Data Elelments and Model Transparency Language

United States Department of Labor

Generic Solicitation for Grant Applications

Instructions: This document serves as a vehicle to account for the paperwork burden resulting from Solicitations for Grant Applications (SGAs) issued by the Department of Labor (DOL), and does not represent an actual SGA. This generic SGA is designed to allow public comment concerning these data collections, both as to their perceived practical utility and the reporting burdens involved. It also allows DOL to demonstrate to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) how DOL will comply with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) when issuing SGAs.

The following elements encompass the range of topics which applicants may be asked to address in their grant application. Actual SGAs will require respondents to address a selection of these topics very narrowly as they relate to the specific goals of the grant program. Notifications of all of DOL competitive grant opportunities are available on the official Government grants information website at http://www.Grants.gov.

Data Elements

Applicant Organization

Describe the applicant organization (the grant-seeking group). Requested parameters may include skills, experience, biographies, history, knowledge, qualifications, capabilities, office locations, and/or organization chart.

Partners

Describe other entities participating or collaborating with the applicant organization. Requested parameters may include businesses, workforce investment boards, Governor’s office, letters of support, copies of agreements, and/or “linkages.”

Plan

Describe the plan for implementing or achieving the program goals. Requested elements may include strategy, process, method, schedule, timeline, innovations, communications, program design, management, focus, and/or statement of work.

Recipients

Describe the recipients or target audience of the plan. Requested elements may include description and/or demographics of service region, occupations served, diversity, civil rights information.

Measures of Success

Describe the measures of success for the plan. Requested elements may include outcomes, goals, number served, number hired, increase in wages, educational degrees, cost effectiveness, results oriented model, feedback mechanism, performance accountability, evaluation and improvement, and/or the proposed system to monitor the implementation of program activities and achievement of stated project objectives.

Management Practices

Describe the management practices to be used for the plan. This element may include accounting practices.

Other funds

Describe funding sources. This element may include alternative sources, supplemental sources, material support, in kind support, matching funds, and/or other support.

Sustainability

Describe how this program can or will outlast the federal funding.

Budget

Describe the budget for the plan. This element may include a budget plan, and/or a distribution strategy.

Model Transparency Language

DOL is committed to conducting a transparent grant award process and publicizing information about program outcomes.  Posting grant applications on public websites is a means of promoting and sharing innovative ideas. For this grant competition, we will publish the Executive Summary as required by this solicitation¹ for all applications on the Department’s website or similar location. Additionally, we will publish a version of the Technical Proposal required by this solicitation, for all those applications that are awarded grants, on the Department’s website or a similar location. No other parts of or attachments to the application will be published. The Technical Proposals and Executive Summaries will not be published until after the grants are awarded. In addition, information about grant progress and results may also be made publicly available.

DOL recognizes that grant applications sometimes contain information that an applicant may consider proprietary or business confidential information, or may contain personally identifiable information. Information is considered proprietary or confidential commercial/business information when it is not usually disclosed outside your organization and when its disclosure is likely to cause you substantial competitive harm. Personally identifiable information is information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual‘s identity, such as name, social security number, date and place of birth, mother‘s maiden name, or biometric records, or other information that is linked or linkable to an individual, such as medical, educational, financial, and employment information.²

Executive Summaries will be published in the form originally submitted, without any redactions. However, in order to ensure that confidential information is properly protected from disclosure when DOL posts the winning Technical Proposals, applicants whose technical proposals will be posted will be asked to submit a second redacted version of their Technical Proposal, with proprietary, confidential commercial/business, and personally identifiable information redacted. All non-public information about the applicant’s staff should be removed as well. The Department will contact the applicants whose technical proposals will be published by letter or email, and provide further directions about how and when to submit the redacted version of the Technical Proposal. Submission of a redacted version of the Technical Proposal will constitute permission by the applicant for DOL to post that redacted version. If an applicant fails to provide a redacted version of the Technical Proposal, DOL will publish the original Technical Proposal in full, after redacting personally identifiable information. (Note that the original, unredacted version of the Technical Proposal will remain part of the complete application package, including an applicant’s proprietary and confidential information and any personally identifiable information.)

Applicants are encouraged to maximize the grant application information that will be publicly disclosed, and to exercise restraint and redact only information that truly is proprietary, confidential commercial/business information, or capable of identifying a person. The redaction of entire pages or sections of the Technical Proposal is not appropriate, and will not be allowed, unless the entire portion merits such protection. Should a dispute arise about whether redactions are appropriate, DOL will follow the procedures outlined in the Department’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations (29 CFR part 70).

Redacted information in grant applications will be protected by DOL from public disclosure in accordance with federal law, including the Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. § 1905), FOIA, and the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. § 552a). If DOL receives a FOIA request for your application, the procedures in DOL’s FOIA regulations for responding to requests for commercial/business information submitted to the government will be followed, as well as all FOIA exemptions and procedures. 29 CFR § 70.26. Consequently, it is possible that application of FOIA rules may result in release of information in response to a FOIA request that an applicant redacted in its “redacted copy.”

OMB Control Number 1225-0086, Expires YY/MM/DD

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This information is being collected for the purpose of awarding a grant. The information collected through this “Solicitation for Grant Applications” will be used by the Department of Labor to ensure that grants are awarded to the applicant best suited to perform the functions of the grant. Submission of this information is required in order for the applicant to be considered for the benefit of a grant award. Unless otherwise specifically noted in this announcement, information submitted in the respondent’s application is not considered to be confidential. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average XX hours per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the U.S. Department of Labor, OASAM-OCIO, Information Resources Program, Room N-1301, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20210. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR COMPLETED APPLICATION TO THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT. SEND IT TO THE ADDRESS PROVIDED BY THE SPONSORING AGENCY.

1 Note to OMB reviewer - A DOL grant solicitation may use the term ‘executive summary’ or ‘abstract’ to describe a brief summary that demonstrates an applicant’s capability to implement a grant project. A DOL solicitation will reference the particular section that requires an executive summary or an abstract in the transparency section; however, since this is model language a specific section citation is not provided as this will vary with each solicitation.

2 Memorandums 07-16 and 06-19. GAO Report 08-536, Privacy: Alternatives Exist for Enhancing Protection of Personally Identifiable Information, May 2008, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08536.pdf.

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