OT18-1804 - PRE-APPLICATION CONFERENCE CALL SCRIPT.docx

OT18-1804 - Pre-Application Conference Call Script

Contents

Part 1: WELCOME Good afternoon everyone. My name is Randall Nielson, and I am a project officer with the Partnership Support Unit in the Office for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support – also known as OSTLTS – at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I’d like to welcome you to this teleconference for funding opportunity announcement OT18-1804. This notice of funding opportunity announcement - or NOFO – is designed to strengthen the U.S. public health system’s response to public health or healthcare crises by funding organizations to provide expertise in the event of a public health or healthcare crisis. This NOFO was published in Grants.gov on January 16, 2018.

This is the first of 2 informational calls for potential applicants to OT18-1804. Please note that after both calls have been completed, we will aggregate all questions and answers and then post (1) a comprehensive FAQ document, as well as (2) the full script for these meetings on the OSTLTS NOFO website, which you can find on page 1 of the NOFO on Grants.Gov, in Section F which is titled “Dates”, under item number 3.

If you’re able, I encourage you to pull up a copy of the NOFO as published to follow along as we proceed.

Part 2: AGENDA Now, I’d like to share the agenda for today’s call. We’ve tried to keep this as simple and efficient as possible, to allow maximum time for questions and discussion. There are 4 parts to the agenda:

1. First, we’ll provide an overview of the NOFO’s origin and purpose.

2. Second, we’ll explain why this NOFO is different than other CDC funding opportunities and provide application tips to address these differences.

3. Third, we’ll address eligibility and the review and selection process.

4. Finally, we’ll begin the Q&A process, which I will describe in more detail in a moment.

Part 3: INTRODUCTIONS I’d now like to introduce the various leadership and subject matter experts participating in our call today. First, we’re joined by several members of the CDC Office of Grants Services – or OGS. Those team members are OGS Branch Chief, Sylvia Dawson; OGS Grants Management Officer, Ralph Robinson; and OGS Grants Management Specialist, Tiffany Mannings. Alongside the OGS team are my colleagues from the Partnership Support Unit at OSTLTS. The Partnership Support Unit (or PSU) at OSTLTS is responsible for administrating this NOFO. I am joined by this unit’s leadership, Sam Taveras, OSTLTS Associate Director for Partnerships, and Caroline Sulal, OSTLTS Deputy Associate Director for Partnerships.

Several other members of the larger OSTLTS leadership team are also listening in.

Part 4: PREPARING FOR Q&A Now, I’d like to take a moment to explain the process for the Q&A portion of the call, so we can answer your questions efficiently and effectively today:

· First, we’ll answer questions received via the NOFO mailbox through noon ET this morning.

· Second, we’ll open the phone line to take your current questions. The operator will provide instructions on how to do that.

· Third, if time allows, we will address any questions submitted since noon today, or this call.

· And to that point, please feel free to email questions as we’re talking. If we have time, we’ll address it, and if not, we’ll answer it in writing and post to our NOFO website. Again, the email address is OSTLTSCrisisNOFO@cdc.gov.

This call is an opportunity for you to speak with CDC directly. Given that our time is limited, we will provide the answers to all your questions – including those not addressed today - in a Frequently Asked Questions document. The first FAQ document will be posted to the OSTLTS NOFO website no later than 5pm Eastern Time on Friday, February 23rd.

Of course, you may continue to email questions throughout the application period to the NOFO mail box, which is OSTLTSCrisisNOFO@cdc.gov. We will confirm receipt of your question within 3 business days, and will respond by adding it – and the answer – to an updated FAQ document to be posted on the OSTLTS NOFO website every Thursday by 5pm Eastern Time, beginning on Thursday, March 1st.

Part 5: OVERVIEW of NOFO ORIGIN & PURPOSE Now, we’d like to provide an overview of this NOFO’s origin and purpose. We will describe the unique nature of this opportunity, briefly explain its background, and point out why this NOFO is different than other CDC funding opportunities. You may refer to page 22 of the NOFO, under the section titled, “Additional Information on Eligibility”.

· What CDC goal does this NOFO address? This NOFO addresses CDC’s goal to strengthen the U.S. public health system’s response to an emergency or crisis situation, whenever or wherever that situation arises. As used here, the “U.S. public health system” refers to governmental state, tribal, local and territorial health departments (also referred to as STLTs) with responsibility for protecting the health and safety of the populations within their jurisdiction.

· How is CDC pursuing that goal? By implementing two NOFOs that enable the agency to provide funding for emergency or crisis response activities more quickly than through existing traditional grant programs.

· What are these new NOFOs, and to whom would they award funding? The first NOFO, CDC-RFA-TP18-1802 was published on October 11, 2017. The intended recipients are eligible state, local, territorial or federally-recognized tribal health departments. We emphasize the word eligible here because not every state, local, territorial or federally-recognized tribal health department is eligible under TP18-1802. However, the fact remains that TP18-1802 is targeted to governmental entities. Its purpose is to address the need of governmental offices involved in or preparing for a response.

The second NOFO is the focus of today’s call: OT18-1804, or “OT18” as we’ll refer to it from now on. It is intended to play a supporting role alongside TP18-1802, or “TP18”. Since the purpose of TP18 is to address the need of governmental offices responding to an emergency, the purpose of OT18 is to fund non-governmental entities that have the capability to assist in an emergency or crisis situation and improve the strength and/or effectiveness of a response. In short, OT18 aims to quickly fund entities that are not part of a government office and that have the capability to jump into an urgent situation and provide critical support. We’ll address these distinctions in terms of eligibility in more detail in a moment.

· Now that we’ve clarified the focus, what is the precise programmatic purpose of OT18? Two purposes:

1) establish a pool of non-governmental entities that are capable of rapidly providing essential expertise to various parties involved in an emergency response; and

2) fund select awardees to provide that support, when required, based on CDC’s determination of need.

· Given that purpose, how will the NOFO be awarded? The NOFO is designed to collect proposals from eligible applicants and – based on the results of the objective review process - retain qualified applications as “approved but unfunded” until a crisis occurs (also referred to as “ABUs”). After the objective review process, applicants will be informed in writing whether their application was designated as an ABU or not. Please note that an eligible application will not automatically be designated as an ABU. The decision whether to place an application on the ABU list will occur after the objective review process. (NOTE: This paragraph corrects information that was mistakenly provided in the 2/12/18 call, which stated that all applications would automatically become ABUs.)

CDC will make funding available to relevant organizations once the agency determines that a public health emergency response is needed. This means that we will not take the typical step of selecting a group of awardees based upon the results of the objective review phase.

Similarly, CDC will not issue any Notices of Grant Award (or NGAs) after the objective review phase. Instead, only the development of an emergency or crisis situation – and the government’s determination that funding from CDC is available and required for that situation – will trigger the selection of one or more recipients from this OT18’s list of approved but unfunded applications. Only then will CDC issue a Notice of Grant Award.

However, you will receive communication from us regarding your status in the overall evaluation process. First, if for any reason your application is not advanced for full review, we will notify you of this in writing, along with the reason it wasn’t advanced. Second, if your application was advanced and placed on the ABU list, or if your application was advanced but was not placed on the ABU list, we will also notify you in writing.

Part 6: WHAT MAKES THIS NOFO UNIQUE Now, let’s discuss why this NOFO is different than other CDC funding opportunities, and how these differences will impact the development and submission of your application.

The main difference between this NOFO and more traditional funding opportunities is that - because of its emergency nature - we are unable to describe a specific scenario for you, the applicant, to base the various sections of your application, such as the work plan, evaluation plan and budget, etc.

As a result, it is not possible for an applicant to describe the activities they propose to perform in great detail. Therefore, our expectations for the level of information you provide in your applications are somewhat different than those of more traditional, program-specific funding opportunities.

The NOFO explains those differences in several sections; however, we’d like to take this opportunity to share what we view as the 4 primary factors distinguishing this funding opportunity from most:

Factor 1 of 4: The Strategies and Activities section of the Project Narrative Please refer to page 28 of the NOFO. Item #10 requires that the applicant submit a Project Narrative as an attachment with their application forms. A key component of that attachment is the Strategies and Activities section.

For most NOFOs, the government’s expectation is that this section clearly and concisely details all activities the applicant proposes to perform if awarded funds.

For this NOFO – OT18-1804 – the government’s expectation is that the applicant instead uses this section to itemize and elaborate on the capabilities – such as the skills, experience and resources they offer - with regard to the 3 areas of Performance Implementation Expertise listed under Strategy 1, and the 4 areas of Content Expertise listed under Strategy 2.

Factor 2 of 4: The Work Plan section of the Project Narrative The Work Plan is also a component of the Project Narrative attachment.

For most NOFOs, we would expect a detailed plan that aligns with and supports the Strategies and Activities section.

For this NOFO, we expect that the work plan you submit in your application will be more general in description, and broader in level of detail. The NOFO provides a suggested general work plan format to assist you. Please note that you are not required to use this format.

Factor 3 of 4: The Budget Narrative Pages 30 and 31 of the NOFO outline the requirement for an itemized Budget Narrative attachment.

(NOTE: CDC updated this section of the script after the 2/12/18 call and before the 2/13/18 call. Additions to the 2/12/18 script are in red font below.)

And let me pause for a moment to provide an important clarification regarding the budget numbers. First, we apologize for the confusion caused by the references to dollars amount for both the “budget period”, which is 12 months in duration, and the “performance period or project period”, which is 24 months in duration. Here are several clarifications:

· Performance period is the total duration of the grant’s active status. The performance period is 2 years, or 24 months.

· Budget period is the amount of time a recipient has to utilize the funds awarded to them. This is the window of opportunity to spend the money you’ve received. For the purposes of application, the budget period is 12 months.

· So, for the purposes of application, the 2 budget periods = the 1 performance period.

· When you apply, you should only apply for the first budget period. Therefore, you should write your budget for 12 months.

· Because we have no way of knowing how much funding might be available for this NOFO, and for what activities, we are advising applicants to write their 12 month budgets at $300.000.

· So, please construct a budget for $300,000 over 12 months. Again, this is only for the purposes of this application – real life circumstances could change the funding amount and time period significantly when an emergency occurs.

That addresses the budget numbers. Let’s quickly address the programmatic part of the budget, meaning the text that you will write. For most NOFOs, we would expect a budget narrative that is highly aligned with the activities proposed in the Strategies and Activities and Work Plan sections.

Obviously for this emergency-based NOFO, this isn’t practical. Therefore, we have provided instructions for developing your Budget Narrative beginning on the bottom of page 7 of the NOFO and continuing to the middle of page 8. Please note, there is no wrong or right way to scope your budget, based on these instructions. The budget is not scored as a part of the selection process, but we will use the information to understand how your organization might go about performing work requested. Additionally, it is NOT required that all positions be filled at time of submission. We only ask that if you submit representative resumes or unfilled positions … you clearly indicate that the position or resume is representative, in writing.

Factor 4 of 4: HOW RECIPIENTS MAY BE SELECTED AND HOW FUNDS MAY BE AWARDED For many NOFOs, immediately after the objective review process, CDC selects an awardee - or group of awardees – according to the points awarded during that process.

For this NOFO, there are two differences.

First, an awardee or awardees will only be selected in certain situations; and second, the circumstances of the situation will determine the need for those awardees, meaning that recipients may be selected out of rank order.

As mentioned, CDC will make funding available to relevant organizations once the agency determines that a public health emergency response is needed. This means that we will not take the step of selecting a group of awardees based upon the results of the objective review phase. But as mentioned earlier, you will receive written notification from CDC that your application has been placed on the ABU list for consideration in a future emergency.

Part 7: ELIGIBILITY Now, let’s move on to eligibility, and please note that we’ll elaborate more on this topic right out of the gate in the Q&A section that is coming up. Additionally, let me point out that our Office of Grants Services colleagues are here to provide their expertise, particularly, in this area, so let me invite them to step into the conversation at any time.

Page 22 of the NOFO outlines the eligibility requirements for this opportunity. We welcome the chance to provide additional clarity here as it has been the subject of many questions. First, let me clarify that this is a domestic funding opportunity only. Second, eligibility for this opportunity is unrestricted, except for governmental entities. This means that the following entities are NOT eligible for OT18-1804:

· U.S. state government offices,

· U.S. commonwealth government offices,

· U.S. city government offices,

· U.S. county or parish government offices,

· US. Territory government offices,

· U.S. federally-recognized tribal government offices, or

· Any government offices of what are referred to as the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands (or USAPI).

Given the above, this means that all other U.S. domestic organizations, whether non-profit or for-profit, are eligible for this NOFO.

NOTE TO CLARIFY: Public universities and their component organizations are not state government offices. They are categorized as Institutes of Higher Learning or “IHLs”. All IHLs (regardless of public or private status) are eligible to apply for OT18.

We realize this may be generating questions at the moment and we’re looking forward to addressing them, but I’d again ask that we wait for the Q&A period that’s coming up to tackle those.

Part 8: The REVIEW & SELECTION PROCESS Page 35 of the NOFO outlines the Review and Selection Process:

Phase 1 Review In Phase 1 Review, all applications reviewed for eligibility and completeness.

Phase 2 & 3 Review In Phase 2 and 3 Review, CDC executes its standard objective review process and scores applications in accordance with those criteria.

Part 9: Q&A We have now reached the formal question and answer portion of the presentation. As mentioned, first we’ll address questions received through noon today, then questions from the phone, and, if time allows, we’ll address questions sent this afternoon or during the call.

END WITH Q&A