[Federal Register: March 3, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 41)]
[Notices]
[Page 10020-10024]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03mr03-76]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[Program Announcement 03038]
Cooperative Agreement for Development of the National Violent
Death Reporting System; Notice of Availability of Funds
A. Authority and Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number
This program is authorized under section 301(a) (42 U.S.C.
241(a)) of the Public Health Service Act and section 391(a) (42
U.S.C. 280b(a)) of the Public Service Health Act, as amended. The
catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number is 93.136.
B. Purpose
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces the
availability of fiscal year (FY) 2003 funds for a cooperative agreement
surveillance program to expand the implementation of the National
Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) as mandated in FY 2003 Senate
appropriations language. NVDRS will assist State governments to
understand the extent of the violence problem in their states and to
develop and evaluate violence prevention program efforts. This program
addresses the ``Healthy People 2010'' focus area of Injury and Violence
Prevention.
In response to Congressional appropriations language in FY 2002,
CDC began implementation of NVDRS in six states. The purpose of NVDRS
is to generate public health surveillance information at the national,
state, and local levels that is more detailed, useful, and timely than
is currently available. This information will help develop, inform, and
evaluate violence prevention strategies at the state level. The
proposed system builds upon a pilot system, the National Violent Injury
Statistics System (NVISS) that has been under development since 1999.
Additional information on this pilot system can be found at: http://
www.NVISS.org.
Measurable outcomes of the program will be in alignment with the
following performance goal for the National Center for Injury
Prevention and Control (NCIPC): Develop new or improved
[[Page 10021]]
approaches for preventing and controlling death and disability due to
injuries.
C. Eligible Applicants
Assistance will be provided only to the health departments of
states or their bona fide agents, including the District of Columbia,
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth
of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Federated
States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the
Republic of Palau, and the federally recognized Indian tribal
governments. In consultation with states, assistance may be provided to
political subdivisions of states. States funded under Program
Announcement 02059--Cooperative Agreement for Development of National
Violent Death Reporting System (Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
Oregon, South Carolina and Virginia) are not eligible to apply.
The ability to obtain population-based information from core data
sets is crucial for the successful development of the NVDRS. Eligible
applicants must document, through letters of support and memorandums of
agreement/understanding (MOA/MOU), access to information on individual,
identifiable decedents from all of the following data sources:
1. Death certificates.
2. Medical examiner and/or coroner records.
3. Police records (Supplemental Homicide Reports at a minimum).
4. Crime laboratory records.
The letters of support must come from the agency authorized to
grant access to the specific required data. Each letter must note the
most recent year for which data is available to the health department,
and note that a MOA/MOU is in place between the applicant and the data
agency. The MOA/MOU must provide the applicant access to data while
specifying any limitations regarding data use. A copy of the MOA/MOU
must accompany each letter of support to confirm access.
Applicants from states that do not have centralized, statewide
medical examiner/coroner, or police records must obtain letters of
support from the agencies with authority over the four required data
sources in three cities or counties within the state, and MOA/MOUs from
at least three of the four agencies in each city or county.
Applications that fail to submit all evidence listed above will be
considered non responsive and will be returned without review.
Applications will be classified into two categories, ``New'' and
``Experienced.'' States with funding from an external source (other
than state funds) for any form of violent death reporting or
surveillance occurring among adults, defined as 18 years of age or
older, will be considered ``Experienced.'' States with surveillance
projects (state or local) funding, such as the Harvard Injury Control
Research Center's National Violent Injury Statistics System (NVISS)
will be considered ``Experienced.'' States without any such external
funding will be considered as ``New'' systems. Funds awarded for this
program cannot be used to supplant (replace) existing activity funds.
Note: Title 2 of the United States Code section 1611 states that
an organization described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal
Revenue Code that engages in lobbying activities is not eligible to
receive Federal funds constituting an award, grant or loan.
D. Funding
Availability of Funds
Approximately $2,250,000 is available in FY 2003 to fund
approximately eight awards. It is expected that the average award will
be $240,000, ranging from $150,000 to $220,000 for states with up to
800 cases of violent death in calendar year 2001 and from $220,000 to
$320,000 for states with greater than 800 cases of violent death in
2001. At least one applicant will be funded in each funding range.
``New'' and ``Experienced'' system applications will be evaluated
separately; at least one new applicant and one experienced applicant
will be funded. It is expected that the awards will begin on or about
September 1, 2003 and will be made for a 12-month budget period within
a project period of up to five years. Funding estimates may change.
Continuation awards within an approved project period will be made
on the basis of satisfactory progress, as evidenced by required
reports, and the availability of funds.
Recipient Financial Participation
Matching funds are not required for this program.
E. Program Requirements
In conducting activities to achieve the purpose of this program,
the recipient will be responsible for the activities under 1A. or 1B.,
Recipient Activities, and CDC will be responsible for the activities
under 2. CDC Activities.
Recipient Activities
1A. For New Violent Death Reporting Systems
a. Establish an advisory committee that will help in the
development of the state violent death reporting system. Membership
should include representatives from agencies that control medical
examiner/coroner records, death certificates, police records, and crime
laboratory data.
b. Establish routine access to uniquely identifiable case
information from each of the four critical data sources for deaths
occurring on or after 1/01/2004.
c. Use case definition and uniform data elements developed under
Program Announcement 02059.
d. Obtain and code data from all core data sources for all cases
identified. The means for obtaining data may be conducted by
abstraction from the required data sources, electronic transfer or
other method(s).
e. Develop procedures to combine information from the data sources.
Maintain a unique case ID number.
f. Establish (1) a centralized location for maintaining a secure
data storage system that allows for ready access to and retrieval of
your collected data and (2) an off-site, backup storage system for all
your data.
g. Transmit data free of personal identifiers electronically to CDC
using software provided by the CDC. Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) clearance for this data collection is pending.
h. Develop a quality assurance program that includes a systematic
review of the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of the data
collection process. This should include reabstraction of a sample of
cases where applicable, and monitoring of time intervals from death to
case completion, as well as routine checks to identify duplicate cases.
i. Evaluate the surveillance system annually using standard
guidelines. These include: simplicity, flexibility, data quality,
acceptability, sensitivity, predictive value positive,
representativeness, timeliness, and stability. (See Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Recommendations and Reports, ``Updated
guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems,'' RR-13,
vol. 50, 07/27/2001, found at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/RR/
RR5013.pdf.
)
j. Prepare standard reports with aggregated data and distribute
them widely.
k. Share information learned from project through presentations,
peer-reviewed publications and media events.
l. Participate in a collaborative effort coordinated by the CDC to
establish a
[[Page 10022]]
national violent death reporting system that collects uniform data
across states as prescribed in the FY 2002 and FY 2003 appropriations
report language. Meetings will be held on a semiannual basis.
Recipient Activities
1B. For Experienced Violent Death Reporting Systems
a. Maintain an advisory committee that will help in the enhancement
of the reporting system. The committee should be able to help develop
methods for data dissemination and set priorities for helping to
develop prevention strategies. The committee should include, at a
minimum, representatives from agencies that control the core data
sources.
b. Maintain or expand routine access to uniquely identifiable case
information from each of the four core data sources for deaths
occurring on or after 1/01/2004.
c. Use the case definition and uniform data elements developed
under Program Announcement 02059.
d. Use or modify existing procedures that combine information from
the data sources. Maintain a unique case ID number.
e. Maintain or modify (1) a centralized location for maintaining a
secure data storage system that allows for ready access to and
retrieval of all your collected data and (2) an off-site, backup data
storage system for all your data.
f. Develop a quality assurance program that includes a systematic
review of the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of the data
collection process. This should include reabstraction of a sample of
cases where applicable and monitoring of time intervals from death to
case completion, as well as routine checks to identify duplicate cases.
g. Transmit data free of personal identifiers electronically to CDC
using software provided by the CDC. OMB clearance for this data
collection is pending.
h. Evaluate the surveillance system annually using standard
guidelines. These include: simplicity, flexibility, data quality,
acceptability, sensitivity, predictive value positive,
representativeness, timeliness, and stability. (See MMWR
Recommendations and Reports, ``Updated guidelines for evaluating public
health surveillance systems,'' RR-13, vol. 50, 07/27/2001, found at:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/RR/RR5013.pdf.)
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/RR/RR5013.pdf.)
i. Prepare standard reports with aggregated data and distribute
them widely.
j. Share information learned from the project through
presentations, peer review publications and media events.
k. Participate in a collaborative effort coordinated by the CDC to
establish a national violent death reporting system that collects
uniform data across states as prescribed in the FY 2002 and FY 2003
appropriations report language. Meetings will be held on a semiannual
basis.
Note: ``New'' recipients may choose to begin data gathering in
smaller geographic areas, such as cities, counties or regions rather
than beginning statewide. ``Experienced'' recipients may choose to
expand data gathering to a broader geographic area, if not currently
statewide. If an applicant chooses to begin collecting data in a
portion of the state, the applicant must outline a plan for
expansion statewide within the five-year project period.
2. CDC Activities `` Provide national leadership in the development
and implementation of NVDRS through the following:
a. Provide a case definition and required uniform data elements to
be collected.
b. Provide standardized model software that can be used to store
and transmit data to CDC electronically, and provide software updates,
as needed.
c. Train recipients on surveillance systems. This includes: data
standards, coding, data entry, data editing, quality assurance
functions, record tracking, and reporting format.
d. Provide technical assistance in solving problems in all aspects
of the system.
e. Review submitted records for quality and completeness and
provide feedback to recipients. Work with the recipient to
systematically resolve problems of missing or inaccurate data.
f. Prepare an analysis file of final edited data to be shared with
the recipient for data analysis and reporting of findings.
g. Prepare standard reports with aggregated data and distribute
them widely.
h. Prepare Office of Management and Budget (OMB) package to obtain
clearance for data collection.
F. Content
Applications
The Program Announcement title and number must appear in the
application. Use the information in the Program Requirements, Other
Requirements, and Evaluation Criteria sections to develop the
application content. Your application will be evaluated on the criteria
listed, so it is important to follow them in laying out your program
plan. The narrative should be no more than 30 pages, double-spaced,
printed on one side, 1.5-inch left margin, 1-inch top, bottom, and
right margins, and Courier New 12-point font. The total number of pages
should not exceed 70 pages, including appendices and abstract (MOA/MOUs
are not counted in the overall page total.) Applicants that fit into
the ``Experienced'' category are allowed up to an additional five pages
(total of 75 pages) for a required appendix that evaluates their
current violent death surveillance system according to standard CDC
guidelines.
Note: Applicants who do not follow the content guidelines will
have the following point reductions to their overall evaluation
score: 1 point for more than 30 pages of the narrative; 1 point for
use of a font smaller than 12-point; and 1 point for less than
specified margins.
The narrative will consist of, Background, Goals and Objectives,
Methods, Experience, Capacity and Staffing, Evaluation and
Collaboration.
The application should include the following information:
(Documentation of access to required data source should be included in
the appendices.)
1. A one-page abstract of proposed activities and project outcomes.
The abstract should specify the type of applicant (``New'' or
``Experienced'') and the number of violent deaths category into which
the state fits (less than or equal to 800 or greater than 800 deaths.)
2. Background.
3. Goal(s) and Objectives. (Including an outline of a five-year
plan with timeline.)
3. Methods.
4. Experience.
5. Capacity and Staffing.
6. Evaluation.
8. Collaboration.
9. Human Subjects.
10. Budget.
11. Appendices.
G. Submission and Deadline
Application Forms
Submit the signed original and two copies of PHS 5161--1 (OMB
Number 0920-0428.) Forms are available at the following Internet
address: http://www.cdc.gov/od/pgo/forminfo.htm.
If you do not have access to the Internet, or if you have
difficulty accessing the forms on-line, you may contact the CDC
Procurement and Grants Office Technical Information Management Section
(PGO-TIM) at: 770-488-2700. Application forms can be mailed to you.
Submission Date, Time, and Address
The application must be received by 4 p.m. Eastern Time June 2,
2003.
[[Page 10023]]
Submit the application to: Technical Information Management--PA03038,
CDC Procurement and Grants Office, 2920 Brandywine Road, Atlanta, GA
30341-4146.
Applications may not be submitted electronically.
CDC Acknowledgement of Application Receipt
A postcard will be mailed by PGO-TIM, notifying you that CDC has
received your application.
Deadline
Applications shall be considered as meeting the deadline if they
are received before 4 p.m. Eastern Time on the deadline date. Any
applicant who sends their application by the United States Postal
Service or commercial delivery services must ensure that the carrier
will be able to guarantee delivery of the application by the closing
date and time. If an application is received after closing due to (1)
carrier error, when the carrier accepted the package with a guarantee
for delivery by the closing date and time, or (2) significant weather
delays or natural disasters, CDC will upon receipt of proper
documentation, consider the application as having been received by the
deadline.
Any application that does not meet the above criteria will not be
eligible for competition, and will be discarded. The applicant will be
notified of their failure to meet the submission requirements.
H. Evaluation Criteria
Application
Applicants are required to provide measures of effectiveness that
will demonstrate the accomplishment of the various identified
objectives of the cooperative agreement. Measures of effectiveness must
relate to the performance goal stated in the purpose section of this
announcement. Measures must be objective and quantitative and must
measure the intended outcome. These measures of effectiveness must be
submitted with the application and will be an element of evaluation.
Applications which are complete and responsive will be subjected to
a preliminary evaluation by a Special Emphasis Panel (SEP) to determine
if the application is of sufficient technical and scientific merit to
warrant further full review. Priority scores will be assigned by the
SEP to the core applications. CDC will withdraw from further
consideration applications judged to be noncompetitive.
Each application will be evaluated individually against the
following criteria by a Special Emphasis Panel (SEP) appointed by CDC:
1. Methods (25 points)
a. The extent to which the applicant describes the methods used for
ascertaining cases and obtaining data from core data sources. This
should include a discussion of methods used in motivating reporting
sources, ensuring high quality data, and resolving data issues.
b. The extent to which the applicant provides a detailed and clear
description of how linkage of records from different sources is, or
will be, accomplished.
c. The extent to which the applicant describes how data will be
stored in a central location in the state.
d. The extent to which the applicant provides a detailed plan for
protecting data from loss and assuring confidentiality where required
by state law or regulation.
e. The extent to which the applicant provides evidence that
proposed activities are not duplications of existing activities.
(Experienced applicants only)
2. Goal(s) and Objectives (15 points)
a. The extent to which the applicant has included goals, which are
relevant and consistent with the purpose of the program announcement.
b. The extent to which the objectives are specific, measurable,
assigned to specific staff, realistic, and time-phased.
c. The extent to which the applicant has included a five-year plan
with timeline. Is it realistic? Does it accomplish the goals and
objectives?
3. Experience (15 points)
a. The extent to which the applicant documents experience in
accessing, collecting, linking, editing, managing, and analyzing
surveillance information from multiple data sets, especially experience
with mortality surveillance.
b. The extent to which the applicant provides evidence of
experience in injury surveillance, conducting data quality assurance
activities, and generating data reports.
4. Capacity and Staffing (15 points)
a. The extent to which the applicant provides evidence of existing
staff with expertise in SAS software and database manager, (e.g.,
Microsoft Access), computer programming skills, and skills in data
management and quality assurance, especially involving large complex
databases.
b. The extent to which the applicant provides a plan, with position
description(s), to hire someone with such skills and expertise. Resumes
or curriculum vitae should be included.
c. The extent to which the applicant provides a timetable showing
when information regarding the occurrence of a violent death during a
given calendar quarter is available to the applicant from each of the
four required data sources.
5. Collaboration (15 points)
a. The extent to which the applicant provides evidence of
involvement by key stakeholders in the current system or a plan for
including key stakeholders in the development of a violent death
reporting system.
b. The extent to which the applicant documents the quality and
specificity of access to required and optional data sources, e.g., the
limitations of that access, the most recent year data are available,
the timeliness and availability of data from all core and optional data
sources, the duration of access, etc. Information from the letters of
support will be considered in this context.
c. The extent to which the applicant provides additional letters of
support from potential partners in the project.
d. The extent to which the letters of support document specific
contributions of the partner, including but not limited to a
description of the precise nature of past and proposed collaborations,
products, services, and other activities that will be provided by and
to the applicant through the proposed collaboration.
6. Evaluation (10 points)
a. The extent to which the applicant provides a detailed plan for
evaluating the surveillance system. The plan should include standard
CDC surveillance evaluation measures described above.
b. The extent to which the applicant describes both system and data
quality assurance procedures.
7. Background (5 points)
The extent to which the applicant documents the magnitude of the
violent death problem in the applicant's state and/or target area.
8. Human Subjects (Not Scored)
The extent to which the applicant adequately addresses the
requirements of Title 45 CFR part 46 for the protection of human
subjects. Not scored; however, an application can be disapproved if the
research risks are sufficiently serious and protection against risks is
so inadequate as to make the entire application unacceptable.
9. Budget (Not Scored)
The extent to which the budget request is clearly explained,
adequately justified, reasonable, sufficient and consistent with the
stated objectives and planned activities. The Budget should include
funds for at least two trips to CDC for program related meetings and
training.
[[Page 10024]]
I. Other Requirements
Technical Reporting Requirements
Provide CDC with original plus two copies of:
1. Interim progress report, due on July 2 of each year. The
progress report will serve as your non-competing continuation
application, and must contain the following elements:
a. Current Budget Period Activities Objectives.
b. Current Budget Period Financial Progress.
c. New Budget Period Program Proposed Activity Objectives.
d. Detailed Line-Item Budget and Justification.
e. Additional Requested Information.
2. Financial status report, due December 29 of each year.
3. Final financial and performance reports, no more than 90 days
after the end of the project period.
Send all reports to the Grants Management Specialist identified in
the ``Where to Obtain Additional Information'' section of this
announcement.
Additional Requirements
The following additional requirements are applicable to this
program. For a complete description of each, see Attachment I of the
program announcement, as posted on the CDC Web site:
AR-1 Human Subjects Requirements
AR-2 Requirements for Inclusion of Women and Racial and Ethnic
Minorities in Research
AR-9 Paperwork Reduction Act Requirements Projects that involve the
collection of information from 10 or more persons and that are funded
by cooperative agreements will be subject to review and approval by the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB.)
AR-10 Smoke-Free Workplace Requirements
AR-11 Healthy People 2010
AR-12 Lobbying Restrictions
AR-13 Prohibition on Use of CDC Funds for Certain Gun Control
Activities
AR-21 Small, Minority, Women-Owned Businesses
AR-22 Research Integrity
Executive Order 12372 does not apply to this program.
J. Where To Obtain Additional Information
This and other CDC announcements, the necessary applications, and
associated forms can be found on the CDC Web site, Internet address:
http://www.cdc.gov.
Click on ``Funding'' then ``Grants and Cooperative Agreements''.
For general questions about this announcement, contact: Technical
Information Management, CDC Procurement and Grants Office, 2920
Brandywine Road, Atlanta, GA 30341-4146, Telephone: 770-488-2700.
For business management and budget assistance, contact: Van A.
King, Grants Management, Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 2920 Brandywine Road, Atlanta, GA
30341-4146, Telephone: (770) 488-2751, E-mail address: Vking@cdc.gov.
For program technical assistance, contact: Leroy Frazier, Jr.,
MSPH, CHES, Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury
Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
4770 Buford Hwy, NE, MS K60, Atlanta, GA 30341, Telephone number: (770)
488-1507, E-mail address: Lfrazier1@cdc.gov.
Dated: February 24, 2003.
Sandra R. Manning,
CGFM, Director, Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 03-4858 Filed 2-28-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P