines. Refer to the organizational chart in your appendices to show the relationship of the project to the overall organization.

b. Community Level Expertise and Collaborative Partnerships

Describe your organization’s experience and capability to work with organizations to form a collaborative network. Describe your partnerships with community-based organizations (CBOs), local health departments, and other community-based affiliations, who work with trusted messengers or community health workers to increase vaccine confidence. Describe the network's ability to engage in community level strategies within the population(s) of focus. Describe the network members' anticipated level of effort and responsibility for completing programmatic activities.

Refer to any memoranda of agreement or letters of commitment provided in your appendices to demonstrate network readiness and level of commitment. Also include information about the role(s) of any contractors and consultants that will be involved in implementing the project and achieving project goals.

c. Project Staff and Key Roles

Identify the individual who will be the Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) and any additional key personnel whose contributions are essential to the project. Key personnel include the PD/PI and those individuals who will oversee the technical, professional, managerial, and support functions. Key personnel may also have responsibility for assuring the validity and quality of the project. Submit curricula vitae, résumés, or biographical sketches in your appendices that describe key personnel areas of expertise. Describe each key personnel’s qualifications, competing time commitments, and related ongoing projects.

Specify who would have day-to-day responsibility for key tasks, such as project leadership, monitoring the project’s ongoing progress, preparation of reports, and communicating with the collaborative network. We expect that throughout the award period the PD/PI will be involved in, and have substantial knowledge about, all aspects of the project.

b. Budget Package Content A complete budget package consists of the required standard form “Budget Information Non-construction Programs” (SF-424A) and a budget narrative with detailed justification. You should include supporting documentation for your budget (e.g., a copy of your approved indirect cost rate) as part of the budget package, not as part of your appendices.

1. Standard Form SF-424A You must enter the project budget according to the directions provided with this standard form.

You must provide an object class category budget for the first 12 months (i.e., first budget period) of the proposed project using Section B, box 6 of SF-424A. For awards with an estimated period of performance of one year or less, this will be your total budget request for the entire project.

"Federal resources" refers only to the funds for which you are applying under this NOFO. "Non-federal resources" are all other resources (federal and non-federal).

Do not include costs beyond the first budget period in the object class budget in box 6 of SF- 424A or box 18 of SF-424; the amounts entered in these sections should only reflect the first budget period.

2. Budget Narrative and Justification

The budget narrative must include a detailed line-item budget that includes calculations for all costs and activities by the "object class categories" identified on SF-424A and a justification for the costs. The object class budget organizes your proposed costs into a set of defined categories.

Your budget narrative should justify the overall cost of the project as well as the proposed cost per activity, service delivered, and/or product. For example, the budget narrative should define the amount of work you have planned and expect to perform, what it will cost, and an explanation of how the result is cost effective. If you are proposing to provide services to clients, you should describe how many clients you expect to serve, the unit cost of serving each client, and how this is cost effective.

Proposed costs must adhere to the cost principles described in 45 C.F.R. §§75.400-75.477. We have provided additional information on the most common cost categories for applications for OASH awards in Section H.4.

Project budget calculations must include estimation methods, quantities, unit costs, and other similar quantitative detail sufficient to verify the calculations. Carefully review Section D.7 Funding Restrictions for specific information regarding allowable, unallowable, and restricted costs.

For each proposed cost for the first budget period of the project, provide a budget justification, which includes explanatory text and line-item detail. The budget narrative should describe how you derived the categorical costs. Discuss the necessity and reasonableness of the proposed costs for the project you propose.

For subsequent budget years in an anticipated multi-year period of performance, provide a summary narrative and line-item budget for each year beyond the first. For categories or items that differ significantly from the first budget year, provide a detailed justification explaining these changes. Funding for all approved budget periods after the first is generally the same as the initial award amount subject to offset with funds unused in the previous budget period.

Preparing the Budget Narrative

Use the guidelines in Section H.4 for preparing the detailed object class budget. We recommend you present budget amounts and computations in a columnar format: first column, object class categories; second column, federal funds requested; third column, non-federal resources; and last column, total budget.

Sample Budget Table Object Class Federal Funds

Requested Non-federal Resources

Total Budget

Personnel $100,000 $25,000 $125,000

Describing Federal and Non-federal Share

Both federal and non-federal resources (if applicable) must be detailed and justified in the budget narrative. "Federal resources" refers only to the HHS/OASH funds for which you are applying https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-A/part-75/subpart-E under this NOFO. "Non-federal resources" are all other non-HHS/OASH federal and non-federal resources.

If matching or cost sharing is required or offered voluntarily, you must include a detailed listing of any funding sources identified in box 18 of SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance).

Selecting an Indirect Cost Method

You must state the method you are selecting for your indirect cost rate. See Indirect Costs (Section H.4) for further information.

If you are providing in-kind contributions of any type or value, including costs otherwise covered by your indirect cost rate, you must identify those costs, and you should, as appropriate, include the value of the in-kind contribution as proposed cost-sharing (voluntary or required) (45 C.F.R. § 75.306).

If you are using a negotiated indirect cost rate, you should submit your negotiated agreement with your budget narrative. We may require a copy of your agreement prior to making any award to you.

Subrecipient/contract and consultant activities must be described in sufficient detail to describe accurately the project activities that each will conduct.

All subrecipient/contract and consultant detailed costs should be included in their respective line items and not broken out in the overall project object class line items. For example, subrecipient/contract travel should be included in the Contractual line item not in Travel. See Section H.4 for more information.

3. Plan for Recipient Oversight of Federal Award Funds You must include a plan for oversight of federal award funds which describes:

• how your organization will provide oversight of federal funds and how award activities and partner(s) will adhere to applicable federal award and programmatic regulations.

Include identification of risks specific to your project as proposed and how your oversight plan addresses these risks.

• the organizational systems that demonstrate effective control over and accountability for federal funds and program income, compare outlays with budget amounts, and provide accounting records supported by source documentation.

• for any program incentives proposed, the specific internal controls that will be used to ensure only qualified participants will receive them and how they will be tracked.

• organizational controls that will ensure timely and accurate submission of Federal Financial Reports to the OASH Grants and Acquisitions Management Division via the Payment Management System as well as timely and appropriate withdrawal of cash from the Payment Management System.

If your internal controls are available online, you may provide the link as part of your plan in the budget narrative. Although merit reviewers are not permitted to access any external materials linked in the application as part of their review, this link would facilitate review of your proposal if recommended for risk assessment (Section E.3).

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-A/part-75/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR911e5e1a30bfbcb/section-75.306 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-A/part-75/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR911e5e1a30bfbcb/section-75.306

Section H.5 contains questions you may find useful in preparing your “Recipient Plans for Oversight of Federal Funds.”

c. Appendices All items described in this section will count toward the total page limit of your application. You must submit them as a single electronic file uploaded to the Attachments section of your Grants.gov application.

Samples and optional forms/templates for some of these items are located under the Related Documents tab for this NOFO on Grants.gov.

� Work Plan Include a detailed work plan that is consistent with your project narrative and budget narrative. Your work plan should cover all years of the estimated period of performance.

A work plan should include a statement of the project’s overall goal(s), key SMARTIE objectives (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound, inclusive, and equitable), milestone activities, and anticipated measurable outcome(s)/impact(s). Your objectives should align with the expectations of this opportunity, and the major tasks, action steps, or activities to achieve the goal and outcome(s). For each major task, action step, or activity, the work plan should identify the person(s) responsible, the timeline for completing activities (including start- and end-dates), and measures of success.

A suggested Work Plan Template is included under Related Documents in grants.gov (the instruction pages will not count toward your page limit) or you may create your own work plan. Regardless of the option you choose, the work plan you submit must address all of the content requested.

� Logic Model Submit a detailed logic model that describes the inputs, objectives, activities, outputs, and short- and long-term outcomes of the proposed project. All program objectives, activities, and anticipated outcomes should be reflected in the logic model and demonstrate that the proposed project reflects a coherent approach. A sample is provided on Grants.gov under Related Documents for this NOFO.

� Documentation of Level of Commitment Submit documentation to support the level of commitment of any partners or collaborators you have described as having essential or important roles in the project’s success.

Documentation of commitment is typically a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) or a Letter of Commitment (LOC). A signed MOA generally demonstrates a higher level of commitment between the partners or collaborators. LOCs are typically a precursor to an MOA that the partners or collaborators sign before a project begins.

Data Sharing Agreements (DSAs) are a type of documentation of commitment that establish the parameters and responsibilities related to data collection, storage, and sharing. See Section F.9 for information about the federal governments interests in any data produced under an award under this NOFO.

Do not provide copies of contracts.

Regardless of what you call your document, it should include specific roles, responsibilities (including specific activities), resources, and contributions of the partner(s) or collaborator(s) to the project. The document should also describe each partner’s or collaborator’s specific expertise, experience, and access to the targeted population(s) or community(ies). It is your responsibility to ensure that all partners and collaborators have the necessary understanding of their roles to participate in the project.

If signed documentation for one or more partners or collaborators are not available when you submit your application, submit an unsigned draft of the document and the anticipated date of having all signatures.

Fully-executed DSAs and MOAs identified for essential roles in the project…