U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Notice of Availability of Funds and Funding Opportunity Announcement for:
Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC): A Grant Initiative for the Appalachian and Delta Regions
ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Initial
Funding Opportunity Number: FOA-ETA-20-04
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 17.280
Key Dates: The closing date for receipt of applications under this Announcement is
July 29, 2020. We must receive applications no later than 4:00:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Addresses: You must submit your application electronically on https://www.grants.gov No applications submitted in hardcopy by mail or hand delivery (including overnight delivery) will be accepted for this funding opportunity.
For complete application and submission information, including online application instructions, please refer to Section IV.
I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION 2
III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION 4
1. Application Screening Criteria 5
2. Number of Applications an Applicant May Submit 6
IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION 11
A. HOW TO OBTAIN AN APPLICATION PACKAGE 11
B. CONTENT AND FORM OF APPLICATION SUBMISSION 11
1. The SF-424, “Application for Federal Assistance” 11
2. Project Budget Composed of the SF-424A and Budget Narrative 13
3. Project Narrative or the Optional Attachment A Proposal Summary 16
4. Attachments to the Project Narrative 25
C. SUBMISSION DATE, TIME, PROCESS, AND ADDRESS 27
2. Electronic Submission through Grants.gov 28
D. INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVIEW 31
2. Salary and Bonus Limitations 32
3. Intellectual Property Rights 32
4. Use of Grant Funds for Participant Wages 33
F. OTHER SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS 34
V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION 34
1. Statement of Need and Strategic Alignment 36
3. Expected Results and Sustainability 37
4. Organizational, Administrative, and Fiscal Capacity 38
5. Budget and Budget Narrative 38
B. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS 38
1. Merit Review and Selection Process 38
VI. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION 42
B. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS 42
1. Administrative Program Requirements 42
2. Other Legal Requirements 43
3. Other Administrative Standards and Provisions 47
4. Special Program Requirements 47
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL, or the Department, or we), in partnership with the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) (www.arc.gov) and the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) (www.dra.gov), announces the availability of approximately $29.2 million in grant funds authorized by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) for the Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) Initiative demonstration grants round two. The funding, appropriated under Title I, Division B of the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Act 2019 and the Continuing Appropriations Act 2019 (Pub. L. 115-245), will fund projects supporting rural communities in aligning workforce development efforts with economic development plans, serving the following areas hard-hit by economic transition and recovering slowly:
The Appalachian region, as defined in 40 U.S.C. 14102(a)(1), and
The Lower Mississippi Delta (Delta) region, as defined in 7 U.S.C. 2009aa(2).
The goal of this grant opportunity is to create economic prosperity and gainful employment opportunities for eligible individuals (as identified in Section III.C.3. of this FOA) of the Appalachian and Delta regions, enabling them to remain and thrive in these communities. The WORC Initiative provides funding to eligible applicants proposing to meet this goal with a project addressing the employment and training needs of the local and regional workforce, created in collaboration with community partners and in coordination with existing economic development strategies.
Successful applicants will demonstrate clear strategies to provide needed career, training, and support services to eligible individuals in counties, parishes, and/or areas currently underserved by other resources, so they may secure good jobs in stable, high-demand occupations. Eligible individuals served under this grant include dislocated workers, new entrants to the workforce, and incumbent workers. Applicants are encouraged to incorporate strategies that support eligible individuals impacted by substance use disorder; we anticipate at least $5 million will go to grants that include support for individuals impacted by substance use disorder.
Successful applicants will demonstrate collaboration with ARC and DRA and clearly identify coordinated strategies to expand the capacity and effectiveness of the applicant in administering federal funds to provide workforce services in these communities. To this end, ARC and DRA will provide technical assistance to prospective applicants in their respective regions, as well as provide assistance and support to grantees across the life of the initiative. Potential applicants are encouraged to visit www.arc.gov or www.dra.gov for more information, including dates and locations for pre-application technical assistance meetings.
This Announcement solicits applications for the WORC Initiative for grants serving the Appalachian and Delta regions. The purpose of this program is to demonstrate the alignment of regionally driven, comprehensive approaches to addressing economic distress and the necessary workforce development activities to ensure a workforce capable of succeeding in current and future job opportunities. Successful long-term economic growth strategies build upon bottom-up, community-led plans that promote economic resilience and maximize regional strengths. The WORC Initiative grants take a long-term view toward assisting eligible communities in diversifying their economies by investing in local strategies developed by regional partners. This long-term view also acknowledges the impact of the opioid crisis and the significant challenges it presents to a community’s workforce. To address these challenges, ETA encourages applicants to include within their applications strategies to address the employment and training needs of individuals affected by substance use disorder in their communities.
As mentioned, the goal of this grant opportunity is to create economic prosperity and gainful employment opportunities for eligible residents in impacted ARC and DRA regions, enabling them to remain and thrive in these communities. Successful applicants must demonstrate coordinated workforce strategies in the ARC and DRA regions and help the regions achieve long-term economic success. Successful applications will propose projects including all of the following Objectives:
Objective 1: Implement innovative, sustainable service delivery strategies to address economic and workforce-related impacts within each of the regions;
Objective 2: Provide or facilitate the provision of new or enhanced training, job placement and support activities to the following eligible participants: dislocated workers (including displaced homemakers), new entrants in the workforce, and incumbent workers (including eligible individuals within those cohorts that may be affected by substance use disorder [e.g., opioids, stimulants, cocaine, and other substances]) who reside in ARC and DRA regions;
Objective 3: Align and integrate workforce development activities with existing state, regional, or community economic development strategies;
Objective 4: Develop and expand partnerships, including industry partnerships that build and sustain capacity, maximize available resources, and establish community-based approaches for addressing workforce challenges and industry needs in the ARC and DRA regions; and
Objective 5: Provide or facilitate delivery of support services to assist employers and industry in meeting workforce challenges and industry needs in the ARC and DRA regions.
Please note that for projects proposing equipment purchases or capital improvement activities, applicants must address how these proposed expenditures will facilitate all WORC goals and objectives and explain how these expenditures will assist in successful employment and training activities.
WIOA sec. 169(c), as well as Title I, Division B of the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 (Pub. L. 115-245) authorizes this program.
Funding will be provided in the form of a grant.
We expect availability of approximately $29.2 million and applicants may apply for an amount ranging from $150,000 up to $1.5 million. Awards made under this Announcement are subject to the availability of federal funds. In the event that additional funds become available, we reserve the right to use such funds to select additional grantees from applications submitted in response to this Announcement.
We encourage applications from smaller entities, as well as from entities seeking smaller funding amounts.
Additionally, we encourage applicants to include within their applications strategies to address the employment and training needs of individuals in their communities who are affected by substance use disorder and who seek reintegration into the workforce. Higher-scoring applications proposing projects identifying the intent to serve this population may be considered during the grant selection process.
The period of performance for these grants will be no more than 36 months from an anticipated start date of September 30, 2020. This performance period includes all necessary implementation and start-up activities.
The following organizations are eligible to apply:
State Government
County Government
City or Township Government
Special District Government
Regional Organization
State or Local Workforce Development Board
Independent School District
Public/State Controlled Institution of Higher Education
Indian/Native American Tribal Government (Federally Recognized)
Indian/Native American Tribal Government (Other than Federally Recognized)
Indian/Native American Tribally Designated Organization
Public/Indian Housing Organization
Nonprofit Organization with IRS 501(c)(3) Status
Nonprofit Organization without IRS 501(c)(3) Status
Private Institution of Higher Education
Hispanic-serving Institution
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs)
Among eligible applicants listed above, the applicant agency or organization must also demonstrate collaboration or engagement with at least two employer/industry partners and should partner with other organizations serving the economic, workforce development, and other needs of the community the application proposes to serve. These other organizations could also include local employers, as well as state or local workforce development boards, community- and faith-based organizations or academic institutions and other organizations providing job training, which can include local school systems, universities, and community colleges, among others. Such partnerships expand project capacity to reach and serve grant participants by leveraging and building upon existing community efforts, resources, and networks. Partnerships also help to sustain the delivery of effective career and training services to address workforce needs.
Applicants are also required to demonstrate that they will serve eligible participants who live in the ARC and/or DRA regions. Applicants may train eligible participants for jobs outside of either of the regions, so long as the applicant clearly demonstrates that employment in these occupations will not require participants to relocate outside the region. Such jobs must clearly align with the overall intent of the grant application and the statement of need.
This program does not require cost sharing or matching funds. Including such funds is not one of the application screening criteria and applications that include any form of cost sharing or match will not receive additional consideration during the review process. Instead, the agency considers any resources contributed to the project beyond the funds provided by the agency as leveraged resources. Section IV.B.2 provides more information on leveraged resources.
You should use the checklist below as a guide when preparing your application package to ensure that the application has met all of the screening criteria. Note that this checklist is only an aid for applicants and should not be included in the application package. We urge you to use this checklist to ensure that your application contains all required items. If your application does not meet all of the screening criteria, it will not move forward through the merit review process.
Application Requirement |
Instructions |
Complete? |
The deadline submission requirements are met |
Section IV.C |
|
Eligibility |
Section III.A |
|
If submitted through Grants.gov, the components of the application are saved in any of the specified formats and are not corrupt. (We will attempt to open the document, but will not take any additional measures in the event of problems with opening.) |
Section IV.C.2 |
|
Application for Federal funds is within the funding range of $150,000 to $1,500,000 |
Section II.A |
|
SAM Registration |
Section IV.B.1 |
|
SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance |
Section IV.B.1 |
|
SF-424 includes a DUNS Number |
Section IV.B.1 |
|
SF-424A, Budget Information Form |
Section IV.B.2 |
|
Budget Narrative |
Section IV.B.2 |
|
Project Narrative |
Section IV.B.3 |
|
Applicant Designation (Separate Attachment): Designation of ARC or DRA Region and Service Area Map |
Section IV.B.4 |
|
Applicants may choose to submit the Proposal Summary/Attachment A in lieu of the project narrative. Applicants using this optional alternative may omit the separate submission of the requested attachments referenced in Section IV.B.4 , as these components are incorporated within the Proposal Summary. |
Section IV.B.4 |
|
We will consider only one application from each organization. If we receive multiple applications from the same organization, we will consider only the most recently received application that met the deadline. If the most recent application is disqualified for any reason, we will not replace it with an earlier application.
The intent of this FOA is to fund projects that create economic prosperity and gainful employment opportunities for eligible residents in impacted ARC and DRA regions, enabling them to remain and thrive in these communities. This goal may be achieved through grant projects providing or facilitating the delivery of employment and training services to help eligible individuals pursue or advance in full-time employment aligned with community- or regionally-defined priorities.
Applicants must propose a project that serves workers in one or more of the following three targeted categories: new entrants to the workforce, dislocated workers, and/or incumbent workers. The definitions for each category are as follows:
New Entrants to the Workforce: For the purposes of this FOA, we consider “new entrants to the workforce” to refer to those who have never worked before or who have been out of the workforce for a long enough time to make it as if they are entering the workforce for the first time. For example, this may include, but is not limited to, the long-term unemployed and formerly incarcerated individuals. Also eligible, consistent with federal and state wage and employment laws, are youth who are enrolled in their junior or senior year of high school and who could be employed before or within six months after the end of the grant lifecycle, and youth who have dropped out of school and are seeking their first full-time job.
Dislocated Workers: For the purposes of this FOA, this term refers to individuals who were terminated or laid-off or have received a notice of termination or lay-off from employment; or were self-employed but are now unemployed, as well as other individuals described at WIOA sec. 3(15) (https://www.congress.gov/113/bills/hr803/BILLS-113hr803enr.pdf).
Incumbent Workers: For the purposes of this FOA, this term refers to currently employed individuals who need training to secure full-time employment, advance in their careers, or retain their current positions.
Within these categories, you may serve a wide range of individuals, such as high school or postsecondary students, individuals requiring adult basic and other education programs, individuals with disabilities, veterans, individuals with Limited English Proficiency, and individuals impacted by substance abuse disorder.
38 U.S.C. 4215 requires grantees to provide priority of service to veterans and spouses of certain veterans for the receipt of employment, training, and placement services in any job training program directly funded, in whole or in part, by DOL. The regulations implementing this priority of service are at 20 CFR Part 1010. In circumstances where a grant recipient must choose between two qualified candidates for a service, one of whom is a veteran or eligible spouse, the veterans’ priority of service provisions require that the grant recipient give the veteran or eligible spouse priority of service by first providing him or her that service. To obtain priority of service, a veteran or spouse must meet the program’s eligibility requirements. Grantees must comply with DOL guidance on veterans’ priority. ETA’s Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 10-09 (issued November 10, 2009) provides guidance on implementing priority of service for veterans and eligible spouses in all qualified job training programs funded in whole or in part by DOL. TEGL No. 10-09 is available at https://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/corr_doc.cfm?DOCN=2816. This guidance applies to programs funded under WIOA. For additional information on veteran’s priority of service and WIOA, please see TEGL 19-16. TEGL 19-16 is available at https://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/corr_doc.cfm?DOCN=3851.
Allowable grant activities include:
Workforce training strategies must align with the target community’s or region’s strategic plan or economic development priorities. Some of the allowable training and learning approaches include, but are not limited to:
traditional classroom training; or,
work-based learning such as apprenticeships, customized training programs, incumbent worker training, on-the-job training, internships, or other work experiences. These may occur before or after layoff, in order to help facilitate reemployment.
Note: Applicants are encouraged to investigate existing training curricula and approaches, including those housed on the Skills Commons website at www.skillscommons.org. However, if existing curricula or appropriate tools do not exist that align with, or meet the goals of, the proposed project, applicants may propose to use grant funds to develop appropriate curricula, with supporting documentation demonstrating that such curricula does not currently exist and will align with the purpose of the project design.
Allowable employment-related activities include, but are not limited to:
employability skills training such as punctuality, personal maintenance, and professional conduct;
in-depth participant assessment and evaluation to identify employment barriers and develop individual employment plans; and
career planning (including via a career pathway approach), job coaching, and job matching services.
Innovative Service Delivery Strategies that address economic and workforce-related impacts and aim to overcome existing challenges within ARC or DRA regions (Objective 1) might include application of new business models, products, services, or technology such as:
expanding broadband access to provide distance learning;
increasing availability of mobile service units, such as custom vehicles equipped with technology, and other technology-enabled solutions to flexibly deliver training, outreach, and/or employment in remote areas; establishing employer models to expand onsite support services for new and existing employees recovering from substance use disorders;
developing new, industry-specific bridging programs that assist target populations gain skills to fill short and long-term needs of local employers;
expanding successful employer training programs that teach how to create supportive work environments for new and existing employees impacted by substance abuse disorder; and
developing new, or enhancing existing, partnership strategies for sustainable job growth.
Support services are necessary activities or resources that enable eligible individuals to participate in career and training services or to gain or retain employment. Grant recipients may offer support services to participants directly or through partner organizations, based upon the specific needs and focus of the project plan.
Generally, customized support service strategies meet the specific needs of an individual and may include, but are not limited to:
assistance with transportation;
assistance with child care and dependent care;
provision of stipends, wages, or other incentives to ensure participants are able to participate in the program or to obtain/retain employment;
linkages to community services, including services offered by partner organizations designed to support grant participants;
assistance with uniforms or other appropriate work attire and work-related tools, including such items as eye glasses and protective eye gear;
assistance with laptops or tablets, books, fees, school supplies, and other necessary items for students enrolled in training, work-based learning, or other elements of the proposed grant project;
payments and fees for employment and training-related applications, tests, and certifications;
mental health services, including rehabilitation and treatment for substance use disorders (SUD) with inpatient treatment or intensive outpatient treatment/program (IOP) limited to 8-12 weeks;
SUD recovery workforce strategies such as, but not limited to, recovery coaches, job/career coaches, and health navigator services; and
training site and/or workplace substance use testing and/or drug screening for trainees, when required for the occupation the individual in training to enter.
Note: Applicants proposing to include stipends or wages for participants exceeding 20 percent of the total grant award must receive prior approval from the grant officer.
Applicants are encouraged to provide services to employers, particularly small and medium-sized employers (Objective 5). Efforts may focus on individual employers or have an industry-based approach for clusters or sectors, including but not limited to:
designing/disseminating toolkits and training for employers to develop standards/processes for SUD recovery-friendly workplaces;
providing peer coaches, counseling, and worksite mentoring programs;
creating, expanding, or enhancing apprenticeships, internships, and other work experiences, including subsidies of apprentice and intern wages;
creating customized training programs; and
establishing school-to-work type activities.
In addition to meeting the workforce needs of these employers, applicants are encouraged to consider, and incorporate where feasible, other roles that employers may play in grant activities.
Capital expenditures, such as the purchase of equipment or capital improvements, are allowable with prior approval from the Grant Officer, provided they address the employment and training needs of the community served by the proposed project. These expenditures must follow the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements at 2 CFR Part 200 and the DOL supplemental requirements at 2 CFR Part 2900. For capital expenditures and equipment, see 2 CFR 200.439. Following a WORC grant award, a grantee must seek and receive ETA approval in a subsequent modification request for all equipment purchases and renovations. The modification must demonstrate these purchases and renovations will assist in the successful employment and training of participants. Award of a grant under this FOA does not constitute prior approval of equipment purchase or renovations mentioned in the initial application.
Possible allowable capital improvements include, but are not be limited to, improvements to buildings or equipment that would materially increase their value or useful life, including the cost to put the asset or improvement in place. For buildings, this could include the cost of upgrading, installing, or retrofitting a building’s internal systems or utilities (e.g., electrical, plumbing, HVAC, communications) to accommodate training courses or equipment. This could also include structural improvements or upgrades, including the relocation, modification, retrofitting, or enhancement of interior load-bearing walls or interior floors to accommodate training courses or equipment. This could also include implementing and/or enhancing the information technology infrastructure used to provide education and training and related activities.
Minor alterations, renovations, or rearrangements of buildings, facilities, or equipment, if specific to the project, are also allowable with prior approval from the Grant Officer, provided they address the employment and training needs of the community served by the proposed project. Minor alterations, renovations, or rearrangements may include the activities and associated costs of relocating, modifying, replacing, or adding items (e.g., switches and outlets) related to internal environments (e.g., temperature, humidity, ventilation, and acoustics), and installation of fixed equipment (including fume hoods and audio/visual equipment).
Allowable costs also include leasing space that is used for the grant participant education, training, and related activities, as well as the altering or renovating of such facilities (in accordance with the Federal Cost Principles at 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart E, and the DOL supplemental requirements at 2 CFR Part 2900, Subpart E). Allowable renovations include those related to federal architectural accessibility obligations requiring facilities to be readily accessible to, and usable by, qualified individuals with disabilities.
Following grant award, grantees must submit a subsequent grant modification request to obtain formal Grant Officer approval before acquiring equipment or proceeding with proposed capital expenditures, renovation, or alteration of facilities. The Grant Officer must determine that all proposed equipment, capital improvements, and/or alterations and renovation are:
allocable, necessary, and reasonable;
tied to specific grant-related deliverables and outcomes outlined in the grantee’s statement of work (SOW), including capacity-building and/or training outcomes;
consistent with the FOA; and
aligned with equipment requirements as outlined in 2 CFR Part 200. Applicants proposing in their SOW to spend grant funds on capital improvements and/or alterations and renovations must demonstrate how these expenditures will support the expansion and/or improvement of their project’s education and training programs.
Grantees must complete all activities related to capital expenditures and other alterations within the period of performance of the grant.
This FOA, found at www.Grants.gov and https://www.doleta.gov/grants/find_grants.cfm, contains all of the information and links to forms needed to apply for grant funding.
Applications submitted in response to this FOA must consist of four separate and distinct parts:
The SF-424, “Application for Federal Assistance”’
Project Budget composed of the SF-424A and Budget Narrative’
Project Narrative or the Optional Attachment A Proposal Summary; and
Attachments to the Project Narrative
You must ensure that the funding amount requested is consistent across all parts and sub-parts of the application.
You must complete the SF-424, “Application for Federal Assistance” (available at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms/sf-424-family.html#sortby=1).
In the address field, fill out the nine-digit (plus hyphen) zip code. Find nine-digit zip codes on the USPS website at https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action.
The SF-424 must clearly identify the applicant and must be signed by an individual with authority to enter into a grant agreement. Upon confirmation of an award, the individual signing the SF-424 on behalf of the applicant is considered the Authorized Representative of the applicant. As stated in block 21 of the SF-424 form, the signature of the Authorized Representative on the SF-424 certifies that the organization is in compliance with the Assurances and Certifications form SF-424B (available at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms/sf-424-family.html#sortby=1). You do not need to submit the SF-424B with the application.
In addition, subject to the provisions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb, the applicant’s Authorized Representative’s signature in block 21 of the SF-424 form constitutes assurance by the applicant of compliance with the following requirements in accordance with the WIOA 188 rules issued by the Department at 29 CFR 38.25 which includes the following language:
As a condition to the award of financial assistance from the Department of Labor under Title I WIOA, the grant applicant assures that it has the ability to comply fully with the nondiscrimination and equal opportunity provisions of the following laws: Section 188 of the WIOA, which, as interpreted through Departmental regulations, prohibits discrimination against all individuals in the United States on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, transgender status, and gender identity), national origin (including limited English proficiency), age, disability, political affiliation or belief, and against beneficiaries on the basis of either citizenship status or participation in any WIOA Title I—financially assisted program or activity; Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the bases of race, color and national origin; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, which prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities; The Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of age; and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs.
The grant applicant also assures, subject to RFRA, that as a recipient of WIOA Title I financial assistance [as defined at 29 CFR 38.4(zz)], it will comply with 29 CFR part 38 and all other regulations implementing the laws listed above. This assurance applies to the grant applicant's operation of the WIOA Title I-financially assisted program or activity, and to all agreements the grant applicant makes to carry out the WIOA Title I-financially assisted program or activity. The grant applicant understands that the United States has the right to seek judicial enforcement of this assurance. Note that the RFRA applies to all federal law and its implementation. If an applicant organization is a faith-based organization that makes hiring decisions on the basis of religious belief, it may be entitled to receive federal financial assistance under this grant solicitation and maintain that hiring practice. If a faith-based organization is awarded a grant, the organization will be provided with more information.
All applicants for federal grant and funding opportunities must have a DUNS number, and must supply their DUNS Number on the SF-424. The DUNS Number is a nine-digit identification number that uniquely identifies business entities. If you do not have a DUNS Number, you can get one for free through the D&B website: https://fedgov.dnb.com/webform/displayHomePage.do.
Grant recipients authorized to make subawards must meet these requirements related to DUNS Numbers:
Grant recipients must notify potential subawardees that no entity may receive a subaward unless the entity has provided its DUNS number.
Grant recipients may not make a subaward to an entity unless the entity has provided its DUNS number.
(See, Appendix A to 2 CFR section 25.)
Applicants must register with the System for Award Management (SAM) before submitting an application. Find instructions for registering with SAM at https://www.sam.gov.
A recipient must maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active federal award or an application under consideration. To remain registered in the SAM database after the initial registration, the applicant is required to review and update the registration at least every 12 months from the date of initial registration or subsequently update its information in the SAM database to ensure it is current, accurate, and complete. For purposes of this paragraph, the applicant is the entity that meets the eligibility criteria and has the legal authority to apply and to receive the award. If an applicant has not fully complied with these requirements by the time the Grant Officer is ready to make a federal award, the Grant Officer may determine that the applicant is not qualified to receive a federal award and use that determination as a basis for making a federal award to another applicant.
You must complete the SF-424A Budget Information Form (available at: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms/sf-424-family.html#sortby=1). In preparing the Budget Information Form, you must provide a concise narrative explanation to support the budget request, explained in detail below.
Each category should include the total cost for the period of performance. Use the following guidance for preparing the Budget Narrative.
Personnel: List all staff positions by title (both current and proposed) including the roles and responsibilities. For each position give the annual salary, the percentage of time devoted to the project, and the amount of each position’s salary funded by the grant.
Fringe Benefits: Provide a breakdown of the amounts and percentages that comprise fringe benefit costs such as health insurance, FICA, retirement, etc.
Travel: For grantee staff only, specify the purpose, number of staff traveling, mileage, per diem, estimated number of in-state and out-of-state trips, and other costs for each type of travel. Applicants who would like to attend any post-award technical assistance events will need to request funding for travel costs under the Travel line item; ARC and DRA anticipate hosting no more than three, two-day technical assistance events through the life of these grants. Applicants are encouraged to follow federal per diem rates when calculating costs for travel (e.g., meals, lodging, transportation, mileage.). More information on federal per diem rates can be found at https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates).
Equipment: Identify each item of equipment you expect to purchase that has an estimated acquisition cost of $5,000 or more per unit (or if your capitalization level is less than $5,000, use your capitalization level) and a useful lifetime of more than one year (see 2 CFR 200.33 for the definition of Equipment). List the item, quantity, and the unit cost per item.
Items with a unit cost of less than $5,000 are supplies, not “equipment.” In general, we do not permit the purchase of equipment during the last funded year of the grant.
Supplies: Identify categories of supplies (e.g., office supplies) in the detailed budget and list the item, quantity, and the unit cost per item. Supplies include all tangible personal property other than “equipment” (see 2 CFR 200.94 for the definition of Supplies).
Contractual: Under the Contractual line item, delineate contracts and subawards separately. Contracts are defined according to 2 CFR 200.22 as a legal instrument by which a non-federal entity purchases property or services needed to carry out the project or program under a federal award. A subaward, defined by 2 CFR 200.92, means an award provided by a pass-through entity to a subrecipient for the subrecipient to carry out part of a federal award received by the pass-through entity. It does not include payments to a contractor or payments to an individual that is a beneficiary of a federal program.
For each proposed contract and subaward, specify the purpose and activities to be provided, and the estimated cost.
Construction: Construction costs are not allowed and this line must be left as zero. Minor alterations to adjust an existing space for grant activities (such as a classroom alteration) may be allowable. We do not consider this as construction and you must show the costs on other appropriate lines such as Contractual.
Other: Provide clear and specific detail, including costs, for each item so that we are able to determine whether the costs are necessary, reasonable and allocable. List items, such as stipends or incentives, not covered elsewhere.
Indirect Costs: If you include an amount for indirect costs (through a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement or De Minimis) on the SF-424A budget form, then include one of the following:
a) If you have a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA), provide an explanation of how the indirect costs are calculated. This explanation should include which portion of each line item, along with the associated costs, are included in your cost allocation base. Also, provide a current version of the NICRA.
or
b) If you intend to claim indirect costs using the 10 percent de minimis rate, please confirm that your organization meets the requirements as described in 2 CFR 200.414(f). Clearly state that your organization has never received a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA), and your organization is not one described in 2 CFR 200, Appendix VII (D)(1)(b).
Applicants choosing to claim indirect costs using the de minimis rate must use Modified Total Direct Costs (see 2 CFR 200.68 below for definition) as their cost allocation base. Provide an explanation of which portion of each line item, along with the associated costs, are included in your cost allocation base. Note that there are various items not included in the calculation of Modified Total Direct Costs. See the definitions below to assist you in your calculation.
2 CFR 200.68 Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC) means all direct salaries and wages, applicable fringe benefits, materials and supplies, services, travel, and up to the first $25,000 of each subaward (regardless of the period of performance of the subawards under the award). MTDC excludes equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, rental costs, tuition remission, scholarships and fellowships, participant support costs and the portion of each subaward in excess of $25,000. Other items may only be excluded when necessary to avoid a serious inequity in the distribution of indirect costs, and with the approval of the cognizant agency for indirect costs.
The definition of MTDC in 2 CFR 200.68 no longer allows for any sub-contracts to be included in the calculation. You will also note that participant support costs are not included in modified total direct cost. Participant support costs are defined below.
2 CFR 200.75 Participant Support Cost means direct costs for items such as stipends or subsistence allowances, travel allowances, and registration fees paid to or on behalf of participants or trainees (but not employees) in connection with conferences, or training projects.
See Section IV.B.4. and Section IV.E.1 for more information. Additionally, the following link contains information regarding the negotiation of Indirect Cost Rates at DOL: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/centers-offices/business-operations-center/cost-determination.
Note that the SF-424, SF-424A, and Budget Narrative must include the entire federal grant amount requested (not just one year).
Do not show leveraged resources on the SF-424 and SF-424A. You should describe leveraged resources in the Budget Narrative.
Applicants should list the same requested federal grant amount on the SF-424, SF-424A, and Budget Narrative. If minor inconsistencies are found between the budget amounts specified on the SF-424, SF-424A, and the Budget Narrative, ETA will consider the SF-424 the official funding amount requested. However, if the amount specified on the SF-424 would render the application nonresponsive, the Grant Officer will use his or her discretion to determine whether the intended funding request (and match if applicable) is within the responsive range.
The Project Narrative must demonstrate your capability to implement the grant project in accordance with the provisions of this Announcement. It provides a comprehensive framework and description of all aspects of the proposed project. It must be succinct, self-explanatory, and well-organized so that reviewers can understand the proposed project. Applicants may submit the optional Attachment A Proposal Summary in lieu of the Project Narrative.
The Project Narrative is limited to 10 double-spaced single-sided 8.5 x 11 inch pages with Times New Roman 12 point text font and 1-inch margins. You must number the Project Narrative beginning with page number 1.
We will not read or consider any materials beyond the specified page limit in the application review process.
The following instructions provide all of the information needed to complete the Project Narrative. Carefully read and consider each section, and include all required information in your Project Narrative. The agency will evaluate the Project Narrative using the evaluation criteria identified in Section V.A. If you choose to submit an application in narrative form, you must use the same section headers identified below for each section of the Project Narrative.
Need Statement
The Statement of Need is the foundation of the application and must clearly explain the reason for the proposed project. It must also support the grant initiative’s goal of creating economic prosperity and gainful employment opportunities for eligible residents in impacted ARC and DRA regions so that they may remain and thrive in these communities. Any needs included in this section must be addressed by the project activities and accounted for in the subsequent Project Description section (Section 3b).
The Statement of Need must describe the need for assistance, the nature and scope of challenges to overcome, and the consequences of not addressing the need. The needs described must align with the target population served. For example, if the application proposes to serve individuals impacted by substance abuse disorder, the Statement of Need must describe and demonstrate the need for assistance among this target population. The Statement of Need must describe and demonstrate the proposed service area’s skills gap and documented employer needs; documentation of employer needs is described in section IV.4.d below. Applicants demonstrate need by providing, at a minimum, the information (with appropriate citations) on the following:
At a minimum, the application must include information with appropriate citations for the following:
identification of specific census tracts for one or more Opportunity Zones;1
documented challenges facing these communities, including persistent poverty;
documented unemployment rate in the area covered by the proposed grant;
at least two letters of engagement from local employer/industry partners;
additional demographic information that can be tied to the project plan; and
for applications primarily proposing to serve individuals impacted by substance use disorder, the age-adjusted mortality rate related to opioid and other drug overdose deaths and other relevant information.
Applicants must provide sufficient details and citations to demonstrate the information provided above and attribute it to a verifiable source; however, applicants are not required to submit additional documentation.
Finally, applicants must identify the categories of eligible participants targeted for this project, as well as describe the recruitment strategy, including specialized approaches for identifying and enrolling their target population. Additionally, if the applicant proposes to serve individuals impacted by substance use disorder, the applicant must specifically describe the recruitment strategy and specialized approaches.
ii. Strategic Alignment
WORC Initiative applicants must align their proposed project with existing economic and workforce development priorities and strategies in the area covered by the grant. Applicants must address how their proposed plan aligns with each of the following four plans:
Local or regional plan: Applicants must identify, cite, and describe how their project aligns with a strategic or economic development plan for the geographical area the applicants propose to serve. Demonstrating alignment with a local plan is crucial as it most likely will have the closest, ground-level assessment of the challenges and strengths of the applicant’s proposed service area. For the purposes of this competition, DOL will accept the inclusion of any plan published or produced by a state, local or regional commission, as well as a plan from a local or regional coalition or organization that establishes appropriate economic/employment goals and strategies for a subregion of a state.
As some more rural areas of the Appalachian or the Delta regions may not have regional economic development coalitions or commissions, or highly detailed plans drafted by government entities to foster development in those areas, DOL will accept alternative documentation. For example, an alternative local plan for the purpose of this competition may be statements of goals and priorities provided by regional Chambers of Commerce or applicable civic organizations.
The relevant ARC or DRA Federal plan: Applicants must describe the elements of the relevant ARC or DRA Federal plan with which the proposed project aligns.
The ARC Federal plan: https://www.arc.gov/about/arc2016-2020strategicplan.asp.
The DRA Federal plan: https://www.dra.gov/funding-programs/strategic-economic-development-plans-by-state/.
The relevant ARC or DRA State plans: Applicants must demonstrate how their proposed project aligns with the ARC or DRA state plan.
The relevant WIOA State Plan: Applicants must demonstrate how their proposed plan aligns with the “Strategic Elements” section of the WIOA State Plan 2018-2020 modification, which can be accessed here: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/rsa/wioa/state-plans/index.html
To achieve full points for this section, applicants must demonstrate how the proposed project and its activities both align with and support identified elements of each of the four aforementioned strategic plans.
Please note: for proposed projects that include areas in both the ARC and DRA regions, the applicant must include only one Federal plan and one State plan for the designated ARC or DRA region under which the applicant is applying. (see Section IV.4.a below).
The project description is the heart of the project narrative. It must clearly describe how the design of the proposed project addresses the need(s) identified in Section 3a above, along with how it facilitates the goal of the WORC Initiative to create economic prosperity and gainful employment opportunities for eligible residents in impacted ARC and DRA regions so that they may remain and thrive in these communities. Additionally, the project description must define the partnership(s) that will ensure the success of the efforts.
Project Design
The project design narrative provides the framework for the proposed grant project by clearly aligning planned activities with the needs to be addressed and intended project results. The project design must:
describe how the project will support eligible individuals impacted by substance abuse disorder;
describe all planned activities and their implementation;
describe how planned activities address the needs and challenges described in the Statement of Need;
describe how planned activities meet the stated goal of the WORC initiative;
describe how planned activities fill the proposed service area’s skills gap, meet the employers’ documented needs, and overcome challenges to serve the target population;
ensure the described project activities are represented in the Project Timeline (requested as a separate attachment to the application unless submitting the optional Proposal Summary/Attachment A), and use this section to provide helpful details on achieving project milestones;
ensure the described activities are noted in the budget narrative; and
explain strategies in place to keep activities on track and to achieve desired outcomes and results.
Applicants proposing to specifically address the workforce impacts of substance use disorder are encouraged to consider the following when framing the project:
Projects that address the substance misuse crisis should focus on creating a recovery ecosystem that will lead to workforce re-entry. Projects are encouraged to support the post-treatment to employment continuum, which could support the training of recovery professionals, recovery-focused job training programs, as well as initiatives designed to coordinate, or link, recovery services and training that support the reintegration into the workforce of eligible SUD affected individuals.
The recovery ecosystem, within the context of building and strengthening economically resilient communities, is a complex linkage of multiple sectors, including but not limited to recovery communities, peer support, health, human services, faith communities, criminal justice, public safety, housing, transportation, education, and employers, designed to help individuals in recovery access the support services and training they need to maintain recovery and successfully obtain sustainable employment.
Projects should initiate or expand programs designed to eliminate or reduce the harm to the workforce and economic growth of the region that results from substance misuse; and attract and retain relevant health care services, businesses, and workers.
Notice about Disability and Medical Information Protections for WORC Grant Participants.
We intend WORC grants to help reintegrate individuals with a history of substance use disorder into the workforce. Accordingly, grant recipients should be aware of requirements pertaining to the gathering and confidentiality of medical information and their obligations under Department civil rights regulations pertaining to protections for individuals with disabilities.
Inquiring about How an
Individual Has Been Impacted by the Opioid Crisis
Grantees
may only ask the following question to determine that an applicant
or eligible participant has been impacted by SUD:
Do
you, a friend, or any member of your family have a history of
substance misuse? Please answer “Yes” or “No.”
Your answer to this question is voluntary.
Confidentiality of Medical Information
Under applicable law, grant recipients must maintain the confidentiality of medical information obtained about an individual. Medical information must be kept confidential even if the individual volunteers the medical information without being asked. Information regarding an individual’s disability is included in information that must be kept confidential, but any medical information obtained must be kept confidential (whether or not the individual has a disability).
Example 1: An applicant may disclose that she previously has taken opioids legally with a prescription from her doctor (which is medical information, but may or may not be disability-related). The grant recipient must keep that information in a separate file and limit which staff have access to that information, under 29 C.F.R. 38.41(b)(3) (which explains how to keep such information separately and who may have access to it).
Example 2: An individual may self-disclose that he has diabetes (which is both medical information and disability-related information). The grant recipient must keep that information in a separate file and limit which staff have access to that information, under 29 C.F.R. 38.41(b)(3) (which explains how to keep such information separately and who may have access to it).
Drug Use and Protections for Individuals with Disabilities
When making program decisions about individuals, grant recipients should remember that disability is among the statuses protected from discrimination for participants in and applicants for programs supported by WORC grants. Services provided under these grants must comply with 29 C.F.R. 38.5, which sets out antidiscrimination protections for WIOA title I programs. For example, grant recipients will have to make reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities, according to 29 C.F.R. 38.14, and they cannot treat a participant or applicant for services less favorably on the basis of the individual’s disability, according to 29 C.F.R. 38.12.
Due to the nature of these grants, some participants or applicants for participation will be individuals with disabilities based on their drug history and some will not. Disability status, and how it may affect the provision of services under a WIOA grant, is a case-by-case determination, and given the many causes and complicating factors surrounding the substance misuse crisis, the circumstances of an individual’s history of substance misuse could differ significantly.
Disability status for substance use disorder usually depends on whether the individual is currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs, including the illegal use of some prescription drugs.2 An individual in recovery not currently using drugs illegally may be legally protected as an individual with a disability. The question of “current use” of illegal drugs is made on a case-by-case basis. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is the use of medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a “whole-patient” approach to the treatment of substance use disorders. Prescribed use of medication in MAT is not “current use of illegal drugs.” “Current” means that the illegal drug use occurred “recently enough” to justify the grant recipient’s reasonable belief that drug use is an ongoing problem. Grant recipients may treat an individual less favorably because of current illegal use of drugs but may not make adverse decisions on the basis of an individual’s disability (even if he or she is currently engaged in the illegal use of drugs).
A potential or enrolled participant in a WORC grant also may have another disability—separate from his or her drug history—that entitles them to legal protections.
Example 1: A grant recipient discovers that a blind participant who uses a service dog is currently engaging in the illegal use of opioids. The grant recipient may terminate the individual’s participation in the program because of the current illegal use of drugs, but the grant recipient may not prohibit the individual from using his service dog because he is illegally using drugs.
Example 2: An individual is in recovery from an opioid use disorder and is not currently using opioids. The grant recipient must reasonably accommodate this disability by, for example, changing the program activity schedule to allow the participant to visit a medical provider to receive medication assisted treatment or to attend support meetings during the program day. However, if the grant recipient discovers that the individual has resumed misusing drugs, the grant recipient may terminate the individual’s participation on the basis of that current drug misuse.
Project Partnerships
The project partnership narrative must demonstrate coordinated workforce strategies among stakeholders to develop, maintain, and expand partnerships that build and sustain capacity, maximize available resources, and establish community-based approaches for addressing workforce challenges and industry needs in the ARC and DRA regions (Objectives 4 and 5). As such, identifying partners and establishing the roles they will play in the project are an important element in a successful application.
First, to demonstrate collaboration with a strong and diverse community-wide coalition, applicants must provide the following information regarding partnerships:
name of each partner entity;
location/community of each partner;
if an employer/industry partner, it must identify and attest to the specific workforce needs of the community, to be addressed by the proposed project; role of each partner in the project, explaining their planned activities and how it addresses the specific workforce needs identified by the employer/industry partners; and
services and/or resources that each partner will contribute to the project in the short-term, as well as to the long-term sustainability of the project.
Second, to ensure that the planned activities are designed to create, improve, or sustain employment opportunities in the region based upon specific workforce needs identified by employers in the proposed project area(s), applicants must also demonstrate collaboration with a strong and diverse community-wide coalition that must include engagement with at least two employers/industry partners.
Employer or industry partnerships increase the likelihood of establishing work-based learning programs and ensure that training and workforce development efforts are relevant to and evolve along with the needs of the employer community. Employers provide valuable insight into the development of innovative training approaches, as well as leadership in aligning/enhancing existing, strategic plans for the economic diversification and development of the region or community. Applicants should include information in their application about how they will access the leadership and support of the employer community.
In addition to the two required employer/industry partners, partnerships may include, but are not limited to:
local and regional employer/industry networks;
local economic development organizations;
local governments;
regional planning organizations;
labor unions;
state and local workforce agencies;
institutions of higher education and other job training and adult education providers;
supportive and human services providers; and
other relevant economic and workforce development partners.
Applications must clearly state expected project results that are specific, measurable, achievable, and reasonable according to the project design and timeline. Project results must include: 1) short- and medium-term results that include outputs and outcomes achieved by the end of the grant period; and 2) long-term benefits that include outcomes expected 5+ years after the end of the grant period to demonstrate sustainability. All project results must clearly align with the needs, gaps, or challenges identified in the Statement of Need and the activities identified in the Project Description. Additionally, project results must reflect WORC goals and objectives.
Note: Outputs and outcomes achieved by the end of the grant period must include the number of participants obtaining new or improved employment opportunities.
Short and Medium-term Results
Project results include both outputs (e.g., delivered products, services, trainings, or participants served) and outcomes (e.g., workforce/employer/participant accomplishments, changes, or improvements) anticipated as a result of the project.
Examples of measurable outputs achieved during the grant lifecycle include:
Activities |
Participants Served *corresponding with the activities listed |
1 GED apprenticeship program developed |
100 GED workers/trainees served |
5 employer trainings on substance abused disorder conducted |
50 employers served |
Job placement services provided |
100 workers/job seekers served |
New curriculum developed for accelerated community health worker training program |
6 employers served |
Examples of measurable outcomes include:
Short-term Results *corresponding with the identified outputs *achieved during the grant lifecycle |
Medium-term Results *corresponding with the short-term results. * achieved by the grant end date |
100 workers/trainees needing basic education obtain GED. |
75 workers/trainees improved skills and basic education knowledge, as measured by the number of workers/trainees obtaining GEDs and completing apprenticeships. |
50 employers attend trainings and gain awareness of strategies to support employees affected by substance abuse disorder. |
Employer support for employees impacted by substance abuse disorder improved by 25, as measured by the number of employer worksites implementing new and enhanced SUD support services onsite. |
25 participants placed in jobs and 50 enrolled in on-the-job training programs. |
75% of workers/trainees receive new or improved employment opportunities, as measured by the number of workers who obtain a job in the field for which they were trained. |
Accelerated recovery support specialist training program implemented and provided to 25 participants. |
15 participants completed training through an improved talent pipeline to fill critical open recovery support specialist positions, as measured by the number of community health care worker positions filled. |
ii. Long-term Benefits
Sustainability and long-term impact are important to the WORC Initiative (Objective 6). Applicants must clearly identify the anticipated long-term benefits for the participants, employers, and communities served by the grant, explaining how the activities and investments made under the grant continue to benefit the workforce and the economy five years after the end of the project. Applicants must also briefly explain the plan to sustain the work of the project after grant funding ends.
Examples of long-term benefits include:
Long-term Project Benefits and Economic Impacts *occur after the grant period ends |
Increased revenue (taxes) generated by counties/towns as a result of job creation and/or employment obtained by workers/trainees. |
Increased industry/employer participation and investment in workforce development planning, or integration of the program into the public workforce system. |
Decreased employee turnover rates as a result of more supportive work environments and improved awareness about substance abuse disorder. |
Increased talent pipeline for a skilled healthcare workforce enabling communities to meet their healthcare needs. |
Continued expansion of apprenticeships funded by industry/employer and community partners, including coordination with local workforce development boards and American Job Centers, and employers. |
Applicants must demonstrate capacity to carry out the proposed project effectively by submitting staff resumes or job descriptions as attachments (unless submitting the optional Proposal Summary/Attachment A ) and by completing or submitting one of the following: 1) the Financial System Assessment form; 2) the applicant’s most recent audited financial report; or 3) IRS Form 990.
The Budget and Budget Narrative will be used to evaluate this section. Please see Section IV.B.2 for information on the requirements. The Budget and Budget Narrative do not count against the page limit requirements for the Project Narrative.
In addition to the Project Narrative, you must submit attachments. All attachments must be clearly labeled. All attachments are excluded from the Project Narrative page limit.
Applicants submitting the optional Proposal Summary/Attachment A in lieu of the Project Narrative should note the italicized instructions below. Use of Attachment A decreases the number of requested attachments.
You must not include additional materials not requested by this FOA. You must submit your complete application in one package or electronic submission because documents received separately will not be attached to the application for review.
Save all files with descriptive file names of 50 characters or fewer and use only standard characters in file names: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and underscore (_). File names may not include special characters (e.g. &,–,*,%,/,#), periods (.), blank spaces or accent marks, and must be unique (e.g., no other attachment may have the same file name). You may use an underscore (example: My_Attached_File.pdf) to separate a file name.
In addition to a complete application package (SF-424, SF-424A, and Budget Narrative, along with a Project Narrative or the Project Summary/Attachment A in lieu of the Project Narrative), the applicant must submit a separate Applicant Designation attachment referencing the ARC or DRA region under which it is applying. The details for this attachment are referenced below. The omission of the Applicant Designation attachment or the omission of any components of the aforementioned application package will disqualify the application and it will not be considered for funding. Additional application requirements are outlined in Section III.C above.
Applicants must submit the Applicant Designation as a stand-alone attachment that addresses two elements: Designation under which region the applicant is submitting the application, and a service area map illustrating the area to be served by the proposed project.
First, this document must include a brief statement declaring with which region, the Appalachian or Delta, the proposed project aligns. If the project area covers counties/parishes or communities located within both the Appalachian and Delta regions, the applicant must still select just one region as applications will be reviewed and funded based upon these regional designations.
Second, the attachment must also include a map that illustrates the areas to be served. The map must include all target communities to be served.
Failure to include this document will result in an application not being reviewed.
When submitting in grants.gov, applicants must upload this document as an attachment to the application package and specifically label it “Applicant Designation.”
You must submit an abstract (not to exceed two pages) summarizing the proposed project. This should include, but is not limited to, the scope of the project and proposed outcomes. Omission of the abstract will not result in your application being disqualified; the lack of the required information in the abstract, however, may impact scoring. See III.C.1 for a list of items that will result in the disqualification of your application. The abstract must include:
the applicant’s name;
the project title;
a description of the area to be served;
the number of participants to be served;
the funding level requested;
the total cost per participant;
a list of the counties included in the project area, and a demonstration of whether one or more of the areas included in the project area contain census tracts that are part of an Opportunity Zone as defined by the U.S. Treasury Department;
type of participants (e.g., dislocated workers, incumbent workers, new workforce entrants) to be trained;
projected number of participants that will obtain new or enhanced current jobs; and
a brief summarization of the proposed project including, but not limited to, the scope of the project and proposed outcomes.
The applicant must submit a proposed Project Timeline, which includes a brief summary of planned grant activities and the associated project milestones of the grant. The timeline must cover the entire proposed grant period of performance, which may not exceed 36 months. The Project Timeline must align with activities referenced in both the Budget and Project Narratives.
To receive full points during review, your application must include at least two letters of engagement from employer/industry partners, attesting to the current and/or projected workforce needs in the target community. The proposed project plan must develop or enhance the skills of the workforce to meet the identified needs as demonstrated by the employer/industry partners included in the project. Employer/industry partners may be located within either region. It is also possible for them to not be located in either region; however, they must be seeking skilled employees to fill positions located within a reasonable commuting distance for the area, or train for positions not requiring grant participant relocation (e.g., truck driving). See section IV.B.3.b.ii for full partnership requirements.
If you are requesting indirect costs based on a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement approved by your federal Cognizant Agency, then attach the most recently approved Agreement. (For more information, see Section IV.B.2. and Section IV.E.1.) This attachment does not impact scoring of the application.
When submitting in grants.gov, this document must be uploaded as an attachment to the application package and specifically labeled “NICRA.”
Applicants must provide resumes for all current or planned key personnel who may staff the project. Job descriptions may be included for positions that are planned or currently unstaffed. These positions must be included in the budget narrative.
All applicants are requested to submit Funding Opportunity Announcement Financial System Assessment Information. See Section V.B.2 for a sample template and additional instructions.
We must receive your application by July 29, 2020. You must submit your application electronically on https://www.grants.gov no later than 4:00:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date.
Applicants are encouraged to submit their application before the closing date to minimize the risk of late receipt. We will not review applications received after 4:00:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date. We will not accept applications sent by e-mail, telegram, or facsimile (FAX).
No applications submitted in hardcopy by mail or hand delivery (including overnight delivery) will be accepted for this funding opportunity.
Applicants submitting applications through Grants.gov must ensure successful submission no later than 4:00:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date. Grants.gov will subsequently validate the application.
The process can be complicated and time-consuming. You are strongly advised to initiate the process as soon as possible and to plan for time to resolve technical problems. Note that validation does not mean that your application has been accepted as complete or has been accepted for review by the agency. Rather, grants.gov only verifies the submission of certain parts of an application.
Read through the registration process carefully before registering. These steps may take as long as four weeks to complete, and this time should be factored into plans for timely electronic submission in order to avoid unexpected delays that could result in the rejection of an application.
Applicants must follow the online instructions for registration at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/organization-registration.html. We recommend that you prepare the information requested before beginning the registration process. Reviewing and assembling required information before beginning the registration process will alleviate last-minute searches for required information and save time.
An application submitted through Grants.gov constitutes a submission as an electronically signed application. The registration and account creation with Grants.gov, with E-Biz Point of Contact (POC) approval, establishes an Agency Organizational Representative (AOR). When an application is submitted through Grants.gov, the name of the AOR who submitted the application is inserted into the signature line of the application, serving as the electronic signature. The E-Biz POC must authorize the individual who is able to make legally binding commitments on behalf of your organization as the AOR; this step is often missed and it is crucial for valid submissions.
Grants.gov applicants can apply online using Workspace. Workspace is a shared online environment where members of a grant team may simultaneously access and edit different webforms within an application. For a complete workspace overview, refer to https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/workspace-overview.html.
For access to complete instructions on how to apply for opportunities, refer to
https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/apply-for-grants.html.
When a registered applicant submits an application with Grants.gov, an electronic time stamp is generated within the system when the application is successfully received by Grants.gov. Grants.gov will send the applicant AOR an email acknowledgement of receipt and a tracking number (GRANTXXXXXXXX) with the successful transmission of the application, serving as proof of their timely submission. The applicant will receive two email messages to provide the status of the application’s progress through the system.
The first email will contain a tracking number and will confirm receipt of the application by Grants.gov.
The second email will indicate the application has either been successfully validated or has been rejected due to errors.
Grants.gov will reject applications if the applicant’s registration in SAM is expired. Only applications that have been successfully submitted by the deadline and later successfully validated will be considered. It is your responsibility to ensure a timely submission. While it is not required that an application be successfully validated before the deadline for submission, it is prudent to reserve time before the deadline in case it is necessary to resubmit an application that has not been successfully validated. Therefore, enough time should be allotted for submission (24-48 hours) and, if applicable, additional time to address errors and receive validation upon resubmission (an additional two business days for each ensuing submission). It is important to note that if enough time is not allotted and a rejection notice is received after the due date and time, DOL will not consider the application.
To ensure consideration, the components of the application must be saved as .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .rtf or .pdf files. If submitted in any other format, the applicant bears the risk that compatibility or other issues will prevent DOL from considering the application. We will attempt to open the document, but will not take any additional measures in the event of problems with opening.
We strongly advise applicants to use the various tools and documents, including FAQs, which are available on the “Applicant Resources” page at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/applicant-faqs.html.
We encourage new prospective applicants to view the online tutorial, “Grant Applications 101: A Plain English Guide to ETA Competitive Grants,” available through WorkforceGPS at https://strategies.workforcegps.org/resources/2014/08/11/16/32/applying-for-eta-competitive-grants-a-web-based-toolkit-for-prospective-applicants-438?p=1.
To receive updated information about critical issues, new tips for users, and other time-sensitive updates as information is available, you may subscribe to “Grants.gov Updates” at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/manage-subscriptions.html.
If you encounter a problem with Grants.gov and do not find an answer in any of the other resources:
call 1-800-518-4726 or 606-545-5035 to speak to a Customer Support Representative or
email [email protected].
The Grants.gov Contact Center is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week but closed on federal holidays. If you are experiencing difficulties with your submission, it is best to call the Grants.gov Support Center and get a ticket number.
Late Applications
For applications submitted on Grants.gov, we will consider only applications successfully submitted no later than 4:00:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date and then successfully validated. You take a significant risk by waiting to the last day to submit through Grants.gov.
We will not consider any hard copy application received after the exact date and time specified for receipt at the office designated in this notice, unless we receive it before awards are made, it was properly addressed, and it was (a) sent by U.S. Postal Service mail, postmarked not later than the fifth calendar day before the date specified for receipt of applications (e.g., an application required to be received by the 20th of the month must be postmarked by the 15th of that month); or (b) sent by professional overnight delivery service to the addressee not later than one working day before the date specified for receipt of applications. ‘‘Postmarked’’ means a printed, stamped or otherwise placed impression (exclusive of a postage meter machine impression) that is readily identifiable, without further action, as having been supplied or affixed on the date of mailing by an employee of the U.S. Postal Service. Therefore, you should request the postal clerk to place a legible hand cancellation ‘‘bull’s eye’’ postmark on both the receipt and the package. Failure to adhere to these instructions will be a basis for a determination that the application was not filed timely and will not be considered. Evidence of timely submission by a professional overnight delivery service must be demonstrated by equally reliable evidence created by the delivery service provider indicating the time and place of receipt.
This funding opportunity is not subject to Executive Order 12372, “Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs.”
All proposed project costs must be necessary and reasonable and in accordance with federal guidelines. Determinations of allowable costs will be made in accordance with the Cost Principles, now found in the Office of Management and Budget’s Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance), codified at 2 CFR Part 200 and at 2 CFR Part 2900 (Uniform Guidance-DOL specific). Disallowed costs are those charges to a grant that the grantor agency or its representative determines not to be allowed in accordance with the Cost Principles or other conditions contained in the grant. Applicants, whether successful or not, will not be entitled to reimbursement of pre-award costs.
As specified in the Uniform Guidance Cost Principles, indirect costs are those that have been incurred for common or joint objectives and cannot be readily identified with a particular final cost objective. An indirect cost rate is required when an organization operates under more than one grant or other activity, whether federally-assisted or not. You have two options to claim reimbursement of indirect costs.
Option 1: You may use a NICRA or Cost Allocation Plan (CAP) supplied by the federal Cognizant Agency. If you do not have a NICRA/CAP or have a pending NICRA/CAP, and in either case choose to include estimated indirect costs in your budget, at the time of award the Grant Officer will release funds in the amount of 10 percent of salaries and wages to support indirect costs. Within 90 days of award, you are required to submit an acceptable indirect cost proposal or CAP to your federal Cognizant Agency to obtain a provisional indirect cost rate. (See Section IV.B.4. for more information on NICRA submission requirements.)
Option 2: Any organization that has never received a negotiated indirect cost rate, with the exceptions noted at 2 CFR 200.414(f) in the Cost Principles, may elect to charge a de minimis rate of 10 percent of modified total direct costs (see 2 CFR 200.68 for definition), which may be used indefinitely. If you choose this option, this methodology must be used consistently for all federal awards until such time as you choose to negotiate for an indirect cost rate, for which you may apply at any time. (See 2 CFR 200.414(f) for more information on use of the de minimis rate.)
None of the funds appropriated under the heading “Employment and Training” in the appropriation statute(s) may be used by a recipient or subrecipient of such funds to pay the salary and bonuses of an individual, either as direct costs or indirect costs, at a rate in excess of Executive Level II. This limitation does not apply to contractors providing goods and services as defined in the Audit Requirements of the OMB Uniform Guidance (see 2 CFR 200 Subpart F). Where states are recipients of such funds, states may establish a lower limit for salaries and bonuses of those receiving salaries and bonuses from subrecipients of such funds, taking into account factors including the relative cost of living in the state, the compensation levels for comparable state or local government employees, and the size of the organizations that administer federal programs involved including Employment and Training Administration programs. See Public Law 113-235, Division G, Title I, section 105, and Training and Employment Guidance Letter number 05-06 for further clarification: https://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/corr_doc.cfm?DOCN=2262.
Pursuant to 2 CFR 2900.13, to ensure that the federal investment of DOL funds has as broad an impact as possible and to encourage innovation in the development of new learning materials, the grantee will be required to license to the public all work created with the support of the grant under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY) license. Work that must be licensed under the CC BY includes both new content created with the grant funds and modifications made to pre-existing, grantee-owned content using grant funds.
This license allows subsequent users to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the copyrighted work and requires such users to attribute the work in the manner specified by the grantee. Notice of the license shall be affixed to the work. For general information on CC BY, please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0.
Instructions for marking your work with CC BY can be found at https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Marking_your_work_with_a_CC_license.
Questions about CC BY as it applies to this specific funding opportunity should be submitted to the ETA Grants Management Specialist specified in Section VII.
Only work that is developed by the recipient in whole or in part with grant funds is required to be licensed under the CC BY license. Pre-existing copyrighted materials licensed to or purchased by the grantee from third parties, including modifications of such materials, remain subject to the intellectual property rights the grantee receives under the terms of the particular license or purchase. In addition, works created by the grantee without grant funds do not fall under the CC BY licensing requirement.
The purpose of the CC BY licensing requirement is to ensure that materials developed with funds provided by these grants result in work that can be freely reused and improved by others. When purchasing or licensing consumable or reusable materials, the grantee is expected to respect all applicable federal laws and regulations, including those pertaining to the copyright and accessibility provisions of the Federal Rehabilitation Act.
Separate from the CC BY license to the public, the federal government reserves a paid-up, nonexclusive, and irrevocable license to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use, and to authorize others to use for federal purposes: i) the copyright in all products developed under the grant, including a subaward or contract under the grant or subaward; and ii) any rights of copyright to which the recipient, subrecipient, or a contractor purchases ownership under an award (including, but not limited to, curricula, training models, technical assistance products, and any related materials). Such uses include, but are not limited to, the right to modify and distribute such products worldwide by any means, electronically or otherwise. The grantee may not use federal funds to pay any royalty or license fee for use of a copyrighted work, or the cost of acquiring by purchase a copyright in a work, where the Department has a license or rights of free use in such work. If revenues are generated through selling products developed with grant funds, including intellectual property, DOL treats such revenues as program income. Such program income is added to the grant and must be expended for allowable grant activities.
If applicable, the following standard ETA disclaimer needs to be on all products developed in whole or in part with grant funds.
“This workforce product was funded by a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. The product was created by the grantee and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The U.S. Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including, but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or ownership. This product is copyrighted by the institution that created it.”
Grant funds may be used to pay reasonable and prudent wages for internships and other forms of on-the-job training included in the scope of work with the approval of the Grant Officer. The applicant should state how the wages will be supported beyond the life of the grant if necessary to the continuation of the project.
Organizations receiving grants through this FOA may use grant funds to pay for the wages of participants where the objective assessment and the Individual Career Plan indicate that work experiences are appropriate. Further, the provision of stipends to training enrollees for the purposes of wage replacement is an allowable cost under this FOA. Payment may take the form of wages or stipends. Generally, participants may receive stipends for participating in classes and training. Wages are compensation for services performed for an employer.
Grantees must comply with WIOA Section 181 and WIOA regulations detailing the applicable wage and labor standards. When paying participant stipends, grantees must maintain documentation of the process for determining the amount of the stipend and the distribution. Grantees providing wages or stipends to participants should be aware of the implications under IRS provisions. Please consult www.irs.gov for more information.
As described in Section III.C.4 above, expenditures for wages or other payments are limited to 20 percent of the grant award unless prior approval is received from the grant officer to exceed this amount.
Withdrawal of Applications: You may withdraw an application by written notice to the Grant Officer at any time before an award is made.
We have instituted procedures for assessing the technical merit of applications to provide for an objective review of applications and to assist you in understanding the standards against which your application will be judged. The evaluation criteria are based on the information required in the application as described in Sections IV.B.2. (Project Budget) and IV.B.3. (Project Narrative). Reviewers will award points based on the evaluation criteria described below:
Criterion |
Points (maximum) |
|
|
Section Total 18 |
|
|
3 |
|
|
2 |
|
|
5 |
|
|
4 |
|
|
4 |
|
|
Section Total 30 |
|
|
20 |
|
|
10 |
|
|
Section Total 30 |
|
a. Short- and Medium-term Results (Outputs) |
6 |
|
b. Short and Medium-term Results (Outcomes) |
16 |
|
c. Long-term Benefits (Sustainability) |
8 |
|
|
Section Total 10 |
|
|
5 |
|
|
5 |
|
|
Section Total 12 |
|
|
4 |
|
|
4 |
|
|
4 |
|
TOTAL |
100 |
|
(Up to 18 points)
This section of the application must provide a description of the area and individuals to be served, and addresses the workforce and other needs that the proposed project will attempt to address. There are five scored elements:
Description of Area to be Served and Identified Needs (3 points)
The extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements outlined in Section IV.B.3 in effectively describing:
the region to be served by the project, including the required supporting documentation used to identify the region; and
the region’s economic and workforce challenges, the consequences of not addressing these challenges, and the required documentation identifying the named challenges (including the region’s unemployment rate).
Demonstration of Inclusion in Opportunity Zone (2 points)
Applicants must demonstrate that at least one census tract in the service area is classified as an Opportunity Zone. Opportunity Zones are economically distressed communities designated under the authority of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Public Law 115-97, enacted December 22, 2017). There are over 8700 of these highest poverty areas across the country. Applicants that propose services in one of these Opportunity Zones will receive two (2) points.
Description of Workforce Needs (5 points)
The extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements outlined in Section IV.B.3 in describing the workforce needs of employers and the specific skills gaps to be addressed by the proposed project.
Target Population (4 points)
The extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements in Section IV.B.3 for describing:
the population intended to be served through the grant, including any supporting information on why this population was selected;
how the target population meets eligibility requirements outlined in Section II.C.3; and
how the applicant plans to recruit this population.
Alignment with Strategic Plans (4 points)
The extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements outlined in Section IV.B.3 in describing alignment with all three strategic plans: 1) local or regional plan; 2) ARC or DRA Federal plan; 3) ARC or DRA State plan; and 4) WIOA State Plan 2018-2020 modification. Applicants must clearly identify, cite, and describe how their project aligns with these plans. For the purposes of this competition, DOL broadly defines a local/regional plan as any plan published or produced by a state, local or regional commission, or local or regional coalition or organization that set out appropriate economic or employment goals for a state subregion and strategies for the subregion.
To meet the strategic plan alignment requirement, applicants must:
Provide evidence of the alignment with each of the four plans mentioned above, clearly demonstrating it applies to the geographical area the applicant proposes to serve. Applicants may attach to the application relevant excerpts of the plans (citing verifiable reference);
Identify the portions of the plan(s) stating relevant goals, components, descriptions of needs, or action items of the plan the applicant’s project would address, support, or further; and
Demonstrate how the applicant’s project and its activities and outputs would address, support, or further the identified portions of the plan(s).
Applicants serving more than one region or state are only required to include the ARC or DRA Federal plan for the region they designated for this application, and only one ARC or DRA State plan.
(Up to 30 points)
Project Design (20 points)
The extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements outlined in Section IV.B.3 in describing a coherent and feasible approach for successfully addressing the identified needs of the community, employers, and job seekers and workers. The design must clearly reflect the WORC Initiative’s goal and elements, the Project Timeline and Budget items for completion of work, and address factors that might impact the project’s success.
Project Partners (10 points)
The extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements outlined in Section IV.B.3 and demonstrates the strength or value of identified or planned partnerships through proposed roles and responsibilities, shared resources or programmatic alignment, and supporting documentation. Additionally, at least two letters of engagement from employer/industry partners in the area covered by the grant must be attached to the application. These letters must attest to specific workforce needs that would be addressed by the proposed project. Applications that do not include any letters from employers will not receive full points for this section.
(Up to 30 points)
As described in Section IV.B.3 of this FOA, the elements that will be reviewed are:
Short and Medium-term Results (Outputs) (6 points)
The extent to which meets the FOA requirements outlined in Section IV.B.3 and demonstrates the expected outputs, are specific, measurable, realistic, clear, and consistent with the expressed need and project activities. The extent to which the outputs align with project activities and identifies the participants served by the project activities.
Short and Medium-term Results (Outcomes) (16 points)
The extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements outlined in Section IV.B.3 and demonstrates the expected outcomes are specific, measurable, realistic, clear, and consistent with the expressed need and project activities.
Long-term Benefits (Sustainability) (8 points)
The extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements outlined in Section IV.B.3 and describes a reasonable outlook for the project five years or more past the conclusion of the period of performance.
(Up to 10 points)
Organizational and Fiscal Capacity (5 points)
The extent to which the applicant’s documentation demonstrates it has the capacity to carry out this proposed project. The applicant may receive full points if they submit a completed Financial Systems Assessment form, most recent audit, or IRS Form 990.
Administrative Capacity (5 points)
The extent to which the applicant demonstrates through key staff resumes or job descriptions that they have relevant organizational experience and/or has staff with experience and/or training managing federal and other grants of this type.
(Up to 12 points)
The extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements outlined in Section IV.B.2 and demonstrate that the items included in the budget are consistent with the project narrative.
All items included in the budget and budget narrative align (4 points)
All items included in the budget and budget narrative, including personnel, equipment, and capital improvements, align with the project as described (4 points)
All items in the budget narrative reflect the level of detail requested in the Section IV.B.2 (4 points)
A technical merit review panel will carefully evaluate applications against the selection criteria to determine the merit of applications. These criteria are based on the policy goals, priorities, and emphases set forth in this FOA. Up to 100 points may be awarded to an applicant, depending on the quality of the responses provided. The final scores (which may include the mathematical normalization of review panels) will serve as the primary basis for selection of applications for funding. The panel results are advisory in nature and not binding on the Grant Officer. The Grant Officer reserves the right to make selections based solely on the final scores or to take into consideration other relevant factors when applicable. Examples of such factors are listed below; however, the Grant Officer may consider any information that comes to his/her attention:
Geographic distribution of funds;
Distribution of funds based on the size of the applicant’s organization: We encourage applications from smaller entities, as well as from entities seeking smaller funding amounts. Higher-scoring applications seeking less funding may be considered during the grant selection process; and
Applications proposing to serve participants with substance use disorder: We encourage applicants to include within their applications, strategies to address the employment and training needs of individuals in their communities who are affected by substance use disorder and who seek reintegration into the workforce. Higher-scoring applications proposing projects identifying the intent to serve this population may be considered during the grant selection process.
The government may elect to award the grant(s) with or without discussion with the applicant. Should a grant be awarded without discussion, the award will be based on the applicant’s signature on the SF-424, including electronic signature via E-Authentication on https://www.grants.gov, which constitutes a binding offer by the applicant.
Prior to making an award, ETA will review information available through various sources, including its own records and any OMB-designated repository of government-wide eligibility qualification or financial integrity information, such as Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), Dun and Bradstreet, and “Do Not Pay.” Additionally, ETA will comply with the requirements of 2 CFR Part 180 codified at 2 CFR Part 2998 (Non-procurement Debarment and Suspension). This risk evaluation may incorporate results of the evaluation of the applicant’s eligibility (application screening) or the quality of its application (merit review). If ETA determines that an award will be made, special conditions that correspond to the degree of risk assessed may be applied to the award. Criteria to be evaluated include:
Financial stability;
Quality of management systems and ability to meet the management standards prescribed in the Uniform Grant Guidance;
History of performance. The applicant’s record in managing awards, cooperative agreements, or procurement awards, if it is a prior recipient of such federal awards, including timeliness of compliance with applicable reporting requirements and, if applicable, the extent to which any previously awarded amounts will be expended prior to future awards;
Reports and findings from audits performed under Subpart F – Audit Requirements of the Uniform Grant Guidance or the reports and findings of any other available audits and monitoring reports containing findings, issues of non-compliance, or questioned costs;
The applicant’s ability to effectively implement statutory, regulatory, and other requirements imposed on recipients.
NOTE: As part of the Employment and Training Administration’s Risk Review process, the Grant Officer will determine:
If the applicant had any restriction on spending for any ETA grant due to adverse monitoring findings; or
If the applicant received a High Risk determination in accordance with Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) 23-15.
Depending on the severity of the findings and whether the findings were resolved, the Grant Officer may, at their discretion, elect not to fund the applicant for a grant award regardless of the applicant’s score in the competition.
All applicants are requested to submit the following information as an attachment to their application (suggested template below) for ETA to assess the applicant’s Financial System. This information will be taken into account as one component of ETA’s Risk Review Process. Applicants may use the suggested template or answer the questions in a separate attachment. It is unlikely that an organization will be able to manage a federal grant without the following system/processes in place. Applicants are expected to have these in place before applying for a grant with ETA.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR -EMPLOYMENT AND
TRAINING ADMINISTRATION (ETA) |
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|
SECTION A: PURPOSE |
|
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The
financial responsibility of grantees must be such that the grantee
can properly discharge the public trust which accompanies the
authority to expend public funds. Adequate administrative and
financial systems including the accounting systems should meet the
following criteria as contained in 2 CFR 200 and 2 CFR 2900. |
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|
SECTION B: GENERAL |
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1. Complete the following items: |
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a. When was the organization founded/incorporated (month, day, year) |
b. Principal officers |
Titles |
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c. Employer Identification Number: |
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d.
Number of Employees |
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2.
Is the organization or institution affiliated with any other
organization: Yes No |
3.
Total Sales/Revenues in most recent accounting period. (12
months) |
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|
SECTION C: ACCOUNTING SYSTEM |
|
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1. Has any Government Agency rendered an official written opinion concerning the adequacy of the accounting system for the collection, identification, and allocation of costs under Federal contracts/grants? Yes No |
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a. If yes, provide name, and address of Agency performing review: |
b. Attach a copy of the latest review and any subsequent correspondence, clearance documents, etc. |
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Note: If review occurred within the past three years, omit questions 2-8 of this Section and Section D. |
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2. Which of the following best describes the accounting system: |
State administered |
Internally Developed |
|
|
Web-based |
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3. Does the accounting system identify the receipt and expenditure of program funds separately for each contract/grant? |
|
Yes |
No |
Not Sure |
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4. Does the accounting system provide for the recording of expenditures for each grant/contract by the component project and budget cost categories shown in the approved budget? |
|
Yes |
No |
Not Sure |
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5. Are time distribution records maintained for an employee when his/her effort can be specifically identified to a particular cost objective? |
|
Yes |
No |
Not Sure |
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6. If the organization proposes an overhead rate, does the accounting system provide for the segregation of direct and indirect expenses? |
|
Yes |
No |
Not Sure |
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7.
Does the organization have an approved indirect cost rate or cost
allocation plan? |
|
Yes |
No |
Not Sure |
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8.
Does the accounting/financial system include budgetary controls
to preclude incurring obligations in excess of: |
|
|
|
|
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9. Does the organization or institution have an internal control structure that would provide reasonable assurance that the grant funds, assets, and systems are safeguarded? |
|
Yes |
No |
Not Sure |
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|
|
|
SECTION D: FINANCIAL STABILITY |
|
||||||||||
1.
Is there any legal matter or an ongoing financial concern that
may impact the organization's ability to manage and administer the
grant? Yes No |
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|
SECTION E: FINANCIAL STATEMENTS |
|
||||||||||||
1. Did an independent certified public accountant (CPA) ever examine the financial statements? Yes No |
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2.
If an independent CPA review was performed please attach a copy
of their latest report and any management letters issued.
Enclosed N / A |
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3. If an independent CPA was engaged to perform a review and no report was issued, please provide details and an explanation below: |
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|
SECTION F: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION |
|
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1. Use this space for any additional information (indicate section and item numbers if a continuation) |
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All award notifications will be posted on the ETA Homepage at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/. Applicants selected for award will be contacted directly before the grant’s execution. Non-selected applicants will be notified by mail or email and may request a written debriefing on the significant weaknesses of their application.
Selection of an organization as a recipient does not constitute approval of the grant application as submitted. Before the actual grant is awarded, we may enter into negotiations about such items as program components, staffing and funding levels, and administrative systems in place to support grant implementation. If the negotiations do not result in a mutually acceptable submission, the Grant Officer reserves the right to terminate the negotiations and decline to fund the application. We reserve the right not to fund any application related to this FOA.
All grantees will be subject to all applicable federal laws and regulations, including the OMB Uniform Guidance, and the terms and conditions of the award. The grant(s) awarded under this FOA will be subject to the following administrative standards and provisions.
Non-Profit Organizations, Educational Institutions, For-profit entities, State Governments, Local Governments, and Indian Tribal Governments must comply with 2 CFR Part 200 (Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards) and 2 CFR 2900 (DOL’s Supplement to 2 CFR Part 200).
All recipients must comply with the applicable provisions of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Public Law No. 113-328, 128 Stat. 1425 (codified as amended at 29 U.S.C. 3101 et. seq.) and the applicable provisions of the regulations at 20 CFR 675 et. seq. Note that 20 CFR part 683 (Administrative Provisions) allows unsuccessful applicants to file administrative appeals.
All entities must comply with 29 CFR Part 93 (New Restrictions on Lobbying), 29 CFR Part 94 (Government-wide Requirements for Drug-Free Workplace (Financial Assistance)), 2 CFR Part 180 codified at 2 CFR Part 2998 (Government-wide Debarment and Suspension), and, where applicable, 2 CFR Part 200 (Audit Requirements).
29 CFR Part 2, subpart D—Equal Treatment in Department of Labor Programs for Religious Organizations; Protection of Religious Liberty of Department of Labor Social Service Providers and Beneficiaries.
29 CFR Part 31—Nondiscrimination in Federally Assisted Programs of the Department of Labor—Effectuation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
29 CFR Part 32—Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Handicap in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance.
29 CFR Part 35—Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Age in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance from the Department of Labor.
29 CFR Part 36—Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance.
29 CFR Part 38 – Implementation of the Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity Provisions of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
29 CFR Parts 29 and 30—Labor Standards for the Registration of Apprenticeship Programs, and Equal Employment Opportunity in Apprenticeship and Training, as applicable.
Department of Labor will follow the procedures outlined in the Department’s Freedom of Information ACT (FOIA) regulations (29 CFR Part 70). 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. See generally 5 U.S.C. § 552; 29 CFR Part 70.
Standard Grant Terms and Conditions of Award—see the following link: https://www.doleta.gov/grants/resources.cfmm.
Special Terms and Conditions of Award
The Department notes that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb, applies to all federal law and its implementation. If an applicant organization is a faith-based organization that makes hiring decisions on the basis of religious belief, it may be entitled to receive federal financial assistance under this grant solicitation and maintain that hiring practice. If a faith-based organization is awarded a grant, the organization will be provided with more information.
In accordance with Section 18 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-65) (2 U.S.C. § 1611), nonprofit entities incorporated under Internal Revenue Service Code section 501(c) (4) that engage in lobbying activities are not eligible to receive federal funds and grants. No activity, including awareness-raising and advocacy activities, may include fundraising for, or lobbying of, U.S. federal, state or local governments (see 2 CFR 200.450 for more information).
You must ensure that you have the necessary processes and systems in place to comply with the reporting requirements of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Pub. Law 109-282, as amended by section 6202 of Pub. Law 110-252, and the Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008), as follows.
Except for those excepted from the Transparency Act under sub-paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 below, you must ensure that you have the necessary processes and systems in place to comply with the subaward and executive total compensation reporting requirements of the Transparency Act, should they receive funding.
Upon award, you will receive detailed information on the reporting requirements of the Transparency Act, as described in 2 CFR Part 170, Appendix A, which can be found at https://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-22705.pdf.
The following types of awards are not subject to the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act.
Federal awards to individuals who apply for or receive federal awards as natural persons (e.g., unrelated to any business or nonprofit organization he or she may own or operate in his or her name);
Federal awards to entities that had a gross income, from all sources, of less than $300,000 in the entities' previous tax year; and
Federal awards, if the required reporting would disclose classified information.
Applicants submitting applications in response to this FOA must recognize that confidentiality of PII and other sensitive data is of paramount importance to the Department of Labor and must be observed except where disclosure is allowed by the prior written approval of the Grant Officer or by court order. By submitting an application, you are assuring that all data exchanges conducted through or during the course of performance of this grant will be conducted in a manner consistent with applicable federal law and TEGL NO.39-11 (issued June 28, 2012). All such activity conducted by ETA and/or recipient(s) will be performed in a manner consistent with applicable state and federal laws.
By submitting a grant application, you agree to take all necessary steps to protect such confidentiality by complying with the following provisions that are applicable in governing their handling of confidential information:
You must ensure that PII and sensitive data developed, obtained, or otherwise associated with DOL/ETA funded grants is securely transmitted.
To ensure that such PII is not transmitted to unauthorized users, all PII and other sensitive data transmitted via e-mail or stored on CDs, DVDs, thumb drives, etc., must be encrypted using a Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 compliant and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) validated cryptographic module. You must not e-mail unencrypted sensitive PII to any entity, including ETA or contractors.
You must take the steps necessary to ensure the privacy of all PII obtained from participants and/or other individuals and to protect such information from unauthorized disclosure. You must maintain such PII in accordance with the ETA standards for information security described in TEGL NO. 39-11 and any updates to such standards we provide to you. Grantees who wish to obtain more information on data security should contact their Federal Project Officer.
You must ensure that any PII used during the performance of your grant has been obtained in conformity with applicable federal and state laws governing the confidentiality of information.
You further acknowledge that all PII data obtained through your ETA grant must be stored in an area that is physically safe from access by unauthorized persons at all times and the data will be processed using recipient-issued equipment, managed information technology (IT) services, and designated locations approved by ETA. Accessing, processing, and storing of ETA grant PII data on personally owned equipment, at off-site locations, (e.g., employee’s home), and non-recipient managed IT services, (e.g., Yahoo mail), is strictly prohibited unless approved by ETA.
Your employees and other personnel who will have access to sensitive/confidential/proprietary/private data must be advised of the confidential nature of the information, the safeguards required to protect the information, and that there are civil and criminal sanctions for noncompliance with such safeguards that are contained in federal and state laws.
You must have policies and procedures in place under which your employees and other personnel, before being granted access to PII, acknowledge their understanding of the confidential nature of the data and the safeguards with which they must comply in their handling of such data, as well as the fact that they may be liable to civil and criminal sanctions for improper disclosure.
You must not extract information from data supplied by ETA for any purpose not stated in the grant agreement.
Access to any PII created by the ETA grant must be restricted to only those employees of the grant recipient who need it in their official capacity to perform duties in connection with the scope of work in the grant agreement.
All PII data must be processed in a manner that will protect the confidentiality of the records/documents and is designed to prevent unauthorized persons from retrieving such records by computer, remote terminal, or any other means. Data may be downloaded to, or maintained on, mobile or portable devices only if the data are encrypted using NIST validated software products based on FIPS 140-2 encryption. In addition, wage data may be accessed only from secure locations.
PII data obtained by the recipient through a request from ETA must not be disclosed to anyone but the individual requestor, except as permitted by the Grant Officer or by court order.
You must permit ETA to make onsite inspections during regular business hours for the purpose of conducting audits and/or conducting other investigations to assure that you are complying with the confidentiality requirements described above. In accordance with this responsibility, you must make records applicable to this Agreement available to authorized persons for the purpose of inspection, review, and/or audit.
You must retain data received from ETA only for the period of time required to use it for assessment and other purposes, or to satisfy applicable federal records retention requirements, if any. Thereafter, you agree that all data will be destroyed, including the degaussing of magnetic tape files and deletion of electronic data.
You must follow federal guidelines on record retention, which require that you maintain all records pertaining to grant activities for a period of at least three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report. See 2 CFR 200.333-.337 for more specific information, including information about the start of the record retention period for awards that are renewed quarterly or annually, and when the records must be retained for more than three years.
You must abide by the following definitions of contract, contractor, subaward, and subrecipient.
Contract: Contract means a legal instrument by which a non-federal entity (defined as a state or local government, Indian tribe, institution of higher education (IHE), nonprofit organization, for-profit entity, foreign public entity, or a foreign organization that carries out a federal award as a recipient or subrecipient) purchases property or services needed to carry out the project or program under a federal award. The term as used in this FOA does not include a legal instrument, even if the non-federal entity considers it a contract, when the substance of the transaction meets the definition of a federal award or subaward (see definition of Subaward below).
Contractor: Contractor means an entity that receives a contract as defined above in Contract.
Subaward: Subaward means an award provided by a pass-through entity (defined as a non-federal entity that provides a subaward to a subrecipient to carry out part of a federal program) to a subrecipient for the subrecipient to carry out part of a federal award received by the pass-through entity. It does not include payments to a contractor or payments to an individual that is a beneficiary of a federal program. A subaward may be provided through any form of legal agreement, including an agreement that the pass-through entity considers a contract.
Subrecipient: Subrecipient means a non-federal entity that receives a subaward from a pass-through entity to carry out part of a federal program; but does not include an individual that is a beneficiary of such program. A subrecipient may also be a recipient of other federal awards directly from a federal awarding agency.
You must follow the provisions at 2 CFR 200.330-.332 regarding subrecipient monitoring and management. Also see 2 CFR 200.308(c)(6) regarding prior approval requirements for subawards. When awarding subawards, you are required to comply with provisions on government-wide suspension and debarment found at 2 CFR Part 180 and codified at 2 CFR Part 2998.
Any entity that receives an award under this Announcement must close its grant with ETA at the end of the final year of the grant. Information about this process may be found in ETA’s Grant Closeout FAQ located at https://www.doleta.gov/grants/docs/GCFAQ.pdf.
Except as specifically provided in this FOA, our acceptance of an application and an award of federal funds to sponsor any programs(s) does not provide a waiver of any grant requirements and/or procedures. For example, the OMB Uniform Guidance requires that an entity’s procurement procedures ensure that all procurement transactions are conducted, as much as practical, to provide full and open competition. If an application identifies a specific entity to provide goods or services, the award does not provide the justification or basis to sole-source the procurement, i.e., avoid competition.
As a condition of grant award, grantees are required to participate in an evaluation, if undertaken by DOL. The evaluation may include an implementation assessment across grantees, an impact and/or outcomes analysis of all or selected sites within or across grantees, and a benefit/cost analysis or assessment of return on investment. Conducting an impact analysis could involve random assignment (which involves random assignment of eligible participants into a treatment group that would receive program services or enhanced program services, or into control group(s) that would receive no program services or program services that are not enhanced). We may require applicants to collect data elements to aid the evaluation. As a part of the evaluation, as a condition of award, grantees must agree to: (1) make records available to the evaluation contractor on participants, employers, and funding; (2) provide access to program operating personnel, participants, and operational and financial records, and any other relevant documents to calculate program costs and benefits; and (3) in the case of an impact analysis, facilitate the assignment by lottery of participants to program services (including the possible increased recruitment of potential participants); and (4) follow evaluation procedures as specified by the evaluation contractor under the direction of DOL.
Please note that applicants will be held to outcomes provided, and failure to meet those outcomes may result in technical assistance or other intervention by ETA, and may also have a significant impact on decisions about future grants with ETA.
Applicants must indicate in their application the performance measures they will collect and share as part of their proposed project. Performance elements may consist of metrics or data that the organization already collects with respect to participants and/or grant projects. The application must also demonstrate how these measures are reflective of the overall goals for the project and for the regional strategy. Section IV.B.3.B. requires that awarded grantees provide information to state workforce agencies to register certain participants in the Wagner-Peyer Employment Service program, which allows the Department to collect employment outcomes data with minimal reporting burden by the grantees.
Grantees will be expected to produce a final report no more than 45 days after the end of the project period of performance. Semi-annual reports will be due to ARC and DRA through the end of the project period of performance. The final and semi-annual reports should address all outcomes (including those associated with the performance of the grant such as participants receiving services, participants employed, and other measures that the grantee committed to providing) and outputs from the project. These reports should also include descriptions of any learnings (positive or negative), any impacts on partnerships or leveraged activities, describe how the project activities will be sustained, and other information that demonstrates the value to the community from the project.
Reporting instructions will be provided in the Grant Agreement.
For further information about this FOA, please contact Jenifer McEnery, Grants Management Specialist, Office of Grants Management, at (202) 693-2815. Applicants should e-mail all technical questions to [email protected] and must specifically reference FOA-ETA-20-04, and along with question(s), include a contact name, fax and phone number. This Announcement is available on the ETA Web site at https://www.doleta.gov/grants and at https://www.grants.gov.
DOL maintains a number of web-based resources that may be of assistance to applicants. These include the CareerOneStop portal (https://www.careeronestop.org), which provides national and state career information on occupations; the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) Online (https://online.onetcenter.org), which provides occupational competency profiles; and America's Service Locator (https://www.servicelocator.org), which provides a directory of our nation's American Job Centers (formerly known as One-Stop Career Centers).
ETA supports an Industry Competency Model Initiative to promote an understanding of the skill sets and competencies that are essential to an educated and skilled workforce. A competency model is a collection of competencies that, taken together, define successful performance in a particular work setting. Competency models serve as a starting point for the design and implementation of workforce and talent development programs. To learn about the industry-validated models, visit the Competency Model Clearinghouse (CMC) at https://www.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel. The CMC site also provides tools to build or customize industry models, as well as tools to build career ladders and career lattices for specific regional economies.
We encourage you to view the information on workforce resources gathered through consultations with federal agency partners, industry stakeholders, educators, and local practitioners, and made available on WorkforceGPS at: https://workforcegps.org.
We encourage you to view the online tutorial, “Grant Applications 101: A Plain English Guide to ETA Competitive Grants,” available through WorkforceGPS at https://strategies.workforcegps.org/resources/2014/08/11/16/32/applying-for-eta-competitive-grants-a-web-based-toolkit-for-prospective-applicants-438?p=1.
We created Workforce System Strategies to make it easier for the public workforce system and its partners to identify effective strategies and support improved customer outcomes. The collection highlights strategies informed by a wide range of evidence, such as experimental studies and implementation evaluations, as well as supporting resources, such as toolkits. We encourage you to review these resources by visiting https://strategies.workforcegps.org.
We created a technical assistance portal at https://www.workforcegps.org/resources/browse?id=b8dd0aa1ecfb4b2282d6cd30c7248790 that contains online training and resources for fiscal and administrative issues. Online trainings available include, but are not limited to, Introduction to Grant Applications and Forms, Indirect Costs, Cost Principles, and Accrual Accounting.
SkillsCommons (https://www.skillscommons.org) offers an online library of curriculum and related training resources to obtain industry-recognized credentials in manufacturing, IT, healthcare, energy, and other industries. The website contains thousands of Open Educational Resources (OER) for job-driven workforce development, which were produced by grantees funded through DOL’s Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program. Community colleges and other training providers across the nation can reuse, revise, redistribute, and reorganize the OER on SkillsCommons for institutional, industry, and individual use.
OMB Information Collection No 1225-0086, Expires July 31, 2022.
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. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 20 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 about the burden estimated or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the U.S. Department of Labor, to the attention of the Departmental Clearance Officer, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room N1301, Washington, D.C. 20210. Comments may also be emailed to: [email protected].
PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR GRANT APPLICATION TO THIS ADDRESS. SEND ONLY COMMENTS ABOUT THE BURDEN CAUSED BY THE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION TO THIS ADDRESS. SEND YOUR GRANT APPLICATION TO THE SPONSORING AGENCY AS SPECIFIED EARLIER IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.
This information is being collected for the purpose of awarding a grant. DOL will use the information collected through this “Funding Opportunity Announcement” to ensure that grants are awarded to the applicants best suited to perform the functions of the grant. This information is required to be considered for this grant.
Signed ______________, 2020, in Washington, D.C. by:
Lynn Fraga
Grant Officer, Employment and Training Administration
ATTACHMENT A
U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration
PROPOSAL SUMMARY
Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC)
INSTRUCTIONS |
Applicants may submit the Proposal Summary in lieu of the requested attachments referenced in Section IV.B.4 of the FOA.
To meet all of the FOA requirements by submitting the Proposal Summary, applicants must:
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WORC GOALS AND OBJECTIVES |
Goal: To create economic prosperity and gainful employment opportunities for eligible residents in impacted ARC and DRA regions, enabling them to remain and thrive in these communities.
To achieve this goal, successful applications will propose projects that meet the following objectives:
Objective 1: Implement innovative, sustainable service delivery strategies to address economic and workforce-related impacts within each of the regions;
Objective 2: Provide or facilitate the provision of new or enhanced training and support activities to the following eligible participants: dislocated workers (including displaced homemakers), new entrants in the workforce, incumbent workers, (including eligible individuals within those cohorts that may be affected by substance use disorder [e.g., opioids, stimulants, cocaine, and other substances]) who reside in ARC and DRA regions;
Objective 3: Align and integrate workforce development activities with existing state, regional, or community economic development strategies;
Objective 4: Develop and expand partnerships that build and sustain capacity, maximize available resources, and establish community-based approaches for addressing workforce challenges and industry needs in the ARC and DRA regions; and
Objective 5: Provide or facilitate delivery of support services to assist employers and industry in meeting workforce challenges and industry needs in the ARC and DRA regions.
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GENERAL INFORMATION |
Applicant Name: |
Applicant Eligibility Type: *Refer to Section III.A to identify the type of organization that applies. E.g. State Government |
Project Title: |
Service Area Description: *Briefly describe area to be served.
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Designated Region: ☐ARC or ☐DRA *You must also submit the Applicant Designation as a separate attachment indicating designation of ARC/DRA Region and including maps. |
Target Counties & Opportunity Zones/Census Tracts:
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Amount of Funding Requested: $ |
Total Cost Per Participant: $ |
Are you proposing individuals impacted by substance abuse disorder? ☐Yes or ☐No |
Total Projected Participant # Obtaining New or Enhancing Current Jobs: |
Type of Participants: ☐Dislocated Workers ☐Incumbent Workers ☐New Workforce Entrants |
PROJECT SUMMARY
Word Limitation: Do not exceed 250 words for this section. |
Briefly summarize the proposed project including how the planned activities will achieve WORC’s purpose, goal, objectives (FOA, Section I.A) and project results. If applicable, identify how the project will support and/or serve eligible individuals with substance use disorder.
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SECTION 1: STATEMENT OF NEED AND STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT This section of the application describes the applicant’s proposed service area including the community needs relevant to the proposed project, the corresponding workforce needs, and the individuals the project will serve. The information provided in this section will inform the subsequent sections; therefore, include only information that is relevant to the proposed project and that will be consistently reflected and addressed throughout the remaining sections of the Proposal Summary.
The Statement of Need must clearly describe the need for assistance, the nature and scope of challenges to overcome, and the consequences of not addressing the need. The Statement of Need must describe and demonstrate the proposed service area’s skills gap and documented employer needs.
Applicants are not required to submit actual documentation to demonstrate the information provided above, but must provide sufficient details and citations to attribute the information to a verifiable source.
Total: 18 points FOA, Section IV.B.3 |
1a: COMMUNITY(IES) AND NEED(S) 5 points *3 points for Community Needs *2 points for Opportunity Zones listed in Table 1a-c.
Scoring is based on the extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements and demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the area(s) served by the project. At least one census tract in the proposed service delivery area must be a qualified Opportunity Zone as designated by the Secretary of Treasury and the Tract No. listed in Table 1a-c: Community and Workforce Needs. Word Limitation: Do not exceed 500 words for this section. |
Why is the proposed project needed? Identify and describe the project’s proposed service area(s) and the existing community needs. Explain why these communities were chosen for the proposed project and demonstrate the need for assistance. Details should include significant events or traits relevant to addressing community needs such as culture, recent disasters, mass layoffs, and high substance abuse.
Applications must, at a minimum, provide the following:
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What is the nature and scope of the challenges faced as a result of the identified need(s)?
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What will happen if the need(s) is not addressed?
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1b: WORKFORCE NEED(S) 5 points Scoring is based on the extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements and demonstrates that the workforce need(s) addressed by the proposed project exist. The documented workforce need(s) described in this section must be specific, clearly described, directly linked to local employers/industry. The workforce needs described in this section must be consistently reflected and addressed throughout the remaining Sections of the Proposal Summary. Word Limitation: Do not exceed 500 words for this section. |
What are the specific workforce needs of regional/local employers?
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What is the nature and scope of the challenges faced as a result of the identified need(s)?
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What will happen if the need(s) is not addressed?
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1c: TARGET POPULATION(S) 4 points Scoring is based on the extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements and demonstrates understanding of the target population(s) that the project proposes to serve. Word Limitation: Do not exceed 250 words for this section. |
Who will this project serve? Describe the target population(s) the project will serve.
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How will you recruit and enroll the target populations described? Describe the proposed project’s recruitment strategy, including specialized approaches, for identifying and enrolling their target population.
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TABLE 1a-c: COMMUNITY AND WORKFORCE NEEDS Table 1a-c helps summarize and align project detail required in this Section. Please provide concise responses to complete the Table. Examples Given (e.g.) demonstrate the type and extent of information expected. Additional rows may be added if needed.
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Counties/Community |
Opportunity Census Tract No. and Type |
Community Need(s)
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Workforce Need(s)
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Target Population
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e.g. Maricopa County |
No. 040133113203 Type: Low-Income |
1. Basic education for workers to fill in-demand lower-level occupations with minimum requirement of a high school |
1. Basic education for workers to fill in-demand lower-level occupations with minimum requirement of a high school |
Youth (18-24) Lacking High School Diploma |
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1d: STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT 4 points Scoring is based on the extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements and demonstrates that the proposed project strategically aligns with service area strategic plans and the WORC goals and objectives. To receive full points, the project must at a minimum demonstrate alignment with: 1) a local or regional strategic plan; 2) ARC/DRA Federal plan; 3) ARC/DRA State plan; and 4) WIOA State plan. Additionally, the project must clearly reference and cite relevant strategies found in each plan. |
TABLE 1.d.i: LOCAL OR REGIONAL STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT For the purposes of this competition, DOL will accept the inclusion of any plan published or produced by a state, local or regional commission, as well as a plan from a local or regional coalition or organization that establishes appropriate economic/employment goals and strategies for a subregion of a state. As some more rural areas of the Appalachian or the Delta regions may not have regional economic development coalitions or commissions, or highly detailed plans drafted by government entities to foster development in those areas, DOL will accept alternative documentation.
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How does addressing the stated needs align with local, regional, or other relevant strategic plan? Identify one local strategic plan for the proposed service area and include relevant strategic goals or action items that align with the corresponding workforce need(s) in the next column. Describe and cite the relevant portion(s) of the identified plans. |
Workforce Need(s): What workforce need (Section 1, Table 1a-c) aligns with the strategic plan? |
Proposed Project Activities: How will the proposed project activities (Section 2, Table 2a) address, support, or further the strategic plan to address the identified community need? |
WORC Objective: Which WORC objective(s) does the proposed project activity support? |
e.g. Kent County Chamber of Commerce Strategic Plan (2018), p.230, Goal 1: recruit employees to fill lower-level home healthcare openings that lead to higher-level healthcare occupations |
e.g. Basic education for workers to fill in-demand lower-level occupations with minimum requirement of a high school |
Apprenticeship Program in lower-level in-demand occupations w/ progressive GED, Certification, and Degree education options leading to higher-level occupations in healthcare, hospitality, and construction |
Objectives 1, 2, 3, & 4 |
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TABLE 1.d.ii: ARC/DRA FEDERAL PLAN STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT |
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How does the addressing the stated needs align with ARC/DRA Federal Plan? Identify relevant strategic goals or action items that align with the corresponding workforce need. Describe and cite the relevant portion(s) of the ARC/DRA Federal plan. |
Workforce Need(s): What workforce need (Section 1, Table 1a-c) aligns with the ARC/DRA Federal strategic plan? |
Proposed Project Activities: How will the proposed project activities (Section 2, Table 2a) address, support, or further the strategic plan to address the identified community need? |
WORC Objective: Which WORC objective(s) does the proposed project activity support? |
ARC Federal Plan, p.20, Goal 2, Increase the education, knowledge, skills, and health of residents to work and succeed in Appalachia. |
Basic education for workers to fill in-demand lower-level occupations with minimum requirement of a high school |
Apprenticeship Program in lower-level in-demand occupations w/ progressive GED, Certification, and Degree education options leading to higher-level occupations in healthcare, hospitality, and construction |
Objectives 1, 2, 3, & 4 |
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TABLE 1.d.iii: ARC/DRA STATE PLAN STRATEGIC ALIGMENT |
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How does the addressing the stated needs align with ARC/DRA State plan? Identify relevant strategic goals or action items that align with the corresponding workforce need. Describe and cite the relevant portion(s) of the ARC/DRA State plan. |
Workforce Need(s): What workforce need (Section 1, Table 1a-c) aligns with the strategic plan? |
Proposed Project Activities: How will the proposed project activities (Section 2, Table 2a) address, support, or further the strategic plan to address the identified community need? |
WORC Objective: Which WORC objective does the proposed project activity achieve? |
ARC State Plan, p. 12, Goal 3, Increase the education, knowledge, skills, and health of residents to work and succeed in Appalachia. |
Basic education for workers to fill in-demand lower-level occupations with minimum requirement of a high school |
Apprenticeship Program in lower-level in-demand occupations w/ progressive GED, Certification, and Degree education options leading to higher-level occupations in healthcare, hospitality, and construction |
Objectives 1, 2, 3, & 4 |
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TABLE 1.d.iv: WIOA STATE PLAN STRATEGIC ALIGMENT |
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How does the addressing the stated needs align with WIOA State plan? Identify relevant strategic elements that align with the corresponding workforce need. Describe and cite the relevant portion(s) of the WIOA State plan. |
Workforce Need(s): What workforce need (Section 1, Table 1a-c) aligns with the strategic plan? |
Proposed Project Activities: How will the proposed project activities (Section 2, Table 2a) address, support, or further the strategic plan to address the identified community need? |
WORC Objective: Which WORC objective does the proposed project activity achieve? |
WIOA State Plan, p. 5, Create a pipeline of trained professionals to replace retiring health care workers. |
Basic education for workers to fill in-demand lower-level health occupations with minimum requirement of a high school |
Apprenticeship Program in lower-level in-demand occupations w/ progressive GED, Certification, and Degree education options leading to higher-level occupations in healthcare |
Objectives 1, 2, 3, & 4 |
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SECTION 2: PROJECT DESCRIPTION This section of the application covers an applicant’s description of how the design of the proposed project addresses the need(s) identified, along with how it facilitates the goal of the WORC Initiative to create economic prosperity and gainful employment opportunities for eligible residents in impacted ARC and DRA regions so that they may remain and thrive in these communities. This section must also define the partnership(s) that will ensure success of the efforts.
Total: 30 points FOA, Section IV.B.3 |
2a: PROJECT DESIGN 20 points Scoring is based on the extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements and demonstrates a timely, coherent, and feasible approach for successfully addressing the identified needs of the community, employers, job seekers, and workers; the extent to which the application clearly describes specific, measurable, and realistic anticipated results; and the extent to which the application addresses challenges and barriers that may impact the project’s success in achieving results. Word Limitation: Do not exceed 750 words for this section. |
Describe how the proposed project addresses the identified community workforce needs and WORC Initiative goal and objectives. Be sure the project activities identified in Strategic Alignment, Project Timeline, and Project Results Tables are addressed.
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TABLE 2a: PROJECT TIMELINE List the project activities, milestones, and timeline. Applicants may also provide a more detailed project timeline as an attachment (FOA, Section IV.B.4) in addition to completing TABLE 2a. |
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Project Activities *These activities must reflect project activities listed in Section 1, Tables 1di-iv and described above. |
Milestones |
QTR 1 |
QTR 2 |
QTR 3 |
QTR 4 |
QTR 5 |
QTR 6 |
QTR 7 |
QTR 8 |
Apprenticeship Program in lower-level in-demand occupations w/ progressive GED, Certification, and Degree education options leading to higher-level occupations in healthcare, hospitality, and construction |
1. Develop new curricula for a progressive GED-Degree Apprenticeship Program
2. Recruitment
3. Enrollment & Training (cohort 1)
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2b: PROJECT PARTNERS Total: 10 points Scoring is based on the extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements and demonstrates strong community partnerships exemplified by clear roles and responsibilities, and shared resources to achieve project results and address workforce needs. Applications must include two employers in the service area. |
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Employer/Industry Partners and Other Community Partners Applicants are strongly encouraged to partner and fill key roles in the project with multiple regional employers and industries. Employer or industry partnerships increase the likelihood of establishing work-based learning programs and ensure that training and workforce development efforts are relevant to and evolve along with the needs of the employer community. Applicants must submit at least two letters of engagement from employer/industry partners describing a specific workforce need, as described in the FOA. |
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Name of Employer/Industry/ Community Partners & Location/Community
Partners are defined as key stakeholders contributing to the planning and implementation of the proposed project.
Who are the project partners? |
Committed/Aligned Resources
What resources does the partner plan to contribute that are relevant and necessary for project implementation?
Committed resources may be considered leveraged resources if accounted for in the budget narrative. This is not required.
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Role in Carrying Out Project Activities
What is the role of the partner in the project and how will efforts be coordinated? |
Workforce Needs.
For employer/industry partners, how will the proposed project activities address the partner’s workforce needs? Identify the specific workforce needs.
For community partners, how will the proposed project activities address the workforce needs in their community? Identify the community workforce needs addressed. |
Project Sustainability
How will the proposed partnership support the project impacts after the grant period? |
e.g. Regional Association of Truck Drivers (RATD), Kent County |
RATD will provide expertise, equipment, facilities, and apprenticeship sites for eligible participants. |
RATD will lead development of GED Apprenticeship program for Truck Drivers and identify employers to participate, help place eligible participants in training/employment programs, and engage other industry partners. |
Skilled workforce to fill open and growing in-demand truck driving positions. |
Once the apprenticeship program and partner employer sites established, the project will not require additional funds. Required certifications will be paid for by RATD for qualified apprentices. |
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3: EXPECTED PROJECT RESULTS AND SUSTAINABILITY This section of the application covers an applicant’s description of the proposed project’s anticipated results, possible challenges that may impact achieving those results, and sustainability beyond the grant period of performance. Total Points: 30 FOA, Section IV.B.3 |
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Workforce Needs *corresponding with the needs listed in Table 1a-c |
3a. PROJECT RESULTS Scoring is based on the extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements and demonstrates proposed project results that are specific, measurable, achievable, and reasonable according to the project design and timeline. To receive full points, the project results must clearly reflect the needs, activities, and challenges previously included in Sections 1 and 2. |
3b. PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY
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Outputs 6 points
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Outcomes 16 points
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Long-term Benefits and Economic Impacts *8 points (continued on next page) |
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Project Activities *corresponding with the activities listed in Table 2a: Project Timeline |
Participants Served *corresponding with the Project Activities |
Short-term Results *corresponding with the identified outputs *achieved during the grant lifecycle |
Medium-term Results *corresponding with the short-term results. * achieved by the grant end date |
Long-term Benefits *occur after the grant period ends |
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Workforce lacks basic education. |
1 GED apprenticeship program developed |
100 GED workers/trainees served |
100 workers/trainees needing basic education obtain GED. |
75 workers/trainees improved skills and basic education knowledge, as measured by the number of workers/trainees obtaining GEDs and completing apprenticeships. |
Increased revenue (taxes) generated by counties/towns as a result of job creation and/or employment obtained by better trained workers/trainees.
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3b: Project Sustainability (5-year Plan) *8 points (See 3b: Project Sustainability on previous page) Scoring is based on the extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements and demonstrates a reasonable outlook for the project past the conclusion of the period of performance. Word Limitation: Do not exceed 250 words for this section. |
Briefly explain the plan to sustain the work of the project after grant funding ends.
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4: Organizational, Administrative, and Fiscal Capacity This section of the application covers an applicant’s description of their capacity to carry out the proposed project. Total: 10 points FOA, Section IV.B.3 |
4a: Organizational and Fiscal Capacity 5 points
Scoring is based on the extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements and demonstrates it has the capacity to carry out this proposed project and has the necessary resources and fiscal controls to effectively track expenditures and outcomes. The Applicant must provide as an attachment one of the following:
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4b: Administrative Capacity 5 points
Scoring is based on the extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements and demonstrates through key staff experience or job descriptions that they have relevant organizational experience and/or has staff with experience and/or training to manage federal and other grants of this type. The information must reflect positions listed in the budget and budget narrative and described in the project narrative.
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Key Staff or Job Opening
List by name or indicate whether the position is “Open”. |
Job Title
Provide job title consistent with what is listed in the budget narrative. |
Experience/Job Description
Briefly describe the existing or required experience for the position and the main responsibilities of the job. |
Federal Grant Experience
This is for existing or required experience for the position. Indicate “Yes” or “No” and include a brief description.
e.g. Yes, 5+ years managing federal grants of $100,000+ |
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5: Budget and Budget Narrative This section of the application includes the budget and budget narrative which are attachments. Scoring is based upon the extent to which the application meets the FOA requirements outlined in Section IV.B.2 and demonstrate that the items included in the budgets align and are consistent with the project narrative. Total: 12 points FOA, Section IV.B.2 |
1 Opportunity Zones are economically distressed communities designated under the authority of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Public Law 115-97, enacted December 22, 2017). There are over 8,700 of these highest poverty areas across the country. Designated Opportunity Zones can be found at: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-18-48.pdf.
2 “Illegal use of drugs” means the use of a drug that is unlawful to possess or distribute under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.). “Illegal use of drugs” does not include the use of a drug taken under supervision by a licensed health care professional or other uses authorized by the Controlled Substances Act or other provisions of federal law.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Ryan, Jeff - ETA |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-14 |