Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN) Demonstration Projects

The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), in collaboration with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL, the Department, or we), and the Social Security Administration (SSA) announce the availability of approximately $20,000,000 in funds authorized by Section 169, subsection (b)(5), of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Section 1110 of the Social Security Act, and Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 to plan and conduct pilot demonstration projects in Phase 1 of RETAIN - the Retaining Employment and Talent after Injury/Illness Network. A subset of Phase 1 RETAIN awardees will competitively receive Phase 2 RETAIN cooperative agreements and funds to implement projects at full scale. DOL will award all funds and administer all cooperative agreements in both phases of RETAIN. The RETAIN Demonstration Projects will be funded in two (2) phases. This FOA covers Phase 1. The initial period of performance (Phase 1) is eighteen (18) months and includes planning and start-up activities, including the launch of a small pilot demonstration. The small pilot demonstration must begin within nine (9) months of the award or immediately after the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provides Paperwork Reduction Act approval for the project's information collection, whichever occurs later. We expect to provide approximately $2,500,000 each to up to eight (8) state workforce agencies in the form of cooperative agreements for Phase 1. The state workforce agencies must partner with the State Health Departments, or equivalent entities generally responsible for managing, regulating, or influencing the provision of health services; health care systems practicing coordinated care and population health management; and the State Workforce Development Board. Expenditures for planning activities are limited to $1,000,000, leaving a minimum of $1,500,000 for pilot implementation. At the conclusion of the initial period of performance, up to four (4) Phase 1 awardees will be awarded supplemental funding of up to $19,750,000 each to implement the demonstration projects during Phase 2 through a separate competition. Awardees will continue receiving support from the RETAIN Program TA Provider. If funds are available in future years, DOL may award additional Phase 2 cooperative agreements to Phase 1 awardees not initially selected for Phase 2. More information on the two-phased funding process is in Section II.A and II.B. DOL will host a prospective applicant webinar for this competition. The date, time, and other logistical information will be posted on ODEP's website at https://www.dol.gov/odep.