[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 112 (Thursday, June 10, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32555-32558]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-13112]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Funding Opportunity Title: Announcement of Availability of Funds 
for Cooperative Agreements for Family Planning Research

    Announcement Type: This is the initial announcement of this 
competitive funding opportunity.
    CFDA Number: 93.974.

    Authority: Section 1004 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act.


DATES: To receive consideration, applications must be received by the 
Office of Public Health and Science (OPHS) Grants Management Office no 
later than August 9, 2004.

SUMMARY: The Office of Population Affairs (OPA) announces the 
availability of fiscal year (FY) 2004 funds for a cooperative agreement 
program for family planning research. The purpose of this program is to 
obtain data or research-based information which can be used to help 
improve the delivery of family planning services.
    Title X of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 300, et seq., 
authorizes programs related to family planning. Section 1004 of the 
Act, as amended, authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
to award grants to entities for research in the biomedical, 
contraceptive development, behavioral, and program implementation 
fields related to family planning and population. Implementing 
regulations can be found at 42 CFR part 52.
    The OPA is committed to achieving the health promotion and disease 
prevention objectives of ``Healthy People 2010,'' a PHS-led national 
activity for setting priority areas. This announcement is related to 
the priority area of family planning. Potential applicants may obtain a 
copy of ``Healthy People 2010'' at http://www.health.gov/healthypeople.

Overview Summary

    The Office of Population Affairs (OPA) announces the availability 
of $350,000 to $450,000 for fiscal year (FY) 2004 funds for one to 
three cooperative agreement projects for family planning research. 
Awards will be $150,000 to $250,000 per year and will be funded in 
annual increments (budget periods) and may be approved for a project 
period of up to five years. Funding for all budget periods beyond the 
first year of the cooperative agreement is contingent upon the 
availability of funds, satisfactory progress of the project, and 
adequate stewardship of Federal funds.

I. Funding Opportunity Description

    This announcement seeks applications from public and non-profit 
private entities to conduct data analyses and related research and 
evaluation on issues of interest to the family planning field. Many 
persons have observed that gaps exist in the array of data and analyses 
needed by administrators, planners, and researchers in the field of 
family planning. The need for such data is likely to increase. 
Therefore, funds available under this announcement are for projects to 
increase the availability of data and research-based information which 
will be useful to family planning administrators and providers, 
researchers, and officials of local, State, and the Federal government, 
including OPA, in order to improve the delivery of family planning 
services to persons needing and desiring such services.

II. Award Information

    The OPA intends to make available approximately $350,000 to 
$450,000 to support an estimated one to three research projects. Awards 
will range from $150,000 to $250,000 per year. Projects will be funded 
in annual increments (budget periods) and may be approved for a project 
period of up to five years. Funding for all budget periods beyond the 
first year of the cooperative agreement is contingent upon the 
availability of funds, satisfactory progress of the project, and 
adequate stewardship of Federal funds.
    A cooperative agreement is an award instrument establishing an 
``assistance'' relationship between OPA and a recipient, in which 
substantial programmatic involvement with the recipient is anticipated 
during performance of the activity. The recipient will have lead 
responsibilities in all aspects of the study, including any 
modification of study design, conduct of the study, data analysis and 
interpretation, and preparation of publications. However, OPA will 
collaborate with the recipient, as appropriate, and provide 
consultation, assistance, and support in planning, implementing, and 
evaluating all aspects of the proposed plan. OPA will provide 
assistance in the preparation and review of reports to be disseminated.

III. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants

    Any public or private nonprofit entity located in a State (which 
includes one of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Republic of Palau, 
Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall 
Islands) is eligible to apply for a cooperative agreement under this 
announcement. Faith-based organizations are eligible to apply for these 
cooperative agreements for family planning research.

2. Cost-Sharing or Matching

    No cost sharing or matching of non-Federal funds is required.

IV. Application and Submission Information

Form of Application and Submission Information

1. Address to Request Application Package

    Applications kits may be requested from, and applications should be

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submitted to: OPHS Grants Management Office, 1101 Wootton Parkway, 
Suite 550, Rockville, MD 20852, (301) 594-0758. Application kits are 
also available online through the OPA Web site at http://opa.osophs.dhhs.gov, may be requested by fax at (301) 594-9399, or may 
be obtained through the electronic grants management system, e-Grants. 
(Instructions for use of the e-Grants system may be obtained from the 
OPA Web site, or by calling the Grants Management Office at (301) 594-
0758).

2. Content and Form of Application Submission

    Applications must be submitted on Form OPHS-1 (Revised 6/01) and in 
the manner prescribed in the application kit. Submissions may be either 
electronic or in hard copy in the manner prescribed.
    Applications should be limited to 60 double-spaced pages, not 
including appendices, using an easily readable serif typeface, such as 
Times Roman, Courier, or GC Times. All pages, charts, figures and 
tables should be numbered. Appendices may include curriculum vitae of 
key staff and other evidence of organizational experience and 
capabilities. Please note that appendices are supplementary 
information, and are not intended to be a continuation of the program 
narrative. Appendices should be clearly labeled. Applications must 
include a one-page abstract of the proposed project. The abstract will 
be used to provide reviewers with an overview of the application, and 
will form the basis for the application summary in grants management 
documents.
    All applicants are required to submit an original application 
signed by an individual authorized to act for the applicant agency or 
organization and to assume for the organization the obligations imposed 
by the terms and conditions of the grant award. If the application is 
submitted electronically, a hard-copy of the OPHS-1 (Rev. 06/01) face-
page with original signature must also be received on or before the 
deadline date listed in the DATES section of this announcement. An 
electronic submission is not considered complete unless both the 
electronic application and the hard-copy face-page with original 
signature are received by the application due date.

Program Requirements/Application Content

    This notice solicits applications for projects to conduct data 
analysis and related research which will be useful in improving the 
delivery of family planning services by identifying areas in family 
planning in much need of attention and by assessing how well the Title 
X family planning program is meeting its objectives. In order to be 
competitive, an application should (1) describe a set of information 
needs in the field of family planning in the United States deemed by 
the applicant to represent the most pressing data gaps for the 
efficient and effective provision of family planning services and (2) 
propose a coherent five-year program of research and evaluation, data 
analysis estimation and/or assessment designed to fill these needs in a 
practical and creative manner.
    The application should outline the frequency of any particular 
proposed analyses (i.e., continuously, annually, biennially, or once 
during the five-year project period of this cooperative agreement), 
describe the methodologies to be used, and propose a plan to make 
accessible the products of this project to the OPA as well as to the 
audience intended, (i.e., administrators, providers, and researchers), 
including via the Internet, for the five-year period of the project. 
The application should reflect a good understanding of the systems by 
which family planning services are provided, and a familiarity with 
research, data collection systems, and analyses in the area of family 
planning and population studies supported by other sources. The 
application should also include a discussion of the relationship of the 
studies proposed for support under this cooperative agreement to 
research and analyses supported by other sources. An explanation of the 
relevance and importance of the analytic, research, and evaluation 
activities proposed for this cooperative agreement, and a justification 
of the expected utility of the analytic products expected from this 
effort should also be included in this application.
    Although the purpose of this announcement is to encourage 
applicants to develop and propose analytic strategies which they will 
pursue if supported under this announcement, there are a number of 
areas described below that are of specific interest to OPA. These 
include, but are not limited, to the following:
A. Estimates and Characteristics of Clients Served and Population in 
Need
    1. Estimates of the size and geographic distribution of the 
population at risk of unintended pregnancy;
    2. Estimates of the size and geographic distribution of the 
population in need of subsidized family planning services;
    3. Characteristics, in terms of age, race, and income or poverty 
status of the two populations listed above (1 and 2);
    4. Estimates of the size, geographic distribution, and 
characteristics of populations in need of family planning services but 
currently not being served;
B. Patterns and Trends in Delivery of Family Planning Services
    1. Patterns of family planning and reproductive health care service 
delivery among the varied sources of family planning services (clinics, 
physicians' offices, community health centers, etc.);
    2. Patterns of integration of family planning with related services 
including sexually transmitted infections (STI) services, HIV 
prevention, intimate partner violence, substance abuse, and cancer 
screening;
    3. Patterns and trends in providing services to adolescents, 
including use of school settings, special clinics, special protocols;
    4. Patterns and trends in the training, recruitment, and retention 
of clinic personnel;
    5. The trends and patterns of family planning services to males and 
the role and influence of males in contraceptive decision-making and 
pregnancy prevention, as well as reproductive health;
    6. Trends in the growing costs of delivering services, payment 
sources for family planning services, patterns in insurance coverage 
for family planning services, specifically for Title X clients;
    7. Utilization of outreach, follow-up, and case management 
strategies in provision of services to hard to reach clients such as 
substance abusers, persons at high STD/HIV risk, adolescents, issues 
related to limited english proficiency (LEP) and other hard-to-reach 
populations.
    8. Racial and ethnic disparities in reproductive health and access 
to reproductive health care.
    In addition to the areas described above, applicants' topic 
selection should be guided by the knowledge that Title X appropriations 
for the family planning program administered by OPA include two 
important legislative mandates. These are as follows:
    (1) None of the funds appropriated in this Act may be made 
available to any entity under Title X of the Public Health Service Act 
unless the applicant for the award certifies to the Secretary that it 
encourages family participation in the decision of minors to seek 
family planning services and that it provides counseling to minors on 
how to resist attempts to coerce minors into engaging in sexual 
activities; and

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    (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no provider of 
services under Title X of the Public Health Service Act shall be exempt 
from any State law requiring notification or the reporting of child 
abuse, child molestation, sexual abuse, rape, or incest.
    The principal purpose of this project is not to collect original 
data. However, if it is relevant and it can be demonstrated that 
appropriate data do not exist elsewhere, some collection of original 
data is not precluded. Applications also must provide a plan on how 
information will be disseminated.
    The Title X program is intended to address the health needs of all 
men and women, including all subgroups as characterized by age, class, 
race, and ethnicity. Members of minority groups should be included in 
all proposed research unless a clear and compelling rationale or 
justification establishes that such inclusion is inappropriate. 
Applicants should approach their research and analysis with 
considerations of class, race, and ethnicity in mind whenever possible.
    As a cooperative agreement, OPA will have substantial involvement 
with the recipient in prioritizing identified research activities 
proposed and/or identifying additional research topics or approaches. 
Other research, changing conditions, or new priorities may cause some 
activities proposed, particularly for the later years of this project, 
to be superseded in importance, and may necessitate modifications in 
actual work plans. This reprioritization will be negotiated between 
successful applicants and the OPA.

3. Submission Dates and Times

    Applications will be considered as meeting the deadline if they are 
electronically submitted, or hand-delivered to the OPHS Grants 
Management Office on or before the deadline listed in the DATES section 
of this announcement. Hand-delivered applications must be received by 
the OPHS Grants Management Office not later than 4:30 eastern standard 
time on the application due date.
    Electronic Submission: The OPA encourages electronic submission of 
grant applications using the OPHS e-Grants system. Instructions for use 
of this system are available on the OPA Web site, http://opa.osophs.dhhs.gov, or may be requested from the OPHS Grants 
Management Office at (301) 594-0758.
    The body of the application and required forms can be submitted 
using the e-Grants system. In addition to electronically submitted 
materials, applicants are required to provide a hard copy of the 
application face page (Standard Form 424 [Revised 07/03]) with the 
original signature of an individual authorized to act for the applicant 
agency or organization and to assume for the organization the 
obligations imposed by the terms and conditions of the grant award. The 
application is not considered complete until both the electronic 
application and the hard copy face page with original signature are 
received. Both must be received on or before the due date listed in the 
DATES section of this announcement.
    Hard Copy Applications: Applications submitted in hard copy must 
include an original and two copies of the application. The original 
application must be signed by an individual authorized to act for the 
applicant agency or organization and to assume for the organization the 
obligations imposed by the terms and conditions of the grant award.
    Mailed applications will be considered as meeting the deadline if 
they are received by the OPHS Office of Grants Management on or before 
the deadline listed in the DATES section of this announcement. The 
application due date requirement specified in the announcement 
supercedes the instructions in the OPHS-1. Applications which do not 
meet the deadline will be returned to the applicant unread.
    Hand-delivered applications must be received by the OPHS Grants 
Management Office no later than 4:30 p.m. eastern standard time on the 
application due date. Applications delivered to the OPHS Grants 
Management Office after the deadline described above will not be 
accepted for review. Applications sent via facsimile or by electronic 
mail outside the e-Grants system will not be accepted for review. 
Applications which do not conform to the requirements of this program 
announcement will not be accepted for review, and will be returned to 
the applicant.
    Applicants are required to have a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal 
Numbering System (DUNS) number to apply for a grant or cooperative 
agreement from the Federal government. The DUNS number is a nine-digit 
identification number, which uniquely identifies business entities. 
Obtaining a DUNS number is easy and there is no charge. To obtain a 
DUNS number, access http://www.dunandbradstreet.com or call 1-866-705-
5711. For more information, see the OPA Web site at: http://opa.osophs.dhhs.gov/duns.html.

What to submit:
Original copy of the application with an original signature of an 
official with the authority to commit the applicant organization to the 
terms and conditions of a grant, if a grant is awarded. All pages of 
the application (limited to 60 double-spaced, not including appendices) 
should be numbered
Submit an original and two (2) copies of the application
Table of contents with identifying sections and corresponding page 
numbers
Form OPHS-1 (Rev. 06/01) (pages SF 424, SF 424A)
Budget Justification
Project Narrative
Position Descriptions
Resumes of all professional staff
Appendices
Confirmation of Application Receipt

4. Intergovernmental Review

    Review Under Executive Order 12372: Applicants under this 
announcement are exempt from the review requirements of Executive Order 
12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs,'' as implemented 
by 45 CFR part 100.

5. Funding Restrictions

    The allowability, allocability, reasonableness, and necessity of 
direct and indirect costs that may be charged to OPHS grants are 
outlined in the following documents: OMB Circular A-21 (Institutions of 
Higher Education); OMB Circular A-87 (State and Local Governments); OMB 
Circular A-122 (Nonprofit Organizations): and 45 CFR part 74, Appendix 
E (Hospitals). Copies of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
Circulars are available on the Internet at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/grants_circulars.html.

6. Other Submission Requirements

    See Section IV.3.

V. Application Review Information

1. Criteria

    The award decision will take into account the extent to which the 
applicant's proposed project is useful to planners and providers of 
family planning services, local, State, and Federal administrators and 
researchers in the areas of family planning and population studies, 
according to the following criteria:
    A. The extent to which the proposal presents a coherent and well-
justified plan for data analysis and research for the five year term of 
the cooperative agreement (15 points);

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    B. The extent to which the application reflects a good 
understanding of the systems for provision of family planning services 
in the United States and familiarity with data systems and relevant 
research (10 points);
    C. The extent to which the applicant organization demonstrates in 
the application its ability to analyze data and make these analyses 
accessible to providers, planners, administrators and researchers in 
the area of family planning (10 points);
    D. The extent to which the application creatively and efficiently 
proposes to use existing data and analyses, and to fill knowledge gaps 
by proposing analyses, research, estimations, and assessment tasks to 
fill the gaps (15 points);
    E. The extent to which the application provides for periodic 
reporting (15 points);
    F. Competency of proposed staff in relation to the research 
proposed (15 points);
    G. Adequacy and feasibility of proposed methodology for carrying 
out planned activities (10 points);
    H. Reasonableness of proposed budget in relation to the proposed 
project and adequacy of resources already available for the project (10 
points).

2. Review and Selection Process

    Applications in response to this solicitation will be reviewed on a 
nationwide basis and in competition with other submitted applications. 
Eligible applications will be reviewed by an Objective Review Committee 
which will apply the above review criteria in order to derive priority 
scores. The application of the review criteria will take into account 
the applicant's familiarity with and access to relevant data sets in 
the areas of family planning and population studies, and demonstrated 
ability to analyze data and present it in a manner useful to 
researchers, administrators and family planning providers.
    Final award decisions will be made by the Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Population Affairs (DASPA). In making the award decision, 
the DASPA will take into consideration the priority score, program 
relevance, and the availability of funds.

VI. Award Administration Information

1. Award Notice

    The OPA does not release information about individual applications 
during the review process. When a final funding decision has been made, 
each applicant will be notified by letter of the outcome. The official 
document notifying an applicant that a project application has been 
approved for funding is the Notice of Grant Award, which specifies the 
amount of money awarded, the purposes of the cooperative agreement, the 
length of the project period, and the terms and conditions of the 
award.

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

    In accepting this award, the recipient stipulates that the award 
and any activities thereunder are subject to all provisions of 45 CFR 
parts 74 and 92, currently in effect or implemented during the period 
of the cooperative agreement.
    The Buy American Act of 1933, as amended (41 U.S.C. 10a-10d), 
requires that Government agencies give priority to domestic products 
when making purchasing decisions. Therefore, to the greatest extent 
practicable, all equipment and products purchased with cooperative 
agreement funds should be American-made.
    A Notice providing information and guidance regarding the 
``Government-wide Implementation of the President's Welfare-to-Work 
Initiative for Federal Grant Programs'' was published in the Federal 
Register on May 16, 1997. This initiative was designated to facilitate 
and encourage grant recipients and their sub-recipients to hire welfare 
recipients and to provide additional needed training and/or mentoring 
as needed. The text of the Notice is available electronically on the 
OMB home page at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb.

3. Reporting

    Semi-annual briefings, and an annual progress and financial status 
reports must be submitted according to a schedule to be established by 
OPA. Applicants must submit all required reports in a timely manner, in 
recommended format (to be provided), and submit a final report on the 
project at the completion of the project period. Submissions of all 
required reports may be either electronic or in hard copy.

VII. Agency Contact(s)

    For information on specific research or program requirements, 
contact Eugenia Eckard, Office of Population Affairs, 1101 Wootton 
Parkway, Suite 700 Rockville, MD 20852, (301) 594-4001, or via Email at 
[email protected]. For assistance on administrative and budgetary 
requirements, contact Karen Campbell, Director, OPHS Grants Management 
Office, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 550, Rockville, MD, (301) 594-0758, 
or via E-mail at [email protected].

    Dated: June 3, 2004.
Alma L. Golden,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs.
[FR Doc. 04-13112 Filed 6-9-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-34-P