OT18-1804 - PRE-APPLICATION FAQs_for posting_3-13-2018 - UPDATED FAQs.docx

Frequently Asked Questions

Notice of Funding Opportunity CDC-RFA-OT18-1804: “Technical Assistance for Response to Public Health or Healthcare Crises”

The following FAQs are UPDATES as of 3/13/2018, and are posted immediately below. Red font are questions, black font are answers.

1. 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. However, this duplicates the information that is asked for in the Organizational Capacity of Applicants to Implement Approach. Since each section receives a separate score, is your expectation that information be repeated in each section?

a. Answer: There will be no penalty for provision of duplicated information in any section – we realize that this is a characteristic of the announcement as it is written. As mentioned in the FAQs and conference calls, our expectation is that you provide as much information as is required to confirm your capabilities and qualifications for any aspect of the work described in the NOFO. Please do reference the script and FAQs document on the “Related Documents” tab of the Grants.Gov page for this NOFO online for more information on the government’s expectations for applicants.

2. I’m completing the Project Abstract Summary form in Grants.gov and it asks: “Estimated number of people to be served as a result of the award of this grant” I’m required to put a number in the form. Given that this is a funding for a response to an undetermined event in an undetermined location, how should I complete this information?

a. Answer: Thank you for bringing this form field to our attention. No grantee will be penalized for any answer placed in this field, but we suggest entering 1,000. Any number will suffice, again, without penalty.

3. Will we be disqualified if we didn’t submit a Letter of Intent (LOI)?

a. Answer: No. LOIs are not required, they were only encouraged. You may apply regardless of whether you sent an LOI.

4. We are an institute within a University medical school. Are we eligible to apply?

a. Answer: Yes. Any component of a domestic Institute of Higher Learning (public or private) is eligible to apply.

5. The FAQs and Script document instruct us to write a $300,000 budget over a 12 month budget period. Does this amount include all costs (e.g., indirect plus direct)? Also, can we apply for more than $300,000 or would we be disqualified?

a. Answer: Yes, the $300,000 amount would be inclusive of ALL dollars, both direct and indirect. Regarding the budget narrative, please note that this portion of your application is not scored as part of the objective review and is for CDC reference. You as the applicant will not be penalized for any amount you submit for your budget narrative, but we do advise that you submit for $300,000 over 12 months. Please note that actual dollar amounts may be much larger or smaller if and when the NOFO is activated.

6. In Section D. Application and Submission Information c. Grants.gov: In the table, Step 3. Grants.gov set-up duration indicates same day but can take 8 weeks to be fully registered and approved in the system. May an applicant submit an application if they have completed the one-time registration process at www.grants.gov but has not been fully registered and approved in the system?

a. Answer: Unfortunately, CDC has no involvement with the Grants.Gov submission software and process, but Grants.Gov does have an excellent help desk function that can be accessed at https://grants.gov/web/grants/support.html. We encourage applicants to contact the Grants.Gov support team ASAP with questions like the above. That said, we encourage all eligible parties to apply, regardless of how recently they registered with Grants.Gov. Please attempt to apply, and if you encounter any difficulties, contact the Grants.Gov help desk using the contact information provided at the webpage above.

7. What format should the budget portion of the budget narrative be submitted in?

a. Answer: You may provide the budget narrative and any accompanying budget information in whatever format you wish, as long as your budget narrative contains the information outlined on page 30 of 51 of the NOFO.

8. In Section C. Eligibility Information 2. Additional Information on Eligibility, the 5th paragraph states "As mentioned, the entities eligible for one of the above are not eligible for the other. This means that state governments, local governments, territorial governments, and American Indian or Alaska Native Tribal Governments - which were eligible under CDC-RFA-TP18-1802 - are not eligible for CDC-RFA-OT18-1804, which is this announcement. All other organizations, however, may apply." May a for-profit organization, wholly owned by an American Indian Tribe applying for CDC-RFA-TP18-1802, apply for this announcement, CDC-RFA-OT18-1804?

a. Answer: Yes, all domestic for-profit organizations are available to apply.

9. In Section 12. Budget Narrative, last paragraph indicates that if indirect rates are requested in the budget then a copy of the indirect cost-rate agreement is required in the form of a copy of the current negotiated federal indirect cost rate agreement or a cost allocation plan approval letter. Will a provisional indirect rate submission to the cognizant officer fulfill this requirement in the event that the applicant does not have a federal indirect cost rate agreement?

a. Answer: Yes, a provisional indirect rate submission will be acceptable. We will work with any eligible applicant that does not have an existing federal indirect cost rate agreement. Please do not refrain from applying simply because you do not have an existing indirect cost rate agreement.

THIS IS THE END OF the 3/13/2018 Update to the FAQs. The content below the dividing line below is the original FAQ content.

Note to potential applicants: Red font indicates information that is either a clarification of existing NOFO content, or a correction of a statement made in error in one of the conference calls on 2/12/18 or 2/13/18.

General When are applications due?

Application packages must be successfully submitted to www.grants.gov no later than March 16, 2018, 11:59 pm (EDT). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourages applicants to ensure all Grants.gov errors are resolved and all application packages are submitted as early as possible.

Where can applicants send inquiries regarding this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)?

Applicants should submit inquiries to OSTLTSCrisisNOFO@cdc.gov Are State, Tribal, Local and Territorial (STLT) health departments the only stakeholders that applicants can target through this NOFO?

No. It is acceptable for applicants to target any stakeholders that might be involved – or with whom they might collaborate in an emergency or crisis. Recipients under this NOFO could be funded to support or provide help to any entity at all in an emergency or crisis.

What does it mean for an application to be “responsive”?

NOTE: This answer corrects information provided during the 2/12/18 conference call, in which we described a responsiveness component to the application process. That was an error. OT18-1804 does not have a responsiveness requirement. Furthermore, applicants may submit as many supporting attachments as they wish, without penalty. Supporting attachments will not count against page limits.

What does it mean to be “Approved but Unfunded”?

“Approved but Unfunded” (ABU) means that an application was advanced to the objective review phase, was reviewed and scored, and then was designated by CDC as a potential project in a future scenario. The term ABU does not mean the application was selected for award – it means that CDC approved the application for consideration for award, depending on circumstances. CDC will only make funding available once the agency determines that a public health emergency response is needed. At that time, depending on the nature of the emergency, specific applicants and specific components of their applications will be selected for funding.

Will applicants receive Notices of Grant Award (NGAs) after the objective review phase?

No, but they will receive written notification indicating whether or not their application has been designated as an ABU or not.

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 the list of ABU applications. Only then will CDC issue a Notice of Grant Award.

There is a logic model referenced on page 8 of the NOFO. Is this in reference to the logic model chart on page 5?

Yes. The chart on page 5 of the NOFO is the logic model referenced on page 8.

Is there a difference between outcomes described in the Approach session (b.ii.page 28) and expected performance measures in the Applicant Evaluation and Performance Measurement Plan (2.c. page 29)?

You are correctly observing that the terminology we use - and the approaches we suggest - regarding the Logic Model, Outcomes and Performance Measures are essentially the same. Because of the uncertainty around what an emergency scenario might look like, we provided charts and suggested formats for applicants to use in their applications so that they would not feel pressured to create elaborate documents without the benefit of specific details. We suggest applicants utilize those formats and approaches in the NOFO to take as simple an approach toward these portions of the application as possible. That said, applicants are not required to use those formats and may create their own.

Eligibility Who is NOT eligible to apply for this NOFO?

The following entities are NOT eligible to apply for this NOFO:

· 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).

All other U.S. domestic organizations, whether non-profit or for-profit, are eligible for this NOFO.

Also, please note that 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.

Are Letters of Support required?

No, Letters of Support are not required.

Are Letters of Intent (LOI) required to be submitted by applicants?

No, Letters of Intent are not required to be submitted by applicants, but they were encouraged. There will not be a penalty if an LOI was not submitted. The purpose of the LOI was for CDC staff to gauge the volume of interest for this NOFO. Also, applicants may submit an LOI at any time through the application due date at OSTLTSCrisisNOFO@cdc.gov.

Are smaller organizations, without the administrative capacities of larger companies, able or encouraged to apply?

Yes, smaller organization are able and encouraged to apply. An organization’s specific talents and capabilities could be vitally important in an emergency situation – regardless of size.

Are applicants required to have a full time/part time procurement specialist on staff in order to meet eligibility?

No, applicants do not need to have a full time/part time procurement specialist on staff in order to meet eligibility or selection requirements. However, the NOFO does require that the applicant have strength in and the ability to effectively perform the activities associated with expedited procurement. Applicants would need to confirm, through the application and supporting documents, that they have the ability to conduct this activity despite not having a full time/part time procurement specialist on staff.

Application Are applicants allowed to submit as a team (i.e. more than one organization), or must submissions be sole-sourced?

If a single organization seeks an award under this NOFO, they must submit their own application containing their own appropriate business registration numbers (e.g., EIN, DUNS).

If CDC receives an application that is a result of a group effort – and if CDC decides to make an award based on that application - please note that the award would be made only to the single EIN/DUNS number on the application. A Notice of Grant Award (NGA) is a legal instrument – so the agreement would only be between the government and the owner of that EIN/DUNS number. Any other organization that contributed to the development of that application would have no relationship with the government under OT18-1804, and no claim to funds awarded.

How much detail is expected from applicants to demonstrate strength in Strategy 1 and Strategy 2?

We emphasize that we’re looking for SPECIFICS. We will lean on an applicant’s judgement to determine the level of detail required to demonstrate strengths for Strategy 1 and Strategy 2. We do recommend, however, that applicants provide enough specific information such that the reviewer can clearly ascertain an applicant’s current ability to conduct the activities illustrated in the two strategies.

For example, for the procurement process area in Strategy 1, we need to know the extent to which you have a savvy, experienced, and skilled business office that is capable of understanding a situation in which any number of types of transactions may need to be executed (whether it’s a purchase of materials, or contracting with a vendor or another partner org or an individual subject matter expert, etc.) and coming up with options to accomplish those tasks. We need agility, confidence and experience - one of the purposes of the objective review on this NOFO is to come away with an awareness of the current capabilities of the applicant.

Does the applicant need to demonstrate expertise for procuring both goods and services or for demonstrating expedited contract procedures for procuring goods or services?

It could be either. When we write “expedited”, we mean “faster than under normal operating circumstances”. It could be somewhat faster, or significantly faster. (And yes, we certainly understand that there are realistic limitations on procurement speed that simply can’t be eliminated.)

Our expectation is that the applicant will specifically describe their capability for procuring both or either. It’s impossible to know what kind of skills and nuances will take priority in an emergency situation - don’t worry about whether you’d be faster at procuring goods than service; just state where your skills and strengths are.

Are documents that support an applicant’s claims of strength in the two strategies acceptable attachments? Will the supporting documents be used in the scoring of the overall application?

Yes, documents which support an applicant’s submission are acceptable attachments. These supporting attachments - such as resumes, SOPs, etc., - will be part of the information used during CDC’s objective review process to answer the questions outlined in the evaluation criteria. If a supporting document confirms that an applicant’s capabilities are highly aligned with a Content Expertise area, for example, then that document will figure into the evaluation process, which will impact the scoring.

Are our organization’s capabilities consistent with the services you are requesting as part of the Response to Public Healthcare Crises?

We will leave it to the applicant and their expertise regarding whether their capabilities sync with the need described in the NOFO, but certainly any eligible organization whose capabilities include functions that are routinely part of - or could be part of - an emergency or crisis response effort should apply for this NOFO.

Are our capabilities to provide specialized expertise in risk assessment, management and training enough for this application?

Please see proceeding Q&A.

Our ability to get on and off the island of Puerto Rico limited the efficacy of our rapid response. Is transportation to and from the crises considered an essential requirement or would we be able to partner with other government agencies to facilitate our getting to and from the disaster?

When this NOFO is activated, all parties involved will be in problem-solving and coordination mode – CDC, federal partners, other governmental partners, awardees under this NOFO, and other stakeholders. There are likely to be numerous challenges and obstacles to address. As such, we will be cooperating wherever possible to achieve the agency’s objectives. Ease of transportation, itself, is not an essential requirement for applying for this opportunity, but of course such a topic may come into consideration if/when an actual scenario arises. For the purposes of your application, we suggest you write to your strengths, using specifics.

Are there ways to address out-of-state licensing issues for physicians, nurses or other personnel?

Yes, CDC has specific expertise in this area.

Are there examples of how this type of service has been previously provided so that we may better understand the scope of services you may request?

Again, we encourage you to describe the capabilities you offer that could be needed in an emergency scenario, and use specifics to demonstrate your skills, experience and resources in those areas. We will lean on your judgement regarding what those capabilities might be, and we urge you to include as much supporting documentation as you feel necessary to strengthen your application.

Budget What award amount should applicant’s use when writing their tentative budgets?

Applicants should write their application budgets for a single 12-month budget period, at a total of $300,000 for that budget period. Please note the information provided in the Conference Call script explaining that budgets are referential information only, and are not scored as part of the objective review.

Will additional resources be provided for evaluation and performance measure activities once the NOFO has been activated?

No, there will be no additional funds provided specifically for evaluation. Once a scenario is confirmed and the NOFO is activated, CDC program staff will work with recipients to determine where and to what extent evaluation will be required.

Is there a cap on the Indirect Cost Rate (ICR)?

No. Indirect cost percentages are determined by the Division of Cost Allocation at the Department of Health and Human Services, and are finalized in a letter of memorandum sent to the applicant on official letterhead.

In short, your ICR is not an arbitrary number that you can choose and provide in your application – it’s a percentage resulting from official negotiation with the HHS office stated above. We ask that you provide a copy of your HHS negotiated ICR letter in your application as a supporting attachment.

Don’t worry if you do not have an ICR - you will not be penalized in the review process. Should you be selected for award, there is an official process for accommodating addressing indirect costs without an ICR on file.

Reviewing & Scoring How will applications be reviewed and scored?

Applications will be reviewed in three phases. In Phase 1, all applicant will be reviewed for eligibility and completeness; eligible and complete application will advance to the objective review process. Applicants will be notified if their application does not advance.

In Phase 2 and 3, CDC will execute its standard objective review process to score applications in accordance with those criteria. Based on the results of the objective review process, CDC will 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.)