Special instructions for Grants.gov applications.docx

Instructions Special Instructions for Completing and Submitting High Energy Cost Grant Electronic Applications on Grants.gov

These instructions are for USDA Rural Utilities Service High Energy Cost Grant Program applications that are submitted electronically through Grants.gov and are in addition to the Grants.gov’s general instructions for completing and filing applications in the “For Applicants” section of its website.

These special instructions are to be used with the Notice of Solicitation of Applications (NOSA) published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 and the 2015 Application Guide.

Please read and follow the instructions carefully and completely.

Electronic Applications

USDA encourages applicants to submit their applications electronically through Grants.gov. On the Grant.gov site, you will find step-by-step instructions for submitting completed electronic applications for the High Energy Cost Grant Program.

Applicants may also download application packages from Grants.gov and complete them off line and print and submit the paper application directly to the High Energy Cost Grant Program at the address provided without completing the registration process.

Download the Complete Application Package Instructions and Forms

The complete application package and instructions consist of:

· the October 13, 2015 Notice of Solicitation of Applications (NOSA)

· the 2015 Application Guide

· the grants.gov application package containing the mandatory standardized forms and instructions for this grant opportunity

· the mandatory USDA “Certification Regarding Debarment, Suspension and Other Responsibility Matter - Primary Covered Transactions”

· the mandatory USDA Form AD 3030 “Representations Regarding Felony Conviction and Tax Delinquent Status for Corporate Applicants” (Corporations only)

· the mandatory “RUS Environmental Questionnaire”

The NOSA, Application Guide and mandatory forms may also be downloaded on the RUS High Energy Cost Grant Website at http://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/high-energy-cost-grants and uploaded as attachments.

Download any required software to complete the Application Package.

Applicants must have a compatible version of Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat software to be able to read and work with the downloaded electronic application package offline to complete their applications. Consult the Grants.gov website to see if your software is compatible or to download free Adobe software.

Applying Through Grants.gov

1. Get Registered with Grants.Gov and with the System for Award Management (SAM).

The first step in applying through Grants.gov is registration. Grants.gov has streamlined its registration processes and now provides separate registration paths for organizations and individual applicants. The registration information for applicants can be found at the “Get Registered” page on Grants.gov. Read and follow these steps carefully.

Applicants must complete the Grants.gov registration process and register with the System for Awards Management (SAM) to be able to submit online applications. Instructions for registration with both entities are available on Grants.gov.

Organizational applicants are required to obtain Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, if they do not already have one.

The registration process is separate from submitting an application and may take up to one to two weeks for organizations. Applicants are, therefore, encouraged to register with Grants.gov and SAM early and well ahead of your application submission deadline. You will be able to submit your application online any time after you receive your e-authentication credentials.

NOTE” Applicants that download and submit paper applications are not required to register with Grants.gov, but must register with the System for Awards Management (SAM).

2. Complete the Grants.gov Application Package

The Grants.gov website provides detailed instructions and a tutorial on how to complete an application package using Grants.gov. Please read these carefully for information on opening the application forms, entering mandatory data, attaching files, saving your work, and submitting the completed application. Refer to the Application Guide and the NOSA for details on what to include in the narrative proposal and attachments.

After you have opened the High Energy Cost Grant application package using the Adobe software installed on your computer, you will see a menu of standard mandatory and optional forms. The mandatory forms required for this application package are:

· SF 424, Application for Federal Assistance;

· SF-424A, Budget Information - Non-Construction Programs;

· SF-424B, Assurances for Non-Construction Programs;

· SF LLL, Disclosure of Lobbying Activities;

· Project Narrative Attachment Form – for attaching your narrative proposal prepared according to the NOSA and the Application Guide; and

· Attachments Form – for attaching the required Debarment Certification, Felony and Tax Assurances, and Environmental Questionnaire documents and other materials required in the narrative proposal to your application package.

Grants.gov will not accept your application unless you complete and submit all of the above the mandatory forms.

In addition to the mandatory forms, Grants.gov allows you to attach additional information using optional forms. The optional forms for this grant application package are:

· Budget Narrative Attachment Form – for attaching documents with supporting budget details.

· Other Attachments Form – for attaching optional supplementary forms materials documents for the narrative proposal.

You must complete and attach USDA mandatory forms that must also be attached to your application package or your application will be considered as incomplete and ineligible. They are:

· A completed USDA Certification Regarding Debarment, Suspension and Other Responsibility Matter - Primary Covered Transactions

· A completed USDA Form AD 3030 “Representations Regarding Felony Conviction and Tax Delinquent Status for Corporate Applicants” (Corporations only)

· A completed USDA Rural Utilities Service Environmental Questionnaire.

Use the Other Attachments Form to include these in your Application

These forms are available for download in the Application package or on the program website.

Completing the Electronic Forms.

You will be instructed to complete the SF-424 Form First.

You must enter the requested information for all required fields. Once the SF-424 is completed, the information will transfer to the other required forms. Complete all the mandatory forms as directed. Save your work as you proceed. Your online application package must include all the mandatory forms and attachments. Grants.gov will not accept your application if any mandatory forms or attachments are missing.

Preparing the Project Narrative

Your narrative grant proposal is your written project description and must contain all the required information in the order specified in detail in the NOSA and the Application Guide for your application to be accepted as complete once we have received it from Grants.gov. Prepare your narrative using your own word-processing software and save it to a file for uploading to Grants.gov. See the NOSA and below for acceptable file formats. We encourage you to convert your narrative to portable document format (.pdf). If you use other formats, we may not be able to read your attachment and your application may be rejected.

Your Narrative Grant Proposal attached must include and address all the elements required for paper applications in the order specified in the NOSA. See Table 2 “Required Content and Form of Applications” in the NOSA and the Application Guide for a checklist of required contents.

The NOSA and the Application Guide describe in detail what you must include in each section of the narrative grant proposal.

The Grants.gov Project Narrative Attachment Form feature will allow you to upload files containing your narrative grant proposal and you may also include including the required debarment certification and Environmental Profile, and any supplementary materials in this file.

Acceptable File Formats for Attachments

We encourage you to submit your attachments in portable document format (.pdf) to preserve your original formatting and the integrity of your documents. Save your document in .pdf format for uploading to Grants.gov via the Attachment forms. The Grants.gov website resources section provides links to PDF Conversion Programs that can be downloaded and allow users to read and transmit Portable Document Format files that are contained within the Grants.gov system.

USDA can also accept electronic applications in the following widely-used file formats: Microsoft Office Files – MS Word (.doc. .docx), MS Excel (.xls), and compatible formats; text files, (.txt); rich text (.rtf) formats, and Adobe pdf files (.pdf). We have experienced difficulty reading or opening files in other formats because of network security limitations within USDA. If we receive an electronic application in a format that we cannot read, your application may be rejected. We strongly encourage you to save your files in .pdf format for uploading to Grants.gov via the Attachment forms. It is the Applicant’s responsibility to make sure that the files attached are in compatible format.

Uploading Attachments

When you are ready to upload files into your Grants.gov application package, click on the appropriate attachment form from the menus for mandatory and optional forms. You will be guided through the process to browse and select the files you wish to upload.

Be sure to save your application package when you are done.

Submitting Your Application When you are ready to submit your application package, click the “submit” button located at the top of the application package cover page. It will not be live until you have:

· completed all required forms;

· attached all required documents; and

· saved your application package If you experience difficulty, please consult the directions on the Grants.gov website.

USDA recommends that you submit your applications during the operating hours of the Grants.gov Support Desk, so that if there are questions concerning transmission, operators will be available to walk you through the process. Submitting your application during the Support Desk hours will also ensure that you have sufficient time for the application to complete its transmission prior to the application deadline. Do not wait until the last minute. Applicants using dial-up or other slow internet connections should be aware that transmission should take some time before Grants.gov receives it. Grants.gov will provide either an error or a successfully received transmission message. The Grants.gov Support desk reports that some applicants abort the transmission because they think that nothing is occurring during the transmission process. Please be patient and give the system time to process the application. Uploading and transmitting many files particularly electronic forms with associated XML schemas will take some time to be processed. Remember that the deadline is midnight Eastern Standard Time.

Grants.gov Customer Support.

The Grants.gov website provides customer support online, by phone at 1-800-518-4726 (this is a toll-free number) or through e-mail at support@grants.gov. The Contact Center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except Federal holidays.

4. Application Deadline for Electronic Submission and Proof of Timely Submission.

All electronic submitted applications must be received by Grants.gov on or before the 12:00 midnight Eastern Standard Time, Monday, December 14, 2015 deadline. Applications received by Grants.gov, after the established due date for the program will be considered late and will not be considered for funding.

Proof of timely submission is automatically recorded by Grants.gov. An electronic time stamp is generated within the system when the application is successfully received by Grants.gov. The applicant will receive an acknowledgement of receipt and a tracking number from Grants.gov with the successful transmission of their application. Applicants should print this receipt and save it, along with facsimile receipts for information provided by facsimile, as proof of timely submission.

When USDA successfully retrieves the application from Grants.gov, Grants.gov will provide an electronic acknowledgment of receipt to the e-mail address of the AOR. Proof of Timely submission shall be the date and time that Grants.gov receives your application.

These notices generated automatically by Grants.gov signify that your application package has been received. It is not a determination that the application package submitted is complete and eligible under the requirements of the NOSA published for the High Energy Cost Grant Program. USDA will review your application package for completeness and eligibility after it has been retrieved from Grants.gov and we will reject any application package that does not meet all requirements.

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