[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 236 (Friday, December 9, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73332-73342]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-23761]



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Part II





Department of Housing and Urban Development





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Notice of Opportunity To Register Early for Electronic Submission of 
Grant Applications for HUD Funding Opportunities; Early Registration 
With Grants.gov; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 236 / Friday, December 9, 2005 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5027-N-01]


Notice of Opportunity To Register Early for Electronic Submission 
of Grant Applications for HUD Funding Opportunities; Early Registration 
With Grants.gov

AGENCY: Office of Assistant Secretary for Administration, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As part of the ongoing implementation of Electronic Government 
(E-Government), a key component of the President's Management Agenda, 
HUD is continuing with its transition to a total electronic grant 
application system. This system requires applicants to submit 
applications for Federal grants electronically through Grants.gov, the 
governmentwide portal for electronic grant applications. To protect the 
applicant and the applicant's information, and to assure Federal 
agencies that they are interacting with officials authorized to submit 
applications on behalf of applicant entities, an applicant must 
register with Grants.gov to submit an application for funding.
    To facilitate the Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 Federal grant application 
process, this notice encourages prospective applicants for HUD funding 
to register early for the FY2006 funding cycle. Registering now, in 
advance of agencies posting their FY2006 grant opportunities, may 
eliminate many of the registration issues that HUD applicants faced in 
FY2005 of not meeting registration requirements in time to meet grant 
application deadlines. Early registration provides HUD, Grants.gov, and 
the applicant sufficient time to address any questions regarding the 
registration process, as well as allow applicants to focus on 
completing application requirements, since registration will be 
completed.
    HUD anticipates that it will post its funding opportunities in 
early 2006. Prospective applicants for FY2006 HUD grants are encouraged 
to register at http://www.grants.gov with the publication of this 
Notice. Although applicants can register at any time before an 
application is submitted to HUD, the registration process can take 
approximately 10 days or more. The process relies upon an exchange of 
data across three different databases and an organization's E-Business 
Point of Contact (E-Business POC) to complete the authorization 
process. With busy schedules, an organization seeking to submit a grant 
application would not want a scenario where a key individual serving as 
the E-Business POC is not available to complete the process in time to 
meet an application deadline. Early registration helps applicants avoid 
possible delays with the timely submission of applications or finding 
out right before the submission deadline that all the steps in the 
registration process are not complete.
    This notice describes the steps that HUD applicants must take to 
register successfully at http://www.grants.gov.

DATES: Early registration commences with the issuance of this notice 
and ends January 31, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The NOFA Information Center, at 
telephone number 800 HUD-8929. Persons with hearing or speech 
impairments may access this number via TTY by calling the Federal 
Information Relay Service at 800 HUD-2209. The NOFA Information Center 
is open between the hours of 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard 
Time, Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays.

I. Grants.gov

    Early in his administration, President Bush set expanding 
electronic government as a goal for the Federal government. Among other 
things, expanding electronic government would result in the public 
receiving high-quality services from the Federal government. Expanding 
electronic government would also improve the Federal government's 
efficiency in the delivery of its services by reducing the cost of 
delivering those services.
    As part of this initiative, the Federal government launched 
Grants.gov. Grants.gov is a simple, unified access point for 
interactions between grant applicants and the Federal agencies that 
manage grant funds. There are 26 Federal grant-making agencies and over 
900 individual grant programs that award over $350 billion in grants 
each year. Through Grants.gov, the grant community, including state; 
local and tribal governments; academia and research institutions; 
public housing agencies; not-for-profit and for-profit organizations; 
and other organizations need only visit one Web site to access, find, 
and apply for grant funds available from the Federal government.
    In FY2005, a record number of grant applicants registered with 
Grants.gov resulting in over 15,000 electronic grant applications 
submitted to Federal agencies. This accomplishment signals the adoption 
of a major change in the way the Federal government does business, 
moving from a paper-based grants management process to an electronic 
process. In FY2006, Federal agency grant programs will continue to move 
toward implementing a completely electronic application process. As a 
result, Federal agencies, including HUD, strongly encourage the grant 
community to prepare as early as possible for the electronic 
application process using Grants.gov.

II. The Need To Register With Grants.gov

    Before an applicant can apply for a grant opportunity, the 
applicant must first register with Grants.gov to obtain certain 
identifying information. However, it should be noted that registration 
is a multi-step process and all of the steps do not occur directly at 
Grants.gov. Registration protects both the applicant and the applicable 
Federal agencies. Registration confirms that the applicant has 
designated a certain individual or entity to submit an application on 
behalf of the applicant and assures the Federal agency that it is 
interacting with the designated representative of the applicant.

III. What Is Involved in Registration?

     Use of DUNS Numbers. In 2004, the Federal government 
adopted a policy that applicants must obtain a Data Universal Numbering 
System (DUNS) number in order to receive funding. DUNS numbers are 
issued by Dun and Bradstreet, a company that provides business 
information credit, marketing and purchasing decisions for more than 70 
million businesses worldwide. Its data universal numbering system 
issues unique 9-digit numbers that are used by businesses and the 
Federal government to track funding and business related information 
and relationships. Large organizations can set up what is known as DUNS 
+ 4 to track the flow of funding and disbursements within the parent 
organizations and any number of sub-agencies or departments within the 
organization. States and universities frequently identify their sub-
organizations through the use of DUNS + 4 numbering.
     Registration in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). 
The CCR is the primary vendor database for the Federal government. The 
CCR was established to primarily assist Federal government agency 
acquisitions and procurements. The CCR collects, validates, stores and 
disseminates data in support of agency acquisitions. Registration in 
CCR was extended from the procurement and acquisition area to grants. 
For grants, CCR stores an applicant's information, allowing Grants.gov 
to verify an applicant's

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identity and identify key business contacts for the organization. When 
an applicant registers with CCR it will be required to designate an E-
Business Point of Contact (EPOC). The E-Business POC is the sole 
authority within an organization who can approve or revoke approval of 
an individual to submit grant applications on behalf of their 
organization via Grants.gov.
     Registration with a Credential Provider. The Credential 
Provider is the organization that validates the electronic identity of 
an individual through electronic credentials, personal identification 
numbers (PINs), passwords or other identifying information for 
Grants.gov. In order to safeguard information, Grants.gov uses E-
Authentication, the Federal program that ensures secure transactions. 
E-Authentication defines the level of trust or trustworthiness of the 
parties involved in a transaction through the use of credential 
providers. This is the process of determining, with a high degree of 
certainty, that someone is really who they claim to be. When an 
applicant registers with a Credential Provider they receive a USER ID 
and Password.
     Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) Registration. 
An AOR is the person(s) named by an agency to submit an application for 
funding consideration on behalf of the agency. By authorizing the 
person to submit on behalf of the organization, the organization is 
stating that the AOR is authorized to make a legally binding commitment 
on behalf of the organization. Designated AORs must register with the 
Credential Provider to obtain a USER ID and Password and register in 
Grants.gov to be identified as their organizations AOR. The 
organization's E-Business POC will be sent an email from Grants.gov, 
which tells the EPOC that someone from the E-Business POC's 
organization has registered with Grants.gov as an AOR. The E-Business 
POC must go into Grants.gov and approve the AOR status to allow the 
nominated person to submit an application via Grants.gov. When an AOR 
has been designated and approved to submit the application the 
registration is completed for that person to submit an application on 
behalf of the applicant organization.

IV. Time Allotted for Registration

    Generally, registration with Grants.gov, which must be completed 
prior to any grant application submission, takes approximately 10 
business days. The length of time depends on when the steps in the 
registration process are completed; the volume of traffic on the 
various sites involved in the registration process; and the ability of 
the applicant to determine who will be the person responsible for 
submitting the grant application, and having that person authorized 
through the registration process as the AOR. Registering early should 
allow the applicant sufficient time to focus on these items, and will 
help an applicant become familiar with the requirements for electronic 
application submission through Grants.gov.

V. The Registration Process

    Many Federal grant-making agencies provide funding to 
organizational entities and some agencies are permitted to fund 
individuals; however, HUD only provides funding to organizations. This 
notice, therefore, is directed to HUD applicants, that are 
organizational entities.
    Appendix A, which follows, provides a step-by-step guide to the 
registration process before an applicant may submit a grant application 
electronically. Appendix B lists resources that Grants.gov makes 
available to prospective applicants to help them through the process. 
All organizational entities must complete steps 1 to 5 to be fully 
registered with Grants.gov.

    Dated: November 22, 2005.
Keith A. Nelson,
Assistant Secretary for Administration.
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[FR Doc. 05-23761 Filed 12-8-05; 8:45 am]
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