[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 15 (Monday, January 24, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3720-3722]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-1539]



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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration


State Food Safety Task Force Meetings; Availability of Conference 
Grants; Request for Applications

AGENCY:  Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:  Notice.

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SUMMARY:  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the 
anticipated availability of conference grant funds for the support of 
State Food Safety Task Force meetings contingent on the availability of 
fiscal year (FY) 2000 funds. This initiative is intended to support and 
encourage State food regulatory agencies to establish (or provide 
support of existing) regularly scheduled Food Safety Task Force 
meetings. These meetings should foster communication and cooperation 
within the State among State and local food safety regulatory agencies 
and is part of the President's Food Safety Initiative (FSI).

DATES:  For States with existing State Food Safety Task Forces, the 
lead/champion/food regulatory agency must submit applications by March 
24, 2000. For States in the process of developing a State Food Safety 
Task Force, submit applications by April 15, 2000. If the closing date 
falls on a weekend, or the date falls on a holiday, the date of 
submission will be extended to the following workday.

ADDRESSES:  Application forms are available from, and completed 
applications should be submitted to Cynthia M. Polit, Grants Management 
Office, Division of Contracts and Procurement Management (HFA-520), 
Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, rm. 2129, Rockville, 
MD 20857, 301-827-7180, e-mail: [email protected]. Applications hand-
carried or commercially delivered should be addressed to 5630 Fishers 
Lane, rm. 2129, Rockville, MD 20857.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regarding the administrative and 
financial management aspects of this notice: Cynthia M. Polit (address 
above).
    Regarding the programmatic aspects of this notice: Paul M. Raynes, 
or Glenn E. Johnson, Division of Federal-State Relations (DFSR), Office 
of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), Food and Drug Administration (HFC-150), 
5600 Fishers Lane, rm. 12-07, Rockville, MD 20857, 301-827-6906, or 
access the Internet at www.fda.gov/ora/fed__state/default.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  FDA will support meetings covered by this 
notice under section 1701 (300u-300u-5) of the Public Health Service 
(PHS) Act (42 U.S.C. 241) or the Radiation Control for Health and 
Safety Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-602) (42 U.S.C. 263b-n). FDA's 
Conference Grant Program is described in the Catalog of Federal 
Domestic Assistance, No. 93-103 and applicants are limited to State 
food safety regulatory agencies. Applications submitted under this 
program are subject to the requirements of Executive Order 12372. 
Requirements under the original FDA request for applications for its 
Conference Grant Program (52 FR 12257, April 15, 1987) apply. PHS 
strongly encourages all award recipients to provide a smoke-free 
workplace and to discourage the use of all tobacco products. This is 
consistent with the PHS mission to protect and advance the physical and 
mental health of the American people.
    PHS urges applicants to submit workplans that address specific 
objectives of ``Healthy People 2000.'' Potential applicants may obtain 
a copy of ``Health People 2000'' (Full Report, stock No. 017-0010-0474-
0) through the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, 
Washington, DC 20402-9325, 202-512-1800.

I. Background

    ORA is the inspection component of FDA and has 1,000 investigators 
and inspectors who cover the country's approximately 95,000 FDA-
regulated businesses. These investigators and inspectors inspect more 
that 15,000 facilities a year. In addition to the standard inspection 
program, they conduct special investigations, food inspection recall 
audits, perform consumer complaint inspections and sample collections. 
FDA has relied on the States in assisting with the above duties through 
formal contracts, partnership agreements, and other informal 
arrangements. Under the FSI, the demands on both the agency and the 
States will increase. Procedures need to be reviewed and innovative 
changes made that increase effectiveness and efficiency and conserve 
resources. ORA will support FSI by: (1) Providing effective and 
efficient compliance of regulated products, and (2) providing high 
quality, science-based work that maximizes consumer protection.
    Under the FSI, FDA is encouraging State food safety regulatory 
agencies to establish (or provide support of existing) regularly 
scheduled Food Safety Task Force meetings. These meetings should foster 
communication and cooperation within the State among State and local 
food safety regulatory agencies. The purpose of the meetings should be 
to discuss/resolve issues at the State and local level relating to: (1) 
State/local agency roles and responsibilities, (2) capacity and 
resource needs, (3) outbreak coordination and investigations, (4) 
information sharing and data collection, (5) uniform regulatory 
standards, (6) communications and education, (7) State/local laboratory 
operations and coordination, and (8) adoption/implementation of the 
Food Code.

II. Project Goals, Definitions, and Examples

    The purpose of these meetings is to foster communication and 
cooperation within the State among State and local food safety 
regulatory agencies. The meetings should: (1) Provide a forum for all 
the stakeholders of the food safety initiative; (2) assist in adopting 
or implementing the Food Code; and (3) promote the integration of a 
Statewide food safety system to become a cost effective, efficient 
system to maximize the protection of the public health.
    Grant funds will be awarded for 1 year for direct costs only to 
secure meeting facility rental/expenses and in-state travel expenses 
for meeting attendees during the 1-year period. FDA and the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture region/district representatives may be 
invited to be a non-member liaison or advisor at the meetings but the 
task force should develop its own guidelines for work, consensus 
decisionmaking, size, and format at the initial meeting. Conference 
grant funds may not be used for Federal employees to travel to these 
meetings.
    DFSR will provide meeting guidelines and other meeting organization 
documents as requested. Information on ``Productive Meeting 
Fundamentals'' is available via the Fax-on-Demand system by calling 
301-827-4352 and requesting document #1606. A model partnership 
agreement may be obtained from Fax-on-Demand by requesting document 
#1605. FDA encourages at least two meetings a year for these task 
forces and recommends one each quarter.

III. Reporting Requirements

    A final Program Progress Report or conference proceedings and a 
final Financial Status Report (FSR) (SF-269) are required within 90 
days of the expiration date of the project period as noted on the 
Notice of Grant Award. An original and two copies of each report shall 
be submitted to FDA's Grants Management Office. Failure to file these

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reports in a timely fashion may jeopardize future grant support.

IV. Mechanism of Support

A. Award Instrument

    Support for this program will be in the form of a grant. These 
grants will be subject to all policies and requirements that govern the 
conference grant programs of PHS, including the provisions of 42 CFR 
part 52 and 45 CFR parts 74 and 92. The regulations issued under 
Executive Order 12372 also apply to this program and are implemented 
through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) 
regulations at 45 CFR part 100. Executive Order 12372 sets up a system 
for State and local government review of applications for Federal 
financial assistance. Applicants (other than federally recognized 
Indian tribal governments) should contact the State's Single Point of 
Contact (SPOC) as early as possible to alert them to the prospective 
application(s) and to receive any necessary instructions on the State's 
review process. A current listing of SPOC's is included in the 
application kit. The SPOC should send any State review process 
recommendations to the FDA Grants Management Office (address above). 
The due date for the State process recommendations is no later than 60 
days after the deadline date for the receipt of applications. FDA does 
not guarantee to accommodate or explain SPOC comments that are received 
after the 60-day cutoff.

B. Eligibility

    These grants are available to State food regulatory agencies (see 
section IV.A of this document).

C. Length of Support

    The length of support will be for 1 year from the date of issuance 
of the award.

V. Review Procedure and Criteria

    All applications submitted in response to this RFA will first be 
reviewed by grants management and program staff for responsiveness. If 
applications are found to be nonresponsive, they will be returned to 
the applicant without further consideration.
    Responsive applications will be reviewed and evaluated for 
scientific and technical merit by an ad hoc panel of experts in the 
subject field of the specific application. Final funding decisions will 
be made by the Commissioner of Food and Drugs or her designee.
    Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact FDA to resolve any 
questions regarding criteria prior to the submission of their 
application. All questions of a technical or programmatic nature must 
be directed to the ORA Program Staff (address above) and all questions 
of an administrative or financial nature must be directed to the Grants 
Management Staff (address above). Applications will be given an overall 
score and judged based on all of the following criteria:
    1. Participant determination of the size and membership of the 
meetings' operating rules and goals in relation to the mission and 
priorities of FDA;
    2. Makeup of the participants to include State and local food 
safety agencies, industry, consumers, legislators (State and local) and 
other interested associations or groups. Recommended attendance at 
meetings is approximately 15 to 20 persons;
    3. Information dissemination to constituents regarding the 
existence of the meetings and information regarding the goals and 
outcomes;
    4. Biannual or quarterly meetings as necessary to accomplish the 
established goals;
    5. Yearly self-evaluation concerning the progress toward achieving 
goals and outcomes.

VI. Submission Requirements

    The original and two copies of the completed grant application Form 
PHS-5161-1 (Revised 5/96) for State and local governments should be 
delivered to the Grants Management Office (address above). The 
application receipt date is March 24, 2000, for applicants with an 
established task force and April 15, 2000, for applicants in the 
process of developing a task force. If the receipt date falls on a 
weekend or if the date falls on a holiday, the date of submission will 
be extended to the following workday. No supplemental material or 
addenda will be accepted after the receipt date.
    The outside of the mailing package and item 2 of the application 
facepage should be labeled ``Response to RFA-FDA-ORA-00-1.''


    Note:  A lead/champion/initiating State food regulatory agency 
who will coordinate/host and take the lead in establishing the Food 
Safety Task Force must be determined within the State prior to 
submission of an application. That lead/champion/initiating State 
food regulatory agency would prepare and submit the application. 
Only one grant will be awarded per State. Approximately $250,000 
will be available in FY 2000, subject to the availability of funds. 
FDA anticipates making awards, not to exceed $5,000 in direct costs 
per award. Support of these grants will be for 1 year. The number of 
grants funded will depend on the quality of the applications 
received and the availability of Federal funds to support the grant. 
These grants are available to State food regulatory agencies that 
have an existing State Food Safety Task Force as well as State food 
regulatory agencies that are in the process of developing a State 
Food Safety Task Force. The formation of these Food Safety Task 
Force meetings will not interfere with existing advisory mechanisms 
within the Federal/State/local system and is not a mandatory 
requirement of FDA.

VII. Method of Application

A. Submission Instructions

    Applications will be accepted during working hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 
p.m., Monday through Friday, on or before the established receipt date. 
Applications will be considered received on time if sent or mailed on 
or before the receipt date as evidenced by a legible U.S. Postal 
Service dated postmark or a legible date receipt from a commercial 
carrier, unless they arrive too late for orderly processing. Private 
metered postmarks shall not be acceptable as proof of timely mailing. 
Applications not received on time will not be considered for review and 
will be returned to the applicant. Applicants should note that the U.S. 
Postal Service does not uniformly provide dated postmarks. Before 
relying on this method, applicants should check with their local post 
office.
    Do not send applications to the Center for Scientific Research, 
National Institutes of Health (NIH). Any application that is sent to 
NIH, that is then forwarded to FDA and not received in time for orderly 
processing, will be deemed nonresponsive and returned to the applicant. 
Instructions for completing the application are included in Form PHS-
5161-1. FDA is unable to receive applications via the Internet.

B. Format for Application

    When using Form PHS 5161-1 (Revised 5/96), all instructions for the 
enclosed Standard Form 424 (SF424) should be followed using the 
nonconstruction application pages. The facepage of the application 
should be labeled ``RFA-FDA-ORA-00-1.''
    Data included in the application, if restricted with the legend 
specified below, may be entitled to confidential treatment as trade 
secret or confidential commercial information within the meaning of the 
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)) and FDA's 
implementing regulations (21 CFR 20.61).
    Information collection requirements requested on PHS Form 5161-1 
were approved and issued under the Office of Management and Budget 
Circular A-102.

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C. Legend

    Unless disclosure is required by FOIA as amended (5 U.S.C. 552), as 
determined by the freedom of information officials of DHHS or by a 
court, data contained in the portions of an application that have been 
specifically identified by page number, paragraph, etc., by the 
applicant as containing restricted and/or proprietary information shall 
not be used or disclosed except for evaluation purposes.

    Dated: January 12, 2000.
Margaret M. Dotzel,
Acting Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 00-1539 Filed 1-21-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-F