[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]



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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.

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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