[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 32 (Friday, February 19, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10283-10285]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-03345]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

[CFDA Numbers: 93.581, 93.587, 93.612]


Notice for Public Comment on Administration for Native Americans' 
Program Policies and Procedures

AGENCY: Administration for Native Americans (ANA), Administration for 
Children and Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services 
(HHS).

ACTION: Notice for public comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 814 of the Native American Programs Act of 
1974 (NAPA), as amended, ANA is required to provide members of the 
public an opportunity to comment on proposed changes in interpretive 
rules and general statements of policy and to give notice of the 
proposed changes no less than 30 days before such changes become 
effective. In accordance with notice requirements of NAPA, ANA herein 
describes proposed interpretive rules and general statements of policy 
that relate to ANA's funding opportunities in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. 
Changes to FY 2021 funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) will be 
based on the following previously published programs: Environmental 
Regulatory Enhancement (ERE), HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NR-1907; Native American 
Language Preservation and Maintenance-Esther Martinez Immersion (EMI), 
HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NB-1958; Native American Language Preservation and 
Maintenance (P&M), HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NL-1924; Social and Economic 
Development Strategies (SEDS), HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NA-1906; Social and 
Economic Development Strategies-Alaska (SEDS-AK), HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NK-
1902; and Social and Economic Development Strategies-Growing 
Organizations (SEDS-GO), HHS-2021-ACF-ANA-NN-1918.

DATES: Comments are due by March 22, 2021. If ANA does not receive any 
significant comments within the 30-day comment period, ANA will proceed 
with the proposed changes in the respective published FOAs. The FOAs

[[Page 10284]]

will serve as the final notice of these proposed changes.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted to Carmelia Strickland, Director 
of Program Operations, Administration for Native Americans, 330 C 
Street SW, Washington, DC 20201 or via email to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carmelia Strickland, Director, 
Division of Program Operations, Administration for Native Americans, 
330 C Street SW, Washington, DC 20201. Telephone: (877) 922-9262; 
Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 814 of NAPA, as amended, (42 U.S.C. 
2992b-1) incorporates provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act 
that require ANA to provide notice of its proposed interpretive rules 
and statements of policy, and to seek public comment on such proposals. 
This notice serves to fulfill the statutory notice and public comment 
requirement. ANA voluntarily includes rules of practice and procedures 
in this notice in an effort to be transparent. The proposed 
interpretive rules, statements of policy, and rules of ANA practice and 
procedure reflected in clarifications, modifications, and new text will 
appear in the following six FY 2021 FOAs: ERE, EMI, P&M, SEDS, SEDS-AK, 
and SEDS-GO.
    ANA's past FOAs can be accessed at https://ami.grantsolutions.gov/index.cfm?switch=searchresult&type=office&param=ANA&page=ANA. Synopses 
and application forms will be available on https://www.grants.gov.
    A. Interpretive rules, statements of policy, procedures, and 
practice. The proposals below reflect ANA's proposed changes in rules, 
policy, or procedures that will take effect in the FY 2021 FOAs.
    1. Letter of Intent--ANA will include a provision in all of its 
FOAs to ask potential applicants to submit a Letter of Intent within 30 
days of publication, but it is not mandatory. By doing so, respondents 
will receive information about ANA's training and technical assistance 
support for applicants. This will also enable ANA to estimate the 
number of applications that will be submitted in order to plan for the 
peer review process.
    2. Intellectual Property--Based on feedback from grantees and 
through tribal consultations, ANA is concerned about the protection of 
intellectual property of materials created with grant funding. 
Therefore, ANA will include information in all FOAs that encourages 
applicants to educate themselves on intellectual property rights and 
the protection of ownership of Native language materials, ceremonies, 
music and dance, and other forms of knowledge and cultural practices 
that originate from Native communities.
    3. Previously Funded Projects--ANA has a long-standing policy in 
place that it provides project-specific funding and not ongoing program 
funding. There is existing authority for ANA to choose not to fund a 
project that is essentially identical or similar in whole or in part to 
previously funded projects proposed by the same applicant or activities 
or projects proposed by a consortium that duplicate activities for 
which any consortium member also receives or has received funding from 
ANA. It will be clarified in the FOAs this year that applicants that 
propose a project similar to a previously funded ANA grant should 
acknowledge past funding and explain what was accomplished. In 
addition, the applicant should be explicit and provide a detailed 
description of how the new project is different and is not duplicative 
of the past project.
    4. Eligibility--In December, Congress passed the Indian Community 
Economic Enhancement Act of 2020, which reauthorized certain sections 
of NAPA related to funding for economic development projects including 
adding Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) as 
an eligible entity; therefore, ANA will add Native CDFIs to the list of 
eligible applicants. In addition, during tribal consultation in 2020, a 
comment was received that asked ANA to ensure that Urban Indian 
Organizations were eligible to apply for ANA grants. Therefore, ANA 
will clarify in the FOAs that Urban Indian Organizations (UIOs), as 
defined by 25 U.S.C.1603(29), are eligible under current regulations 
(45 CFR1336.33) as ``incorporated non-profit multi-purpose community-
based Indian organizations'' and as ``urban Indian centers''. However, 
Native CDFIs and UIOs are not eligible to apply for the ERE program, 
which is limited to tribes and tribal entities. Additionally, like all 
applicants that are not tribes or Alaska Native Villages, Native CDFIs 
and UIOs must also meet the ANA's Assurance of Community Representation 
on the Board of Directors.
    5. Application Requirements and Evaluation Criteria Scores--
Sections 803 and 806 of NAPA, 42 U.S.C. 2991b; 2991d-1. In FY 2018, ANA 
made substantial revisions to the application requirements and 
evaluation criteria included in our FOAs. The purpose of the revisions 
was to shift from a deficit-based to a strengths-based approach for 
application planning and development, to design each project to follow 
the ANA Project Framework, and to emphasize a community-based approach 
to project planning and implementation. ANA stands behind the revisions 
made in FY 2018 and does not plan to change the information being 
requested; however, efforts have been made to reduce redundancy and 
number of scoring criteria. ANA proposes the following evaluation 
criteria scores for the SEDS, SEDS-AK, ERE, and P&M FOAs for FY 2021:
    Approach for a maximum of 73 points, to consist of the following: 
Long Term Community Goal (2 points), Current Community Condition (3 
points); Project Goal (2 points); Objectives (6 points); Outcomes and 
Indicators (5 points); Outputs (3 points); Outcome Tracker and Outcome 
Tracking Strategy (7 points). Community-Based Strategy (10 points), 
Readiness and Implementation Strategy (20 points); and the Objective 
Work Plan (OWP) (15 points).
    Organizational Capacity for a maximum of 12 points.
    Budget and Budget Justification for a maximum of 15 points, to 
consist of the following: Line Item Budget (5 points) and Budget 
Justification (10 points).
    These changes are meant to streamline the information required for 
a successful grant application and provide specific point allotments in 
order to make ANA's evaluation criterion more approachable. In 
addition, it is intended to provide greater guidance to panel reviewers 
on how to allocate scores.
    6. Changes to the SEDS-FOA--Priorities and bonus points--Sections 
803 and 803B of NAPA, 42 U.S.C. 2991b; 2991b-2. As previously 
mentioned, recently passed legislation requires ANA to prioritize 
applications seeking assistance for the following: (1) The development 
of a tribal code or courts system for purposes of economic development, 
including commercial codes, training for court personnel, and the 
development of nonprofit subsidiaries or other tribal business 
structures; (2) the development of a native community development 
financial institution, including training and administrative expenses; 
(3) the development of a tribal master plan for community and economic 
development and infrastructure. The new economic development 
legislative priorities will be incorporated into the new program areas 
of interest for the SEDS FOA. Ten bonus points will be awarded to 
applications that address one or more of these priority areas. 
Applications that

[[Page 10285]]

propose a legislative priority project should include the priority 
area(s) in the project goal, all objectives and indicators as reflected 
in the project's framework, project approach, Objective Work Plan and 
Outcome Tracker. Reviewers should provide 10 points if all elements are 
included in the application to address one or more of the economic 
development priority areas.
    In addition, during tribal consultation, additional social 
development priorities areas were identified by Native communities to 
potentially fund through the SEDS program. Therefore, 5 bonus points 
will be awarded to applications that address one or more of the 
following Native community priority areas: Native Veterans, Missing and 
Murdered Native Americans (MMNA), or Emergency Preparedness and 
Response. Applications that address one of more of these priorities 
areas should include the priority area in the project goal, all 
objectives, indicator(s), and target population (either as participants 
or beneficiaries). Reviewers should provide 5 points if all elements 
are included in the application to address one or more priority areas. 
Since social and economic development projects have different project 
goals, no application will be eligible to receive both sets of bonus 
points. In addition, the SEDS program areas of interest will be 
expanded to include MMNA and Anti-Human Trafficking.
    7. Changes to SEDS-AK FOA--Section 803 of NAPA, 42 U.S.C. 2991b. 
ANA will also incorporate the new legislative economic development 
priorities into the SEDS-AK FOA. Therefore, new program areas of 
interest for SEDS-AK will include the following: (1) The development of 
a Tribal code or court system for purposes of economic development, 
including commercial codes, training for court personnel, and the 
development of nonprofit subsidiaries or other tribal business 
structures; (2) the development of native community development 
financial institutions, including training and administrative expenses; 
(3) the development of a tribal master plans for community and economic 
development and infrastructure. Therefore, 10 bonus points will be 
awarded to applications that address one or more of these priority 
areas. Applications that propose a legislative priority project should 
have it included in the project goal, all objectives and indicators as 
reflected in the project's framework, the project approach, and the 
Objective Work Plan and Outcome Tracker. Reviewers should provide 10 
points if all elements are included in the application to address one 
or more of the economic development priority areas. In addition, ANA 
plans to modify the description of the program purpose for the SEDS-AK 
FOA to provide a competitive advantage for smaller Alaska Native 
villages or organizations that have never received ANA funding. 
Therefore, the FOA will state that reviewers should award 5 bonus 
points in the scoring criteria if an eligible entity has never received 
an ANA award. ANA staff will confirm during the objective review 
process if an applicant organization for SEDS-AK has received a past 
ANA award.
    8. Changes to EMI FOA--Section 803C of NAPA, 42 U.S.C. 2991b-3. In 
accordance with 42 U.S.C. 2991b-3(c)(7), applicants for an EMI grant 
must submit an official document that certifies the applicant has at 
least 3 years of experience in operating and administering a Native 
American language survival school, a Native American language nest, or 
any other educational program in which instruction is conducted in a 
Native American language, in accordance with Public Law 109-394. 
Therefore, the EMI FOA will have a new evaluation criterion to score 10 
points to ensure the application includes a certification document that 
demonstrates the applicant has at least 3 years of experience in 
operating a language nest, survival school, or other native language 
educational program. As a result, the EMI FOA's scoring criteria will 
change as follows:
    Approach for a maximum of 75 points, to consist of the following: 
Nest or Survival School Certification (10 points); Long Term Community 
Goal (2 points); Current Community Condition (3 points); Project Goal 
(2 points); Objectives (6 points); Outcomes and Indicators (5 points); 
Outputs (3 points); Outcome Tracker and Outcome Tracking Strategy (7 
points); Community-Based Strategy (8 points); Readiness and 
Implementation Strategy (16 points); and the Objective Work Plan (OWP) 
(13 points).
    Organizational Capacity for a maximum of 10 points.
    Budget and Budget Justification for a maximum of 15 points, to 
consist of the following: Line Item Budget (5 points) and Budget 
Justification (10 points).
    9. Changes to SEDS-GO FOA--Sections 803 and 803B of NAPA, 42 U.S.C. 
2991b; 2991b-2. In FY 2020, ANA introduced a new FOA as a special 
initiative under the SEDS program to support growing organizations to 
provide funding to enhance their internal capacity and infrastructure 
to better serve their members or their communities. There will be no 
substantive changes to application requirements in the FY 2021 SEDS-GO 
FOA. There will be slight changes to the evaluation scoring criteria, 
which will be as follows:
    Approach (for a maximum of 70 points) to consist of the following: 
Introduction to the Applicant Organization (6 points); Targeted 
Challenge (6 points); Project Goal (6 points); SMART Objectives (6 
points); Outcomes and Indicators (6 points); Description of Project 
Implementation Strategy (25 points); Objective Work Plan (OWP) (15 
points).
    Organizational Capacity--15 points.
    Budget and Budget Justification (for a maximum of 15 points) to 
consist of a Line Item Budget (5 points) and a Budget Justification (10 
points).
    Bonus Points--5 bonus points may be provided to applicants that 
have never received an ANA grant award.
    Statutory Authority: Section 814 of the Native American Programs 
Act of 1974, as amended.

Elizabeth Leo,
Senior Grant Policy Specialist, Office of Administration, 
Administration for Children and Families.
[FR Doc. 2021-03345 Filed 2-18-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-34-P