[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 248 (Tuesday, December 29, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68849-68851]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-30826]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Proposed Adoption of ANA Program Policies and Procedures
AGENCY: Administration for Native Americans (ANA), HHS.
ACTION: Notice of Public Comment on the Proposed Adoption of ANA
Program Policies and Procedures.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 814 of the Native American Programs Act of
1974 (NAPA), as amended, the Administration for Native Americans is
[[Page 68850]]
required to provide members of the public an opportunity to comment on
proposed changes in interpretive rules, general statements of policy,
and rules of agency procedure or practice, and to give notice of the
final adoption of such changes at least 30 days before the changes
become effective. In accordance with notice requirements of NAPA, ANA
herein describes its proposed interpretive rules, general statements of
policy, and rules of agency procedure or practice as they relate to the
Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) for the
following programs: Social and Economic Development Strategies
(hereinafter referred to as SEDS), Social and Economic Development
Strategies--Special Initiative (hereinafter referred to as SEDS-SI),
Native Language Preservation and Maintenance (hereinafter referred to
as Language Preservation), Native Language Preservation and
Maintenance--Esther Martinez Initiative (hereinafter referred to as
Language-EMI), and Environmental Regulatory Enhancement (hereinafter
referred to as ERE). This notice also provides additional information
about ANA's plan for administering the programs.
DATES: The deadline for receipt of comments is 30 days from the date of
publication in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: Comments in response to this notice should be addressed to
Caroline Gary, Deputy Commissioner, Administration for Native
Americans, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Mail Stop: Aerospace 2-West,
Washington, DC 20447. Delays may occur in mail delivery to Federal
offices; therefore, a copy of comments should be faxed to (202) 690-
7441. Comments will be available for inspection by members of the
public at the Administration for Native Americans, 901 D Street, SW.,
Washington, DC 20447.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Caroline Gary, Deputy Commissioner,
(877) 922-9262.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 814 of NAPA, as amended, requires
ANA to provide notice of its proposed interpretive rules, general
statements of policy, and rules of agency organization, procedure or
practice. The proposed clarifications, modifications, and new text will
appear in the five FY 2010 FOAs: SEDS, SEDS-SI, Language Preservation,
Language-EMI, and ERE. This notice serves to fulfill this requirement.
I. Funding Opportunity Announcements. In previous years, ANA and
the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) referred to a grant
funding announcement as a ``Program Announcement.'' ACF and ANA now
refer to these same grant funding announcements as ``Funding
Opportunity Announcements.'' In FY 2010, ANA will reduce the number of
FOAs from nine (in FY 2009) to five. In doing so, ANA will allow
greater flexibility in the project proposals to better meet the needs
of Tribes and organizations. In FY 2009, each FOA had program areas of
interest and funding parameters, which required applicants to
differentiate between the FOAs in order to propose activities and
objectives that could be awarded. If an applicant submitted its
proposal under the wrong FOA or proposed activities that were outside
of those allowed under the FOA, the applicant would be excluded from
the competition. By combining programs, ANA has allowed for greater
flexibility in project proposals. ANA expects that this will result in
fewer applications being excluded from the grant competitions.
In FY 2010, SEDS and SEDS-SI will include program areas of interest
for project proposals that address governance and economic and social
development. In addition, SEDS and SEDS-SI will also incorporate the
special initiatives formerly under the Family Preservation Assessment
and Family Preservation Implementation announcements.
In FY 2010, SEDS-SI will replace SEDS-Alaska and extend the former
program area to include proposals from Tribes and organizations with
limited capacity and smaller project scopes throughout ANA's geographic
service areas. (Legal authority: Section 803(a) of NAPA, as amended.)
The FY 2010 Language Preservation FOA will include program areas of
interest formerly included in Native Language Preservation and
Maintenance Assessment, Native Language Preservation and Maintenance
Planning, and Native Language Preservation and Maintenance
Implementation. Therefore, the program areas of interest for Language
Preservation will include assessing the current status of the language,
planning and implementing language programs, training teachers, and
creating curriculum and teaching materials.
The FY 2010 Language-EMI FOA will only include project proposals
for language survival schools, language nests, and restoration
programs, as identified in the Esther Martinez Native American
Languages Preservation Act of 2006.
(Legal authority: Section 803(a) and 803C of NAPA, as amended, 42
U.S.C. 2991b and Sec. 2991b-3 and Pub. L. 109-394.)
The FY 2010 ERE FOA will continue to address environmental
regulatory programs for Tribes and Native Alaskan Villages.
(Legal authority: Section 803(a) and (d) of NAPA, as amended.)
A. Award Information: In FY 2010, ANA will revise the length of
project periods, funding floors, and funding ceilings to allow
applicants greater flexibility in planning their projects. All FOAs,
except Language-EMI, will allow 12-, 24-, and 36-month project periods.
Language-EMI funding will only be awarded for 36-month projects, as per
the requirements of the Esther Martinez Native American Languages
Preservation Act of 2006, Public Law 109-394.
The funding ranges will be as follows:
SEDS--$150,000 to $500,000 per budget period.
SEDS-SI--$50,000 to $149,999 per budget period.
Language Preservation--$100,000 to $300,000 per budget period.
Language-EMI--$100,000 to $300,000 per budget period.
ERE--$100,000 to $300,000 per budget period.
B. 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.
This first factor applies to all applicants for ANA funding. ANA
will require documentation that demonstrates that the official
governing body of the applicant approves the submission to ANA for the
current grant competition. In addition, Tribally authorized components
must also have documentation from the Tribal governing body
demonstrating approval of the application submission. This requirement
is broader and less restrictive than the Tribal resolution requirement
in previous years.
The second factor applies only to applicants that are not Tribes or
Native Alaska Villages. This factor requires documentation
demonstrating that the majority of the governing body is representative
of the community to be served.
(Legal authority: Section 803(a) and 814 of NAPA, as amended.)
C. Definitions: ANA added definitions for terms used in the FOA. A
new definition is included for Federal Share. In addition, the
Language-EMI FOA includes a definition for Language Restoration
Program.
[[Page 68851]]
(Legal authority: Section 803(b) and 814 of NAPA, as amended and 42
U.S.C. 2991b-3(b)(7)(C).)
Federal Share: Financial assistance provided by ANA in the amount
of 80 percent of the approved costs of the project. The Commissioner
may approve assistance in excess of such percentage if such action is
in furtherance of the purposes of NAPA.
Language Restoration Program: An educational program that operates
at least one Native American language program for the community in
which it serves; provides training programs for teachers of Native
American languages; develops instructional materials for the programs;
works towards a goal of increasing language proficiency and fluency in
at least one Native American language; and provides instruction in at
least one Native American language.
D. ANA Application Evaluation Criteria: ANA will revise the
evaluation criteria throughout all FOAs to simplify what information is
being requested from applicants and to allow greater flexibility in
applicants' proposals. The evaluation criteria will be revised to
include clear explanations as to how ANA will assess the information
provided in the applications.
(Legal authority: Section 803(c) of NAPA, as amended.)
i. Titles and Assigned Weight: In FY 2010, ANA will reduce the
number of evaluation criteria from six to four and adjust the weighted
scores to focus on those elements that are important to project success
and project monitoring. Weighted sub criteria scores are identified for
Criterion 2 only. ANA is proposing generic titles for the criterion to
eliminate confusion between the titles of the project content
categories and the evaluation criteria.
For FY 2010, the criteria will be weighted as follows:
Criterion 1--20 points;
Criterion 2--50 points;
Sub criterion--Project Strategy and Objective Work Plan (OWP)--40
points
Sub criterion--Contingency Planning and Sustainability--10 points
Criterion 3--15 points; and
Criterion 4--15 points.
ii. ANA Evaluation Criteria: ANA will simplify what is being
evaluated to focus on elements of the proposed project that are
important for project success or to monitoring progress. Included here
is a summary of each criterion. Each FOA will more fully describe the
evaluation criteria.
(a) Criterion 1: Under this criterion, applications will be
evaluated on the applicant's connection and commitment to the target
community and the need for assistance, as demonstrated by the stated
problem. The applicant will be asked to identify a problem statement
and project goal.
(b) Criterion 2: Under this criterion, applications will be
evaluated on the strength of the project approach and the applicant's
capacity to implement the project. The applicant will be asked to
describe the project strategy, provide the OWP, identify challenges and
contingency planning, and demonstrate sustainability of the project.
(c) Criterion 3: Under this criterion, the application will be
evaluated on the three identified impact indicators, the target numbers
and the tracking mechanisms. Two impact indicators, namely partnerships
and leveraged resources, are standard for all applications. ANA
requests that applicants identify a third impact indicator, which will
be used to track how well the project addressed the problem statement.
ANA will request baseline data, which is the existing situation at the
time of the application, a target situation at the end of the project
period, and a target for three years after the end of the project
period.
(d) Criterion 4: 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. ANA will request that
the applicant present a line-item budget and budget justification for
each budget period. The budget justification should tie the budget to
the project strategy and should demonstrate the cost effectiveness of
the budget.
II. Panel Review Process. In accordance with the Department of
Health and Human Services Grants Policy Statement, revised in January
2007, applicants may receive a summary of the panel review comments
after funding decisions have been made. The comment summaries will
assist applicants in compiling improved applications for future funding
competitions.
(Legal authority: Section 814 of NAPA, as amended.)
Dated: December 22, 2009.
Caroline Gary,
Deputy Commissioner, Administration for Native Americans.
[FR Doc. E9-30826 Filed 12-28-09; 8:45 am]
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