[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 47 (Monday, March 10, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12751-12755]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-4724]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5207-N-01]


Notice of Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Opportunity To Register Early and 
Other Important Information for Electronic Application Submission Via 
Grants.gov

AGENCY: Office of Assistant Secretary for Administration, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice provides instructions to potential applicants 
applying for funding under HUD's grant programs available through 
Grants.gov. This notice does not pertain to applicants who will be 
applying in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 for Continuum of Care funds. HUD will 
publish a separate notice to address the receipt of Continuum of Care 
applications in FY2008. This notice provides information to help 
applicants better understand the registration and electronic submission 
process for HUD applications made available through Grants.gov. 
Grants.gov is the federal portal for applicants to electronically find 
and apply for over 1,000 funding opportunities made available by 26 
Federal grant-making agencies. Grants.gov offers the applicant 
community a common Web site where applicants can apply for a variety of 
federal assistance programs. To date, all 26 Federal grant-making 
agencies have posted their funding opportunities and

[[Page 12752]]

electronic application packages to Grants.gov.
    HUD believes that by facilitating a better understanding of the 
electronic submission process, applicants will be able to more easily 
make the transition to electronic application submission. HUD advises 
potential applicants to carefully read this notice and immediately 
begin the registration process or renew their registration from prior 
years.
    To apply on-line electronically, Grants.gov requires an 
electronically authorized signature, known as e-Authentication. This 
requirement for an authenticated electronic signature serves 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.
    Through this notice, HUD is encouraging applicants to complete or 
update their registration, in advance of HUD posting its FY2008 grant 
opportunities. HUD found that issuing an Early Registration Notice 
eliminates many last minute registration issues, and allows applicants 
time to ensure that all steps in the registration process have been 
completed. This Notice also provides time for applicants to have their 
questions addressed regarding the registration and submission 
processes. HUD strongly encourages prospective applicants for FY2008 
HUD grants to register or update/renew their registration for 
application submission via Grants.gov as soon as possible by following 
the instructions in this notice. HUD anticipates that it will post its 
funding opportunities in the Spring of 2008.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The Office of Departmental Grants 
Management and Oversight, Office of Administration, Department of 
Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., Room 3156, 
Washington, DC 20410-5000; telephone number (202) 708-0667. Persons 
with hearing or speech impairments may access this number via TTY by 
calling the Federal Information Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

Full Text of Announcement

    This notice is divided into two sections. Section I describes the 
registration process including steps to renew/update an existing 
registration. Section II provides guidance to applicants trying to 
submit an application and that are experiencing upload or transmission 
issues. HUD continues to require applicants submit their applications 
electronically via Grants.gov.
    In FY 2007, over 99.5 percent of applicants successfully submitted 
applications electronically for HUD's grant programs via grants.gov. 
Less than one-half of one percent of applicants experienced 
registration or submission issues. While these numbers are relatively 
small, HUD strives to assist all applicants gain a better understanding 
of the electronic submission process. This notice serves to strongly 
encourage applicants to submit their applications in advance of the 
deadline date and when the Grants.gov help desk is open so if any issue 
arises, there is sufficient time to provide timely assistance.
    In FY 2008 HUD will be using Adobe forms in the application 
packages. The Adobe forms are compatible with the Vista operating 
system, Microsoft Office 2007 and Apple Macintosh computers. To use the 
Adobe forms, applicants must download the free Adobe Reader 8.1.2 or 
the latest Adobe Reader version available from Grants.gov. For 
information on compatibility or to download the Adobe Reader, go to the 
Grants.gov Web site at http://www.grants.gov/help/download_software.jsp.
    Section II of this notice provides information regarding how to 
download the application package and the application instructions 
package from Grants.gov. Applicants do not need to be registered with 
Grants.gov to download an application or the instructions, but all the 
steps in the registration process must be complete to successfully 
submit an application for funding consideration via Grants.gov. 
Applicants should carefully read the instructions before completing the 
application. The instructions download will contain the General Section 
and the Program Section. Together, these documents provide details of 
what will be required in your application submission as well at what 
rules and requirements you will be expected to comply with if you get 
awarded funds. The General Section explains the switch to Adobe forms 
and changes that were made to the 2008 General Section and Program 
Sections. The instructions download also contain any additional forms 
that are not part of the application package but are required to have a 
complete application.

I. Completing the Registration Process for New Applicants or Updating a 
Registration for Applicants That Are Currently Registered

A. The Need To Register With Grants.gov.

    HUD provides funding only to organizations. This information, 
therefore, is directed to HUD applicants that are organizational 
entities.
    Before an applicant can apply for a grant opportunity, the 
applicant must first register with Grants.gov to provide and obtain 
certain identifying information. Please note that registration is a 
multi-step process. The registration process also requires the 
applicant to provide information at Web sites other than Grants.gov. 
Registration protects both HUD and the applicant. Specifically, 
registration confirms that the applicant has designated a certain 
individual or entity to submit an application on its behalf and assures 
the HUD that it is interacting with a designated representative of the 
applicant who has been authorized to submit the application.

B. Steps To Register

    HUD's NOFA process requires applicants to submit applications 
electronically through Grants.gov. Before being able to do so, 
applicants must complete several important steps to register or update/
renew their registration as submitters. The registration process can 
take approximately 2 to 4 weeks to complete.
    1. Step One: Obtain a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering 
System (DUNS). Step One of the registration process requires an 
applicant to obtain a DUNS number for the organizational entity for 
which it will be submitting the application. All organizations seeking 
funding directly from HUD must have a DUNS number and include the 
number on the form SF-424, Application for Federal Financial 
Assistance, which is part of the application package. The DUNS number 
is also a required as part of the registration process. If your 
organizational entity already has a DUNS number, it may use that number 
provided it is registered with Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) as required by 
this notice. Failure to provide a DUNS number will prevent you from 
obtaining an award, regardless of whether it is a new award or renewal 
of an existing one. This policy is pursuant to OMB policy issued in the 
Federal Register on June 27, 2003 (68 FR 38402). HUD codified the DUNS 
number requirement on November 9, 2004 (69 FR 65024). A copy of the OMB 
Federal Register

[[Page 12753]]

notice and HUD's regulation codifying the DUNS number requirement can 
be found at www.hud.gov/offices/adm/grants/duns.cfm. Applicants cannot 
submit an application without a DUNS number.
    Applicants must note that applicant information entered and used to 
obtain the DUNS number will be used to pre-populate the Central 
Contractor Registration (CCR), which is Step Two of the registration 
process. Applicants should, therefore, carefully review information 
entered when obtaining a DUNS number. When registering with D&B, please 
be sure to use the organizational entity's legal name used when filing 
a return or making a payment to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 
Organizations should also provide the zip code using the zip code plus 
four code (Zip+4).
    Applicants can obtain a DUNS number by calling (866) 705-5711 (this 
is a toll-free number). The approximate time to get a DUNS number is 10 
to 15 minutes, and there is no charge. After obtaining your DUNS 
number, applicants should wait 24 to 48 hours to register with the CCR 
so that its DUNS number has time to become activated in the D&B records 
database.
    2. Step Two: Register with the CCR. The second step of the 
registration process is registering with the CCR. The CCR is the 
primary vendor database for the Federal Government. An organization 
planning to submit a grant application must register or annually update 
or renew its registration with CCR to establish roles and IDs for 
representatives that will use Grants.gov to submit electronic grant 
applications. If you need assistance with the CCR registration process, 
you can contact the CCR Assistance Center, 24 hours a day, 7 days a 
week at (888) 277-2423 or (269) 961-5757. Applicants can also obtain 
assistance online at www.ccr.gov. A CCR Handbook that guides applicants 
through the registration process is available on the CCR Web site by 
clicking on ``Help.'' If you fail to update/renew your CCR 
registration, your Grants.gov registration will lapse and you will not 
be able to submit an application for funding. Registration, including 
update/renewal can take several weeks as CCR compares its records to 
those maintained by D&B and IRS. If discrepancies arise, Step Two 
cannot be completed until the discrepancies are resolved. For this 
reason, HUD urges applicants to complete the CCR registration, or 
update/renew its existing registration, immediately. Otherwise, the CCR 
check with D&B and IRS records may delay your completing the 
registration process and adversely affect your ability to submit your 
grant application.
    The CCR registration process consists of completing a Trading 
Partner Profile (TTP), which contains general, corporate, and financial 
information about your organization. When completing the TTP, you will 
be required to identify an eBusiness Point of Contact (eBusiness POC), 
responsible for maintaining the information in the TTP and granting 
authorization to individuals to serve as Authorized Organization 
Representatives (AORs). An AOR is the individual who will submit the 
application through Grants.gov for the applicant organization. 
Applicants can check the CCR registration and eBusiness POC by going to 
http://www.ccr.gov and searching by clicking on ``Search CCR.''
    a. CCR Use of D&B Information. In July 2006, CCR implemented a 
policy change. Under this policy change, instead of obtaining name and 
address information directly from the registrant, CCR obtains the 
following data fields from D&B: Legal Business Name; Doing Business as 
Name (DBA); Physical Address; and Postal Code (Zip+4). Registrants will 
not be able to enter or modify these fields in CCR as they will be pre-
populated using previously registered Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal 
Numbering System (DUNS) records data. During a new registration, or 
when updating a record, the registrant has a choice to accept or reject 
the information provided from the D&B records. If the registrant agrees 
with the D&B supplied information, the D&B data will be accepted into 
the CCR registrant record. If the registrant disagrees with the D&B 
supplied data, the registrant must go to the D&B Web site at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform to modify the information contained in D&B's 
records before proceeding with its CCR registration. Once D&B confirms 
the updated information, the registrant must revisit the CCR Web site 
and ``accept'' D&B's changes. Only at this point will the D&B data be 
accepted into the CCR record. This process can take up to 2 business 
days for D&B to send modified data to CCR, and that time frame may be 
longer if data is sent from abroad.
    b. CCR EIN/TIN Validation. To complete your CCR registration and 
qualify as a vendor eligible to bid for federal government contracts or 
apply for federal grants, the EIN/TIN and Employer/Taxpayer Name 
combination you provide in the IRS Consent Form must match exactly to 
the EIN/TIN and Employer/Taxpayer Name used in federal tax matters. It 
will take one to two business days to validate new and updated records 
prior to becoming active in CCR. Please be sure that the data items 
provided to D&B match information provided to the IRS. If the 
registration in D&B and the CCR does not match the IRS information, an 
error message will result. Until the discrepancies have been resolved, 
your registration will not be completed. HUD recommends that applicants 
carefully review their D&B and CCR registration information for 
accuracy immediately upon publication of this notice. If you have 
questions about your EIN/TIN, call (800) 829-4933.
    c. Detailed Steps to Register with CCR. The following is a step-by-
step guide to help you register with CCR. As noted, additional 
assistance is available online at http://www.ccr.gov.
    (1) Go to http://ccr.gov/. Once on the site, on the left side of 
the screen, click ``Start New Registration.'' At the ``Start a New 
Registration'' screen, of the three choices, please select ``I am not a 
U.S. Federal Government entity.'' Click ``Continue.''

    Note: CCR registration is NOT required for individuals. 
Applicants should be aware that HUD does not directly fund 
individuals through its NOFA process.

    (2) The next screen provides review items that must be completed 
before continuing in CCR. After you review the information and all 
items have been completed, click ``Continue with Registration.''
    (3) To begin your registration with CCR, enter your DUNS number and 
click ``Next.''
    (4) At the next screen, ``New Registration,'' you will be prompted 
to enter your DUNS number. Then click ``Next.'' The next ``New 
Registration'' screen displays your DUNS number. You will be prompted 
to enter your organization information, e.g., name, address, etc. If 
the information you inputted does not match that contained in the D&B 
record for the DUNS number provided, the system will state: ``Try again 
by correcting your input below'' OR ``Contact D&B to make a change to 
your D&B DUNS record.''
    (5) The next page of ``New Registration'' is ``Verify Your Results 
with D&B''. Here you will be asked, ``Is this information correct?'' 
After ensuring the accuracy of the information, click on ``Accept/
Continue'' or ``Cancel.''
    (6) If you ``Accept/Continue,'' your confirmation number will be 
displayed. This is a temporary number that allows you to save your 
registration as a work in progress. Print this page. Your temporary 
number along with your DUNS number will let you access CCR

[[Page 12754]]

to complete your registration at a later date.
    (7) Continuing your registration from the Confirmation page, click 
``Continue.''
    (8) ``How to Complete your Registration'' is the next page. Once 
you have reviewed the information and it is correct, click 
``continue.''
    (9) The ``General Information'' page is the next screen. On this 
page you will need to complete all the required information.
    (10) Creating a Marketing Partner ID Number (MPIN). The final step 
in creating your Trading Partner Profile (TTP) requires that you create 
a Marketing Partner ID Number (MPIN). The MPIN is a self-defined nine 
character password that the eBusiness POC will need to access 
Grants.gov to authorize an AOR to be able to submit a grant 
application.
    (11) Registration Notification. If your registration was submitted 
successfully, you will receive two letters via the U.S. Mail or e-mail. 
The first welcomes you to CCR and includes a copy of your registration. 
The second contains your confidential Trading Partner Identification 
Number (TPIN). Receipt of your TPIN confirms that you are successfully 
registered in CCR and serves as your confidential password to change 
CCR information.
    d. Current Registrants without an MPIN. If you currently have an 
active registration in CCR and you do not have an MPIN, you will need 
to do the following:
    (1) Access the CCR Web site at http://www.ccr.gov. At the left 
margin, click on ``Update or Renew Registration.''
    (2) Select ``I am not a U.S. Federal Government entity. Click 
``Continue.''
    (3) Enter you DUNS number and TPIN.
    (4) On the next page click on the link ``Points of Contact.'' 
Complete all fields for the eBusiness POC and the alternate eBusiness 
POC. Scroll down to the bottom of the Points of Contact page, and 
create your own MPIN. Once completed, click on the ``Validate/Save'' 
button.
    3. Step Three: Register with the Credential Provider. To safeguard 
the security of your electronic information, Grants.gov utilizes a 
Credential Provider to determine with a degree of assurance that 
someone is really who he or she claims to be. An assigned AOR must 
register with the Credential Provider to create his/her user name and 
password, which are needed to submit an application with an electronic 
signature via Grants.gov. To register with a credential provider, the 
AOR must have the applicant organization's DUNS number. Your 
organization will need to have your organization's DUNS number 
available and be registered with the CCR to complete this process.
    Since August 30, 2007, organizations have three federally approved 
credential providers available from which to choose their 
authentication services--the Agriculture Department; the Office of 
Personnel Management's Employee Express; and Operational Research 
Consultants (ORC), Inc., which also provided authentication services 
prior to August 30, 2007. Users who already hold a Grants.gov user name 
and password through ORC will not experience much change. New Users 
will be able to choose from any of the three credential providers 
available.
     To register with a credential Provider go to http://apply07.grants.gov/apply/ORCRegister. Once you have accessed the site, 
scroll down the page and enter the DUNS number, and click on 
``Register''.
     At the next screen scroll down and select ``Get Your 
Credentials''.
     On the ``eAuthentication User Information'' screen, 
complete and submit all information.
     On the next screen you need to confirm your information 
and create your own USER ID and PASSWORD. Then click ``Submit.'' If all 
the information has been entered correctly, you will receive a notice 
of Registration Success.

    Note: Your registration is not complete until Steps Four and 
Five below are completed.

    4. Step Four: Register with Grants.gov. After completing Step 3, 
creating a User Name and Password with the credential provider, the 
person(s) named by the applicant organization to submit an application 
for funding on behalf of the organization, must register with 
Grants.gov. After the AOR registers their User ID and Password with 
Grants.gov, the organization's eBusiness POC will be sent an e-mail 
indicating that someone has requested authority to submit an 
application for the organization and has registered as an AOR. 
Applicants can register with Grants.gov at https://apply07.grants.gov/apply/GrantsgovRegister.
    5. Step Five: Granting Approval of an AOR to Submit an Application 
on Behalf of the Organization. The eBusiness POC must log into the 
Grants.gov Web site and give the registered AOR approval to submit an 
application to Grants.gov. By authorizing the AOR to submit on behalf 
of the organization, the organization is stating that the person has 
the legal authority to submit the electronic application and can make a 
legally binding commitment for the organization.
    a. The eBusiness POC must approve the designated AOR(s). If the 
eBusiness POC does not grant authorization, Grants.gov will not accept 
the application. The eBusiness POC can designate the AOR to submit 
applications on behalf of the organization at https://apply07.grants.gov/apply/AorMgrGetID. The registration is complete when 
an AOR has been approved to submit an application on behalf of the 
applicant organization by the eBusiness POC.
    HUD urges applicants to check with their eBusiness POC to make sure 
that they have been authorized to make a legally binding commitment for 
the applicant organization when submitting the application to 
Grants.gov. This is particularly important if during the CCR 
registration renewal process the eBusiness Point of Contact for the 
applicant organization has been changed. The new eBusiness Point of 
Contact will have to grant authorization to all AORs. You can search 
the CCR registration for the eBusiness Point of Contact by going to 
https://www.bpn.gov/CCRSearch/Search.aspx.
    b. AORs can track their AOR status at any time on Grants.gov by 
going to the Applicant home page at Grants.gov. In ``Quick Links'' log 
in as an applicant and enter your User Name and Password. If you have 
not been granted AOR status by the eBusiness POC, you should contact 
the eBusiness POC directly.

II. Instructions on How To Download an Application Package and 
Application Instructions at Grants.gov

    Applicants should sign up to be notified when HUD places a funding 
opportunity on Grants.gov or does a technical correction or an 
amendment to an opportunity on Grants.gov by signing up for the e-mail 
notification service at http://www.grants.gov/applicants/e-mail_subscription.jsp. HUD recommends that all applicants sign up for this 
notification service.
    Applicants that have not signed up for the notification service can 
search for a funding opportunity on Grants.gov by going to http://www.grants.gov/applicants/find_grant_opportunities.jsp. On this page 
you can do a basic search, browse by category, or browse by agency. If 
you are interested in HUD Grants, click on browse by agency and then 
scroll down the page until you see U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 
Development on the right column.

[[Page 12755]]

When you click on the HUD agency name, you will come to a page with all 
the funding opportunities that are posted by HUD at that point in time. 
When you click on an opportunity, you will come to a page that provides 
a synopsis of the opportunity and which also identifies the Catalog of 
Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number for the Program, the Funding 
Opportunity Number and further down the page, a link to the full 
announcement. To download the application and instructions, follow the 
directions below, but first you must be sure you have the compatible 
Adobe Reader installed. HUD's 2008 applications will be using Adobe 
forms. To open and complete the application package you must have 
installed Adobe Reader 8.1.2 or higher. Adobe Reader 8.1.2 is available 
free and can be found on the Grants.gov Web site at http://www.grants.gov/help/download_software.jsp. You will not be able to 
complete or submit your application if you fail to download the free 
Adobe Reader 8.1.2 (or higher version available on Grants.gov). Please 
make anyone that will be working on the Adobe forms portion of the 
application aware that they must download the new 8.1.2 Adobe Reader. 
This does not impact forms that you may save as PDF forms to your 
application as attachments. Adobe Reader 8.1.2 is compatible with Adobe 
Professional versions. However, for the newest reader to work, you must 
be sure that your Adobe default setting for the Reader is set to the 
Adobe 8.1.2 version. For information on how to set your default 
settings, go to https://grants.gov/help/general_faqs.jsp#19. Follow 
Option 2, labeled ``Set Your Computers Default to Use the 
Correct Version of Adobe Reader for the opening of all files with a PDF 
extension''.
    Applicants are urged to review the Adobe Reader 8.1.2 information 
and get the new reader installed on their computer when this Notice is 
published so that they are prepared for the FY 2008 NOFAs when they are 
published in the Spring of 2008.
    A. Application Package and Application Instructions Download. Once 
you have installed Adobe Reader 8.1.2 you can download the Application 
Package and instructions. To download the application and instructions 
go to https://apply07.grants.gov/apply/forms_apps_idx.html and enter 
the CFDA Number, Funding Opportunity Number, or Funding Competition ID 
for the opportunity you are interested in; do not enter more than one 
criterion. If you enter more than one criterion, you will get a message 
that states the opportunity cannot be found. Only enter one of the 
above numbers.
    On the next page ``Selected Grant Applications for Download,'' you 
will find the funding opportunity link to Download Instructions and 
Application. Additional resource information is also on this page, 
including a reminder to sign up for e-mail notification for changes to 
funding opportunity, a download link to the Adobe Reader as well as a 
Help link.
    Click on the Download link to get to the Download page. Then 
proceed to download the instructions and the application. If you get an 
error message in opening the downloaded application, you have not 
properly installed the Adobe Reader 8.1.2. Contact your IT help desk or 
the Grants.gov support desk at Grants.gov">Support@Grants.gov by e-mail or by 
calling 800-518-GRANTS.
    B. Download Instructions Link. The instructions download is a 
compressed file (ZIP) containing the General Section and Program 
Sections for the funding opportunity. It also contains forms and copies 
of the General Section and Program Section of HUD's NOFAs, information 
that you will need to submit a complete application to Grants.gov for 
HUD funding consideration. For each program, NOFA provides a checklist 
which you can use to ensure that you have completed all elements of 
your application. HUD's General Section provides helpful information 
and tips to ensure that you complete your application correctly and 
what to do to ensure that all your information is attached to the 
application. When attaching files to your application, HUD suggests 
that you open each attachment file and scroll down to make sure it is 
the complete file that you want to submit.
    C. Compatibility with Apple Macintosh computers, Microsoft Windows 
Vista operating system, and Microsoft Office 2007. HUD moved to the 
Adobe forms application in FY 2008 because the forms are compatible 
with the broadest array of computer hardware and software technology 
currently in use by HUD's applicant/grantee community. For information 
on Adobe compatibility go to http://www.grants.gov/help/download_software.jsp. Applicants can test if they have the software installed 
properly by going to http://www.grants.gov/applicants/AdobeVersioningTestOnly.jsp.
    Questions regarding the installation of Adobe Reader 8.1.2 should 
be directed to the Grants.gov help desk during operating hours Monday-
Friday (except Federal holidays) from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 800-518-
GRANTS.

    Dated: February 28, 2008.
Keith A. Nelson,
Assistant Secretary for Administration.
[FR Doc. E8-4724 Filed 3-7-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P