[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 82 (Friday, April 26, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18613-18616]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-10425]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Health Resources and Services Administration
Maternal and Child Health Services; Federal Set-Aside Program;
Continuing Education and Development Cooperative Agreements
AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), PHS.
ACTION: Notice of availability of funds.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The HRSA announces that applications will be accepted for
fiscal year (FY) 1996 funds for Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Special
Projects of Regional and National Significance (SPRANS) Continuing
Education and Development (CED) cooperative agreements to support
national education, information, and public policy projects in maternal
and child health. Awards will be made under the program authority of
section 502(a)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act, the training provision
of the MCH Federal Set-Aside Program. SPRANS training projects may be
awarded only to public or nonprofit private institutions of higher
learning. Within the HRSA, MCH CED cooperative agreements are
administered by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). Awards
under this announcement are made for grant periods of up to 5 years in
duration.
This program announcement is subject to the appropriation of funds.
Applicants are advised that this program announcement is a contingency
action being taken to assure that should funds become available for
this purpose, they can be awarded in a timely fashion consistent with
the needs of the program as well as to provide for even distribution of
funds throughout the fiscal year. At this time, given a continuing
resolution and the absence of FY 1996 appropriations for the SPRANS
program, the amount of available funding for this specific grant
program cannot be estimated.
The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving the
health promotion and disease prevention objectives of Healthy People
2000, a PHS-led national activity for setting priority areas. The MCH
Block Grant Federal Set-Aside Program addresses issues related to the
Healthy People 2000 objectives of improving maternal, infant, child and
adolescent health and developing service systems for children with
special health care needs. Potential applicants may obtain a copy of
Healthy People 2000 (Full Report: Stock No. 017-001-00474-0) or Healthy
People 2000 (Summary Report: Stock No. 017-001-00473-1) through the
[[Page 18614]]
Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office Washington, DC
20402-9325 (telephone: 202 783-3238).
The PHS strongly encourages all grant recipients to provide a
smoke-free workplace and promote the non-use of all tobacco products.
In addition, Public Law 103-227, the Pro-Children Act of 1994,
prohibits smoking in certain facilities (or in some cases, any portion
of a facility) in which regular or routine education, library, day
care, health care or early childhood development services are provided
to children.
ADDRESSES: Grant application materials for MCH CED cooperative
agreements must be obtained from and submitted to: Chief, Grants
Management Branch, Office of Operations and Management, Maternal and
Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, Room
18-12, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857,
(301) 443-1440. Applicants will use Form PHS 6025-1, approved by OMB
under control number 0915-0060. You must obtain application materials
in the mail.
Federal Register notices and application guidance for MCHB programs
are available on the World Wide Web via the Internet at address: http:/
/www.os.dhhs.gov/hrsa/mchb. Click on the file name you want to download
to your computer. It will be saved as a self-extracting (Macintosh or)
Wordperfect 5.1 file. To decompress the file once it is downloaded,
type in the file name followed by a . The file will expand to a
Wordperfect 5.1 file. If you have difficulty accessing the MCHB Home
Page via the Internet and need technical assistance, please contact
Linda L. Schneider at 301-443-0767 or ``[email protected]''.
DATES: The deadline for receipt of applications for CED cooperative
agreements is June 7, 1996.
Applications will be considered to have met the deadline if they
are either: (1) Received on or before the deadline date, or (2)
postmarked on or before the deadline date and received in time for
orderly processing. Applicants should request a legibly dated receipt
from a commercial carrier or the U.S. Postal Service, or obtain a
legibly dated U.S. Postal Service postmark. Private metered postmarks
will not be accepted as proof of timely mailing. Late applications or
those sent to an address other than specified in the ADDRESSES section
will be returned to the applicant.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for technical or programmatic
information should be directed to the contact persons identified below.
Requests for information concerning business management issues should
be directed to: Acting Grants Management Officer (GMO), MCHB, at the
address specified in the ADDRESSES section.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Program Background and Objectives
Under Section 502 of the Social Security Act, 15 percent of the
funds are to be set-aside by the Secretary to support (through grants,
contracts, or otherwise) special projects of regional and national
significance, including research, and training with respect to maternal
and child health and children with special health care needs (including
early intervention training and services development). The MCH SPRANS
set-aside was established in 1981. Support for projects covered by this
announcement will come from the SPRANS set-aside.
Continuing Education and Development (CED) training includes
efforts conducted by an institution of higher learning such as short-
term, non-degree programs, courses, workshops, conferences, symposia,
institutes, and long distance learning strategies; and/or development
or enhancement of curricula, guidelines, standards of practice, and
educational tools/strategies. Continuing Education and Development
focuses on increasing leadership skills of MCH professionals;
facilitating timely transfer and application of new information,
research findings, and technology related to MCH; and updating and
improving the knowledge and skills of health and related professionals
in programs serving mothers and children, including children with
special health care needs (CSHCN). As a result of the CED,
professionals and the public are more adequately prepared to provide
comprehensive services and to provide leadership in advancing the field
to better serve mothers and children.
The undertaking for which applications are being solicited in this
notice is intended to expand on at least one similar project in
resource and policy development--the National Education and Information
Project--conducted since 1989 by the National Center for Education in
Maternal and Child Health, Georgetown University. The general purpose
of that project was to gather, classify, store, and disseminate
information on maternal and child health. Major services included
dissemination of information and education through workshops and
conferences, and production of publications drawn from customized
databases.
Special Concerns
In its administration of the MCH Services Block Grant, the MCHB
places special emphasis on improving service delivery to women and
children from racial and ethnic minority populations who have had
limited access to care. This means that SPRANS projects are expected to
serve and appropriately involve in project activities individuals from
the populations to be served, unless there are compelling programmatic
or other justifications for not doing so. The MCHB's intent is to
ensure that project interventions are responsive to the cultural and
linguistic needs of special populations, that services are accessible
to consumers, and that the broadest possible representation of
culturally distinct and historically underrepresented groups is
supported through programs and projects sponsored by the MCHB. This
same special emphasis applies to improving service delivery to children
with special health care needs.
In keeping with the goals of advancing the development of human
potential, strengthening the Nation's capacity to provide high quality
education by broadening participation in MCHB programs of institutions
that may have perspectives uniquely reflecting the Nation's cultural
and linguistic diversity, and increasing opportunities for all
Americans to participate in and benefit from Federal public health
programs, a funding priority will be placed on projects from
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) or Hispanic Serving
Institutions (HSI) in both categories in this notice. An approved
proposal from a HBCU or HSI will receive a 0.5 point favorable
adjustment of the priority score in a 5 point range before funding
decisions are made.
Evaluation Protocol
An MCH discretionary project, including a SPRANS, is expected to
incorporate a carefully designed and well planned evaluation protocol
capable of demonstrating and documenting measurable progress toward
achieving the project's stated goals. The protocol should be based on a
clear rationale relating the project activities, the project goals, and
the evaluation measures. Wherever possible, the measurements of
progress toward goals should focus on health outcome indicators, rather
than on intermediate measures such as process or outputs. A project
lacking a complete and well-conceived evaluation protocol
[[Page 18615]]
as part of the planned activities will not be funded.
Project Review and Funding
Within the limit of funds determined by the Secretary to be
available for the activities described in this announcement, the
Secretary will review applications for funds as competing applications
and may award Federal funding for projects which will, in her judgment,
best promote the purpose of Title V of the Social Security Act, with
special emphasis on improving service delivery to women and children
from culturally distinct populations; best address achievement of
Healthy Children 2000 objectives related to maternal, infant, child and
adolescent health and service systems for children at risk of chronic
and disabling conditions; and otherwise best promote improvements in
maternal and child health.
Criteria for Review
The criteria which follow are used, as pertinent, to review and
evaluate applications for awards under all SPRANS cooperative agreement
categories announced in this notice. Further guidance in this regard is
supplied in application guidance materials.
--The quality of the project plan or methodology.
--The need for the training.
--The extent to which the project will contribute to the advancement of
maternal and child health and/or improvement of the health of children
with special health care needs;
--The extent to which the project is responsive to policy concerns
applicable to MCH grants and to program objectives, requirements,
priorities and/or review criteria for specific project categories, as
published in program announcements or guidance materials.
--The extent to which the estimated cost to the Government of the
project is reasonable, considering the anticipated results.
--The extent to which the project personnel are well qualified by
training and experience for their roles in the project and the
applicant organization has adequate facilities and personnel.
--The extent to which, insofar as practicable, the proposed activities,
if well executed, are capable of attaining project objectives.
--The strength of the project's plans for evaluation.
--The extent to which the project will be integrated with the
administration of the MCH Block Grant, State primary care plans, public
health, and prevention programs, and other related programs in the
respective State(s).
--The extent to which the application is responsive to the special
concerns and program priorities specified in this notice.
Award Categories
For FY 1996, CED cooperative agreements will be awarded in two
categories: one concerned with resource, educational and analytic
activities; and the other concerned with population-focused analytic
and related activities.
There will be substantial Federal programmatic involvement in these
cooperative agreements. This means that after award, awarding office
staff provide technical assistance and guidance to, or coordinate and
participate in, certain programmatic activities of award recipients
beyond their normal stewardship responsibilities in the administration
of grants. Federal involvement may include, but is not limited to,
planning, guidance, coordination and participation in programmatic
activities. Periodic meetings, conferences, and/or communications with
the award recipient are held to review mutually agreed upon goals and
objectives and to assess progress. Additional details on the scope of
Federal programmatic involvement in cooperative agreements, consistent
with HRSA grants administration policy, will be included in the
application guidance for these cooperative agreements.
Purpose
The purpose of these cooperative agreements is to support a program
of continuing education and development (CED) through interrelated
national education, information and public policy projects in maternal
and child health. This effort would build on the National Education and
Information Project, which has been conducted by the National Center
for Education in Maternal and Child Health, at Georgetown University.
The cooperative agreements seek to improve the health status of mothers
and children through:
--Development and dissemination of new information,
--Initiation or demonstration of new or improved ways of delivering
care or otherwise enhancing the capacity of Title V and related
programs to provide or assure the provision of appropriate services, or
--Advancing the knowledge, skills and leadership of personnel in
specialities relevant to MCH.
Based on state-of-the-art analysis, the continuing education
offered is intended to develop or improve standards, practices or
delivery of health care for the MCH population, and may be provided
through such activities as workshops, seminars, institutes, and other
relevant activities.
Awardees for these cooperative agreements will be expected to work
closely with a national maternal and child health clearinghouse and
with each other in handling referrals of inquiries and requests for
publications and other information.
Categories/Priorities
The following two categories of cooperative agreements will be
funded through this announcement:
--Category I: Resource, educational, and analytic activities to assist
in policy formulation and program development across target
populations. These would focus on such functional areas as child health
supervision, nutrition, oral health, injury prevention, immunizations,
mental health, community systems, financing, and economics.
--Category II: Population-focused education and analytic, and related
activities to assist in policy formulation and program development to
advance a national agenda concentrating on the following maternal and
child health subpopulations: perinatal and women, infancy and early
childhood, and middle childhood and adolescence. These would focus on
such issues as those relating to program content, systems development,
accountability/quality improvement, and special concerns noted earlier.
Project Period
Project durations are up to 5 years.
Contact
For programmatic or technical information, contact Woodie Kessel,
M.D., telephone 301-443-2340, or David Heppel, M.D., telephone 301-443-
2250.
Public Comment
The categories, priorities, special considerations and preferences
described above are not being proposed for public comment this year. In
July 1993, following publication of the Department's Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking to revise the MCH special project grant regulations at 42
CFR 51a, the public was invited for a 60-day period to submit comments
regarding all aspects of the SPRANS application and
[[Page 18616]]
review process. In responding to those comments, the Department noted
the practical limits on Secretarial discretion in establishing SPRANS
categories and priorities owing to the extensive prescription in both
the statute and annual Congressional directives.
Comments on this SPRANS notice which members of the public wish to
make are welcome at any time and may be submitted to: Director, MCHB,
at the address listed in the ADDRESSES section. Suggestions will be
considered when priorities are developed for the next solicitation.
Eligible Applicants
MCH training awards may be made only to public or nonprofit private
institutions of higher learning.
Executive Order 12372
The MCH Federal set-aside program has been determined to be a
program which is not subject to the provisions of Executive Order 12372
concerning intergovernmental review of Federal programs.
The OMB Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number is 93.110.
Dated: April 22, 1996.
Ciro V. Sumaya,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 96-10425 Filed 4-25-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-15