[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 16, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13025-13028]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-6311]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[Program Announcement 99055]


Extramural Grants for Violence-Related Injury Evaluation 
Research; Notice of Availability of Funds

A. Purpose

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces that 
grant applications are being accepted for Injury Prevention and Control 
Research Grants for fiscal year (FY) 1999.
    This program addresses the priority area of injuries as a result of 
Violent and Abusive Behavior.
    The purposes of this program are to:
    1. Evaluate current interventions, policies and strategies for the 
prevention of violence-related injuries.
    2. Identify effective strategies to prevent violence-related 
injuries.
    3. Build the scientific base for the prevention of injuries, 
disabilities, and deaths due to violence in the following four priority 
areas: suicidal behavior, firearm-related injury, sexual violence, and 
intimate partner violence as delineated in Healthy People 2000.
    4. Encourage professionals from a wide spectrum of disciplines such 
as public health, health care, medicine, criminal justice, and 
behavioral and social sciences, to work together and undertake research 
to prevent and control injuries from suicidal behavior, firearm-related 
injury, sexual violence, and intimate partner violence.

B. Eligible Applicants

    Applications may be submitted by public and private nonprofit and 
for-profit organizations and by governments and their agencies; that 
is, universities, colleges, research institutions, hospitals, other 
public and private nonprofit and for-profit organizations, State and 
local governments or their bona fide agents, including small, minority 
and/or women-owned businesses and federally recognized Indian tribal 
governments, Indian tribes, or Indian tribal organizations.
    Applicant requirements:
    1. A principal investigator who has conducted research, published 
the findings in peer-reviewed journals, and has specific authority and 
responsibility to carry out the proposed project.
    2. Demonstrated experience in conducting, evaluating, and 
publishing in peer-reviewed journals injury control research pertaining 
to violence on the applicant's project team.
    3. Effective and well-defined working relationships within the 
performing organization and with outside entities which will ensure 
implementation of the proposed activities.
    4. The ability to carry out injury control research projects as 
defined under Addendum 2, (2.a-c).
    5. The overall match between the applicant's proposed theme and 
research objectives, and the program interests as described under the 
heading, ``Programmatic Interests.''

C. Availability of Funds

    Approximately $1.0 million is available for FY 1999 injury research 
grants that evaluate the effectiveness and/or cost effectiveness of 
interventions and policies designed to reduce morbidity, mortality, and 
disabilities caused by suicidal behavior, firearm-related injury, 
sexual violence, or intimate partner violence. Approximately, 3-4 
awards will be made. It is expected that the awards will begin on or 
about September 1, 1999. Awards will be made for a 12-month budget 
period within a project period not to exceed three years. The maximum 
funding level per year will not exceed $300,000 (including both direct 
and indirect costs). Applications that exceed the funding cap of 
$300,000 will be excluded from the competition and returned to the 
applicant. The availability of Federal funding may vary and is subject 
to change.

    Note: Grant funds will not be made available to support the 
provision of direct care. Eligible applicants may enter into 
contracts, including consortia agreements (as set forth in the PHS 
Grants Policy Statement, dated April 1, 1994), as necessary to meet 
the requirements of the program and strengthen the overall 
application.

    Note: Pub. L. 104-65 states that an organization described in 
section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engages 
in lobbying activities is not eligible to receive Federal funds 
constituting an award, grant, cooperative agreement, contract, loan 
or any other form.

Programmatic Interests

    There is programmatic interest in research projects designed to 
rigorously assess the effectiveness (i.e., the impact of a specific 
intervention or policy on reducing violence-related morbidity or

[[Page 13026]]

mortality or violent behavior) and/or cost effectiveness (i.e., an 
economic analysis to assess the cost per health outcome--``cost per 
life saved'' or ``cost per case prevented'') of interventions to 
prevent suicidal behavior, firearm-related injury, sexual violence, or 
intimate partner violence. Cost effectiveness analyses should only be 
applied to those interventions or policies for which there is already 
strong evidence of effectiveness.
    1. In the area of suicide, there is particular interest in projects 
to evaluate suicide prevention interventions for general or high risk 
populations and projects to evaluate services provided in various 
settings such as a managed care setting.
    2. In the area of firearm injuries, there is particular interest in 
projects evaluating prevention programs and policies that offer promise 
in preventing firearm injuries among children and adolescents (e.g., 
safe storage of firearms in homes, safe gun technology, curricula to 
promote gun safety for children and adolescents).
    3. In the areas of sexual violence and intimate partner violence, 
there is particular interest in evaluation research to determine the 
effectiveness of: 1. Prevention programs for adolescent males at risk 
for perpetration of sexual violence or intimate partner violence; or 2. 
Intervention programs for perpetrators of sexual violence or intimate 
partner violence.

D. Application Content

    Applications should follow the PHS-398 (Rev. 5/95) application and 
Errata sheet, and should include the following information:
    1. The project's focus that justifies the research needs and 
describes the scientific basis for the research, the expected outcome, 
and the relevance of the findings to reduce injury morbidity, 
mortality, disability, and economic losses. This focus should be based 
on recommendations in Healthy People 2000 and should seek creative 
approaches that will contribute to a national program for injury 
control.
    2. Specific, measurable, and time-framed objectives.
    3. A detailed plan describing the methods by which the objectives 
will be achieved and evaluated, including their sequence. (A 
comprehensive evaluation plan is an essential component of the 
application.)
    4. A description of the grant's principal investigator's role and 
responsibilities.
    5. A description of all the project staff regardless of their 
funding source. It should include their title, qualifications, 
experience, percentage of time each will devote to the project, as well 
as that portion of their salary to be paid by the grant.
    6. A description of those activities related to, but not supported 
by the grant.
    7. A description of the involvement of other entities that will 
relate to the proposed project, if applicable. It should include 
commitments of support and a clear statement of their roles.
    8. A detailed first year's budget for the grant with future annual 
projections, if relevant. (Awards will be made for a project period of 
up to three years.)
    9. An explanation of how the research findings will contribute to 
the national effort to reduce the morbidity, mortality and disability 
caused by violence-related injuries within 3-5 years.
    An applicant organization has the option of having specific salary 
and fringe benefit amounts for individuals omitted from the copies of 
the application which are made available to outside reviewing groups. 
To exercise this option: on the original and five copies of the 
application, the applicant must use asterisks to indicate those 
individuals for whom salaries and fringe benefits are not shown; the 
subtotals must still be shown. In addition, the applicant must submit 
an additional copy of page four of Form PHS-398, completed in full, 
with the asterisks replaced by the salaries and fringe benefits. This 
budget page will be reserved for internal staff use only.

E. Submission and Deadline

    Submit the original and five copies of PHS 398 (OMB Number 0925-
0001 and adhere to the instructions on the Errata Instruction sheet for 
PHS 398). Forms are in the application kit.
    On or before April 30, 1999, submit to:

Anne Foglesong, Grants Management Specialist, Grants Management Branch, 
Procurement and Grants Office, Announcement #99055, Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention (CDC), 2920 Brandywine Road, Suite 3000, 
Atlanta, Georgia 30341.

    Applications shall be considered as meeting the deadline if they 
are received at the above address on or before the deadline date; or 
sent on or before the deadline date, and received in time for the 
review process. Applicants should request a legibly dated U.S. Postal 
Service postmark or obtain a legibly dated receipt from a commercial 
carrier or the U.S. Postal Service. Private metered postmarks will not 
be acceptable as proof of timely mailing.
    Late Applications: applications which do not meet the above 
criteria are considered late applications, will not be considered, and 
will be returned to the applicant.

F. Evaluation Criteria

(Please take special notice as elements of this section have changed 
since the last announcement. A more complete description of the grant 
award selection process policy can be obtained by calling the phone 
number found under ``Where to Obtain Additional Information'' in the 
application package.)
    Upon receipt, applications will be reviewed by CDC staff for 
completeness and responsiveness as outlined under Eligible Applicants, 
subtitle, Applicant Requirements (Items 1-5). Incomplete applications 
and applications that are not responsive will be returned to the 
applicant without further consideration. It is especially important 
that the applicant's abstract reflects the project's focus, because the 
abstract will be used to help determine the responsiveness of the 
proposal.
    Applications which are complete and responsive will be subjected to 
a preliminary evaluation (triage) by a peer review committee, the 
Injury Research Grant Review Committee (IRGRC), to determine if the 
application is of sufficient technical and scientific merit to warrant 
further review by the IRGRC. CDC will withdraw from further 
consideration applications judged to be noncompetitive and promptly 
notify the principal investigator/program director and the official 
signing for the applicant organization. Those applications judged to be 
competitive will be further evaluated by a dual review process.
    Awards will be determined by the Director of the National Center 
for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) based on priority scores 
assigned to applications by the primary review committee, 
recommendations by the secondary review committee, consultation with 
NCIPC senior staff, and the availability of funds.
    1. The primary review will be a peer review conducted by the IRGRC. 
All proposals will be reviewed for scientific merit by a committee of 
no less than three reviewers with appropriate expertise using current 
National Institutes of Health (NIH) criteria to evaluate the methods 
and scientific quality of the proposal. Factors to be considered will 
include:
    a. The specific aims of the research project, i.e., the broad long-
term objectives, the intended accomplishment of the specific research

[[Page 13027]]

proposal, and the hypothesis to be tested.
    b. The background of the proposal, i.e., the basis for the present 
proposal, the critical evaluation of existing knowledge, and specific 
identification of the injury control knowledge gaps which the proposal 
is intended to fill.
    c. The significance and originality from a scientific or technical 
standpoint of the specific aims of the proposed research, including the 
adequacy of the theoretical and conceptual framework for the research.
    d. For competitive renewal applications, the progress made during 
the prior project period. For new applications, (optional) the progress 
of preliminary studies pertinent to the application.
    e. The adequacy of the proposed research design, approaches, and 
methodology to carry out the research, including quality assurance 
procedures, plan for data management, and statistical analysis plan.
    f. The extent to which the research findings will contribute to the 
national effort to reduce the morbidity, mortality and disability 
caused by violence-related injuries.
    g. The extent to which the evaluation plan will allow the 
measurement of progress toward the achievement of the stated 
objectives.
    h. Qualifications, adequacy, and appropriateness of personnel to 
accomplish the proposed activities.
    i. The degree of commitment and cooperation of other interested 
parties (as evidenced by letters detailing the nature and extent of the 
involvement).
    j. Gender and minority issues-Are plans to include both sexes and 
minorities and their subgroups adequately developed (as appropriate for 
the scientific goals of the project)? Are strategies included for the 
recruitment and retention of human subjects?
    k. Human Subjects--Are the procedures proposed adequate for the 
protection of human subjects and are they fully documented? Are all 
procedures in compliance with applicable published regulations?
    l. The reasonableness of the proposed budget to the proposed 
research and demonstration program.
    m. Adequacy of existing and proposed facilities and resources.
    2. The secondary review will be conducted by the Science and 
Program Review Work Group (SPRWG) from the Advisory Committee for 
Injury Prevention and Control (ACIPC). At the SPRWG's request, Federal 
ex officio members may be invited to attend the secondary review. The 
Federal ex officio members will be responsible for identifying 
proposals in overlapping areas of research interest so that unwarranted 
duplication in federally-funded research can be avoided. At the SPRWG's 
request, NCIPC Division Associate Directors for Science (ADS) may be 
invited to attend the secondary review to assure that research 
priorities of the announcement are understood and to provide background 
regarding current research activities. The SPRWG may reach over better 
ranked proposals in order to assure maximal impact and balance of 
proposed research. The factors to be considered will include:
    a. The results of the primary review including the proposal's 
priority score as the primary factor in the selection process.
    b. The match between the proposal and the program announcement's 
programmatic interests and funding preferences.
    c. The relevance and balance of proposed research relative to the 
NCIPC programs and priorities.
    d. The significance of the proposed activities in relation to the 
priorities and objectives stated in Healthy People 2000, Injury in 
America, Injury Prevention, Meeting the Challenge, and Cost of Injury.
    e. Budgetary considerations.
    Only SPRWG members will vote on funding recommendations. These 
recommendations will be carried to the entire ACIPC in the form of a 
report. The ACIPC may vote to approve, disapprove, or modify the 
recommendations for funding. These recommendations will then be 
presented to the NCIPC Director for final decision.
    3. Continued Funding: Continuation awards made after FY 1999, but 
within the project period, will be made on the basis of the 
availability of funds and the following criteria:
    a. The accomplishments reflected in the progress report of the 
continuation application indicate that the applicant is meeting 
previously stated objectives or milestones contained in the project's 
annual workplan and satisfactory progress demonstrated through 
presentations at work-in-progress monitoring workshops.
    b. The objectives for the new budget period are realistic, 
specific, and measurable.
    c. The methods described will clearly lead to achievement of these 
objectives.
    d. The evaluation plan will allow management to monitor whether the 
methods are effective.
    e. The budget request is clearly explained, adequately justified, 
reasonable and consistent with the intended use of grant funds.

G. Other Requirements

Technical Reporting Requirements

    Provide CDC with an original plus two copies of:
    1. An annual progress report annually,
    2. A financial status report, no more than 90 days after the end of 
the budget period, and
    3. A final financial report and performance report, no more than 90 
days after the end of the project period.
    Send all reports to: Anne Foglesong, Grants Management Specialist, 
Grants Management Branch, Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2920 Brandywine Road, Suite 3000, 
Atlanta, Georgia 30341.
    The following additional requirements are applicable to this 
program. For a complete description of each see Addendum 1 in the 
application package.

AR-1  Human Subjects Certification
AR-2  Requirements for inclusion of Women and Racial and Ethnic 
Minorities in Research
AR-9  Paperwork Reduction Act Requirements
AR-10  Smoke-Free Workplace Requirement
AR-11  Healthy People 2000
AR-12  Lobbying Restrictions
AR-13  Prohibition on Use of CDC funds for Certain Gun Control 
Activities
AR-20  Conference Activities within Grants/Cooperative Agreement

H. Authority and Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number

    This program is authorized under Sections 301(a)[42 U.S.C. 241(a)] 
of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. The catalog of Federal 
Domestic Assistance number is 93.136.

I. Where To Obtain Additional Information

    Please refer to Program Announcement 99055 when you request 
information. To receive additional written information and to request 
an application kit, call 1-888-GRANTS4 (1-888-472-6874). You will be 
asked to leave your name and address and will be instructed to identify 
the Announcement number of interest.
    If you have questions after reviewing the contents of all the 
documents, business management technical assistance may be obtained 
from: Anne Foglesong, Grants Management Specialist, Grants Management 
Branch,

[[Page 13028]]

Procurement and Grants Office, Program Announcement #99055, Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2920 Brandywine Road, Suite 3000, 
Atlanta, Georgia 30341, Telephone (770) 488-2724, Internet address: 
[email protected].
    For program technical assistance, contact: Ted Jones, Program 
Manager, Office of Research Grants, National Center for Injury 
Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC), 4770 Buford Highway, NE, Mailstop K-5, Atlanta, GA 30341-3724, 
Telephone (770) 488-4824, Internet address: [email protected].
    This and other CDC announcements are available through the CDC 
homepage on the Internet. The address for the CDC homepage is <http://
www.cdc.gov>.
    Interested applicants may receive a draft copy of the ``Policy for 
Solicitation and Selection of Injury Research Grant Proposals'' by 
calling 770/488-4265.

    Dated: March 10, 1999.
John L. Williams,
Director, Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC).
[FR Doc. 99-6311 Filed 3-15-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P