>> Hello everyone. Today's webinar will start promptly at 3 p.m. We will give people a little bit more time to get logged in. Good afternoon and welcome to today's webinar. Before we get started, I wanted to inform you that today's webinar will be recorded and will be posted online at a later date along with the slides. The chat is disabled, so please put your content-related questions into the QA box, and they will be addressed at the end during the live QA session. [inaudible] issues can be sent to Q as in quiet, Z as in zebra, V as in Victor, the number 3 at CDC.gov, and I'll try to address them as quick as possible. Now, I'll pass it over to Stefanie.

>> Thanks so much, Jonathon, and thanks for all of your help organizing today's webinar. Hi everybody. Welcome to the informational webinar for new funding opportunity CK22-2203. I'll start with introductions for our CDC panelists. I'll then move into a presentation, providing an overview of this funding opportunity, and then we will use any remaining time we have to respond to questions that are received from participants. First, I'd like to introduce Dr. Mike Bell. Mike is the department director of CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. Thanks so much for being here today, Mike.

>> Hi everybody. Thank you for joining us today.

>> Up next, we have Freda Johnson. Freda is from CDC's Office of Grant Services. Thanks Freda. Up next, we have Kate Agin Alexander, who is the project officer for this funding opportunity. Hi Kate. Thank you. Next, we have Liz McClune, who is the lead for CDC's Project Firstline within the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion.

>> Howdy.

>> And then finally we have Jen Hunter, who is in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion's Prevention and Response Branch where she leads the field support team. I just want to thank everybody for being here today and your willingness to serve as a panelist, and we look forward to hearing from you all later during the Q and A period. All right. So, with introductions done, we'll move into the overview of the funding opportunity. So, welcome again, and thank you for joining the informational webinar for funding opportunity announcement CK22-2203 Strengthening Healthcare Infection Prevention and Control and Improving Patient Safety in the United States. My name is Dr. Stefanie McBride, and I work in the CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. Here in today's webinar, the CDC CK22-2203 project team will provide an overview of the funding opportunity, and then we will provide potential applicants an opportunity to ask questions or seek clarification about the funding opportunity announcement. I'm going to review a few other housekeeping and administrative announcements, some of which will be a repeat of what you already heard from Jonathon. You can ask questions using the Zoom Q and A box at the bottom of your screen. You can contact qzv3@cdc.gov for technical difficulties. And to help us have a better sense of the participating organizations, if you're able, please feel free to edit your participant name to also include the name of the organization that you represent. A copy of the slides and a recording of today's webinar will posted on CDC.gov at the link shown on the slide. Please allow several days and up to a couple of weeks for the posting to be available. The most up-to-date information on the funding opportunity announcement will be available on grants.gov. Please check the grants.gov site for this funding opportunity regularly for any updates. During the application process, if you have any questions, please send those to the mailbox shown on the last bullet of this slide healthcareIPCcoag@cdc.gov. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted gaps in infection prevention and control for IPC knowledge and practice in U.S. healthcare settings. IPC in healthcare stops the spread of infections, preventing illness and death and protecting patients and healthcare personnel. This funding opportunity provides real-world implementation solutions for CDC's evidence-based guidance during both normal operations and during emergencies. In 2020, CDC launched Project Firstline, a collaborative of healthcare, public health, and academic partners committed to strengthening healthcare IPC practice and training. This funding opportunity supports Project Firstline implementation through strategies that improve the design and effectiveness of training and education for healthcare personnel. By engaging a diverse set of partners and investing in work that supports a broad range of healthcare personnel populations and healthcare settings, this work supports CDC's efforts to strengthen health equity, protect populations at increased risk for negative outcomes, and address disparities in IPC training and competencies. The purpose of this funding opportunity is to support work that accelerates progress towards strategies to make the delivery of healthcare safer for healthcare personnel and patients. This funding opportunity supports CDC's National Center for Emerging and zoonotic infectious diseases and the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion priorities of preventing the spread of infectious diseases and protecting patients and healthcare personnel in the United States. The Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion supports partners to implement IPC programs, identify and refine best approaches, and promote innovative solutions for preventing infections across healthcare settings. Through this funding opportunity, CDC seeks to establish and expand partnerships with academic, healthcare, nongovernmental, and other organizations uniquely suited to implement the work proposed. The target populations for this funding opportunity include all individual engaged in any aspect of patient care and healthcare delivery. The funding opportunity announcement does not specify specific subpopulations of those involved in patient care and healthcare delivery, but we do anticipate that applicants will propose to target activities towards specific subpopulations. Applicants should clearly describe the specific target populations that will be reached by the work proposed within their applications. We will move now into a description of the components, strategies, and intermediate and long-term outcomes for this cooperative agreement. A lot of information will be shared over the next few minutes, and it is all available in the funding opportunity announcement and in these slides. The logic model outlines two components of this cooperative agreement and the intermediate and long-term outcomes associated with each component. The funding opportunity announcement provides additional detail on logic model outcomes. Please be sure to review the strategies and activities section of the funding opportunity announcement as we will not have time today to discuss at the activity and output levels. Importantly, every recipient is not expected to achieve every bolded outcome in the logic model. The bolded outcomes represent what we believe is possible collectively across all recipients. Let's start with component 1, which focuses on improving the safety and quality of healthcare and protecting healthcare personnel and patients by strengthening IPC. The work supported through component 1 of this funding opportunity will accelerate progress for the prevention of transmission of infectious pathogens in healthcare settings through ongoing, correct implementation of IPC practices, procedures, and processes, through use of improved or novel materials, equipment, and devices, and from the air, water and services in healthcare environments. Work supporting healthcare IPC preparedness will enable effective, safe, and rapid responses to infectious disease outbreaks and other emergencies through improved information sharing and situational awareness within and between healthcare facilities, systems, and governmental authorities as well as through the enhanced ability to apply techniques, tools, materials, procedures, policies, and practices that may not be routinely used. There are five strategies within component 1, and we will spend a few minutes talking about each of them. Implementation of work in support of component 1 strategies should enable real-world implementation solutions for CDC's evidence-based guidance during normal healthcare operations as well as in preparation for and during emergencies. It should lead to project results that can inform evidence-based revisions of CDC healthcare IPC guidance and recommendations, and it should support identification of healthcare personnel education and training needs to successfully implement improved or novel approaches or interventions. Strategy 1A will improve healthcare facility structure design and engineering and should result in improvements to the safe provision of quality healthcare and improvements in IPC practices across diverse healthcare settings. Strategy 1b should result in improvements, innovations, and improved use of healthcare IPC materials, equipment, and devices, and strategy 1c will improve IPC work processes, procedures, and practices in diverse healthcare settings. Strategy 1d supports implementation of stand practices to ensure healthcare environments are safe and should result in a reduction of barriers and challenges related to optimizing air, water, and services in the healthcare environment and improved environmental services in healthcare facilities. Strategy 1e will strengthen healthcare IPC preparedness in support of healthcare facility ability to respond to infectious disease threats rapidly, safely, and effectively and should demonstrate the value of IPC preparedness activities to the readiness and resilience of healthcare personnel, facilities, and systems. As noted previously, please carefully review the strategies and activity sections of the funding opportunity announcement. They provide additional details on the strategies, suggested outputs, and examples of activities in support of each of the strategies in the logic model. The work supported through component 2 of the funding opportunity strengthens the implementation of IPC in healthcare settings to protect patients and healthcare personnel including interventions developed or improved through component 1 by developing new or improved approaches to healthcare personnel IPC training, education, and competency assessment. This funding opportunity does not support activities that are solely focused on disseminating existing IPC training approaches and resources. Additionally, component two establishes regional resource centers to support state and local health department programs and strengthen their ability to support healthcare IPC and outbreak response. Implementation across the component 2 strategies should result in improved IPC knowledge and practices of U.S. healthcare personnel, increased effectiveness of IPC training and education, improved ability of health department programs to support implementation of healthcare IPC, and greater partnership between public health and healthcare systems. There are three strategies within component 2. Implementation of strategy 2a will improve the understanding of optimal approaches, timing, and modalities for training and education of U.S. healthcare personnel across diverse healthcare setting, improve understand of how improved or novel training methods can lead to an uptake of IPC knowledge and IPC-related behavior change and result in innovative improved and effective approaches for ongoing and ad hoc healthcare personnel IPC training and formal IPC education. Successful implementation of strategy 2a should accelerate progress for all U.S. healthcare personnel having the IPC training and formal IPC education they need and deserve, and that training and education are culturally appropriate, linguistically accessible, and at the appropriate education level. Implementation of strategy 2b, which focuses on effective healthcare personnel competency assessment, will result in the development, evaluation, and implementation of new or improved approaches to assess and strengthen healthcare personnel comprehension and implementation of IPC action and processes. Strategy 2c will improve the ability of the U.S. public health workforce to support healthcare IPC and the prevention of and response to healthcare-associated infections, or HAI, and antibiotic resistance (AR). This should result in increased knowledge and capacity within the U.S. public health workforce specifically health department HAI/AR programs in the areas of healthcare IPC and HAI/AR prevention and response. This strategy will establish regional integrated healthcare epidemiology in IPC resource centers, at academic medical centers, schools of public health, or schools of nursing to support state and local health department programs. These regional centers will partner with CDC-funded HAI/AR programs within an assigned region to identify healthcare IPC and HAI/AR capacity building needs and provide training, education, and consultation resources in coordination with CDC. Improving health and healthcare equity and addressing health disparities is a priority for CDC, the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, and the division of healthcare quality promotion. Applicants should plan to be inclusive of populations that might be directly impacted or have increased risk for infectious diseases. Applicants must describe the specific target population and explain how such a target will monitor and achieve goals of the award or alleviate health disparities. The applicant must also address how they will include specific populations that can benefit from the program that is described in the approach section. Applicant should address the target populations and health disparities requirements as described in the CDC project description of the funding opportunity. Let's move now to a discussion of the funding strategy for this cooperative agreement. First, let's discuss eligibility. This funding opportunity has full and open competition. The funding opportunity announcement provides additional details on eligibility. Successful applicants will demonstrate specialized expertise, infrastructure, technological capabilities and partners to strength healthcare IPC. Work proposed can be complementary to but must not be duplicative of work funded by CDC through any other mechanism. Next, let's discuss the components and strategies that can be included. Applicants can apply to one or both components. Within each component included in the application the application can proposed, the applicant, excuse me, can propose work in support of a maximum of two strategies. The components and strategies included in the application must be clearly stated in the project abstract summary. When you are developing your application, estimate an annual funding level of $1 per component. This funding opportunity will establish a roster of approved but unfunded or ABU recipients. The ABU list may be used to provide additional funding during the period of performance to respond to emerging healthcare IPC needs. All funding for this cooperative agreement is contingent on the availability of funds, is subject to all relevant statutory authorities, and is at CDC's full discretion. As of the time of publication of the funding opportunity announcement, the estimated fiscal year funding level for the first year of this cooperative agreement is $12 million. The estimated total funding for this cooperative agreement is estimated to be $100 million. The period of performance is five years with the budget period link of 12 months. Each applicant is required to propose an evaluation and performance measurement plan that includes all of the components and strategies that are included in their application. Each applicant should proposed process measures to track implementation and outputs and outcome measures to monitor achievement of the outcomes expected. In anticipation of a range of unique and innovative approaches applicants will propose, we do not propose a standard set of measures for all applicants. Instead, this funding opportunity announcement describes a framework that applicants could use to propose process and outcome measures specific to their application. The funding opportunity announcement provides a list of example process measures and outcome measures. Applicants can also propose other measures appropriate for the work that they propose to do. The process measures proposed by an applicant should be specific to the key milestones of the applicant's proposed activities and demonstrate progress towards project goals. The outcome measures proposed by an applicant should link clearly and directly to the bolded outcomes in the logic model that align with the specific strategy or strategies the applicant has applied to. Applicants must have the unique and specialized technical expertise, established infrastructure, and management capabilities as outlined in the funding opportunity announcement. For both components 1 and 2, applicants must demonstrate management and administrative capacities including the ability to employ or access IPC experts, effectively manage partnership, conduct performance monitoring, and submit required reports. For component 1, applicants should describe their technical capacities related to the ability to form and deliver innovative solutions to healthcare IPC challenges, have the infrastructure necessary to implement the activities proposed, their capacity to monitor and report on their work, and their ability to inform the development, distribution, or implementation of guidance, recommendations, or tools. For component 2 strategies 2a and 2b, applicants must demonstrate their ability to have the infrastructure necessary to implement the activities proposed, form and deliver solutions to healthcare IPC training, education, or competency assessment, inform the development of new or improved approaches to healthcare IPC training, support, reach, and engage a national, regional, or local network of occupational categories or healthcare facilities, and monitor and report on their progress implementing the work proposed. For component 2, strategy 2c, applicants must demonstrate ability to establish a regional integrated healthcare epidemiology and IPC resource center, develop, adapt, deliver, and promote training and resources to support the HAI/AR public health workforce within an assigned region, and monitor and report on their work supporting the U.S. public health workforce and health department capacity. Sorry. Give me just one second. Sorry about that, everyone. All potential applications are encouraged to carefully review the funding opportunity announcement for details on the required contents for an application. Each application should include a table of contents that list all sections, components, and attachments of the application package. There is no page limit for the table of contents. Each application must also include a brief project abstract summary that clearly states the components and strategies included in the application using for the format provided in the funding opportunity announcement. The project narrative section of the application includes the background, approach, evaluation, and performance measurement plan, organizational capacity, and work plan. Because this is a multicomponent cooperative agreement, applicants are permitted to have a maximum of 15 pages for the base content and up to four additional pages per component for the project narrative. It is okay to submit an application that is less than the maximum number of pages allowed. Each applicant must also submit a budge narrative, included both direct and indirect costs. Please see the funding opportunity announcement for specific information on the budget narrative. The budget narrative should only cover year one, not the full five-year period of performance. As described in the organizational capacity section of the funding opportunity announcement, each applicant must submit relevant organizational charts and a letter signed by a senior leader of the organization attesting to the existing capacity and capability for rapid procurement, hiring, and contracting. The funding opportunity announcement also provides a comprehensive list of optional attachments that an applicant may include. All applications much include a work plan as part of the project narrative. The work plan should include a detailed description of the work in year one and a projection of activities to be completed across the five-year period of performance. The funding opportunity announcement provides a template table that applicants should use when developing their work plans and we will review that template table in the next slide. Applicants should complete a template table for each strategy that is included in their application. As a reminder, applicants can include one or both components in their application. For each component included, an applicant may address a maximum of two strategies. For example, let's say an applicant applies for both components one and two. The strategies they choose to address are strategies 1a and 1b and strategy 2b. Therefore, a total of three template tables should be completed and included as the workplan section of the project narrative. Post award, the proposed work plan and activities may be adjusted in collaboration with CDC to better address the overarching goals of the funding opportunity. Applicants should be able to revise work plans as emerging needs arise and/or upon discussion with CDC program staff. Applicants should ensure that implementation of activities in support of a strategy is supported by guidance, interim guidance, recommendations, and/or tools provided by the CDC or healthcare providers and occupational groups and engaged in healthcare IPC. As we just discussed, the workplan should consist of a completed workplan template table for each of the strategies included in the application. Let's spend a minute walking through each of the sections of the workplan template table. In the top row, please state the component the work plan applies to using the specific name of the component from the logic model. In the second row, please state the strategy the work plan applies to using the exact language from the logic model. In the third row, list the intermediate and long-term outcomes from the logic model that this work supports using the exact language from the logic model. In the fourth row, list the outcome measures that are proposed to track progress towards the outcomes in row three. The these should align with the applicant's evaluation and performance management measurement plan. Finally, in all subsequent row, list the activities to be conducted across the period of performance. Please provided a detailed list of activities for year one and a projection of activities across the remaining period of performance. For each activity listed, an applicant should provide one or more process measures that are consistent with the applicant's evaluation and performance monitoring plan, the persons or positions responsible for implementing the activity, and the month and year of the anticipated completion date. We can't emphasize enough the importance of carefully reviewing all of the documentation associated with this funding opportunity announcement on grants.gov. There are several steps all applicants must take to ensure they are ready to apply included obtaining a Data Universal Number System or DUNS identification number, registering for a System for Award Management or SAM account, and registering your organization on grants.gov. We encourage all potential applicants to complete these steps as soon as possible. Let's move now to a discussion of the application review and recipient selection process. The review and selection process is completed in three phases. In phase one review, CDC will review all applications for eligibility and completeness. All applications will be initially reviewed for eligibility and completeness by the Office of Grant Services. Complete applications will then be reviewed for responsiveness by grant management officials and program officials. Nonresponsive applications will not advance to phase 2 review. Applicants will be notified that their application did not meet eligibility and/or publish submission requirements. In phase 2 review, an objective review panel evaluates complete and eligible applications in three areas, approach, evaluation and performance measurement, and the application's organizational capacity to implement the approach. We will go into more detail on each of these three areas in subsequent slides. During phase 2 review, applicants will be scored at the component level, and all applicants will be rank ordered per component. In phase three review, the CDC program will make funding decisions. To successfully implement the strategies in this funding opportunity and achieve the outcomes defined in the logic model, CDC recognizes the need to potentially fund out of rank order. Please see the funding opportunity announcement for a list of considerations related to funding out of rank order. As we discussed on an earlier slide, review of applications will result in a roster of approved but unfunded recipients that could potentially be funded in the future should the need arise and should funds become available. In the next few slides, we have provided the phase 2 objective review criteria. To make sure that we have ample time for questions today, we will not go through the review criteria in detail. If there's time at the end, we can return to this section if there are questions. The funding opportunity announcement provides a list of all objective review criteria for phase 2 review, and we encourage you to carefully consider these criteria as you prepare your application. In phase two review, each application is scored at the component level out of a possible 100 points. Let's start with the review criteria for the approach, which has a maximum points value of 35. There are several review criteria that are shared for both components 1 and 2, and those have been summarized on this slide. There are also some phase 2 review criteria for the applicant's approach that are specific to each component. These criteria are provided on this slide. Please note that there are some review criteria specific to strategies 2a and 2b and some review criteria that are specific to strategy 2c. This slide summarizes the phase 2 review criteria for evaluation and performance measurement, which has a maximum value of 30 points. The review criteria are the same for components 1 and 2 and are intended to ensure that the performance measurement and evaluation activities proposed are aligned with the logic model and work proposed can be implemented and will help with measuring the outcomes and success of the cooperative agreement. The third section of phase 2 review evaluates the organizational capacity of the applicant to implement the approach. The intention of these review criteria is to evaluate if the applicant has the unique and specialized technical expertise, established infrastructure, partnerships, and management capabilities as outlined in the organization capacity section of this funding opportunity. This section is worth a maximum of 35 points. This slide summarizes the criteria for organizational capacity of the applicant for component 1. Please keep these review criteria in mind as you develop the organization capacity section of your project narrative. The next two slides summarize the phase two review criteria for organizational capacity of component 2, which again has a maximum point value of 35. The review criteria are intended to assess the organizational capacity to implement activities in support of the strategies and activities described in the funding opportunity announcement. For all component 2 strategies, each application will be evaluated on the extent to which the application includes qualified staff to implement the proposed activities, the applicant's proposed management structure demonstrates a clear plan and capacity for administration and management of the proposed work. Please note that there are review criteria that are specific to strategies 2a and 2b and criteria that are specific to strategy 2c. Continuing from the previous slide, these are additional phase 2 review criteria for organizational capacity for component 2. Please note, again, that there are review criteria that are specific to strategies 2a and 2b and to strategy 2c. Please keep these review criteria in mind as you develop the organizational capacity section of your project narrative. The final section of phase 2 review is a review of the budget narrative. This section is not scored, and the criteria are the same for components 1 and 2. The criteria for phase 2 review of the budget narrative are to what extent is the proposed budget consistent with the stated program strategies and planned program activities and to what extent is the proposed budget adequately justified. There are many important dates included in the funding opportunity announcement, and some of those are summarized on this slide. The funding opportunity announcement was published on grants.gov on December 3, 2021, several weeks ahead of the anticipated publication date that was included in the forecast. This resulted in adjustments of several other dates associated with this funding opportunity. The next important deadline is the submission of letters of intent by January 28, 2022. Letters of intent are strongly recommended but are not required. Please include the components and strategies you would tend to include in your application in your letter of intent using the format provided in the funding opportunity announcement. Receiving letters of intent is very helpful to CDC as we plan for the objective review process. Complete application packages must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. on February 11, 2022. Currently, we estimate an award date of July 25, 2022, and a project start date of August 1, 2022. Please note that all dates are subject to change. If you have any questions regarding this funding opportunity that we are not able to address during today's webinar, please contact the points of contact listed on this slide. For information about the programmatic aspects of the cooperative agreement, please contact the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at healthcareIPCcoag@cdc.gov. This mailbox is monitored Monday through Friday during CDC core business hours except for federal holidays. Please allow at least two business days for a response. For information about CDC grants administration, please contact Ms. Freda Johnson at wve2@cdc.gov. We would like to thank everyone for joining today's webinar and for your interest in applying for this new cooperative agreement. We will now use any remaining time to answer questions from webinar participants. If you have a question, please submit it using the Zoom question and answer functionality. We will answer questions in the order they are received to the extent possible. If we are unable to answer a question today or if we run out of time, we will do our best to include a response as part of frequently asked questions section of the funding opportunity webpage on cdc.gov. And with that, I will turn it over to Kate to help facilitate our Q and A session.

>> Thank you, Stefanie. So, for the first one that we have, it comes from someone asking about relating to infection control practices in the prehospital setting. So, what they're specifically asking is before they continue to work on their proposal, this particular person wanted to know that workers in the prehospital setting would be considered an appropriate target audience for the funding described, and you know, some of the references they made were fire-based and non-fire-based EMTs and paramedics, and historically, they have not been included in guidelines and recommendations for healthcare workers, and so, they just wanted to make sure that that would be considered a target audience.

>> Thanks Kate. I can take that. That's a great question. Thank you so much. Yeah. Healthcare personnel professions in the free hospital space can be considered for this funding opportunity including emergency medical services.

>> The next question is, are organizations permitted to apply for the NOFO both as a primary applicant and as a partner or a collaborator with another applicant organization and include a letter of support. The answer is yes. You are allowed to apply as a primary and then also work as a partner or collaborator with a different applicant organization. The caveat to that is the work that you're doing as the primary and as a partner or collaborative cannot be duplicative. So, that way we're not funding an organization to do the same work twice. And then, another question we have is, is this open to those who are not currently funded by Project Firstline? The answer is yes, but applicants can be funded by multiple CDC funding mechanisms. You know, cooperative agreements, but applicants must not be funded by any other CDC cooperative agreement or other funding mechanism that conducts work that is duplicative or duplicates efforts of the work proposed in their application to this NOFO. The next question, Stefanie, I'm going to kick this one over to you. This is asking for a little bit more explanation about the differences between component 1 and component 2 as far as IPC training, and the caveat is that it seems they both can include an IPC training component.

>> Thanks so much, Kate and Megan. That's a great question. I'll start actually with component 2. Component 2, especially component 2, strategy 2a is not focused on the delivery of IPC training but on the development of new and innovative approaches for infection control training and education. CDC has other mechanisms in place that are focused solely on dissemination of IPC trading. So, for strategy 2a, we're really looking at how can we use human-centered design approaches to improve IPC training and education. And you're exactly right. Component 1 could include IPC training aspects as part of overarching approaches to improve IPC processes, procedures, and protocols. Many, if you look at the activities for many of the strategies in component 1, you'll see both capacity building of healthcare personnel, which of course could include IPC training, but also an important aspect is identifying what those training needs are and making sure that those are known within the healthcare IPC community as targets for, as gaps that need to be filled. So, I hope that was helpful, and actually, and I'll turn it over to Liz McClune to see if there's anything she wants to add to that.

>> No, but I do want to highlight that important language that it is about innovative approaches using human-centered design versus we're going to train 100,000 million people. Again, we want to really get into that innovation piece of what it could look like, platforms, procedures, approaches versus the actual doing of the training. That's the difference between the two, the two work and how they might not be duplicative if you were applying under both.

>> All right. Thank you, both, for that. Can applicants be funded for partial components and/or strategies for which they applied, and the answer is yes to that. So, you can apply as Stefanie outlined up to two strategies in each of the components. So, you can, component one, you can have two, and then component two you can have two strategies. And then upon the entire review process, you may be selected for one strategy under one component. You could be selected for a couple, or you could be selected for all. So, it just is based on the review process and how strongly your application is. And again, there's always the caveat of based on available funding. And our application is limited to one per institution. And for that particular question, one application may be submitted per DUNS number or tax ID. Within some institutions and organizations, there are multiple DUNS numbers or tax IDs, you know, for different organizational units, and multiple entities may apply from a single institution if they have their own DUNS number or tax ID number. And is there a limit to how many entities may be selected as an approved but unfunded applicant? No, there's no limit, so you're either selected for funding or you're included on the list of approved but unfunded, and as funding becomes available or there's more need for certain work and certain components or strategies, then you could be pulled off of that approved but unfunded list and then receive an award or funding. The next question we have is will an organizational capacity letter from the dean of school suffice? And Stefanie I'll [inaudible].

>> Yeah, I think it just needs to be a senior leader within your organization that can speak to those organizational capacity components that were noted during the presentation and that are noted in the funding opportunity announcement.

>> Okay. We have a slightly duplicative question. Does partnering on one applicant proposal generally or specifically as a subrecipient, pardon me, preclude an entity from submitting its own proposal. And I think that goes back to what we had stated earlier, and the questions is, you can submit your own application for your organization. You can also be a partner or collaborator on another or subrecipient for another organization as long as the work that you are being funded for if selected is not duplicative and, you know, you could be working on similar things, but not the same thing. And Freda, I want to turn that over to you to make sure, our OGS [inaudible] to make sure that I answered that appropriately.

>> I'm sorry. I was on mute. No, I was saying, yes, that was perfect. I have nothing further to add, and that is correct.

>> Okay, thank you so much. It's more of a technical question, on pages 34 and 35 of the NOFO, what do the numbers preceding each group of eligible applicants, for example, there's a number 20, and then it says private institutions of higher education mean? That's just kind of a grants.gov coding. It really doesn't pertain specifically to, the number doesn't necessarily pertain to what the eligibility group is. That's just more of a coding thing for the system. The next question is, is funding all or none? That is, if an institution applies for a strategy in component 1 and component 2, could the institution be awarded for one component and not the other. Again, it is not all or nothing. It could be all, nothing, or partial. Again, depending on how your application in that strategy and component ranks against other applications in those categories. For a one component application, is the project narrative limited to 15 pages or 19 pages? Do you get an additional, addition four pages if you're only submitting one component. The answer to that one is, yes, you get 19 pages. So, your base for including all the things that Stefanie did outline in the presentation that goes into the project narrative is your 15 pages, and then you can get into those up to four pages very specifically into the components and strategies and the work that you'd like to outline in there. And Stefanie, did you want to add to that? Okay. Is there a dollar amount that delegates a purchase as equipment and not supplies? The threshold for that is 5000. So, if you're buying a massive printer that's over $5000, I'm just throwing out a random example, but you know, if it's over 5000 for one unit, that would go into an equipment. If you're buying, you know, 100 computers at, you know, $50 each, that hits you at 5000, but those are still listed as supplies because it's multiple units that would get you up there, but it's still listed as supply. So, the threshold is 5000. Freda, is that correct?

>> It's actually, there has been an update to the CFR to actually, yeah, to include computer equipment as recognized as equipment. And it also depends on how the organization recognizes items as equipment. But as you stated for the federal agencies, we still recognize equipment at $5000 when we're closing out the award, and we need an inventory of the equipment. There's still that $5000 threshold.

>> Okay. Just for discrepancy sake, if you're not sure, put it where you think is best, and if selected for funding, there will be budget markups but then we can change the budget categories if needed. So, you won't get penalized for that if it comes in, you know, differently than what we need it to. The next question we have is does the page limit mean that if you do one component you have 19 pages? Also, are the template tables included in the page limit? Stefanie, I'll go ahead and kick that over to you.

>> Yeah. So, like Kate mentioned earlier, if you are [inaudible] one component, you'll have 19 pages, and yes, the template tables are, the work plan template tables are included as part of that page limit. I am looking in the funding opportunity announcement now to confirm that, and if that's not the case, Kate, I'll pop back on to correct myself.

>> Wonderful. Thank you, Stefanie. Next question is would CDC consider delaying the due date given that many applicants are currently swamped dealing with this COVID surge? Unfortunately, at this time, we cannot delay. We have strict timelines that we have to get these things processed and through to be able to get them funded before the end of the fiscal year. Is there, Freda, is there anything else you want to add to that for Stefanie? At this time, no.

>> No. I have nothing further to add.

>> The next question is, do unused funds transfer to the next year? We can't say at the beginning absolutely yes. There is a, if you are selected for funding for year one, you would then, you know, do everything you can to spend the money to conduct your activities, and then, when you get to the continuation application portion, you can request a carryover if you do have unused funds or unobligated funds, and then that carryover request would then be reviewed and either approved or disapproved. So, it's reviewed every year so there's no blanket answer that I could give. It is reviewed, but there is an opportunity to request that unobligated funds be carried over into subsequent years. Next question is, how do we protect proprietary information? We must include an application to explain the feasibility of our solution. I am going to kick that over to someone else. Freda, would you happen -- no, okay.

>> Kate, why don't we take that. That is a great question.

>> It is.

>> Why don't we take that back and we will provide an answer as part of the FAQs that we'll be posting soon on our, the website for this NOFO. Does that sound okay?

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Thanks so much for that question.

>> Yep. And Ken, if you'd like to send an email to the healthcareIPCcoag@cdc.gov, you can send that question to that email address that Stefanie has pulled up on the webinar screen, and we could send an answer directly to you and also include that in the FAQs. The next question is, I'm not clear on all the documents that need to be included. The SF424 that we found only had three cover pages. Where can we find all the details of what documents need to be included. For example, do we submit bio sketches? Are appendices allowed? And yes, the appendices are allowed and are not, there's no limit to how many you can include. You may submit bio sketches and CVs and things like that to show the positions that you're including. The documents that are required are listed on, Stefanie, I don't have the NOFO right in front of me to know where that list is.

>> Yeah, I've got it. Do you want me to take this?

>> That'd be great.

>> Yeah, so, if you look at section H, which starts on page 64 of the funding opportunity [inaudible] content, it'll list the PDFs that can be uploaded on grants.gov. Please note that and SF424 is only required for international NOFO. It does not require submission as part of the initial application package. And I'll ask Freda to confirm that if that is an incorrect statement. That section also lists optional attachments that can be included, and so, if you want to include position descriptions, resumes, additional organizational charts, etc., those can be included. Please name those very clearly when you include them in your application package and upload them to grants.gov. So, Freda, I'll turn it over to you to add anything else.

>> Yes. I would just like to clarify the 424. The 424 is required along with the 424A budget page, and that can be found on grants.gov. So, when you are submitting your application in grants.gov, you will find templates there, and it's available for you.

>> Yeah, if you do, also, if you do a Google search and put like grants.gov SF424 families, the link will pop right up, and it'll have the whole, like a whole suite of those forms, but again, to Freda's point, it's the main SF424 and then the 424A forms that are required for this. We, again, the points of contact slide is up for folks to see. Is there any specific format for the bio sketch or CV that is required? No. Sometimes PDF uploads a little bit better than, you know, say other documents, but again, if it's a Word PDF, those are typically the best formats, but there is no specific format required. The letter of intent is submitted to whom? And Stefanie, correct me, that is the healthcareIPCcoag@cdc.gov. And will applications that include the allowable two-component and two strategy per component, so up to four components, and they exceed the average award amount of 1 million still be considered eligible if the budget is justified and detailed to support exceeding the recommended averaging award. Stephanie, do you want to take that one.

>> Sure. The $1 million amount, two things about that. One, that is $1 million per component, and that is just a planning amount. That is a value that we thought might be helpful to provide as the applicants develop their applications, and as Kate noted previously, applications may be funded completely as written, not at all, or partially. But yes, if you exceed the average award amount in the budget narrative submitted with your application, you will still be considered eligible, and your application will be reviewed. We cannot say with certainty how much funding will be available per applicant, per award at this time. That will not be available until the notices of award are distributed.

>> Thank you, Stefanie. And then, one more for you, regarding the page limits within the project narrative, you know, we've indicated that your base project narrative is 15 pages and up to four additional pages per component. What if a recipient or an applicant wants to have five pages for component 1 and then only needs three pages for component 2. Is that allowable or are we maxing it out at four per component?

>> I'm going to respond and then ask Freda to correct me if I'm wrong. But you have 23, if you are applying to both components, you can submit an application that is a project narrative that is a maximum of 23 pages to be divided as you see best to convey the application, the information that you need to include in your application. So, I think what you just described is five for component 1 and three for component 2 is fine as long as the overall total does not exceed 23 or for a one component application does not exceed 19. And again, please do not feel compelled to feel like you have to use the maximum page limit allowed. That is not a requirement. It's just a limit.

>> Freda, are you good with that?

>> Yes, I'm fine with that. Thank you.

>> All right. Thank you. And then, today's presentation where it can be found and how to locate it, before we can make this, you know, before we can post it publicly, we have to go through and do our internal clearances. So, about two weeks it will be posted on our YouTube channel to be able to view. Is that right, Stefanie?

>> Yeah, I just posted the link in the chat.

>> Oh, wonderful. Okay.

>> And it also will be, the slides should be up fairly quickly as well, but the link is in the chat, and it's also available in the funding opportunity announcement itself.

>> Okay. So, the slides will be more readily available versus the recording of this that has to go through and get the transcript approved and things like that.

>> It's all pending clearance via our CDC communications channel. So, we hope to have the slides up within the next week.

>> Okay, wonderful. Thank you so much. And then, the next question basically restates the average of $1 million per component. So that there is some flexibility, it is just a kind of planning guide, just to give you something to kind of plan around and give you kind of where we expect the project to land, but again, it's not, you know, if you ask for a million and five dollars, you're not going to be, your application won't be thrown out. In these innovative strategies, must there be a new content for IPC or can the approach itself be the innovation? Stefanie and Liz, and I'm going to turn that to you all.

>> Yeah, Liz, do you want to start, and then I'll jump in?

>> Sure. Yeah, so, you know, I'm going to use the example of hand hygiene. So, we're not necessarily expecting you to come up with a new way to do hand hygiene. For Project Firstline, if you're applying under Project Two, the innovation might be in the educational approach to teach hand hygiene. So, you don't need to come up with a new IPC method or content necessarily, but it can be, you know, the approach, a technology, ways that we could leverage to teach people. Stefanie, other things to add?

>> Yeah. No, I think that that same example that you give extends nicely to component one where, again, we know hand hygiene works. The innovation can be in the approach of how healthcare facilities implement hand hygiene practices consistently and effectively and regularly within those facility types. It's a great question, thank you.

>> Thank you, both, for that. When applicants are proposing work within a strategy, do they have to be responsive to the entire strategy as a whole, or can it be in part?

>> Thanks Kate. I can take that. Another good question. It can be in part. We don't expect any single applicant to be able to achieve everything that's put forward for each strategy in the application. The work must be able to directly, to make progress toward at least one of the outcomes associated with that strategy in the logic model. You don't need to be able to do all of the activities listed for the strategy, achieve all the outputs, but you must demonstrate that the work is in support of at least one of the outcomes for that strategy as outlined in the logic model.

>> Great, thank you so much. If you are collaborating with a partner organization, do both organizations have to be registered as applicants, or does just the primary have to be registered? Only the primary has to be registered to be able to submit an application through grants.gov. And can you include footnotes? Absolutely. Appendices, footnotes, just keep in mind the page limits if you are doing footnotes that might factor in a little bit. So, you may want to just reference and appendices of footnotes, and then you can attach it there so it doesn't impact page numbers, if that's an issue. I have not gotten this question before, Freda, so I'm going to turn this one to you. If we have supporting video for our proposal, is there a way to provide that?

>> I've never received a question like that before, and so, I can't speak to that right now. I would like to take that back just to make sure I provide the right answer.

>> Okay. Thank you so much. And Lane, again, we will get that response included in our FAQs, but if you would like to, again, send it to the healthcareIPCcoag@cdc.gov, we can reply directly to you as well as including that in our FAQ document that we will update and post as we get these all, you know, typed out. Stefanie, I'm going to toss this one to you. The review criteria for component 2 on pages 49 and 50 implies that you need to select either 2a and 2b or just 2c. Is that correct, or can you elect a mix of the strategies under that component?

>> Thanks for that question. You can select any combination of strategies under component 2. So, you can do 2a and 2b, 2a and 2c, 2b and 2c, or just one of the strategies under that component if you're applying to component 2. The way the review criteria are written are just meant to indicate that there are different review criteria for strategies 2a and 2b and strategy 2c. So, for example, if you are assigned to strategy 2a and 2c, the objective review or reviewing your application would need to consider both of those review criteria when assigning a score to your application. So, but no, you can apply to any mix of the strategies of that component with a maximum of two strategies for a component.

>> Perfect. Thank you so much. The next question, if we missed the deadline for this year, can we reapply next year? Unfortunately, no. This deadline is for the life of the cooperative agreement. So, for a five-year performance or project period. So, we have to receive the application, a full application by the due date in order to be reviewed and either selected for funding for the first initial year or placed on the approved but unfunded list. Once the deadline closes, we aren't able to reopen it unless it's very emergency situation, but generally speaking, no, once the deadline hits, it's closed. If awarded, will recipients complete an application for continuation each year for the following year? Yes. That's part of the budget and funding cycle. So, you are awarded for year one, and then about six months in, you put together your continuation package, where you submit your kind of record of what all you've done to that year of performance report, performance and progress monitoring report along with your plan for year two and the amount of money you would need for the continuation of that award. All of those details would be sorted out later if you are selected for funding. Is there anything you can share on how many proposals you are anticipating you will receive with this announcement? Honestly, no. But I'll let Stefanie, we've gone round about several times on how many we anticipate, and there's really no way of knowing.

>> Yeah, no, we aren't able to share any information on that at this time, but just, we'll use this as another opportunity to encourage any potential applicants to submit a letter of intent by January 28th to healthcareIPCcoag@cdc.gov. It's going to be so helpful to us as we plan for the next steps of application review. So, thanks in advance for taking the time to send in those letters of intent. And as a reminder, letters of intent should include the components and strategies that you intend to include in your application.

>> Thank you. And how do we submit an application on grants.gov. The grants workspace doesn't allow upload. In the, toward the end of the NOFO, there is guidance on needing to make sure you have a DUNS number, you're registered on grants.gov for your organization and having that DUNS or tax ID number associated with it, and there's a couple other places that you need to ensure that you're registered on so that you could fully submit your package. Freda, is that, all that information is listed in the funding opportunity announcement, the notice of funding opportunity. Excuse me.

>> Yes, and it's also on grants.gov under the tab applicant, and it's how to apply for grants. It gives you step-by-step detail on how to apply, and it goes through the list of things that you need to do to register in order to get access into grants.gov.

>> Wonderful. Thank you so much. And Stefanie, I'll let you go ahead and kick that one, the next one. Can you point to where in the NOFO that it dictates an organization can only submit one application?

>> As Kate stated previously, an organization can submit more than one application, but each application must be associated with a unique DUNS and tax ID number. Some institutions may have multiple DUNS numbers or tax IDs, for example, for different organizational units. So, each application must be associated with a unique DUNS number. An organization may have more than one DUNS number and therefore more than one application could be submitted by that organization as long as it's each application isn't associated with a unique DUNS number.

>> Thank you so much. Stefanie, I'm going to let you answer this one as well. Should the budget be written by strategy under each component or as an entire component?

>> Let me, give me just one second. I don't want to say something that is incorrect and not in the opportunity, funding opportunity announcement.

>> Okay. Imaging to jump to the next one while you pull that.

>> Thank you.

>> Okay. Can people currently funded under Project Firstline apply for this grant? And I'll let Ms. McClune go ahead for that.

>> So, as Kate mentioned before, you can't apply for the same work for which you're funded under any other cooperative agreement contract. So, we want to make sure that the work is unique, but you can apply to this cooperative agreement if you're funded for Project Firstline. Another thing I'll note, because we have gotten that question, if you are funded under other mechanisms, you are not required to apply to this funding mechanism in order to continue with Project Firstline. So, it's not a requirement that you apply, but you may apply for different work under this cooperative agreement. Anything else?

>> No, I think you did that perfectly.

[ Inaudible Comment ]

And Stefanie, are you ready for that one?

>> Yeah, sorry about that. Thanks for giving me time to do that. There is not specific guidance in the NOFO that describes how the budget narrative should be developed. But given what we've discussed today about the potential for partial funding, I would encourage applicants to organize their budget by strategy under each component if they're including multiple strategies within a component. So, that's a great question, and thanks so much, Michele, for raising that today.

>> That chat is disabled so that we could use the question and answer to be able to monitor it more easily instead of trying to do both. So, if there are any questions, please include that in the question and answer area instead of the chat.

>> Yeah, Kate, before we move on, I did note that I shared the website, the cdc.gov website link for this funding opportunity in the chat. I am not sure if everyone would receive that if they are not a panelist. But that website link is in the NOFO on grants.gov, if folks want to give that a, take a look there, and that's where the slides will be posted.

>> I saw it come up in there, so I think as the host or panelist you're able to send --

>> Great.

>> Just in the chat. But it's just not, it's disabled for attendees.

>> Thank you.

>> Next question. If you were awarded, would receive a cumulative total of 5 million at the end of the five years or do you need to reapply each year to receive each year's 1 million? Those numbers, again, were for planning purposes. We can only guarantee year one funding for what we have, and each year it'll be based on the availability of funding for this cooperative agreement and also based on how those who are selected for funding for year one how their work is going and the strength of their continuation application. So, planning purposes, we anticipate approximately 1 million per component. So, there's really no way of saying how much at the end of the five years you would receive, but for planning purposes, you know, we are suggesting 1 million per component per year. And Freda, I'm going to talk this next one to you. Call sharing. Would proposed call sharing or matching in the budget increase the competitiveness of a proposal?

>> Sharing and matching is not required under this NOFO, so, I would say that it would not have an impact on the competitiveness. Okay. Thank you so much. So, we got another note that the chat is disabled, so maybe folks can't see it. But I'll go ahead and just read it out very quickly. It's https://www.cdc.gov/ncezid/ what-we-do/grants/2022/ healthcare-infection-control.html. But again, as Stefanie said, that is included in the NOFO text.

>> And you could also just google NCEZID grants 2022 and it'll take you right there.

>> Okay. The next question, Stephanie, I want to put this to you, could you please clarify the difference between 1c and 1d as they seem to overlap.

>> Thanks. It's a good question and a great point, but strategy 1c focuses generally on all IPC work processes, procedures and practices across diverse healthcare settings. Strategy 1d focused specifically on the healthcare environment, surfaces, air, and/or water and plumbing and the provision of environmental services within a healthcare facility.

>> Okay. And the next question, does the budget and application have to outline five years of work or just year one. If yes to five years, do you need a detailed budget for years two through five or just outline the scope of work and then reapply for funds in year two. Stefanie?

>> Yeah. The budget should only needs to cover year one of the period of performance. Successful applicants will be asked to provide budget for future years on an annual basis at the end of each budget period. The project narrative, and specifically the work plan, should include a detailed list of activities for year one and a projection of activities for years two through five.

>> Wonderful. Thank you so much. Are websites considered as part of the page count limit? If you were just putting a link that shouldn't overly impact the page limit, but if you wanted to attach the content of that webpage as an appendices or in an appendix section, that's completely up to you. But whatever is included in say your project narrative that does have page counts, whatever you put in that text and in those sections does count towards the page limits. As far as reviewing the applications, are those internal or external CDC folks? When the reviews are done, the objective review process, those are all internal CDC staff members who are, you know, they volunteer and have the technical or subject matter expertise or who have experience with cooperative agreements, so there are, and then, so once they do their review, there are panels, and everything is outlined, but they are internal to CDC. The next question, again, is a full five-year budget or just year one. So, as Stefanie stated, it is a very detailed year one, and then an overarching scope for what you intend to accomplish by the end of five years, but we don't need details for year two through five.

>> And for the budget, I think we only need year one. So, project narrative, details year one, high-level projection two through five, budget year one only. Budget narrative is year one only.

>> The next question, if the organization has the technology to improve IPC training and assessment but not creating new knowledge for IPC, is it eligible to apply for the funding.

>> And I would say that if the work proposed aligns with the strategies, outcomes, and activities in the funding opportunity, in the NOFO, then that organization would be eligible to apply for funding as long as they meet all other eligibility requirements outlined. I don't think we can comment specifically on the work proposed by an applicant outside of the objective review process.

>> Correct. These next two are going to go up to, Freda, I'm going to toss these over to you. Can you use Cayuse, C-A-Y-U-S-E, to submit through grants.gov?

>> From my understanding, grants.gov has its own software. It's called Workspace, and you have to utilize that software in order to submit your application. I'm not familiar with Cayuse.

>> K or Cayuse. Yep. Okay. And then the next one is do you require a UD or UEI or is DUNS, the DUNS is still accessible, or acceptable, excuse me, but do you require a UD or UEI? And I think the answer is no to that, right Freda?

>> Right. So, currently, SAM does provide the UEI, but that is because we are in the midst of transferring to UEI. But right now we are still using DUNS. Therefore, when you are submitting your application, your DUNS number will be attached to your application.

>> Perfect. Thank you. Still along the lines of the DUNS number, to follow up on a previous question, can each unique DUNS number submit only one application? Yes. Each DUNS number can only have one application associated. If two are submitted, we can only accept one from each DUNS number. So, one, what we've done in the past is whatever is the last one or most recent one received is we would think that that would have been like an updated submission, but we would only use the most recent submission from that DUNS number.

>> That is correct.

>> Yep. So, if I would, if you're worried about other organizational units within your organization submitting an application, but you all only have one DUNS number, I would say, have an internal conversation just to make sure that if applying that way that all things are included in one application. And is there a requirement for an annual performance report or APR and are interim reports reflecting the progress of the projects also likely to be required? Yes. There is biannual reporting requirements. The first will come alongside the continuation application if you are selected for funding. So, that would be a report on the first six months of the award, and then you would do another report at the end of the 12-month budget period.

>> And I would just note that there is a table that outlines required reports starting on page 57 of the NOFO. So, the APR quarterly payment management system reports and then required financial reporting at the end of the period. And one note on this, I think as the, once recipients are selected and the project period begins, there may be opportunity to discuss with your CDC counterpart for your project what the right opportunities for information sharing, formal reporting, etc., but the reports that are required are currently online in the notebook.

>> Okay. Next question is, another question on the budget. So, the budget should only have details, very detailed details for year one, and you do not need to submit anything for years two through five. As Stefanie said earlier, the project narrative needs to be very specific for year one, and then also, an overarching scope of work with the intent of what you would do for the full five years. And the last question that I have in the chat, is there a required font and font size and margin size?

>> Yeah, this is all specified in the funding, the language of the NOFO. Text should be single spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, and number all pages, and that's specific for the project narrative, and we referred you to use consistent formatting throughout your application to the extent possible.

>> So, there's no specific font but something that is very legible and easy to read since it is single spaced. And those are all the questions in the question and answer box. So, what we will do is we'll go through and we will capture all of these questions, and in the verbal response that we gave, we will also type those out and include them in the, or update our FAQ document, and then we will have those reviewed and then be able to post them to our website along with the slides. And then, the transcript and the webinar recording will be available two-ish weeks, once we, you know, go through that software and the clearances for that as well. And Stephanie, I'll go ahead and turn that back over to you.

>> Yeah. I just want to thank everybody again for joining today and for asking some really great questions. I hope that this was helpful for you. Please reach out to those points of contact that were listed on my next to last slide. We'll do our best to get back responses to you in as timely a manner as we can and as appropriate. And just please consider submitting a letter of intent by January 28th, and then applications are due February 11th. And we are really excited to see this much interest in this new cooperative agreement and are looking forward to reviewing those applications when they are received. So, we just want to thank everybody for being here and thanks to Kate, Freda, Liz, Jim, Mike, and of course, Jonathon, for helping us set up such a great webinar today. Mike, Liz, Jim, does anyone want to add anything before we close out? All right. Well, with that, I hope everyone has a good afternoon and a great rest of the week. Thanks so much, everyone, for being here, and have a good day.