Issuance of Final Policy Directive, 1437-1440 [2011-285]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
• Administration for Children and Families
• Children and Families Administration

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 6 (Monday, January 10, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1437-1440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-285]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Issuance of Final Policy Directive

AGENCY: Administration for Native Americans, ACF, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Native Americans (ANA) is issuing final 
interpretive rules, general statements of policy and rules of agency 
organization, procedure, or practice relating to the following Funding 
Opportunity Announcements (FOAs): Social and Economic Development 
Strategies (SEDS), Social and Economic Development Strategies--Tribal 
Governance (SEDS--TG), Social and Economic Development Strategies--
Assets for Independence (SEDS--AFI), Native Language Preservation and 
Maintenance (Language P&M), Native Language Preservation and 
Maintenance--Esther Martinez Initiative (Language--EMI), and 
Environmental Regulatory Enhancement (ERE). This notice also provides 
information about how ANA will administer these programs.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kathy Killian, Program Specialist, 
(877) 922-9262.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 814 of the Native American Programs 
Act of 1974 (NAPA), as amended, requires ANA to provide members of the 
public an opportunity to comment on proposed changes in interpretive 
rules, general statements of policy and rules of agency organization, 
procedure, or practice and to give notice of the final adoption of such 
changes at least 30 days before the changes become effective.
    ANA published a Notice of Public Comment (NOPC) in the Federal 
Register (75 FR 74056) on November 30, 2010, with proposed policy and 
program clarifications, modifications, and activities for the fiscal 
year (FY) 2011 FOAs. The public comment period was open for 30 days. 
ANA did not receive any public comments on the NOPC, and this notice 
shall suffice as ANA's final policy.

A. Funding Opportunity Announcements

1. Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS)

    In FY 2011, ANA will combine the SEDS and SEDS--Special Initiative 
(SEDS--SI) FOAs from FY 2010 into one SEDS FOA. The SEDS FOA will 
include all program areas of interest from the previous FOAs which 
address Social Development, Economic Development, and Strengthening 
Families. Governance projects will be addressed in a separate FOA (see 
SEDS--TG, below). The SEDS FOA will include two funding ranges with the 
higher funding amount being the disqualification factor for 
applications (see Section C of this Notice for more information on 
funding ranges). Furthermore, through the SEDS FOA, ANA will fund 
project proposals from Tribes to prepare applications for Federal 
recognition. Tribes will only be allowed to receive funding for this 
priority area once, as per the funding restriction which states, ``ANA 
does not fund projects that are essentially identical or similar in 
whole or in part to previously funded projects proposed by the same 
applicant or activities or projects proposed by a consortium that 
duplicate activities for which any consortium member also receives 
funding from ANA.'' This is a return to the ANA priority of the 1990s. 
(Legal authority: Section 803(a) of NAPA, as amended.)

2. SEDS--Tribal Governance (TG)

    In FY 2011, ANA will introduce SEDS--TG to fund Tribal governance 
projects. These types of projects were formerly funded under SEDS. ANA 
will expand the governance priority to emphasize projects that 
strengthen the internal capacity and infrastructure of Tribal 
governments to increase services provided to children and families. The 
FOA will also emphasize increasing the Tribal government's ability to 
exercise local control and decision making over their resources. ANA is 
particularly interested in projects designed to develop strong linkages 
between social services, health programs, and schools serving Native 
children. Program areas of interest will be expanded to include:
    (1) Interoperability: Promote program coordination among human and 
social service programs for Tribal communities to strengthen the 
programs they provide to their children, youth, and families.
    (2) Comprehensive Strategies: Develop comprehensive 
intergovernmental strategies involving Tribal, State, and Federal 
governments to meet the needs of Tribal children and youth.
    (3) Self-Governance: Build the capacity and infrastructure of 
Tribal governments to enter into self-governance compacts.
    ANA believes this FOA will encourage Tribes and Native communities 
to look at new opportunities and methods for providing services to 
their communities. Applicants eligible for this FOA are the same as 
those identified for SEDS. (Legal authority: Section 803(a) of NAPA, as 
amended.)

3. SEDS--Assets for Independence (AFI)

    ANA is partnering with the Office of Community Services' (OCS) AFI 
program to support Tribes and Native organizations in planning and 
implementing comprehensive asset-building projects. ANA and OCS are 
providing this support through funding opportunities, training, and 
technical assistance. The AFI program is an assets-based approach for 
assisting low-income families out of poverty. The program assists 
individuals and families to save earned income in special-purpose, 
matched savings accounts called Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). 
Every dollar in savings deposited into an IDA by a participant will be 
combined with non-participant funds (from $1 to $8 combined Federal 
(AFI) and non-Federal funds). The program promotes savings and enables 
a participant to acquire a lasting asset. An AFI participant can use 
the IDA savings to achieve any of three objectives: Acquire a first 
home, capitalize a small business, or enroll in postsecondary education 
or training.
    ANA, through its SEDS program, and OCS, through its AFI program, 
are offering Tribes and Native organizations a joint funding 
initiative. The purpose of the joint SEDS--AFI funding is to support 
Tribes and Native organizations implement asset building projects with 
an AFI-funded IDA component. The ANA--SEDS portion of the funding will

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focus on the operational and staffing costs necessary to implement the 
project, financial literacy training, capacity building, and other 
activities. The OCS--AFI portion will be used to provide funding for 
IDAs and limited administrative costs. This FOA will request one 
application with two project budgets to complete the project. The two 
project budgets will separately identify the SEDS portion of the 
funding and corresponding match and the AFI portion of the funding and 
corresponding match. These two project budgets will be the basis for 
two awards needed to complete the project. The project will be 
monitored by a team representing both ANA and OCS. ANA will provide a 
funding opportunity for applicants to apply for a 5-year (five 12-month 
budget periods) grant to accompany award of a standard 5-year AFI 
grant.
    Eligible applicants include non-profit organizations that serve 
Native American populations, or Tribes, and Alaska Native villages if 
they are joint applicants with a non-profit organization serving Native 
American populations. The eligibility reflects the overlap between 
ANA's target populations and the AFI program's legislative eligibility 
requirements. Individual participants who open IDAs under this program 
must meet AFI participant guidelines, which are: Members of a household 
that is eligible for assistance under Temporary Assistance for Needy 
Families (TANF), or whose adjusted gross income is either equal to or 
less than 200 percent of the Federal poverty line, or is eligible for 
Federal Earned Income Tax Credit and has less than $10,000 in assets 
(excluding the value of a primary dwelling unit and one motor vehicle).
    The partnership includes a training and technical assistance (T/TA) 
component, through which ANA's T/TA providers will conduct pre-
application trainings and provide one-on-one technical assistance to 
potential SEDS--AFI applicants.
    This partnership between OCS and ANA will allow these two programs 
to provide enhanced funding opportunities to our common target 
communities and maximize the impact of grant dollars. Interoperability 
between programs within ACF is an ACF priority. (Legal authority: 
Section 803(a) of NAPA, as amended.)

4. Native Language Preservation and Maintenance (Language P&M) and 
Esther Martinez Initiative (Language-EMI)

    All Language P&M and Language-EMI projects funded in FY 2011 will 
have a start date of August 1, 2011. The revision to the start date 
will allow projects to better align with most school schedules 
throughout ANA's target communities. To accommodate this revision, the 
Language FOAs will be published and application due dates will be 
earlier in the year than all other FOAs. (Legal authority: Section 
803(a) and 803C of NAPA, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2991b and 2991b-3 and 
Pub. L. 109-394.)

B. Administrative Policies

    In FY 2011, ANA will add five administrative policies.
    1. Grantees can have only one active grant per Catalog of Federal 
Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number.
    2. ANA will increase the reach of its limited funding. Therefore, 
applicants that have received funding from ANA for at least two 
projects consecutively and within one CFDA number may not be funded for 
a third consecutive project within the same CFDA number if other 
applicants who have not received ANA funding in the past 3 years are 
within the scoring range to be funded.
    3. Applicants are requested to identify a target amount of 
leveraged resources (target of zero is acceptable) and a target number 
of partnerships. The value of the targets will not be evaluated and 
scored; however, the indicators' contribution within the overall 
strategy of project implementation and its sustainability is included 
in the evaluation criteria. Grantees will be required to track these 
indicators quarterly throughout the project period. Leveraged resources 
are in addition to the statutory matching requirement of 20 percent and 
are not a requirement of this grant.
    4. Business plans should be submitted for all SEDS applications 
requesting an equity investment on behalf of the Federal Government.
    The first two administrative policies will allow ANA to maximize 
its limited funding to benefit the most communities. The intent of the 
first policy, to restrict funding to one grant per entity per CFDA 
number, will also be stated in the eligibility and funding restriction 
sections of all FOAs. Due to the change in the project period start 
date for language projects, ANA will waive this restriction if a 
language project is ending within 2 months of a new project start date 
(i.e., organizations or Tribes with projects ending 9/29/2011 can 
receive new awards with a 8/1/2011 start date). In addition to 
maximizing the benefit of ANA's limited funds, the first administrative 
policy will encourage current grantees to successfully complete project 
objectives within the originally defined project periods and avoid 
requests for No Cost Extensions (NCEs). Past experience has shown that 
project success is increased when a grantee can complete one project 
prior to starting a second project. Overlapping projects, specifically 
a new award and an extension, can result in delays or significant 
challenges to one or both projects because of limited financial and 
personnel resources.
    The second administrative policy allows the ANA commissioner to 
limit the frequency of the same organizations receiving funding, thus 
allowing it to address more communities. (Legal authority: Section 
803(a), 803(d), and 803C of NAPA, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2991b and 
2991b-3 and Pub. L. 109-394.)
    The third administrative policy allows ANA to continue to measure 
leveraged resources and partnerships for all funded projects, but 
removes the target numbers for these indicators from being evaluated 
and scored by panel reviewers. ANA is required to measure these 
important indicators, as per the Government Performance Reporting Act 
(GPRA) for all negotiated awards. (Legal authority: Section 803(a), 
803(d), and 803C of NAPA, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2991b and 2991b-3 and 
Pub. L. 109-394.)
    The last administrative policy is specific to SEDS FOA. The 
business plan will not be evaluated for the merit of the plan itself; 
however, the business plan will be reviewed to ensure that the project 
strategy is in line with the business plan. (Legal authority: Section 
803(a) of NAPA, as amended.)

C. Award Information

    In all FOAs, ANA identifies funding floors and funding ceilings, as 
well as project periods. In FY 2011, the thresholds and project periods 
for SEDS, SED--TG, and SEDS--AFI are new or have changed.
    The funding ranges and project periods for the combined and new 
FOAs (see Section A of this Notice) will be as follows:

SEDS
    $50,000 to $149,999 per budget period, and
    $150,000 to $400,000 per budget period.
    12-month project and budget period, or
    24-month project period with two 12-month budget periods, or
    36-month project period with three 12-month budget periods.

    Only the upper limit of the two ranges ($400,000) will be used as a 
disqualification factor.


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SED--TG
    $50,000 to $375,000 per budget period.
    12-month project and budget period, or
    24-month project period with two 12-month budget periods, or
    36-month project period with three 12-month budget periods.

SEDS--AFI
    $50,000 to $250,000 per budget period.
    60-month project period with five 12-month budget periods.

    The SEDS--AFI range reflects the ANA portion of the funding only. 
OCS will provide up to $1 million for a 5-year budget and project 
period. (Legal authority: Section 803(a) of NAPA, as amended.)
    Disqualification Factors: ANA will revise for clarification two 
factors that are specific to applications submitted for ANA funding. 
Applications that are submitted without this documentation will be 
considered non-responsive to the FOA and will not be considered for 
competition.
    The first ANA-specific disqualification factor applies to all 
applicants. The documentation required from the Tribe, Alaska Native 
village or organization stating approval of the proposed project must 
come in the form of a Board Resolution.
    The second ANA-specific disqualification factor applies only to 
applicants that are not Tribes or Native Alaska villages. Organizations 
applying for funding must show that a majority of board members 
approving the project proposal are representative of the community to 
be served. ANA will revise the categories of representatives of the 
community to be served to include: (1) Members of Federally or State 
recognized Tribes; (2) persons eligible to be a participant or 
beneficiary to the project to be funded; (3) persons who are recognized 
by the eligible community to be served as having a cultural 
relationship with the community to be served; or (4) persons considered 
to be Native American as defined in Title 45, Part 1336, Section 10 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), and Native American Pacific 
Islander as defined in the Native American Programs Act.
    These disqualification factors will be revised to better establish 
board support for a project and to demonstrate a stronger link between 
an organization's board and the community to be served. (Legal 
authority: Section 803(a) and 814 of NAPA, as amended.)

D. Definitions

    ANA will revise and add definitions for terms used in the FOA.
    Leveraged Resources--Any resource, not including the Federal share, 
non-Federal contribution, and program income, acquired or utilized 
during the project period that supports the project. Leveraged 
resources are expressed as a dollar amount and may include natural, 
financial, personnel, and physical resources provided to assist in the 
successful completion of the project.
    Interoperability--Collaborative administration or information 
sharing that integrates the efforts of individual programs, projects, 
departments, etc. in order to strengthen programs and provide 
comprehensive service.
    Program Income--Gross income earned by a recipient and/or 
subrecipient that was directly generated by the grant-supported 
activity or earned as a result of the award. Program income includes 
(but is not limited to) fees for services performed, the use or rental 
of real or personal property acquired under the grant, the sale of 
commodities or items fabricated under an award, license fees and 
royalties on patents and copyrights, and payments of interest on loans 
made with grant funds. Except as otherwise provided in statute, 
regulation, or the terms and conditions of the award, program income 
does not include rebates, credits, discounts, or interest earned in 
relation to program income; the receipt of principal on loans or 
interest the recipient earns on those amounts after receiving them from 
the borrower; taxes, special assessments, levies, fines, or similar 
revenues raised by a governmental recipient or subrecipient. The term 
also does not include interest earned on advances of Federal funds and 
proceeds from the sale of equipment or real property acquired under an 
award, which have distinct accountability requirements.
    The leveraged resources definition will be revised to state that 
program income cannot be included. Interoperability is defined because 
the evaluation criteria will include a reference to the integration of 
the proposed project into other programs, if appropriate for the 
proposed project. Interoperability is an ACF priority, both within ACF 
and in the entities it funds. Program income is defined to clarify the 
definition of leveraged resources. (Legal authority: Section 803(b) and 
814 of NAPA, as amended and 42 U.S.C. 2991b-3(b)(7)(C).)

E. Cost Sharing or Matching

    The matching requirement waiver for Insular Areas will no longer be 
available for nongovernmental entities.
    1. All matching is waived for consolidated grants to governments of 
the Insular Areas;
    2. The first $200,000 of matching is waived for non-consolidated 
grants to governments of American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, or 
the Northern Mariana Islands; however, matching over the first $200,000 
is not waived;
    3. Matching is not waived for grants to nongovernmental entities of 
the Insular Areas.
    Although there is not an automatic waiver for all applicants from 
the Insular Areas, any applicant may request an individual match 
requirement waiver, in accordance with NAPA. (Legal authority: 48 
U.S.C. 1469(a)(d) and 45 CFR 1336.50(b)(3).)

F. Funding Restrictions

    The restriction that prevents ANA from funding ``counseling or 
therapeutic activities that are medically-based'' will not be included 
in the following FOAs: Language--P&M, Language--EMI, SEDS--AFI, SEDS--
TG, and ERE. In the SEDS FOA, the restriction will be revised to state:
    ANA does not fund couples or family counseling activities that are 
medically based.
    ANA will revise this restriction in SEDS in order to fund medically 
based activities in projects that address such health issues as 
diabetes prevention and care projects, elder health care, or other 
similar types of health issues. This funding restriction will not 
appear in other FOAs. (Legal authority: Section 803(a) and 814 of NAPA, 
as amended.)

G. ANA Application Evaluation Criterial

    ANA will revise the evaluation criteria throughout the Language--
P&M, Language--EMI, SEDS, SEDS--TG, and ERE FOAs to clarify how 
reviewers will evaluate and score applications. The content of 
evaluation criteria will mirror the content of the project description 
section of the FOAs, which instructs applicants on what to include in 
an application.
    i. Titles and Assigned Weight: In FY 2011, ANA will rename the 
criteria and adjust the weighted scores.
    For FY 2011, the criteria will be titled and weighted as follows:

--Objectives and Need for Assistance 20 points;
--Outcomes Expected 15 points
--Approach 50 points;
    Sub-criterion--Project Strategy 30 points;
    Sub-criterion--Objective Work Plan (OWP) 20 points ; and

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--Budget and Budget Justification 15 points.

    For FY 2011, the two criteria for the SEDS-AFI FOA will be titled 
and weighted as follows:

--Approach 90 points and
--Budget and Budget Justification 10 points.

    The criteria titles will match the titles found in the project 
description section of the FOAs. Matching titles will help applicants 
to better understand the connection between the two sections of the 
FOAs. The assigned weights better reflect what ANA considers to be the 
most important elements of the project application. (Legal authority: 
Section 803(c) of NAPA, as amended.)
    ii. ANA Evaluation Criteria: Included here is a summary of each 
criterion. The FOAs will include a more detailed description of the 
evaluation criteria and the associated project description.
    (a) Objectives and Need for Assistance: Under this criterion, 
applications will be evaluated on the applicant's community and 
applicant identification, connection to the community, community 
participation in the project development, the problem statement, and 
the briefly stated objectives.
    (b) Outcomes Expected: Under this criterion, applications will be 
evaluated on the strength of the project outcomes expected, which 
include the project goal, the results and benefits expected, and one 
project-specific impact indicator. For language applications that are 
designed to teach a Native language, applicants must include an impact 
indicator that shows advancement of language fluency. All other 
language projects should provide an impact indicator that measures an 
increase in community interest to preserve the language.
    (c) Approach: Under this criterion, the application will be 
evaluated on the strength of the project approach. This criterion 
includes two sub-criteria; the project strategy and the OWP. The 
project strategy sub-criterion includes a detailed description of the 
implementation plan, community involvement and outreach during 
implementation, and contingency planning to support project 
implementation. In addition, partnerships and leveraged resources will 
be evaluated as to their contribution within the overall strategy of 
project implementation and its sustainability; however, the target 
numbers will not be evaluated or scored. In this section reviewers will 
also consider organizational capacity and project sustainability. The 
OWP sub-criterion includes a review of the OWP form and its strength as 
an effective implementation tool.
    (d) Budget: Under this criterion, the application will be evaluated 
on the strength of the budget and how well it supports successful 
completion of the project objectives. This criterion includes a line-
item budget and budget justification for each line item for each budget 
period.
    The changes to the content of evaluation criteria, and the 
complementary changes to the project description section of the FOA, 
will more effectively guide panel reviewers and applicants on what ANA 
believes are critical components of a project application. (Legal 
authority: Section 803(c) of NAPA, as amended.)
    Once published, the 2011 FOAs can be accessed at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/foa/office/ana.

    Dated: December 31, 2010.
Lillian Sparks,
Commissioner, Administration for Native Americans.
[FR Doc. 2011-285 Filed 1-7-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-34-P