[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 89 (Thursday, May 8, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25418-25419]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-12008]



[[Page 25417]]

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Part VI





Department of Health and Human Services





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Announcement of Availability of Grants for Family Planning Male 
Research Projects; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 89 / Thursday, May 8, 1997 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Office of Public Health and Science; Announcement of Availability 
of Grants for Family Planning Male Research Projects

AGENCY: Office of Family Planning, OPHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Family Planning (OFP) requests applications for 
grants for research in certain behavioral and program implementation 
fields related to family planning.

DATES: To receive consideration, applications must be received by the 
Grants Management Office no later than June 23, 1997. Applications will 
be considered as meeting 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 submission to the review 
committee. A legible date receipt from a commercial carrier or U.S. 
Postal Service will be accepted in lieu of postmark. Private metered 
postmarks will not be accepted as proof of timely mailing. Applications 
which do not meet the deadline will not be accepted for review. 
Applications which do not conform to the requirements of the program 
announcement will not be accepted for review. Applicants will be 
notified, and applications will be returned.

ADDRESSES: Requests for application kits may be faxed to (301) 594-
5980. Application kits may also be obtained from, and applications must 
be submitted to, the Office of Population Affairs, Grants Management 
Office, 4350 East-West Highway, Suite 200, West Tower, Bethesda, MD 
20814.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. June L. Dow, (301) 594-4000, for 
assistance on technical and program aspects; Grants Management Office, 
(301) 594-4012, to answer questions and provide technical assistance in 
the preparation of grant applications.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title X of the PHS Act, 42 U.S.C. 300, et 
seq., authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award 
grants for projects to provide research in behavioral and program 
implementation fields related to family planning. The Office of Family 
Planning (OFP) intends to make available approximately $1 million to 
support an estimated four community-based service programs to 
investigate innovative approaches for providing family planning/
reproductive health related information and services specifically 
targeted to males.

Statutory Background

    Title X of the PHS Act, enacted by Public Law 91-572, authorizes 
programs related to family planning. Section 1004 of the Act, as 
amended, authorizes the Secretary to make grants to entities to conduct 
research in behavioral and program implementation fields related to 
family planning. Implementing regulations appear at 42 CFR Part 52. 
This announcement seeks to encourage the investigation and development 
of effective approaches that facilitate the provision of family 
planning/reproductive health related information and services to males 
and approaches that involve males in building community support for 
pregnancy prevention and contraception.

Purposes of Grant

    The family planning program authorized by Section 1001 of Title X 
is required by law to provide family planning services, including 
education and counseling, to all persons desiring such services. One 
subgroup of the population that has been under-represented in the 
traditional family planning delivery system is males. For example, in 
the Title X family planning program, less than two percent of the 
approximately 5,000,000 persons served are males.
    Experience has shown that it is difficult to draw males into family 
planning/reproductive health related information and services. The 
reasons posited for low male participation in family planning range 
from the belief that family planning/reproductive health related 
information and services is synonymous with contraception and is ``a 
woman's province'' to the fact that the environment surrounding most 
traditional family planning/reproductive health related information and 
services is largely female-oriented. In other words, the under-
representation of males may be related to how little is really known 
about what most appropriately constitutes family planning/reproductive 
health for males. In addition, most of the highly effective 
contraceptive methods are those used by females, and the fact that 
pregnancy occurs in females may lead to the conclusion that they have 
the greatest self-interest in managing contraception. As the incidence 
of STD/HIV infection has increased, so too has the attention given to 
barrier methods of contraception, such as the condom, and to the 
motivation of males to use this method to prevent disease transmission, 
as well as pregnancy. Findings from a number of studies suggest that 
males believe that contraception is a joint responsibility and that 
more efforts to involve males may indeed proved successful. Research 
also suggests that contraceptive use by females is greatly affected by 
their male partners' communication and attitudes and that encouragement 
from the male partner is the strongest predictor of female use of 
contraception.
    Federal programs have recently begun to focus more attention on 
male involvement in family planning/reproductive health related 
information and services, as evidenced by the President's Fatherhood 
Initiative, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, and the 
emphasis on male responsibility contained in the ``Personal 
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996'', P.L. 
104-193.
    Proposals should focus on one or more of the following areas, as 
they relate to males: (1) Determining the appropriate mix of activities 
that positively affect the retention of basic information and education 
needed for responsible family planning/reproductive health decision-
making; (2) developing and testing approaches for providing family 
planning services to males or for encouraging males to seek access to 
services that already exist; (3) developing and testing approaches that 
involve adult males in providing information that encourages 
responsible family planning/reproductive health decision-making in 
adolescent males; (4) developing and testing ways to involve males in 
building community support for the prevention of unintended pregnancy.
    Funds are available under this announcement to encourage the 
development and implementation of projects that will test a variety of 
approaches as they relate to involving males in family planning/
reproductive health related information and services. Applicants must 
review and consider policy and program goals of the Title X family 
planning program and must work with a network of entities, which should 
include other federal, State, local or community-based health and 
social service agencies in implementing the project. Successful 
applicants who do not provide clinical services must have referral 
mechanisms in place for the provision of such services. Applicants 
choosing an educational approach should specify what curricula will be 
implemented. Grants under this announcement are not intended for 
curriculum or material development; existing curricula, or adaptations 
of existing curricula, should be used.
    An applicant for a grant under this announcement may elect to 
develop a

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family planning/reproductive health related information and services 
component which includes any one or more of the following services as 
appropriate:
    (1) Educational services or other activities relating to family 
planning/reproductive health;
    (2) Counseling relating to family planning/reproductive health 
issues;
    (3) Outreach services to males and their families on family 
planning/reproductive health issues;
    (4) Clinical services appropriate to family planning/reproductive 
health;
    (5) Public information and education on family planning/
reproductive health issues.
    Applicants should clearly state how such component relates to the 
general research goals of the proposed project.

Evaluation

    In order to accomplish the research goals of the program, all 
applicants are required to have an evaluation component of high quality 
consistent with the scope of the proposed project and the funding 
level. Project evaluations should monitor program processes to 
determine whether the program has been carried out as planned and to 
measure the program's outcomes.

Eligible Applicants

    Any public or private nonprofit organization or agency is eligible 
to apply for a grant. Grants are awarded only to those organizations or 
agencies which are determined to demonstrate the capability of 
providing the proposed services and meet the statutory requirements. 
Organizations that are experienced in providing a variety of services 
to males, such as social, educational, vocational, and legal services 
(e.g., tutoring, mentoring, job skills training), and have the 
capability of expansion to include development and testing of family 
planning/reproductive health related information and services, are 
encouraged to apply for a grant under this announcement.

Application Requirements

    Applications must comply with the applicable requirements at 42 CFR 
52.4 and be submitted on the forms supplied (PHS-5161-1) (OMB Approval 
No. 0937-0189) and in the manner prescribed in the application kits 
available from the Office of Grants Management. Applicants are required 
to submit an application signed by an individual authorized to act for 
the applicant agency or organization and to assume for the organization 
the obligations imposed by the terms and conditions of the grant award. 
Applicants are required to submit an original application and two 
copies.
    Accepted applications will be subjected to a competitive review 
process. The results of this review will assist the Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Population Affairs (DASPA) in considering competing 
applications and in making the final funding decision.
    Any public or private nonprofit organization or agency is eligible 
to apply for a grant. Awards will be made only to those organizations 
or agencies which have demonstrated the capability of providing the 
proposed services, and which have met all applicable requirements.
    A copy of the legislation governing this program will be sent to 
applicants as part of the application kit. Applicants should use the 
legislation and other information included in this announcement to 
guide them in developing their applications. Applications should be 
limited to 35 double-spaced pages, not including appendices providing 
curriculum vitae or statements of organizational capabilities.

Review Under Executive Order 12372

    Applicants under this announcement are subject to the requirements 
of Executive Order 12372.

Application Consideration and Assessment

    Eligible grant applications will be reviewed by a multidisciplinary 
panel of independent reviewers and assessed according to the following 
criteria:
    1. A clear description of the project, including goals and 
objectives, methods of achieving objectives, a reasonable workplan and 
timetable, and a clear statement of results or benefits expected. (20 
points)
    2. The feasibility of the project and the likelihood of its 
producing meaningful results, as evidenced by the applicant's 
presentation of an evaluation plan, reflecting a practical, technically 
sound methodology to measure the extent to which the proposed approach 
enhances the delivery of family planning/reproductive health education, 
counseling and/or services to males, their partners and their families 
and its potential for replication. (30 points)
    3. The history of the applicant organization in successfully 
providing a variety of services to males, such as social, educational, 
vocational and legal services. (30 points)
    4. The administrative and management capability of the applicant 
organization in relation to the type of research proposed, the project 
period, and the adequacy of the applicant's resources for the project. 
(20 points)
    Final grant award decisions will be made by the DASPA. In making 
these decisions, the DASPA will take into account the extent to which 
grants approved for funding will provide an appropriate geographic 
distribution of resources, and will take into consideration:
    (1) The scientific merit and significance of the proposed projects;
    (2) The applicant's capacity to administer funds responsibly;
    (3) The population to be served;
    (4) The organizational model(s);
    (5) The usefulness for policymakers and service providers of the 
proposed project and the likelihood of its producing meaningful 
results;
    (6) The reasonableness of the estimated cost to the government 
considering the anticipated results; and,
    (7) Empowerment zones and enterprise communities be designated as 
target areas for these projects.
    Grants are funded in annual increments (budget periods). Projects 
may be funded for up to three (3) years. Funding for all approved 
budget periods beyond the first year of a grant is contingent upon the 
availability of funds, satisfactory progress of the project, and 
adequate stewardship of federal funds.
    The OFP does not release information about individual applications 
during the review process until final funding decisions have been made. 
When these decisions have been made, applicants will be notified by 
letter of the outcome of their applications. The official document 
notifying an applicant that an application has been approved for 
funding is the Notice of Grant Award, which specifies to the grantees 
the amount of money awarded, the purpose of the grant, the terms and 
conditions of the grant award, and the amount of funding, if any, to be 
contributed by the grantee to project costs.

    Dated: May 1, 1997.
Thomas C. Kring,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs.
[FR Doc. 97-12008 Filed 5-7-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-17-M