[Federal Register: December 9, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 236)]
[Notices]
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From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
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Part II
Department of Housing and Urban Development
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Notice of Opportunity To Register Early for Electronic Submission of
Grant Applications for HUD Funding Opportunities; Early Registration
With Grants.gov; Notice
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-5027-N-01]
Notice of Opportunity To Register Early for Electronic Submission
of Grant Applications for HUD Funding Opportunities; Early Registration
With Grants.gov
AGENCY: Office of Assistant Secretary for Administration, HUD.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: As part of the ongoing implementation of Electronic Government
(E-Government), a key component of the President's Management Agenda,
HUD is continuing with its transition to a total electronic grant
application system. This system requires applicants to submit
applications for Federal grants electronically through Grants.gov, the
governmentwide portal for electronic grant applications. To protect the
applicant and the applicant's information, and to assure Federal
agencies that they are interacting with officials authorized to submit
applications on behalf of applicant entities, an applicant must
register with Grants.gov to submit an application for funding.
To facilitate the Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 Federal grant application
process, this notice encourages prospective applicants for HUD funding
to register early for the FY2006 funding cycle. Registering now, in
advance of agencies posting their FY2006 grant opportunities, may
eliminate many of the registration issues that HUD applicants faced in
FY2005 of not meeting registration requirements in time to meet grant
application deadlines. Early registration provides HUD, Grants.gov, and
the applicant sufficient time to address any questions regarding the
registration process, as well as allow applicants to focus on
completing application requirements, since registration will be
completed.
HUD anticipates that it will post its funding opportunities in
early 2006. Prospective applicants for FY2006 HUD grants are encouraged
to register at http://www.grants.gov with the publication of this
Notice. Although applicants can register at any time before an
application is submitted to HUD, the registration process can take
approximately 10 days or more. The process relies upon an exchange of
data across three different databases and an organization's E-Business
Point of Contact (E-Business POC) to complete the authorization
process. With busy schedules, an organization seeking to submit a grant
application would not want a scenario where a key individual serving as
the E-Business POC is not available to complete the process in time to
meet an application deadline. Early registration helps applicants avoid
possible delays with the timely submission of applications or finding
out right before the submission deadline that all the steps in the
registration process are not complete.
This notice describes the steps that HUD applicants must take to
register successfully at http://www.grants.gov.
DATES: Early registration commences with the issuance of this notice
and ends January 31, 2006.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The NOFA Information Center, at
telephone number 800 HUD-8929. Persons with hearing or speech
impairments may access this number via TTY by calling the Federal
Information Relay Service at 800 HUD-2209. The NOFA Information Center
is open between the hours of 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard
Time, Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays.
I. Grants.gov
Early in his administration, President Bush set expanding
electronic government as a goal for the Federal government. Among other
things, expanding electronic government would result in the public
receiving high-quality services from the Federal government. Expanding
electronic government would also improve the Federal government's
efficiency in the delivery of its services by reducing the cost of
delivering those services.
As part of this initiative, the Federal government launched
Grants.gov. Grants.gov is a simple, unified access point for
interactions between grant applicants and the Federal agencies that
manage grant funds. There are 26 Federal grant-making agencies and over
900 individual grant programs that award over $350 billion in grants
each year. Through Grants.gov, the grant community, including state;
local and tribal governments; academia and research institutions;
public housing agencies; not-for-profit and for-profit organizations;
and other organizations need only visit one Web site to access, find,
and apply for grant funds available from the Federal government.
In FY2005, a record number of grant applicants registered with
Grants.gov resulting in over 15,000 electronic grant applications
submitted to Federal agencies. This accomplishment signals the adoption
of a major change in the way the Federal government does business,
moving from a paper-based grants management process to an electronic
process. In FY2006, Federal agency grant programs will continue to move
toward implementing a completely electronic application process. As a
result, Federal agencies, including HUD, strongly encourage the grant
community to prepare as early as possible for the electronic
application process using Grants.gov.
II. The Need To Register With Grants.gov
Before an applicant can apply for a grant opportunity, the
applicant must first register with Grants.gov to obtain certain
identifying information. However, it should be noted that registration
is a multi-step process and all of the steps do not occur directly at
Grants.gov. Registration protects both the applicant and the applicable
Federal agencies. Registration confirms that the applicant has
designated a certain individual or entity to submit an application on
behalf of the applicant and assures the Federal agency that it is
interacting with the designated representative of the applicant.
III. What Is Involved in Registration?
Use of DUNS Numbers. In 2004, the Federal government
adopted a policy that applicants must obtain a Data Universal Numbering
System (DUNS) number in order to receive funding. DUNS numbers are
issued by Dun and Bradstreet, a company that provides business
information credit, marketing and purchasing decisions for more than 70
million businesses worldwide. Its data universal numbering system
issues unique 9-digit numbers that are used by businesses and the
Federal government to track funding and business related information
and relationships. Large organizations can set up what is known as DUNS
+ 4 to track the flow of funding and disbursements within the parent
organizations and any number of sub-agencies or departments within the
organization. States and universities frequently identify their sub-
organizations through the use of DUNS + 4 numbering.
Registration in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR).
The CCR is the primary vendor database for the Federal government. The
CCR was established to primarily assist Federal government agency
acquisitions and procurements. The CCR collects, validates, stores and
disseminates data in support of agency acquisitions. Registration in
CCR was extended from the procurement and acquisition area to grants.
For grants, CCR stores an applicant's information, allowing Grants.gov
to verify an applicant's
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identity and identify key business contacts for the organization. When
an applicant registers with CCR it will be required to designate an E-
Business Point of Contact (EPOC). The E-Business POC is the sole
authority within an organization who can approve or revoke approval of
an individual to submit grant applications on behalf of their
organization via Grants.gov.
Registration with a Credential Provider. The Credential
Provider is the organization that validates the electronic identity of
an individual through electronic credentials, personal identification
numbers (PINs), passwords or other identifying information for
Grants.gov. In order to safeguard information, Grants.gov uses E-
Authentication, the Federal program that ensures secure transactions.
E-Authentication defines the level of trust or trustworthiness of the
parties involved in a transaction through the use of credential
providers. This is the process of determining, with a high degree of
certainty, that someone is really who they claim to be. When an
applicant registers with a Credential Provider they receive a USER ID
and Password.
Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) Registration.
An AOR is the person(s) named by an agency to submit an application for
funding consideration on behalf of the agency. By authorizing the
person to submit on behalf of the organization, the organization is
stating that the AOR is authorized to make a legally binding commitment
on behalf of the organization. Designated AORs must register with the
Credential Provider to obtain a USER ID and Password and register in
Grants.gov to be identified as their organizations AOR. The
organization's E-Business POC will be sent an email from Grants.gov,
which tells the EPOC that someone from the E-Business POC's
organization has registered with Grants.gov as an AOR. The E-Business
POC must go into Grants.gov and approve the AOR status to allow the
nominated person to submit an application via Grants.gov. When an AOR
has been designated and approved to submit the application the
registration is completed for that person to submit an application on
behalf of the applicant organization.
IV. Time Allotted for Registration
Generally, registration with Grants.gov, which must be completed
prior to any grant application submission, takes approximately 10
business days. The length of time depends on when the steps in the
registration process are completed; the volume of traffic on the
various sites involved in the registration process; and the ability of
the applicant to determine who will be the person responsible for
submitting the grant application, and having that person authorized
through the registration process as the AOR. Registering early should
allow the applicant sufficient time to focus on these items, and will
help an applicant become familiar with the requirements for electronic
application submission through Grants.gov.
V. The Registration Process
Many Federal grant-making agencies provide funding to
organizational entities and some agencies are permitted to fund
individuals; however, HUD only provides funding to organizations. This
notice, therefore, is directed to HUD applicants, that are
organizational entities.
Appendix A, which follows, provides a step-by-step guide to the
registration process before an applicant may submit a grant application
electronically. Appendix B lists resources that Grants.gov makes
available to prospective applicants to help them through the process.
All organizational entities must complete steps 1 to 5 to be fully
registered with Grants.gov.
Dated: November 22, 2005.
Keith A. Nelson,
Assistant Secretary for Administration.
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[FR Doc. 05-23761 Filed 12-8-05; 8:45 am]
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