[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 150 (Tuesday, August 5, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46200-46202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-19800]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Supporting Networks of HIV Care Project Cooperative Agreements 
(SNHC), Program Announcement HRSA 03-102, CFDA  93.145B

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice of availability of funds.

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SUMMARY: The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) 
announces the availability of fiscal year (FY) 2003 Minority AIDS 
Initiative (MAI) funds allocated from the Department of Health and 
Human Services General Management Fund to continue the Supporting 
Networks of HIV Care (SNHC) Project. The total funding available for 
the SNHC Project is approximately $2.3 million. HRSA will award two 
cooperative agreements to two separate organizations to implement the 
SNHC Project in collaboration with the HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau (HRSA/HAB). 
The purpose of this announcement is to request Letters of Intent to 
Apply and applications for these two cooperative agreements. HRSA is 
requesting Letters of Intent to Apply in order to estimate the number 
of applications it may receive and thereby plan appropriately for the 
timely award of these funds. Letters of Intent to Apply are not 
required to submit an application and they are not binding.
    Background: The goal of the SNHC Project is to assist eligible 
organizations, including small to moderately sized non-profit 
organizations and faith- and community-based organizations (F/CBO), not 
currently directly funded by HRSA/HAB for HIV/AIDS service delivery in 
their efforts to develop, improve, and expand comprehensive HIV primary 
care, treatment and support service delivery in racial/ethnic minority 
communities most severely impacted by HIV/AIDS. For the purpose of this 
project, ``communities'' refer to both groups of people (i.e., African 
Americans, substance abusers, men who have sex with men) and geographic 
areas (i.e., Kansas City, MO; Navajo Territory; Appalachia). The term 
``severely impacted by HIV/AIDS'' is defined as having HIV or AIDS 
incidence and prevalence rates above the national average within a 
particular group of people or geographic area. The desired outcome of 
the SNHC Project is to increase the availability, accessibility, and 
quality of HIV/AIDS-related services in communities most severely 
impacted by the disease.
    Organizations funded to implement the SNHC Project will work with 
HRSA/HAB to achieve this goal and outcome by: (1) Identifying and 
outreaching to small to moderately sized non-profit organizations, 
including F/CBOs; (2) assessing each eligible organization's commitment 
and readiness to provide quality HIV primary care, treatment or support 
services to severely impacted communities; and (3) providing 
individualized long-term technical assistance designed to help each 
organization obtain the information, skills, and other resources needed 
to develop, improve or expand its infrastructure and capabilities. 
Organizations funded to implement the SNHC Project will respond to the 
needs of eligible organizations through the development and provision 
of on-site technical assistance, regional intensive skills building 
workshops, instructional documents, referrals to local

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organizations providing similar assistance, and other resources.
    Eligible organizations that will receive technical assistance and 
resources through the SNHC Project must: (1) Be small to moderately 
sized non-profit organizations, including F/CBOs in the United States 
and surrounding territories (does not include government or municipal 
agencies, such as health departments, schools, or public hospitals); 
(2) have a primary service delivery site that is physically located in 
or near a community whose residents at risk for or living with HIV are 
predominantly racial/ethnic minorities; (3) have at least a 3-year 
history of providing some primary health care or support service (e.g., 
HIV counseling and testing, substance abuse treatment, housing 
services, meals on wheels, clinical evaluation, spiritual counseling) 
to racial/ethnic minority residents in its surrounding community to 
demonstrate some initial organizational capacity for service delivery 
and a commitment to serving communities of color; (4) commit to 
accomplishing and reporting progress on the outcomes of the services 
received; (5) not be directly funded by the HRSA through the Ryan White 
CARE Act to provide primary health care or related support services; 
and (6) not have the financial resources (discretionary funding) to 
obtain this type of assistance independently.
    HRSA will issue two cooperative agreements to two separate 
organizations to provide assistance and resources to eligible 
organizations. Funded organizations will work in collaboration with 
each other, HRSA/HAB staff, and other training, education and capacity 
building efforts. Specifically, the first cooperative agreement will 
serve as an Assistance Coordinator to: (1) identify and outreach to 
small to moderately sized non-profit organizations, including F/CBOs, 
in the United States and its surrounding territories; (2) review 
requests and select a number of eligible organizations to receive 
technical assistance; (3) arrange for assistance to be provided on-site 
through qualified staff, consultants, peers, mentors, or other local 
organizations; and (4) implement related activities. The second 
cooperative agreement will serve as a Resource Coordinator to: (1) 
Provide intensive regional skills building workshops and develop 
instructional materials addressing common challenges experienced by 
small to moderately sized non-profit organizations moving into HIV 
primary care service delivery; (2) identify, screen and make publicly 
available pertinent information on technical consultants with expertise 
in HIV primary care programs; (3) collect and disseminate useful 
resources regarding HIV primary care service delivery; and (4) 
implement related activities.
    To reduce the time and resources associated with project start-up, 
HRSA/HAB will encourage funded organizations to adopt and improve upon 
the outreach strategy, graphic elements, request for service materials, 
assessment protocols, information management systems, evaluation 
strategy and other items developed in the first year of the project. 
More information about the current activities SNHC Project is available 
at www.hivta.org.
    Available Funding: The total amount available is $2.3 million. It 
is estimated that approximately $1.6 million to $1.8 million will be 
available to support the Assistance Coordinator Cooperative Agreement, 
and that approximately $500,000 to $700,000 will be available to 
support the Resource Coordinator Cooperative Agreement. Awards will be 
made on or before September 29, 2003. Funding will be made available 
for 12 months, with a project period of up to three years. Funding 
levels will be determined annually during each year of the project 
period and are contingent upon the availability of funding and 
satisfactory performance. Funding for this project is provided through 
the Minority AIDS Initiative. Applicants are not required to match or 
share in project costs if an award is made. However, applicants must 
propose cost-effective and efficient plans to implement project 
activities with funds awarded.
    Eligible Applicants: Statement of Eligibility for Minority AIDS 
Initiative Funds' Funding will be directed to activities designed to 
deliver services specifically targeting racial and ethnic minority 
populations impacted by HIV/AIDS. Applicants eligible to apply for the 
SNHC Project cooperative agreements include: not for profit community-
based organizations, national organizations, colleges and universities, 
clinics and hospitals, research institutions, State and local 
government agencies and Tribal government and Tribal/urban Indian 
entities and organizations. Faith- and community-based organizations 
are eligible to apply for these cooperative agreements. This general 
statement is subject to program specific statutory and/or regulatory 
requirements.
    Priority will be given to applicant organizations and their 
proposed project staff that have: (1) Experience working with small to 
moderately sized non-profit organizations, including F/CBOs, racial/
ethnic minority-led organizations, and organizations serving racial/
ethnic minorities; (2) knowledge of the challenges faced by 
organizations providing care, treatment and support services to people 
living with HIV/AIDS; and (3) a commitment to addressing the needs of 
organizations that provide HIV-related services in communities severely 
impacted by HIV, as demonstrated by the applicant's organizational 
mission.
    Organizations funded under the SNHC Project will be supported in 
the development of their own infrastructure and capabilities to 
continue similar work, consistent with their organizational mission, 
following the end of the of the project period.
    Authorizing Legislation: The authority for these cooperative 
agreements is Title XXVI, Part F of the Public Health Service Act 
[Title 42, U.S.C., 300ff-111] as amended by Public Law 106.345, the 
Ryan White CARE Act Amendments of 2000, dated October 20, 2000.
    Program Guidance & Application Kits: To prepare and submit an 
application, organizations must obtain: (1) The Supporting Networks of 
HIV Care FY 2003 Project Guidance--HRSA Program Announcement Number 
HRSA-03-102, Program Code SNHC, Catalogue of Federal Domestic 
Assistance (CFDA)  93.145B; and (2) Federal grant application 
kit required for these cooperative agreements, Public Health Service 
(PHS) Form 5161-1. The Project Guidance is available on the HIV/AIDS 
Bureau Web site at the following Internet address: http://www.hab.hrsa.gov/grant.htm. The PHS Form 5161-1 is available at the 
following Internet address: http://forms.psc.gov/forms/PHS-5161-1/phs-5161-1.html. For those organizations who do not have access to the 
Internet, hard copies of the Project Guidance and PHS Form 5161-1 may 
be obtained from the HRSA Grants Application Center (GAC). You can 
reach the HRSA GAC toll-free by telephone: (877) 477-2123, fax: (877) 
477-2345, or e-mail: [email protected].
    Letters of Intent To Apply Submission: Letters of Intent to Apply 
to this program should include the following information for the 
applicant: (1) The organization name and contact information, (2) a 
brief organizational capabilities statement, and (3) a brief 
description of the project model to be proposed. Letters of Intent to 
Apply should be mailed on or before August 20, 2003 to: Tanesha Burley, 
Public Health Analyst, HIV/AIDS Bureau, Parklawn Building Room 7-47, 
5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857.
    Application Submission: In order to be considered for competition,

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applications to this cooperative agreement program must be received at 
the HRSA Grants Application Center by close of business on September 4, 
2003. Applications shall be considered as meeting the deadline if they 
are: (1) Received on or before the deadline, or (2) postmarked on or 
before the deadline date and received in time for orderly processing. 
Private metered postmarks shall not be acceptable as proof of mailing. 
Applications received after the deadline will be returned to the 
applicant and not reviewed. Completed applications should be mailed or 
delivered to: HRSA Grants Management Center, Attn: Grants Management 
Officer, CFDA 93.145B, Program Announcement HRSA-03-102 (Code--SNHC), 
901 Russell Avenue, Suite 450, Gaithersburg, MD 20879. You will receive 
a Grant Application Receipt form from the HRSA Grants Application 
Center to confirm receipt of your application. You also can contact the 
center directly to confirm receipt.
    For Additional Information: Additional information may be obtained 
from Tanesha Burley, HIV/AIDS Bureau, Parklawn Building Room 7-47, 5600 
Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, telephone: (301) 443-4744, fax: 
(301) 594-2835, e-mail: [email protected].
    Paperwork Reduction Act: Should any data collection activities 
associated with the cooperative agreements fall under the purview of 
the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) clearance will be sought.
    Executive Order 12372: The Supporting Networks of HIV Care Project 
is not subject to Executive Order 12372--Intergovernmental Review of 
Federal Programs as implemented through 45 CFR, part 100. Executive 
Order 12372 allows States to review applications submitted to the 
Federal Government by organizations located in the State through a 
Singel Point of Contact (SPOC). For a list of States and Territories 
that participate in the SPOC review process, please go to the following 
Web site address: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.html.

    Dated: July 29, 2003.
Elizabeth M. Duke,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 03-19800 Filed 8-4-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P