[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 56 (Tuesday, March 23, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13542-13545]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-6372]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


Funding Opportunity Title: National Training and Technical 
Assistance Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Cooperative 
Agreement (Short Title: NTTAC)

    Announcement Type: Initial.
    Funding Opportunity Number: SM 04-002.
    Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 93.243.
    Due Date for Applications: May 21, 2004.

    Note: Letters from State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) in 
response to E.O. 12372 are due July 20, 2004.

SUMMARY: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 
(SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) announces the 
availability of FY 2004 funds for a National Training and Technical 
Assistance Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (NTTAC) 
Cooperative Agreement. A synopsis of this funding opportunity, as well 
as many other Federal Government funding opportunities, is also 
available at the Internet site: http://www.grants.gov.
    For complete instructions, potential applicants must obtain a copy 
of SAMHSA's standard Infrastructure

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Grants Program Announcement (INF-04 PA [MOD]), and the PHS 5161-1 (Rev. 
7/00) application form before preparing and submitting an application. 
The INF-04 PA (MOD) describes the general program design and provides 
instructions for applying for all SAMHSA Infrastructure Grants, 
including the NTTAC Cooperative Agreement. Additional instructions and 
specific requirements to the National Training and Technical Assistance 
Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Cooperative Agreement are 
described below.

I. Funding Opportunity Description

    Authority: Section 520 A of the Public Health Service Act, as 
amended and subject to the availability of funds.

    The National Training and Technical Assistance Center for Child and 
Adolescent Mental Health (NTTAC) Cooperative Agreement is one of 
SAMHSA's Infrastructure Grants. SAMHSA's Infrastructure Grants provide 
funds to increase the capacity of mental health and/or substance abuse 
service systems to support programs and services. The NTTAC is a 
crucial link in CMHS's ongoing efforts to implement the President's New 
Freedom Commission on Mental Health Report. Therefore, activities 
carried out under this announcement must be focused on strengthening 
the capacity of States and communities to transform their mental health 
system to meet the complex needs of children and youth with, or at risk 
for, serious emotional disturbances and/or co-occurring substance abuse 
and mental health disorders and their families, within home- and 
community-based settings.
    The NTTAC will serve as a national resource and training center to 
promote the planning and development of child and family-centered, 
culturally competent, and coordinated systems of care for children and 
adolescents with, or at risk for, a serious emotional disturbance and 
their families. The NTTAC will provide access to information and 
expertise on systems of care development, implementation, and policy 
issues through a variety of knowledge distribution approaches and 
technologies. Priority areas of focus will include: State planning and 
policy development to implement family-driven, comprehensive systems of 
care across child-serving systems; family and youth-centered care 
planning; financing strategies in public and private sectors; data 
management and accountability; workforce and leadership development; 
evidence-based practice; early intervention including screening and 
assessment; integration of care with primary health, child-care, 
schools, child welfare, juvenile justice, and substance abuse; 
cultural, racial, and geographic disparities; and technology 
coordination and dissemination. NTTAC will provide targeted technical 
assistance to State and local child-serving agencies, Indian tribes and 
tribal organizations, Pacific Island jurisdictions to provide support 
for integrated, responsive mental health delivery systems for children, 
adolescents and their families (with families being broadly defined to 
include a variety of caretakers such as grandparents and extended 
kinship relationships). These activities will serve to implement the 
following goals set out by the President's New Freedom Commission 
Report: create a comprehensive state mental health plan; promote the 
mental health of young children; advance evidence-based practices using 
dissemination and demonstration projects and create a public-private 
partnership to guide their implementation; improve and expand the 
workforce providing evidence-based mental health services and supports; 
develop and implement integrated electronic health record and personal 
health information systems; create individualized plans of care for 
children and their families; address cultural, racial, and geographic 
disparities; and promote early mental health screening, assessment and 
referral.
    Background: The NTTAC will serve a key role in furthering Federal 
efforts begun over 15 years ago, and now reiterated in the President's 
New Freedom Commission Report, to promote the development of more 
accessible and appropriate home and community-based mental health and 
mental health service delivery systems for children, adolescents, and 
their families. Significant advances have been achieved in 
understanding and in communicating what comprises an effective network 
of services and supports. Outcome data on systems of care continue to 
show the system of care model decreases use of inpatient care, 
increases school attendance and performance, and decreases contacts 
with the juvenile justice system. Several States have adopted statutes 
mandating this kind of approach to treatment for children and 
adolescents with serious emotional disturbances and their families.

II. Award Information

    1. Estimated Funding Available/Number of Awards: It is expected 
that up to a total of $3.45 million will be available to fund one NTTAC 
award in FY 2004. Of this total amount, approximately $250,000 is 
included to provide technical assistance for state capacity building to 
programs funded under the Child and Adolescent Mental Health and 
Substance Abuse State Infrastructure Grants, SM 04-006 and 
approximately $200,000 is included to address needs of grantees in the 
Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative jointly funded through the 
Department of Education. An additional $150,000 may be available 
through agreement with another federal agency to support a position for 
an expert in issues related to child welfare and mental health. 
Application budgets should include these additional dollars, a 
corresponding plan for the staff position and related support 
incorporating the expert into project activities. The maximum allowable 
award is $3.6 million in total costs (direct and indirect) per year for 
up to five years. Proposed budgets cannot exceed the allowable amount 
in any year of the proposed project. Annual continuations will depend 
on the availability of funds, grantee progress in meeting program goals 
and objectives, and timely submission of required data and reports.
    2. Funding Instrument: Cooperative Agreement.
    Role and Responsibilities of Federal Staff: It is the 
responsibility of the Government Project Officer (GPO) who is 
overseeing the cooperative agreement to appropriately discharge his/her 
responsibilities to monitor the overall progress of the program. The 
GPO's role for this cooperative agreement includes: (1) Providing 
technical assistance to the grantee in implementing project activities 
throughout the course of the project; (2) reviewing and approving each 
stage of project activities; and (3) providing technical monitoring to 
permit oversight of the project activities. The project officer may 
conduct site visits to monitor the development of the training and 
technical assistance activities and/or engage consultants to advise on 
programmatic issues and conduct site visits.
    Role and Responsibilities of the Grantee: The grantee is expected 
to participate and cooperate fully with CMHS staff in the 
implementation and evaluation of the project. Activities include: (1) 
Compliance with all aspects of the terms and conditions of the 
cooperative agreement; (2) cooperation with CMHS staff in accepting 
guidance and responding to requests for data; (3) participation on 
policy steering committee or other work groups established to 
facilitate accomplishment of the project goals; (4) authorship or co-
authorship of publications to make

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results of the project available to other programs impacting children's 
mental health.

III. Eligibility Information

    1. Eligible Applicants are domestic public and private, nonprofit 
entities. For example, State, local or tribal governments; public or 
private universities and colleges; community- and faith-based 
organizations; and tribal organizations may apply. The statutory 
authority for this program prohibits grants to for-profit 
organizations. These eligibility criteria supersede the criteria 
specified in Section III-1 of the INF-04 PA (MOD).
    2. Cost Sharing or Matching is not required.
    3. Other: Applicants must also meet certain application formatting 
and submission requirements or the application will be screened out and 
will not be reviewed. These requirements are described in Section IV-2 
below as well as in the INF-04 PA (MOD).

IV. Application and Submission Information

    1. Address to Request Application Package: Complete application 
kits may be obtained from the National Mental Health Information Center 
at 1-800-789-2647. When requesting an application kit for this program, 
the applicant must specify the funding opportunity title (NTTAC) and 
number (SM 04-002). All information necessary to apply, including where 
to submit applications and application deadline instructions, are 
included in the application kit. The PHS 5161-1 application form is 
also available electronically via SAMHSA's World Wide Web Home Page: 
http://www.samhsa.gov (Click on ``Grant Opportunities'') and the INF-04 
PA (MOD) is available electronically at http://www.samhsa.gov/grants/2004/standard/Infrastructure/index.asp.
    When submitting an application, be sure to type ``SM 04-002/NTTAC'' 
in Item Number 10 on the face page of the application form. Also, 
SAMHSA applicants are required to provide a DUNS number on the face 
page of the application. To obtain a DUNS Number, access the Dun and 
Bradstreet Web site at http://www.dunandbradstreet.com or call 1-866-
705-5711.
    2. Content and Form of Application Submission: Information 
including required documents, required application components, and 
application formatting requirements is available in the INF-04 PA (MOD) 
in Section IV-2.

Checklist for Formatting Requirements and Screenout Criteria for SAMHSA 
Grant Applications

    SAMHSA's goal is to review all applications submitted for grant 
funding. However, this goal must be balanced against SAMHSA's 
obligation to ensure equitable treatment of applications. For this 
reason, SAMHSA has established certain formatting requirements for its 
applications. If you do not adhere to these requirements, your 
application will be screened out and returned to you without review.

--Use the PHS 5161-1 application.
--Applications must be received by the application deadline. 
Applications received after this date must have a proof of mailing date 
from the carrier dated at least 1 week prior to the due date. Private 
metered postmarks are not acceptable as proof of timely mailing. 
Applications not received by the application deadline or not postmarked 
at least 1 week prior to the application deadline will not be reviewed.
--Information provided must be sufficient for review.
--Text must be legible.

     Type size in the Project Narrative cannot exceed 
an average of 15 characters per inch, as measured on the physical page. 
(Type size in charts, tables, graphs, and footnotes will not be 
considered in determining compliance.)
     Text in the Project Narrative cannot exceed 6 
lines per vertical inch.

--Paper must be white paper and 8.5 inches by 11.0 inches in size.
--To ensure equity among applications, the amount of space allowed for 
the Project Narrative cannot be exceeded.

     Applications would meet this requirement by 
using all margins (left, right, top, bottom) of at least one inch each, 
and adhering to the page limit for the Project Narrative stated in the 
specific funding announcement.
     Should an application not conform to these 
margin or page limits, SAMHSA will use the following method to 
determine compliance: The total area of the Project Narrative 
(excluding margins, but including charts, tables, graphs and footnotes) 
cannot exceed 58.5 square inches multiplied by the page limit. This 
number represents the full page less margins, multiplied by the total 
number of allowed pages.
     Space will be measured on the physical page. 
Space left blank within the Project Narrative (excluding margins) is 
considered part of the Project Narrative, in determining compliance.

--The page limit for Appendices stated in the specific funding 
announcement cannot be exceeded. To facilitate review of your 
application, follow these additional guidelines. Failure to adhere to 
the following guidelines will not, in itself, result in your 
application being screened out and returned without review. However, 
the information provided in your application must be sufficient for 
review. Following these guidelines will help ensure your application is 
complete, and will help reviewers to consider your application.
--The 10 application components required for SAMHSA applications should 
be included. These are:

     Face Page (Standard Form 424, which is in PHS 
5161-1)
     Abstract.
     Table of Contents.
     Budget Form (Standard Form 424A, which is in PHS 
5161-1).
     Project Narrative and Supporting Documentation.
     Appendices.
     Assurances (Standard Form 424B, which is in PHS 
5161-1).
     Certifications (a form in PHS 5161-1).
     Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (Standard Form 
LLL, which is in PHS 5161-1).
     Checklist (a form in PHS 5161-1).

--Applications should comply with the following requirements:

     Provisions relating to confidentiality, 
participant protection and the protection of human subjects, as 
indicated in the specific funding announcement.
     Budgetary limitations as indicated in Sections 
I, II, and IV-5 of the specific funding announcement.
     Documentation of nonprofit status as required in 
the PHS 5161-1.

--Pages should be typed single-spaced with one column per page.
--Pages should not have printing on both sides.
--Please use black ink, and number pages consecutively from beginning 
to end so that information can be located easily during review of the 
application. The cover page should be page 1, the abstract page should 
be page 2, and the table of contents page should be page 3. Appendices 
should be labeled and separated from the Project Narrative and budget 
section, and the pages should be numbered to continue the sequence.
--Send the original application and two copies to the mailing address 
in the funding announcement. Please do not use staples, paper clips, 
and fasteners. Nothing should be attached, stapled, folded, or pasted. 
Do not use heavy or lightweight paper, or any material that

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cannot be copied using automatic copying machines. Odd-sized and 
oversized attachments such as posters will not be copied or sent to 
reviewers. Do not include videotapes, audiotapes, or CD-ROMs.

    3. Submission Dates and Times: Applications must be received by May 
21, 2004. You will be notified by postal mail that your application has 
been received. Additional submission information is available in the 
INF-04 PA (MOD) in Section IV-3.
    4. Intergovernmental Review: Applicants for this funding 
opportunity must comply with Executive Order 12372 (E.O.12372). 
E.O.12372, as implemented through Department of Health and Human 
Services (DHHS) regulation at 45 CFR Part 100, sets up a system for 
State and local review of applications for Federal financial 
assistance. Instructions for complying with E.O. 12372 are provided in 
the INF-04 PA (MOD) in Section IV-4. A current listing of State Single 
Points of Contact (SPOCs) is included in the application kit and is 
available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.html.
    5. Funding Restrictions: Information concerning funding 
restrictions is available in the INF-04 PA (MOD) in Section IV-5.

V. Application Review Information

    1. Evaluation Criteria: Applications will be reviewed against the 
Evaluation Criteria and requirements for the Project Narrative 
specified in the INF-04 PA (MOD). The following information describes 
exceptions or limitations to the INF-04 PA (MOD) and provides special 
requirements that pertain only to NTTAC grants. Applicants must discuss 
the following requirements in their applications, in addition to the 
requirements specified in the INF-04 PA (MOD):
    1.1 In ``Section A: Statement of Need'': Applicants must address 
the need for training and technical assistance on children's mental 
health in States, territories and tribal nations, including the need 
for training and technical assistance addressing the priority focus 
areas referenced in Section I. ``Funding Opportunity Description''.
    1.2 In ``Section B: Proposed Approach'':
    a. Applicants must describe plans for implementing the following 
required activities in a manner that addresses the needs identified in 
Section A : training institutes, policy academies, leadership 
development, efforts to address cultural competence, and other training 
and technical assistance activities.
    b. Applicants must provide evidence that the proposed activities 
meet the infrastructure needs and that the proposed infrastructure 
development strategy will meet project goals and objectives.
    c. Applicants must describe plans for integrating the priority 
focus areas into the planned activities for the project.
    d. Applicants are not required to provide a plan to secure 
resources to sustain the proposed infrastructure enhancements when 
Federal funding ends.
    1.3 Additional Information: Applicants should refer to the Notice 
of Funding Availability for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and 
Substance Abuse State Infrastructure Grants, SM 04-006, for information 
on requirements for providing technical assistance for state capacity 
building to programs funded under SM 04-006, available at http://www.samhsa.gov.
    1.4 Performance Measurement: All SAMHSA grantees are required to 
collect and report certain data, so that SAMHSA can meet its 
obligations under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). 
Grantees of the NTTAC program will be required to report performance in 
several areas. Applicants must document their ability to collect and 
report the required data in ``Section D: Evaluation and Data'' of their 
applications, including the following indicators:
     Increase outreach to prospective technical 
assistance recipients, including community-based and faith-based 
organizations.
     Increase the number of technical assistance 
recipients that demonstrate inclusion of family members and youth in 
planning, policy, and service delivery decisions.
     Increase the use of evidence-based models/
interventions by technical assistance recipients.
     Increase the number of technical assistance 
recipients using a system-of-care approach. SAMHSA will work with 
grantees to finalize a standard methodology related to these indicators 
shortly after award.
    2. Review and Selection Process: Information about the review and 
selection process is available in the INF-04 PA (MOD) in Section V-2.

VI. Award Administration Information

    Award administration information, including award notices, 
administrative and national policy requirements, and reporting 
requirements are available in the INF-04 PA (MOD) in Section VI. 
SAMHSA's standard terms and conditions are available at http://www.samhsa.gov/grants/2004/useful_info.asp.

VII. Agency Contact for Additional Information

    For questions concerning program issues, contact: Michele Herman, 
SAMHSA/CMHS, Child, Adolescent and Family Branch, 5600 Fishers Lane, 
Room 11C-16; Rockville, MD 20857; 301-443-1333; E-mail: 
[email protected]. For questions on grants management issues, contact: 
Gwendolyn Simpson, SAMHSA/Division of Grants Management, 5600 Fishers 
Lane, Room 13-103; Rockville, MD 20857; 301 443-4456; E-mail: 
[email protected].

    Dated: March 17, 2004.
Margaret M. Gilliam,
Acting Director, Office of Policy Planning and Budget, Substance Abuse 
and Mental Health Services Administration.
[FR Doc. 04-6372 Filed 3-22-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P