TIP Office PEMS SOI Common Questions and Answers .pdf

Questions to and Answers from the Office to Monitor and Combat

Trafficking in Persons (TIP Office) about its 2022 Program to End Modern

Slavery (PEMS) Programming Solicitation: Request for Statements of

Interest (SOI)

ELIGIBILITY

Q. Who is eligible to apply for funding?

A. U.S.-based and foreign non-profits, nongovernmental organizations (including faith-based organizations), for-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, and public international organizations (PIOs) are eligible to apply for funding under this solicitation.

For-profit organizations are not permitted to generate profits from grant-funded activities.

The Department of State’s Office of the Procurement Executive must provide additional approval for grants awarded to for-profit entities.

Foreign governments are not eligible to apply, although governments may be beneficiaries of funded programs, provided that funding does not pay salaries of government agency personnel and that such assistance is not restricted by U.S. law or policy.

LOGISTICS

Q. How much funding does the TIP Office have for the Program to End

Modern Slavery in 2022?

A. The Program to End Modern Slavery has received $25 million in annual appropriations for each of Fiscal Years 2016 through 2021. This round of funding will use Fiscal Year 2021 funds.

Q. How much money will be allocated to each Programming Priority

Category?

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A. The TIP Office does not have specific category budgets. The final amount allocated for each category will depend on many factors, including the quality of applications received and the nature of the proposed activities.

Q. What is the maximum number of awards?

A. The number of awards obligated depends on the availability of funds and the quality of applications received.

Q. From the solicitation it is unclear whether the full SF-424 package is required by the deadline at this SOI stage.

A. Only the SF-424 form is required with the SOI submission. Instructions on how to complete the SF-424 form can be found in the Guidelines for Submitting

TIP Office PEMS Statements of Interest (SOI).

If you are unable to attach a document once the forms are completed, please contact the ILMS Support Desk at 1 (888) 313-4567 or submit a ticket through the

ILMS Self Service Portal (https://afsitsm.service-now.com/grants).

Q. What should be submitted with the Statements of Interest?

A. Please note applicants are required to submit only the project narrative (using the online narrative template) and online SF-424 form for the SOI submission.

Any additional document will result in the failure of the technical review.

Applicants are required to use the project narrative template on SAMS Domestic and must type within the template’s grey box. The narrative should be no more than 9,000 characters including spaces, footnotes, and graphs and charts, which is roughly 3 pages. The character count limit does not include the Key Information which is detailed in the PEMS Guidelines Document. Applicants should carefully read the Funding Opportunity and Guidelines (Guidelines for Submitting TIP

Office PEMS Statements of Interest) when preparing their proposal.

Q. May an applicant include footnotes in the project narrative?

A. Yes, an applicant may include footnotes within the project narrative. However, the footnotes are included within the character count limit.

https://afsitsm.service-now.com/grants

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CONTENT

Q. Does my application have to specify in which country or region my organization will work?

A. Yes, applicants must indicate the country(s) or region(s) in which the program will occur.

Q. May organizations submit an application for multiple countries or a regional project?

A. An applicant may propose a regional or multi-country project; however, the same TIP Office programming priority category must be applied within all identified countries.

Q. Must applicants address all topic areas listed under a category in the SOI or may we select one or two? Is there a limit to the number of applications we may submit?

A. Applicants must carefully read the programming priorities included in the

Notice of Funding Opportunity. The SOI should address one topic within one priority category but may overlap with other priority categories. If an application touches on more than one priority category, applicants should identify one priority category for the proposal and note the connection to other priority categories in the narrative. If applicants address multiple categories within a single application, the application must demonstrate how the chosen topic areas are interconnected.

Applicants may submit multiple proposals on different categories and/or topic areas that are not interconnected. Each individual application may focus on either one or multiple countries.

If selected to participate in the second stage, organizations may receive feedback from the TIP Office regarding condensing multiple proposed projects.

Q. Is it possible to apply jointly with another organization? Is there a limit with how many organizations I could apply?

While applicants may designate one or more partner organizations as sub-grantees, there can only be one prime award recipient. When applying to the funding

- 4 -opportunity, there must be a single or primary applicant. There is not a limit on how many sub-grantees may join with the prime organization.

Q. May an organization submit one proposal as the prime applicant and submit another proposal as a sub-grantee? And may an organization be a sub-grantee under multiple proposals?

A. The answer to both questions is yes.

Q. Does the TIP Office allow for local providers whose parent agency is headquartered outside said country to apply? For example, XX is headquartered in the U.S., however it has a regional Africa headquarters/office where it is registered as an agency.

A. Organizations with a parent agency headquartered outside of the country of proposed programming are welcome to apply to the solicitation.

Q. When can applicants expect a decision from the TIP Office on its SOI?

A. Applicants should receive a status update within about 45 days from the submission deadline. If an applicant is invited to submit a full proposal, the applicant will have approximately 45 days to complete the full proposal.

Q. Is there any restriction with regard to cost share (e.g., max. amount)?

A. If awarded, the Recipient must provide the minimum amount of cost sharing as stipulated in the Recipient's budget; if the Recipient is not successful in raising the amount by the end of the award, the USG will reduce the federal funds proportionally.

Q. May we submit additional attachments in our application?

A. No. An applicant may only submit the documents requested: project narrative

(online template) and the online form SF-424. Any additional attachments will result in a failure of the technical review.

Q. How do I unlock my SAMS-Domestic account or change my SAMS-

Domestic password? What should I do if I encounter difficulty using the

SAMS-Domestic website?

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A. The TIP Office is unable to unlock SAMS-Domestic account or reset passwords. For assistance with SAMS-Domestic (https://mygrants.service-now.com/grants) contact the ILMS Support Desk at 1-888-313-4567 (toll free for international callers) or submit a ticket using the ILMS Self Service Portal

(https://afsitsm.service-now.com/ilms/home). Please let us know if you have any questions by emailing JTIPGrants@state.gov.

COMPETITIVE REVIEW

Q. How will the TIP Office decide which SOIs to fund?

A. All SOIs received will first undergo a technical review to ensure they meet the technical requirements. SOIs which pass the technical review are reviewed by TIP

Office colleagues and are forwarded to the relevant U.S. embassy and regional bureau colleagues and other USG experts for review and comment.

Recommendations are compiled and reviewed by the TIP Office staff, which then recommend selected SOIs for full proposals to TIP Office leadership.

Q. Where may I find additional advice about preparing the SOI or full application?

A. The TIP Office must ensure a fair, transparent, competitive grants process.

No one from the TIP Office or other Department of State personnel, including

Embassy personnel, is permitted to advise you on the content of your application.

Persons with additional questions about the requirements of the solicitation may contact JTIPGrants@state.gov.

https://mygrants.service-now.com/grants https://mygrants.service-now.com/grants https://afsitsm.service-now.com/ilms/home mailto:JTIPGrants@state.gov mailto:JTIPGrants@state.gov