National Providers of Training and Technical Assistance

End Date: 7/2/2009
CFDA # 94.007

This is a Notice for the selection of organizations to provide training and technical assistance on behalf of the Corporation to programs receiving assistance under the national service laws and to entities that desire to carry out or establish national service programs, or to apply for assistance under national service laws. This is not a notice for program grant proposals.

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The Corporation for National and Community Service (the Corporation) announces the availability of approximately $8 million for the first year of potential three-year cooperative agreements to fund organizations to provide training and technical assistance (TTA) to build the capacity of local programs and organizations that use service and volunteering to meet community needs. Funding for years two through three of each agreement is contingent upon the availability of funds and the recipient’s demonstrated results and satisfactory progress towards agreed-upon objectives.

This assistance will be awarded and administered under the Uniform Administrative Requirements and OMB’s Cost Principles applicable to the entity that receives the award.

Eligibility:

State and local government entities, non-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, Indian tribes, and commercial entities are eligible to apply.

Submission Dates and Times:

The deadline for applications is 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on July 2, 2009. Applications must be submitted using eGrants, the Corporation’s integrated, secure, web-based system for grant application and management. To create and submit an application, access eGrants at http://www.nationalservice.gov/egrants.

Applications submitted by hard copy, email, or fax will not be accepted. This Notice does not contain all application instructions. Please access the Application Instructions for complete instructions and guidelines on this funding opportunity.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Submission Requirements

1. What is the deadline for applications?
   The deadline for submission of applications in eGrants is Thursday, July 2, 2009, 5:00 PM Eastern Time. Applications received after this deadline will not be reviewed.
2. My organization did not submit a letter of intent. Can we still apply for this grant?
   Yes.
3. Can we apply in more than one category?
   Yes, as stated in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), you can submit applications in more than one category. A separate application with appropriate budget for that category only must be prepared and submitted for each category for which you are applying. Each category of applications will be read by different sets of reviewers.
4. I have read about the new Serve America Act. I run a program that uses volunteers to provide services such as helping low-income people access health benefits. I want to recruit, train and place more volunteers in more communities across the state and country. Is this competition for me?
   No. This competition does not provide funds to organizations to run or expand their volunteer programs. This competition is for organizations that will work with the Corporation to provide training for the Corporation’s grantees, sub-grantees, volunteers and Members in the content areas described on pages 4-8 in the NOFO. This NOFO is how the Corporation identifies the organizations that will design and deliver its training.
   
   Organizations seeking funding for their own volunteer programs or projects should visit “New Funding Opportunities” under “For Organizations” on the Corporation’s Web site at http://www.nationalservice.gov/for_organizations/funding/index.asp
5. I own a small company that trains non-profit organizations in my city. Am I eligible? Should I apply?
   Please review the eligibility requirements for this competition which are in section III of the NOFO on pages 9-10. If you meet the requirements for eligibility, review the training and technical assistance requirements and expectations described in the NOFO, particularly those for program design and organizational capacity as well as the award selection criteria. This information should help you decide whether this funding opportunity is for you.

eGrants

6. Whom do we contact if we have trouble submitting our application in eGrants?
   If you are prevented from completing and submitting your application by the deadline because the Corporation’s eGrants system is unavailable or you have technical issues within the Corporation’s eGrants system due to the eGrants system (not with your own or your organization’s systems), you must contact the eGrants Help Desk at 888-677-7849 before the application deadline to explain your technical issue and receive an eGrants ticket number.
   
   The eGrants Help Desk is staffed Monday – Friday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Eastern Time. We strongly encourage you to begin the process of posting your application in eGrants well in advance of the deadline to avoid last minute problems. The closer it is to the deadline, the longer the waiting time for assistance may be.
7. What should we take into account when applying through eGrants?
   Here are some tips for you:
   1. Prepare and save the content of your application as a word processing document before entering it into eGrants.
   2. Use uppercase letters only for section headings and other information you would like to highlight in your narrative. Do not use bold face, bullets, underlining, italics or other special formatting in your application as eGrants will distort them.
      Charts, diagrams, resumes and tables will also become distorted and difficult or impossible to read.
   3. Remember to follow the character limits. We use character limits rather than page limits because of the structure of eGrants. Characters include letters, punctuation, and spaces in the document. Your word processing software can provide a character count.
8. Does the character-limit in eGrants include spaces?
   Yes.
9. Is there a way for us to put an organizational chart or other diagram into eGrants?
   No. See above.

Eligibility

10. Are individuals eligible to apply?
    As stated in the NOFO, individuals are NOT eligible to apply for this funding opportunity.
11. Can for-profit companies apply?
    Commercial entities (i.e., for-profit organizations) are eligible; however the Corporation does not allow a for-profit fee as part of a budget submission. The Corporation’s award can only fund and reimburse actual costs.
12. Can two organizations apply as partners?
    Yes, however, one organization will need to submit the application and the other(s) will need to be the applicant’s contractor(s).

Application Questions

13. We missed the TA call on June 9, 2009. Is there a recording of the call?
    A recording of the technical assistance call is available by dialing 1-800-294-0342. You do not need a pass code. The replay will be available throughout the application period.
14. How do we reconcile differences, if any, between the Application Instructions and the NOFO?
    If there are any inconsistencies between the Application Instructions and the Notice of Funding Opportunity the Notice of Funding Opportunity takes precedence.
15. The Application Instructions call for demonstration of staff and consultant expertise. What form should that take?
    Due to character limitations in eGrants, we suggest using a concise, narrative form.
16. The Special Instructions section in the Notice states that the section is “not required”. However, a Special Instructions section exists in the eGrants application and has a limit of 6,000 characters. Can we use that space for something else?
    The Special Instructions section of eGrants is not used for this funding opportunity. Applicants should either enter “not applicable” in this field or leave the field blank. Any text put into this field will not be reviewed.
17. Will this be a three-year or a five-year grant?
    Please disregard any references to a five-year award found in the Application Instructions. As stated on page 8 of the NOFO under Award Information, “successful applicants will receive a three-year award with funding under this notice for the first year of the award. While the Corporation has no obligation to provide funds beyond the initial one-year performance period and award amount, additional funding may be made available pending satisfactory performance and availability of appropriations for subsequent years of the award…”

Budget Clarification

18. What budget information is required in this application?
    As stated in the NOFO, applicants must submit a budget and work plan for year one only. No budget information or work plan is required for additional years at this time.
19. What is the percentage of administrative overhead allowed in the budget?
    Under this NOFO, the Corporation allows indirect costs to be charged in accordance with an established indirect cost rate. Applicants should provide a detailed budget with breakouts of direct and indirect costs. In addition, if you have a federally negotiated indirect cost rate from other federal grants, you must use that indirect cost rate and provide information about the agency that approved the rate. This funding opportunity is competitive and our selections will be based on the most effective use of our dollars.
20. What are the match requirements for each of the five categories?
    Effective Practices in Disability and Inclusion (category 4) is the only category with a match requirement. The match requirement for category 4 is 25% of project costs.
21. Why does category 4 have a match requirement?
    This match is mandated by statute. Awards to be made under category 4 are authorized under Sec. 129(d)(5)(C) of the National and Community Service Act of 1990, as amended (42 U.S.C. 12581(d)(5)(C)). Under that authority, the grants are available to pay for the “Federal share described in section 121(e)” of the disability inclusion program. Under section 121(e), the federal share cannot exceed 75%. That corresponds to a 25% match requirement under this NOFO award.
22. Is this a cost-reimbursable funding program?
    Yes.
23. Will the Corporation pay for my organization to expand or set up a Web site to deliver the training and technical assistance we are proposing in our application?
    If you are applying for category 1 (Technology/Knowledge Management) the Corporation will fund Web site development and maintenance. The Corporation does not expect to fund Web site development and maintenance for providers in categories 2-5 of this Notice.

Category-Specific Questions

24. Can we apply to serve a particular program (e.g., AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, VISTA, Senior Corps) or do we need to address all three programs?
    Please see the category descriptions in the NOFO for information on the specific audience(s) for each category.
25. Category 1 – Technology/Knowledge Management including Specialized Service-learning Services. Will this be one award or two?
    As mentioned in the NOFO, the Corporation intends to make one award in this category.
26. Category 2 – Training Support. What should we budget for this?
    Applicants should create a budget that demonstrates how they would plan and execute various kinds of training events and meetings for a wide range and varied sizes of national service audiences.
27. Category 3 – Training and Technical Assistance for AmeriCorps State and National Programs. The NOFO suggests face-to-face meetings, but there is no mention of the number of meetings and where these meetings will take place. How should we budget for these?
    Your proposal should propose the number of trainings and suggest possible training topics. These face-to-face meetings will be held for Corporation grantees that operate throughout the United States, territories and Indian Nations. While exact locations may not be known at this point, a rationale for suggested locations of the trainings may be presented. Participant travel, lodging and per diem will be covered by the Corporation. The provider will be expected to cover all other costs associated with training activities events.
28. What are the desired outcomes and performance measures for each category?
    The Corporation is interested in a return on investment of its training dollars. The description of each category in the NOFO includes the Corporation’s business goals relative to that category. Applicants are asked to suggest learning outcomes towards those goals and how they will be met and measured.
    
    As stated in the NOFO on page 8 (section B), “For purposes of this proposal, the Corporation is interested in a brief discussion of any methodology the applicant has used or is using to measure return on investment of any learning strategies particularly for web-based or distance learning strategies.” Specific performance measures will be negotiated with providers at the time of the cooperative agreement award.

Web-based and Online Resources

29. Do we need to create a new set of courses for the Resource Center?
    New eCourses may be developed using the existing learning management system (LMS) available through the Resource Center. However, given the limited funds available, we are anticipating updating or modifying eCourses that have already been created, rather than creating new courses.
30. Can we propose other technologies for the Resource Center site?
    Yes.

Other

31. Where can we find a list of current CNCS Providers?
    A list of current providers (also referred to as “pros” or “experts”) can be found in the provider matrix on the Resource Center at http://nationalserviceresources.org/consult#matrix
32. How do we learn more about the Corporation’s programs?
    Please refer to our Web site at www.nationalservice.gov and www.nationalservice.gov/resources for information about national service programs, training resources and initiatives.

Technical Assistance Information:

A replay of the technical assistance call hosted by the Corporation on June 9, 2009, is available by dialing 1-800-294-0342.   The replay is available through July 13, 2009.

NOFO Hotlines

Questions about the NOFO can be directed to TTANOFO@cns.gov or 202-606-7515.