A Bona Fide Agent is an agency/organization identified by the state as eligible to submit an application under the state eligibility in lieu of a state application.  If applying as a bona fide agent of a state or local government, a letter from the state or local government as documentation of the status is required.  Attach with “Other Attachment Forms” when submitting via www.grants.gov.   

For the proposed program, eligible participants must be located in the United States and must have the necessary infrastructure in place to perform the activities required for this national surveillance program. In addition, participants must have the expertise and experience needed to successfully complete the required functions.

Participants must have a laboratory director with known expertise in the field of Neisseria gonorrhoeae who has had previous experience in the area of surveillance and epidemiology of antimicrobial resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae. In addition, the laboratory must be located in the United States and have the demonstrated capacity to perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing on specific antibiotics as directed by the GISP protocol using the agar dilution method on a minimum of 1,500 isolates per year from multiple GISP sentinel sites and the capacity to increase testing, if needed. Furthermore, laboratory personnel must have had previous experience in the culturing, handling, and storage of gonococcal isolates; and the willingness to collaborate and disseminate results electronically in a timely manner to CDC, GISP sites, and to state/local public health authorities.

III.2. Cost Sharing or Matching

Cost sharing or matching funds are not required for this program.

III.3. Other

If a funding amount greater than the ceiling of the award range is requested, the application will be considered non-responsive and will not be entered into the review process.  The applicant will be notified that the application did not meet the submission requirements.

Special Requirements:

If the application is incomplete or non-responsive to the special requirements listed in this section, it will not be entered into the review process.  The applicant will be notified the application did not meet submission requirements.

IV.1. Address to Request Application Package

To apply for this funding opportunity use the application forms package posted in Grants.gov.

Electronic Submission:

HHS/CDC strongly encourages the applicant to submit the application electronically by utilizing the forms and instructions posted for this announcement on www.Grants.gov, the official Federal agency wide E-grant Web site.  Only applicants who apply on-line are permitted to forego paper copy submission of all application forms.

Registering your organization through www.Grants.gov is the first step in submitting applications online. Registration information is located in the “Get Registered” screen of www.Grants.gov. While application submission through www.Grants.gov is optional, we strongly encourage you to use this online tool.

Please visit www.Grants.gov at least 30 days prior to filing your application to familiarize yourself with the registration and submission processes. Under “Get Registered,” the one-time registration process will take three to five days to complete; however, as part of the Grants.gov registration process, registering your organization with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) annually, could take an additional one to two days to complete. We suggest submitting electronic applications prior to the closing date so if difficulties are encountered, you can submit a hard copy of the application prior to the deadline.

IV.2. Content and Form of Submission

Letter of Intent (LOI): 

Prospective applicants are asked to submit a letter of intent that includes the following information:

Application:

A Project Abstract must be submitted with the application forms.  All electronic project abstracts must be uploaded in a PDF file format when submitting via Grants.gov.  The abstract must be submitted in the following format, if submitting a paper application:

The Project Abstract must contain a summary of the proposed activity suitable for dissemination to the public.  It should be a self-contained description of the project and should contain a statement of objectives and methods to be employed.  It should be informative to other persons working in the same or related fields and insofar as possible understandable to a technically literate lay reader.  This Abstract must not include any proprietary/confidential information. 

A project narrative must be submitted with the application forms.  All electronic narratives must be uploaded in a PDF file format when submitting via Grants.gov.  The narrative must be submitted in the following format, if submitting a paper application:

The narrative should address activities to be conducted over the entire project period and must include the following items in the order listed:

Additional information may be included in the application appendices.  The appendices will not be counted toward the narrative page limit.  This additional information includes:

Additional information submitted via Grants.gov should be uploaded in a PDF file format, and should be named:

No more than 10 electronic attachments should be uploaded per application. 

The agency or organization is required to have a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number to apply for a grant or cooperative agreement from the Federal government.  The DUNS number is a nine-digit identification number, which uniquely identifies business entities.  Obtaining a DUNS number is easy and there is no charge.  To obtain a DUNS number, access the Dun and Bradstreet website or call 1-866-705-5711. 

Additional requirements that may request submission of additional documentation with the application are listed in section “VI.2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements.”

Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline Date: August 5, 2008   

Application Deadline Date: September 4, 2008    

Explanation of Deadlines: LOIs and Applications must be received in the CDC Procurement and Grants Office by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the deadline date. 

Applications must be submitted electronically at www.Grants.gov.  Applications completed on-line through Grants.gov are considered formally submitted when the applicant organization’s Authorizing Organization Representative (AOR) electronically submits the application to www.Grants.gov.  Electronic applications will be considered as having met the deadline if the application has been successfully submitted electronically by the applicant organization’s AOR to Grants.gov on or before the deadline date and time.

When submission of the application is done electronically through Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov), the application will be electronically time/date stamped and a tracking number will be assigned, which will serve as receipt of submission.  The AOR will receive an e-mail notice of receipt when HHS/CDC receives the application.

This announcement is the definitive guide on LOI and application content, submission address, and deadline.  It supersedes information provided in the application instructions.  If the application submission does not meet the deadline above, it will not be eligible for review.  The application face page will be returned by HHS/CDC with a written explanation of the reason for non-acceptance.  The applicant will be notified the application did not meet the submission requirements. 

IV.4. Intergovernmental Review of Applications

The application is subject to Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs, as governed by Executive Order (EO) 12372.  This order sets up a system for state and local governmental review of proposed federal assistance applications.  Contact the state single point of contact (SPOC) as early as possible to alert the SPOC to prospective applications and to receive instructions on the State’s process.  Visit the following Web address to get the current SPOC list:

 http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.html

IV.5. Funding Restrictions

Restrictions, which must be taken into account while writing the budget, are as follows:

If requesting indirect costs in the budget, a copy of the indirect cost rate agreement is required.  If the indirect cost rate is a provisional rate, the agreement should be less than 12 months of age.  The indirect cost rate agreement should be uploaded as a PDF file with “Other Attachment Forms” when submitting via Grants.gov. 

The recommended guidance for completing a detailed justified budget can be found on the CDC Web site, at the following Internet address:

http://www.cdc.gov/od/pgo/funding/budgetguide.htm.

IV.6. Other Submission Requirements

LOI Submission Address: Submit the LOI by express mail, delivery service, fax, or E-mail to:

Although a letter of intent is not required, is not binding, and does not enter into the review of a subsequent application, the information that it contains allows CDC Program staff to estimate the potential review workload and plan the review. 

The letter of intent is to be sent by the date listed in Section IV.3.A.

Application Submission Address:

HHS/CDC strongly encourages applicants to submit applications electronically at www.Grants.gov.  The application package can be downloaded from www.Grants.gov.  Applicants are able to complete it off-line, and then upload and submit the application via the Grants.gov Web site.  E-mail submissions will not be accepted.  If the applicant has technical difficulties in Grants.gov, customer service can be reached by E-mail at support@grants.gov or by phone at 1-800-518-4726 (1-800-518-GRANTS).  The Customer Support Center is open from 7:00a.m. to 9:00p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. 

HHS/CDC recommends that submittal of the application to Grants.gov should be prior to the closing date to resolve any unanticipated difficulties prior to the deadline.  Applicants may also submit a back-up paper submission of the application.  Any such paper submission must be received in accordance with the requirements for timely submission detailed in Section IV.3. of the grant announcement. The paper submission must be clearly marked:  “BACK-UP FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION.”  The paper submission must conform to all requirements for non-electronic submissions.  If both electronic and back-up paper submissions are received by the deadline, the electronic version will be considered the official submission.

The applicant must submit all application attachments using a PDF file format when submitting via Grants.gov.  Directions for creating PDF files can be found on the Grants.gov Web site.  Use of file formats other than PDF may result in the file being unreadable by staff.

V.1. Criteria

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 goals stated in the “Purpose” section of this announcement.  Measures must be objective and quantitative and must measure the intended outcome.  The measures of effectiveness must be submitted with the application and will be an element of evaluation.

The application will be evaluated against the following criteria:

Principal Investigator Expertise/Experience: (25 points total)

·        (5 points) Has the PI participated either in GISP in the past or has demonstrated significant participation in a similar antimicrobial resistant N. gonorrhoeae surveillance system? Documentation must be provided.