Federal Register, Volume 73 Issue 47 (Monday, March 10, 2008)

[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]
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