[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 41 (Monday, March 3, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10020-10024]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-4858]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[Program Announcement 03038]


Cooperative Agreement for Development of the National Violent 
Death Reporting System; Notice of Availability of Funds

A. Authority and Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number

    This program is authorized under section 301(a) (42 U.S.C. 
241(a)) of the Public Health Service Act and section 391(a) (42 
U.S.C. 280b(a)) of the Public Service Health Act, as amended. The 
catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number is 93.136.

B. Purpose

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces the 
availability of fiscal year (FY) 2003 funds for a cooperative agreement 
surveillance program to expand the implementation of the National 
Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) as mandated in FY 2003 Senate 
appropriations language. NVDRS will assist State governments to 
understand the extent of the violence problem in their states and to 
develop and evaluate violence prevention program efforts. This program 
addresses the ``Healthy People 2010'' focus area of Injury and Violence 
Prevention.
    In response to Congressional appropriations language in FY 2002, 
CDC began implementation of NVDRS in six states. The purpose of NVDRS 
is to generate public health surveillance information at the national, 
state, and local levels that is more detailed, useful, and timely than 
is currently available. This information will help develop, inform, and 
evaluate violence prevention strategies at the state level. The 
proposed system builds upon a pilot system, the National Violent Injury 
Statistics System (NVISS) that has been under development since 1999. 
Additional information on this pilot system can be found at: http://www.NVISS.org.
    Measurable outcomes of the program will be in alignment with the 
following performance goal for the National Center for Injury 
Prevention and Control (NCIPC): Develop new or improved

[[Page 10021]]

approaches for preventing and controlling death and disability due to 
injuries.

C. Eligible Applicants

    Assistance will be provided only to the health departments of 
states or their bona fide agents, including the District of Columbia, 
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth 
of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Federated 
States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the 
Republic of Palau, and the federally recognized Indian tribal 
governments. In consultation with states, assistance may be provided to 
political subdivisions of states. States funded under Program 
Announcement 02059--Cooperative Agreement for Development of National 
Violent Death Reporting System (Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, 
Oregon, South Carolina and Virginia) are not eligible to apply.
    The ability to obtain population-based information from core data 
sets is crucial for the successful development of the NVDRS. Eligible 
applicants must document, through letters of support and memorandums of 
agreement/understanding (MOA/MOU), access to information on individual, 
identifiable decedents from all of the following data sources:
    1. Death certificates.
    2. Medical examiner and/or coroner records.
    3. Police records (Supplemental Homicide Reports at a minimum).
    4. Crime laboratory records.
    The letters of support must come from the agency authorized to 
grant access to the specific required data. Each letter must note the 
most recent year for which data is available to the health department, 
and note that a MOA/MOU is in place between the applicant and the data 
agency. The MOA/MOU must provide the applicant access to data while 
specifying any limitations regarding data use. A copy of the MOA/MOU 
must accompany each letter of support to confirm access.
    Applicants from states that do not have centralized, statewide 
medical examiner/coroner, or police records must obtain letters of 
support from the agencies with authority over the four required data 
sources in three cities or counties within the state, and MOA/MOUs from 
at least three of the four agencies in each city or county.
    Applications that fail to submit all evidence listed above will be 
considered non responsive and will be returned without review.
    Applications will be classified into two categories, ``New'' and 
``Experienced.'' States with funding from an external source (other 
than state funds) for any form of violent death reporting or 
surveillance occurring among adults, defined as 18 years of age or 
older, will be considered ``Experienced.'' States with surveillance 
projects (state or local) funding, such as the Harvard Injury Control 
Research Center's National Violent Injury Statistics System (NVISS) 
will be considered ``Experienced.'' States without any such external 
funding will be considered as ``New'' systems. Funds awarded for this 
program cannot be used to supplant (replace) existing activity funds.

    Note: Title 2 of the United States Code section 1611 states that 
an organization described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal 
Revenue Code that engages in lobbying activities is not eligible to 
receive Federal funds constituting an award, grant or loan.

D. Funding

Availability of Funds

    Approximately $2,250,000 is available in FY 2003 to fund 
approximately eight awards. It is expected that the average award will 
be $240,000, ranging from $150,000 to $220,000 for states with up to 
800 cases of violent death in calendar year 2001 and from $220,000 to 
$320,000 for states with greater than 800 cases of violent death in 
2001. At least one applicant will be funded in each funding range.
    ``New'' and ``Experienced'' system applications will be evaluated 
separately; at least one new applicant and one experienced applicant 
will be funded. It is expected that the awards will begin on or about 
September 1, 2003 and will be made for a 12-month budget period within 
a project period of up to five years. Funding estimates may change.
    Continuation awards within an approved project period will be made 
on the basis of satisfactory progress, as evidenced by required 
reports, and the availability of funds.

Recipient Financial Participation

    Matching funds are not required for this program.

E. Program Requirements

    In conducting activities to achieve the purpose of this program, 
the recipient will be responsible for the activities under 1A. or 1B., 
Recipient Activities, and CDC will be responsible for the activities 
under 2. CDC Activities.

Recipient Activities

    1A. For New Violent Death Reporting Systems
    a. Establish an advisory committee that will help in the 
development of the state violent death reporting system. Membership 
should include representatives from agencies that control medical 
examiner/coroner records, death certificates, police records, and crime 
laboratory data.
    b. Establish routine access to uniquely identifiable case 
information from each of the four critical data sources for deaths 
occurring on or after 1/01/2004.
    c. Use case definition and uniform data elements developed under 
Program Announcement 02059.
    d. Obtain and code data from all core data sources for all cases 
identified. The means for obtaining data may be conducted by 
abstraction from the required data sources, electronic transfer or 
other method(s).
    e. Develop procedures to combine information from the data sources. 
Maintain a unique case ID number.
    f. Establish (1) a centralized location for maintaining a secure 
data storage system that allows for ready access to and retrieval of 
your collected data and (2) an off-site, backup storage system for all 
your data.
    g. Transmit data free of personal identifiers electronically to CDC 
using software provided by the CDC. Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) clearance for this data collection is pending.
    h. Develop a quality assurance program that includes a systematic 
review of the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of the data 
collection process. This should include reabstraction of a sample of 
cases where applicable, and monitoring of time intervals from death to 
case completion, as well as routine checks to identify duplicate cases.
    i. Evaluate the surveillance system annually using standard 
guidelines. These include: simplicity, flexibility, data quality, 
acceptability, sensitivity, predictive value positive, 
representativeness, timeliness, and stability. (See Morbidity and 
Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Recommendations and Reports, ``Updated 
guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems,'' RR-13, 
vol. 50, 07/27/2001, found at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/RR/RR5013.pdf.)
    j. Prepare standard reports with aggregated data and distribute 
them widely.
    k. Share information learned from project through presentations, 
peer-reviewed publications and media events.
    l. Participate in a collaborative effort coordinated by the CDC to 
establish a

[[Page 10022]]

national violent death reporting system that collects uniform data 
across states as prescribed in the FY 2002 and FY 2003 appropriations 
report language. Meetings will be held on a semiannual basis.

Recipient Activities

    1B. For Experienced Violent Death Reporting Systems
    a. Maintain an advisory committee that will help in the enhancement 
of the reporting system. The committee should be able to help develop 
methods for data dissemination and set priorities for helping to 
develop prevention strategies. The committee should include, at a 
minimum, representatives from agencies that control the core data 
sources.
    b. Maintain or expand routine access to uniquely identifiable case 
information from each of the four core data sources for deaths 
occurring on or after 1/01/2004.
    c. Use the case definition and uniform data elements developed 
under Program Announcement 02059.
    d. Use or modify existing procedures that combine information from 
the data sources. Maintain a unique case ID number.
    e. Maintain or modify (1) a centralized location for maintaining a 
secure data storage system that allows for ready access to and 
retrieval of all your collected data and (2) an off-site, backup data 
storage system for all your data.
    f. Develop a quality assurance program that includes a systematic 
review of the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of the data 
collection process. This should include reabstraction of a sample of 
cases where applicable and monitoring of time intervals from death to 
case completion, as well as routine checks to identify duplicate cases.
    g. Transmit data free of personal identifiers electronically to CDC 
using software provided by the CDC. OMB clearance for this data 
collection is pending.
    h. Evaluate the surveillance system annually using standard 
guidelines. These include: simplicity, flexibility, data quality, 
acceptability, sensitivity, predictive value positive, 
representativeness, timeliness, and stability. (See MMWR 
Recommendations and Reports, ``Updated guidelines for evaluating public 
health surveillance systems,'' RR-13, vol. 50, 07/27/2001, found at: 
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/RR/RR5013.pdf.)
    i. Prepare standard reports with aggregated data and distribute 
them widely.
    j. Share information learned from the project through 
presentations, peer review publications and media events.
    k. Participate in a collaborative effort coordinated by the CDC to 
establish a national violent death reporting system that collects 
uniform data across states as prescribed in the FY 2002 and FY 2003 
appropriations report language. Meetings will be held on a semiannual 
basis.

    Note: ``New'' recipients may choose to begin data gathering in 
smaller geographic areas, such as cities, counties or regions rather 
than beginning statewide. ``Experienced'' recipients may choose to 
expand data gathering to a broader geographic area, if not currently 
statewide. If an applicant chooses to begin collecting data in a 
portion of the state, the applicant must outline a plan for 
expansion statewide within the five-year project period.

    2. CDC Activities `` Provide national leadership in the development 
and implementation of NVDRS through the following:
    a. Provide a case definition and required uniform data elements to 
be collected.
    b. Provide standardized model software that can be used to store 
and transmit data to CDC electronically, and provide software updates, 
as needed.
    c. Train recipients on surveillance systems. This includes: data 
standards, coding, data entry, data editing, quality assurance 
functions, record tracking, and reporting format.
    d. Provide technical assistance in solving problems in all aspects 
of the system.
    e. Review submitted records for quality and completeness and 
provide feedback to recipients. Work with the recipient to 
systematically resolve problems of missing or inaccurate data.
    f. Prepare an analysis file of final edited data to be shared with 
the recipient for data analysis and reporting of findings.
    g. Prepare standard reports with aggregated data and distribute 
them widely.
    h. Prepare Office of Management and Budget (OMB) package to obtain 
clearance for data collection.

F. Content

Applications

    The Program Announcement title and number must appear in the 
application. Use the information in the Program Requirements, Other 
Requirements, and Evaluation Criteria sections to develop the 
application content. Your application will be evaluated on the criteria 
listed, so it is important to follow them in laying out your program 
plan. The narrative should be no more than 30 pages, double-spaced, 
printed on one side, 1.5-inch left margin, 1-inch top, bottom, and 
right margins, and Courier New 12-point font. The total number of pages 
should not exceed 70 pages, including appendices and abstract (MOA/MOUs 
are not counted in the overall page total.) Applicants that fit into 
the ``Experienced'' category are allowed up to an additional five pages 
(total of 75 pages) for a required appendix that evaluates their 
current violent death surveillance system according to standard CDC 
guidelines.

    Note: Applicants who do not follow the content guidelines will 
have the following point reductions to their overall evaluation 
score: 1 point for more than 30 pages of the narrative; 1 point for 
use of a font smaller than 12-point; and 1 point for less than 
specified margins.

    The narrative will consist of, Background, Goals and Objectives, 
Methods, Experience, Capacity and Staffing, Evaluation and 
Collaboration.
    The application should include the following information: 
(Documentation of access to required data source should be included in 
the appendices.)
    1. A one-page abstract of proposed activities and project outcomes. 
The abstract should specify the type of applicant (``New'' or 
``Experienced'') and the number of violent deaths category into which 
the state fits (less than or equal to 800 or greater than 800 deaths.)
    2. Background.
    3. Goal(s) and Objectives. (Including an outline of a five-year 
plan with timeline.)
    3. Methods.
    4. Experience.
    5. Capacity and Staffing.
    6. Evaluation.
    8. Collaboration.
    9. Human Subjects.
    10. Budget.
    11. Appendices.

G. Submission and Deadline

Application Forms

    Submit the signed original and two copies of PHS 5161--1 (OMB 
Number 0920-0428.) Forms are available at the following Internet 
address: http://www.cdc.gov/od/pgo/forminfo.htm.
    If you do not have access to the Internet, or if you have 
difficulty accessing the forms on-line, you may contact the CDC 
Procurement and Grants Office Technical Information Management Section 
(PGO-TIM) at: 770-488-2700. Application forms can be mailed to you.

Submission Date, Time, and Address

    The application must be received by 4 p.m. Eastern Time June 2, 
2003.

[[Page 10023]]

Submit the application to: Technical Information Management--PA03038, 
CDC Procurement and Grants Office, 2920 Brandywine Road, Atlanta, GA 
30341-4146.
    Applications may not be submitted electronically.

CDC Acknowledgement of Application Receipt

    A postcard will be mailed by PGO-TIM, notifying you that CDC has 
received your application.

Deadline

    Applications shall be considered as meeting the deadline if they 
are received before 4 p.m. Eastern Time on the deadline date. Any 
applicant who sends their application by the United States Postal 
Service or commercial delivery services must ensure that the carrier 
will be able to guarantee delivery of the application by the closing 
date and time. If an application is received after closing due to (1) 
carrier error, when the carrier accepted the package with a guarantee 
for delivery by the closing date and time, or (2) significant weather 
delays or natural disasters, CDC will upon receipt of proper 
documentation, consider the application as having been received by the 
deadline.
    Any application that does not meet the above criteria will not be 
eligible for competition, and will be discarded. The applicant will be 
notified of their failure to meet the submission requirements.

H. Evaluation Criteria

Application

    Applicants are required to provide measures of effectiveness that 
will demonstrate the accomplishment of the various identified 
objectives of the cooperative agreement. Measures of effectiveness must 
relate to the performance goal stated in the purpose section of this 
announcement. Measures must be objective and quantitative and must 
measure the intended outcome. These measures of effectiveness must be 
submitted with the application and will be an element of evaluation.
    Applications which are complete and responsive will be subjected to 
a preliminary evaluation by a Special Emphasis Panel (SEP) to determine 
if the application is of sufficient technical and scientific merit to 
warrant further full review. Priority scores will be assigned by the 
SEP to the core applications. CDC will withdraw from further 
consideration applications judged to be noncompetitive.
    Each application will be evaluated individually against the 
following criteria by a Special Emphasis Panel (SEP) appointed by CDC:
    1. Methods (25 points)
    a. The extent to which the applicant describes the methods used for 
ascertaining cases and obtaining data from core data sources. This 
should include a discussion of methods used in motivating reporting 
sources, ensuring high quality data, and resolving data issues.
    b. The extent to which the applicant provides a detailed and clear 
description of how linkage of records from different sources is, or 
will be, accomplished.
    c. The extent to which the applicant describes how data will be 
stored in a central location in the state.
    d. The extent to which the applicant provides a detailed plan for 
protecting data from loss and assuring confidentiality where required 
by state law or regulation.
    e. The extent to which the applicant provides evidence that 
proposed activities are not duplications of existing activities. 
(Experienced applicants only)
    2. Goal(s) and Objectives (15 points)
    a. The extent to which the applicant has included goals, which are 
relevant and consistent with the purpose of the program announcement.
    b. The extent to which the objectives are specific, measurable, 
assigned to specific staff, realistic, and time-phased.
    c. The extent to which the applicant has included a five-year plan 
with timeline. Is it realistic? Does it accomplish the goals and 
objectives?
    3. Experience (15 points)
    a. The extent to which the applicant documents experience in 
accessing, collecting, linking, editing, managing, and analyzing 
surveillance information from multiple data sets, especially experience 
with mortality surveillance.
    b. The extent to which the applicant provides evidence of 
experience in injury surveillance, conducting data quality assurance 
activities, and generating data reports.
    4. Capacity and Staffing (15 points)
    a. The extent to which the applicant provides evidence of existing 
staff with expertise in SAS software and database manager, (e.g., 
Microsoft Access), computer programming skills, and skills in data 
management and quality assurance, especially involving large complex 
databases.
    b. The extent to which the applicant provides a plan, with position 
description(s), to hire someone with such skills and expertise. Resumes 
or curriculum vitae should be included.
    c. The extent to which the applicant provides a timetable showing 
when information regarding the occurrence of a violent death during a 
given calendar quarter is available to the applicant from each of the 
four required data sources.
    5. Collaboration (15 points)
    a. The extent to which the applicant provides evidence of 
involvement by key stakeholders in the current system or a plan for 
including key stakeholders in the development of a violent death 
reporting system.
    b. The extent to which the applicant documents the quality and 
specificity of access to required and optional data sources, e.g., the 
limitations of that access, the most recent year data are available, 
the timeliness and availability of data from all core and optional data 
sources, the duration of access, etc. Information from the letters of 
support will be considered in this context.
    c. The extent to which the applicant provides additional letters of 
support from potential partners in the project.
    d. The extent to which the letters of support document specific 
contributions of the partner, including but not limited to a 
description of the precise nature of past and proposed collaborations, 
products, services, and other activities that will be provided by and 
to the applicant through the proposed collaboration.
    6. Evaluation (10 points)
    a. The extent to which the applicant provides a detailed plan for 
evaluating the surveillance system. The plan should include standard 
CDC surveillance evaluation measures described above.
    b. The extent to which the applicant describes both system and data 
quality assurance procedures.
    7. Background (5 points)
    The extent to which the applicant documents the magnitude of the 
violent death problem in the applicant's state and/or target area.
    8. Human Subjects (Not Scored)
    The extent to which the applicant adequately addresses the 
requirements of Title 45 CFR part 46 for the protection of human 
subjects. Not scored; however, an application can be disapproved if the 
research risks are sufficiently serious and protection against risks is 
so inadequate as to make the entire application unacceptable.
    9. Budget (Not Scored)
    The extent to which the budget request is clearly explained, 
adequately justified, reasonable, sufficient and consistent with the 
stated objectives and planned activities. The Budget should include 
funds for at least two trips to CDC for program related meetings and 
training.

[[Page 10024]]

I. Other Requirements

Technical Reporting Requirements

    Provide CDC with original plus two copies of:
    1. Interim progress report, due on July 2 of each year. The 
progress report will serve as your non-competing continuation 
application, and must contain the following elements:
    a. Current Budget Period Activities Objectives.
    b. Current Budget Period Financial Progress.
    c. New Budget Period Program Proposed Activity Objectives.
    d. Detailed Line-Item Budget and Justification.
    e. Additional Requested Information.
    2. Financial status report, due December 29 of each year.
    3. Final financial and performance reports, no more than 90 days 
after the end of the project period.
    Send all reports to the Grants Management Specialist identified in 
the ``Where to Obtain Additional Information'' section of this 
announcement.

Additional Requirements

    The following additional requirements are applicable to this 
program. For a complete description of each, see Attachment I of the 
program announcement, as posted on the CDC Web site:

AR-1 Human Subjects Requirements
AR-2 Requirements for Inclusion of Women and Racial and Ethnic 
Minorities in Research
AR-9 Paperwork Reduction Act Requirements Projects that involve the 
collection of information from 10 or more persons and that are funded 
by cooperative agreements will be subject to review and approval by the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB.)
AR-10 Smoke-Free Workplace Requirements
AR-11 Healthy People 2010
AR-12 Lobbying Restrictions
AR-13 Prohibition on Use of CDC Funds for Certain Gun Control 
Activities
AR-21 Small, Minority, Women-Owned Businesses
AR-22 Research Integrity

    Executive Order 12372 does not apply to this program.

J. Where To Obtain Additional Information

    This and other CDC announcements, the necessary applications, and 
associated forms can be found on the CDC Web site, Internet address: 
http://www.cdc.gov.
    Click on ``Funding'' then ``Grants and Cooperative Agreements''.
    For general questions about this announcement, contact: Technical 
Information Management, CDC Procurement and Grants Office, 2920 
Brandywine Road, Atlanta, GA 30341-4146, Telephone: 770-488-2700.
    For business management and budget assistance, contact: Van A. 
King, Grants Management, Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention, 2920 Brandywine Road, Atlanta, GA 
30341-4146, Telephone: (770) 488-2751, E-mail address: [email protected].
    For program technical assistance, contact: Leroy Frazier, Jr., 
MSPH, CHES, Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury 
Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
4770 Buford Hwy, NE, MS K60, Atlanta, GA 30341, Telephone number: (770) 
488-1507, E-mail address: [email protected].

    Dated: February 24, 2003.
Sandra R. Manning,
CGFM, Director, Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 03-4858 Filed 2-28-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P