[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 24, Volume 3]

[Revised as of April 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 24CFR570.402]



[Page 72-74]

 

                 TITLE 24--HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

 

  CHAPTER V--OFFICE OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR COMMUNITY PLANNING AND 

        DEVELOPMENT, DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

 

PART 570_COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANTS--Table of Contents

 

                    Subpart E_Special Purpose Grants

 

Sec.  570.402  Technical assistance awards.



    (a) General. (1) The purpose of the Community Development Technical 

Assistance Program is to increase the effectiveness with which States, 

units of general local government, and Indian tribes plan, develop, and 

administer assistance under title I and section 810 of the Act. Title I 

programs are the Entitlement Program (24 CFR part 570, subpart D); the 

section 108 Loan Guarantee Program (24 CFR part 570, subpart M); the 

Urban Development Action Grant Program (24 CFR part 570, subpart G); the 

HUD-administered Small Cities Program (24 CFR part 570, subpart F); the 

State-administered Program for Non-Entitlement Communities (24 CFR part 

570, subpart I); the grants for Indian Tribes program (24 CFR part 571); 

and the Special Purpose Grants for Insular Areas, Community Development 

Work Study and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (24 CFR part 

570, subpart E). The section 810 program is the Urban Homesteading 

Program (24 CFR part 590).

    (2) Funding under this section is awarded for the provision of 

technical expertise in planning, managing or carrying out such programs 

including the activities being or to be assisted thereunder and other 

actions being or to be undertaken for the purpose of the program, such 

as increasing the effectiveness of public service and other activities 

in addressing identified needs, meeting applicable program requirements 

(e.g., citizen participation, nondiscrimination, OMB Circulars), 

increasing program management or capacity building skills, attracting 

business or industry to CDBG assisted economic development sites or 

projects, assisting eligible CDBG subrecipients such as neighborhood 

nonprofits or small cities in how to obtain CDBG funding from cities and 

States. The provision of technical expertise in other areas which may 

have some tangential benefit or effect on a program is insufficient to 

qualify for funding.

    (3) Awards may be made pursuant to HUD solicitations for assistance 

applications or procurement contract proposals issued in the form of a 

publicly available document which invites the submission of applications 

or proposals within a prescribed period of time. HUD may also enter into 

agreements with other Federal agencies for awarding the technical 

assistance funds:

    (i) Where the Secretary determines that such funding procedures will 

achieve a particular technical assistance objective more effectively and 

the criteria for making the awards will be consistent with this section, 

or

    (ii) The transfer of funds to the other Federal agency for use under 

the terms of the agreement is specifically authorized by law. The 

Department will not accept or fund unsolicited proposals.

    (b) Definitions. (1) Areawide planning organization (APO) means an 

organization authorized by law or local agreement to undertake planning 

and other activities for a metropolitan or non-metropolitan area.

    (2) Technical assistance means the facilitating of skills and 

knowledge in planning, developing and administering activities under 

title I and section 810 of the Act in entities that may need but do not 

possess such skills and knowledge, and includes assessing programs and 

activities under title I.



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    (c) Eligible applicants. Eligible applicants for award of technical 

assistance funding are:

    (1) States, units of general local government, APOs, and Indian 

Tribes; and

    (2) Public and private non-profit or for-profit groups, including 

educational institutions, qualified to provide technical assistance to 

assist such governmental units to carry out the title I or Urban 

Homesteading programs. An applicant group must be designated as a 

technical assistance provider to a unit of government's title I program 

or Urban Homesteading program by the chief executive officer of each 

unit to be assisted, unless the assistance is limited to conferences/

workshops attended by more than one unit of government.

    (d) Eligible activities. Activities eligible for technical 

assistance funding include:

    (1) The provision of technical or advisory services;

    (2) The design and operation of training projects, such as 

workshops, seminars, or conferences;

    (3) The development and distribution of technical materials and 

information; and

    (4) Other methods of demonstrating and making available skills, 

information and knowledge to assist States, units of general local 

government, or Indian Tribes in planning, developing, administering or 

assessing assistance under title I and Urban Homesteading programs in 

which they are participating or seeking to participate.

    (e) Ineligible activities. Activities for which costs are ineligible 

under this section include:

    (1) In the case of technical assistance for States, the cost of 

carrying out the administration of the State CDBG program for non-

entitlement communities;

    (2) The cost of carrying out the activities authorized under the 

title I and Urban Homesteading programs, such as the provision of public 

services, construction, rehabilitation, planning and administration, for 

which the technical assistance is to be provided;

    (3) The cost of acquiring or developing the specialized skills or 

knowledge to be provided by a group funded under this section;

    (4) Research activities;

    (5) The cost of identifying units of governments needing assistance 

(except that the cost of selecting recipients of technical assistance 

under the provisions of paragraph (k) is eligible); or

    (6) Activities designed primarily to benefit HUD, or to assist HUD 

in carrying out the Department's responsibilities; such as research, 

policy analysis of proposed legislation, training or travel of HUD 

staff, or development and review of reports to the Congress.

    (f) Criteria for competitive selection. In determining whether to 

fund competitive applications or proposals under this section, the 

Department will use the following criteria:

    (1) For solicited assistance applications. The Department will use 

two types of criteria for reviewing and selecting competitive assistance 

applications solicited by HUD:

    (i) Evaluation criteria: These criteria will be used to rank 

applications according to weights which may vary with each competition:

    (A) Probable effectiveness of the application in meeting needs of 

localities and accomplishing project objectives;

    (B) Soundness and cost-effectiveness of the proposed approach;

    (C) Capacity of the applicant to carry out the proposed activities 

in a timely and effective fashion;

    (D) The extent to which the results may be transferable or 

applicable to other title I or Urban Homesteading program participants.

    (ii) Program policy criteria: These factors may be used by the 

selecting official to select a range of projects that would best serve 

program objectives for a particular competition:

    (A) Geographic distribution;

    (B) Diversity of types and sizes of applicant entities; and

    (C) Diversity of methods, approaches, or kinds of projects.



The Department will publish a Notice of Fund Availability (NOFA) in the 

Federal Register for each competition indicating the objective of the 

technical assistance, the amount of funding available, the application 

procedures, including the eligible applicants and activities to be 

funded, any



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special conditions applicable to the solicitation, including any 

requirements for a matching share or for commitments for CDBG or other 

title I funding to carry out eligible activities for which the technical 

assistance is to be provided, the maximum points to be awarded each 

evaluation criterion for the purpose of ranking applications, and any 

special factors to be considered in assigning the points to each 

evaluation criterion. The Notice will also indicate which program policy 

factors will be used, the impact of those factors on the selection 

process, the justification for their use and, if appropriate, the 

relative priority of each program policy factor.

    (2) For competitive procurement contract bids/proposals. The 

Department's criteria for review and selection of solicited bids/

proposals for procurement contracts will be described in its public 

announcement of the availability of an Invitation for Bids (IFB) or a 

Request for Proposals (RFP). The public notice, solicitation and award 

of procurement contracts, when used to acquire technical assistance, 

shall be procured in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation 

(48 CFR chapter 1) and the HUD Acquisition Regulation (48 CFR chapter 

24).

    (g) Submission procedures. Solicited assistance applications shall 

be submitted in accordance with the time and place and content 

requirements described in the Department's NOFA. Solicited bids/

proposals for procurement contracts shall be submitted in accordance 

with the requirements in the IFB or RFP.

    (h) Approval procedures--(1) Acceptance. HUD's acceptance of an 

application or proposal for review does not imply a commitment to 

provide funding.

    (2) Notification. HUD will provide notification of whether a project 

will be funded or rejected.

    (3) Form of award. (i) HUD will award technical assistance funds as 

a grant, cooperative agreement or procurement contract, consistent with 

this section, the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1977, 

31 U.S.C. 6301-6308, the HUD Acquisition Regulation, and the Federal 

Acquisition Regulation.

    (ii) When HUD's primary purpose is the transfer of technical 

assistance to assist the recipients in support of the title I or Section 

810 programs, an assistance instrument (grant or cooperative agreement) 

will be used. A grant instrument will be used when substantial Federal 

involvement is not anticipated. A cooperative agreement will be used 

when substantial Federal involvement is anticipated. When a cooperative 

agreement is selected, the agreement will specify the nature of HUD's 

anticipated involvement in the project.

    (iii) A contract will be used when HUD's primary purpose is to 

obtain a provider of technical assistance to act on the Department's 

behalf. In such cases the Department will define the specific tasks to 

be performed. However, nothing in this section shall preclude the 

Department from awarding a procurement contract in any other case when 

it is determined to be in the Department's best interests.

    (4) Administration. Project administration will be governed by the 

terms of individual awards and relevant regulations. As a general rule, 

proposals will be funded to operate for one to two years, and periodic 

and final reports will be required.

    (i) Environmental and intergovernmental review. The requirements for 

Environmental Reviews and Intergovernmental Reviews do not apply to 

technical assistance awards.

    (j) Selection of recipients of technical assistance. Where under the 

terms of the funding award the recipient of the funding is to select the 

recipients of the technical assistance to be provided, the funding 

recipient shall publish, and publicly make available to potential 

technical assistance recipients, the availability of such assistance and 

the specific criteria to be used for the selection of the recipients to 

be assisted. Selected recipients must be entities participating or 

planning to participate in the title I or Urban Homesteading programs or 

activities for which the technical assistance is to be provided.



(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control numbers 

2535-0085 and 2535-0084)



[56 FR 41938, Aug. 26, 1991]



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