Local Lead Hazard Awareness Campaign

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Approximately $700,0000 is available for the Local Lead Hazard Awareness Campaign grant funding. The purpose of this campaign is to deliver public education and outreach services to increase lead awareness and promote lead poisoning prevention to identified target audiences in specific geographical areas. Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis to eligible organizations ranging between $20,000 to $700,000.

APPLICATION DUE DATE: Completed applications must be submitted no later than 12:00 midnight, Eastern time on June 26, 1998 at the address shown below. HUD reserves the right to republish this program section of the SuperNOFA and announce additional due dates, or to make no awards at all if proposals are deficient. See the General Section of this SuperNOFA for specific procedures governing the form of application submission (e.g., mailed applications, express mail, overnight delivery, or hand carried).

ADDRESS FOR SUBMITTING APPLICATIONS: Completed applications (one original and two copies) must be submitted to: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Lead Hazard Control, 451 Seventh Street, SW, B-133, Washington, DC 20410. When submitting your application, please refer to Local Lead Hazard Awareness Campaign grant, and include your name, mailing address (including zip code) and telephone number (including area code).

FOR APPLICATION KITS, FURTHER INFORMATION, AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE:

For Application Kits. For an application kit and supplemental information please call the HUD SuperNOFA Information Clearinghouse at 1-800-HUD-8929. Persons with hearing or speech impairments may call the Center's TTY at 1-800-HUD-2209. The application kit also will be available on the Internet at: http://www.hud.gov. When requesting an application kit, please refer to Local Lead Hazard Awareness Campaign grant, and provide your name, address (including zip code), and telephone number (including area code).

For Further Information and Technical Assistance. Dolline Hatchett, Community Outreach Officer, Office of Lead Hazard Control, 202-755-1785 extension 114 (this is not a toll-free number).

I. Authority; Purpose; Amount Allocated; and Eligibility.

(A) Authority. The Local Lead Hazard Awareness Campaign is authorized under Title X, The Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 of the Housing and Community Development Act 1992, Pub.L. 102-550, section 1011(g)(1).

(B) Purpose. The Federal government has launched a national public education and outreach campaign to protect America's children from the health hazards of lead-based paint. The Campaign for a Lead-Safe America was announced by Mrs. Tipper Gore, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at a White House press conference on November 17, 1997. The Local Lead Hazard Awareness Campaign grant under this SuperNOFA is designed to conduct public education and outreach at a local level to increase lead-based paint hazard awareness and promote lead poisoning prevention to identified target audiences in specific geographical locations; increases lead hazard awareness through education and outreach to high-risk communities and other identified audiences such as, parents, caretakers, pediatricians, children, pregnant women, building owners and renovation and maintenance personnel; and to develop coalitions to establish a workable framework to sustain lead education and outreach programs (beyond the life of the grant). This program also implements, in part, HUD's Departmental Strategy for achieving Environmental Justice pursuant to Executive Order 12898 (Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low Income Populations).

(C) Amount Allocated. Up to $700,000 will be made available on a competitive basis to eligible applicants with grant awards ranging between $20,000 - $700,000. The funding selections will be based on the factors for award described in this program section of the SuperNOFA. The amounts included in this program section of the SuperNOFA are subject to change based on funds availability.

(D) Eligible Applicants. The following organizations shown below are eligible to receive funding under this program section of the SuperNOFA. Partnerships are encouraged, although the application must be made by a single entity.

(1) Non-profit (must submit proof of non-profit status) and for-profit organizations (for-profit firms are eligible; however, they are not allowed to include a fee in the cost proposal, i.e., no profit can be made from the project);

(2) Institutions of higher learning;

(3) State and local government;

(4) Federally recognized Indian Tribes;

(5) Trade and Professional Organizations; and

(6) Real Estate Organizations.

(E) Eligible Activities. Eligible activities to be funded under this program section of the SuperNOFA are those activities that deliver public education and outreach services to increase lead hazard awareness and promote lead poisoning prevention to identified target audiences in specific geographical areas. Efforts must include developing the infrastructure needed to implement media strategies to successfully market "The Campaign for a Lead Safe America" with assistance from the successful applicant(s) of the National Lead Hazard Awareness Campaign Grant. In addition, the activity must develop and implement various communication strategies to educate their target audience about the hazards of lead-based paint and what communities can do to protect their families from being poisoned by lead. Each applicant must define its target audience, which can include, for example, the real estate community, parents, teachers, health care workers, daycare providers, the general public and other entities. Grantees are encouraged to conduct education and outreach using their affiliate chapters, if applicable, branch members or other outreach arms, to involve a full complement of local organizations/representatives from the community (such as local elected officials, and faith-based community groups). It is anticipated that this method of networking would have a two-fold approach to increase awareness about lead poisoning, as well as establish an infrastructure to sustain lead education and outreach activities well after the life of the grant. While the application must be submitted by a single entity, the applicant can propose a partnership of multiple organizations in order to accomplish the objectives of the project.

In addition to the program requirements listed in the General Section of this SuperNOFA, grantees must meet the following program requirements:

(A) Applicants Limited to a Single Award. Applicants are limited to one FY 1998 award under this program. If more than one eligible application is submitted by an applicant and both have an adequate score, the Department will select the application which the applicant has indicated as its preference for award.

(B) Independence of Applications. There are no limits on the number of applications that can be submitted by a single applicant. However, each application must be independent and capable of being implemented without reliance on the selection of other applications submitted by the applicant or other applicants. This provision does not preclude an applicant from submitting a proposal which includes other organizations as subcontractors to the proposed project or activity.

(C) Project Starting Period. The period of performance will be up to two years. The applicant must be able to commence work immediately.

(D) Page Limitation. Applicants will be limited to 5 pages of narrative responses for each of the selection factors for a total of no more than 25 pages (this does not include forms or documents which are required under each factor). Unrequested items such as brochures, news articles and similar items included in the application will not be considered in the evaluation process. Applicants that exceed the 5-page limit for each factor will only have the first 5 pages evaluated for each factor. Failure to provide narrative responses to all selection criteria will result in an application being ineligible.

(E) Payment Contingent on Completion. Payment to grantees will be contingent on the satisfactory completion of each project activity.

(F) Accessibility Requirements. All activities and materials funded by the grant must be accessible to persons with disabilities in accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and its implementing regulation at 24 CFR part 8.

(G) Type of Award. HUD reserves the right to award a grant or cooperative agreement that is either cost reimbursable or fixed price.

(H) Funding Requests. Applications that request funding in excess of the stated maximum award will be ineligible.

(I) Type of Project. Projects aimed primarily at research or data gathering, including but not limited to surveys and questionnaires, will not be eligible under this program section of the SuperNOFA.

(J) Activities/Final Products Description. All proposals must contain a description of how the activities or the final products relate to the program.

(K) In order to be funded applicants must have a score of 80 points or better. If applicants score less than 80 points, they may apply again later under any republication of this program section of the SuperNOFA. Not all applicants with scores above 80 will necessarily receive awards.

(L) Definitions. The definitions that apply to this program section of the SuperNOFA are as follows:

Federally recognized Tribal Government means the governing body or a governmental agency of any Indian tribe, band, nation or other organized group or community (including any Native village as defined in section 3 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, 85 Stat 688) certified by the Secretary of the Interior as eligible for the special programs and services provided by him through the bureau of Indian Affairs.

Grantee means the recipient to which a grant is awarded and which is accountable for the use of the funds provided. The grantee is the entire legal entity even if only a particular component of the entity is designated in the grant award amount.

High-Risk Communities refers to predominantly low-income communities which consist of housing built before 1978.

Low-income is defined as families, including single persons, whose annual income does not exceed 80 percent of the median income for the area as determined by HUD with adjustments for smaller and larger families. However, HUD may establish income ceilings higher or lower than 80 percent of the median for the area on the basis of HUD findings that such variations are necessary because of prevailing levels of construction costs or fair market rents, or unusually high or low-income families.

States means any of the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any territory or possession of the United States, or any agency or instrumentality of a State exclusive of local governments. The term does not include any public and Indian housing agency under United States Housing Act of 1937.

III. Application Selection Process.

(A) Rating and Ranking.
(1) General. The selection process is structured to achieve the purpose set forth in Section I.(B) of this program section of the SuperNOFA.

Each application for funding will be evaluated competitively, and the applicant will be assigned a score based on the Factors for Award used to evaluate and rate applications identified in sections III.(B) and (C) of this program section of the SuperNOFA. After eligible applications are evaluated based upon the factors for award and assigned a score, they will be organized by rank order. Awards will be funded in rank order.

(B) Factors For Award Used To Evaluate and Rate The Local Lead Hazard Awareness Campaign.

The factors for rating and ranking applicants, and maximum points for each factor, are provided below. The maximum number of points is 100.

Rating Factor 1: Capacity of the Applicant and Relevant Organizational Experience (20 Points)

This factor addresses the extent to which the applicant has the organizational resources necessary to successfully implement the proposed activities in a timely manner. The rating of the "applicant" or the "applicant's organization and staff" for technical merit or threshold compliance, unless otherwise specified, will include any sub-contractors, consultants, sub-recipients, and members of consortia which are firmly committed to the project. In rating this factor HUD will consider the extent to which the proposal demonstrates:

(1) The knowledge and experience of the overall proposed project director and staff, including the day-to-day program manager, consultants and contractors in planning and managing programs for which funding is being requested. Experience will be judged in terms of recent projects accomplished in the last two years which are similar in scope or nature directly relevant to the work activities proposed. If the applicant has managed large, complex, interdisciplinary projects, the applicant should include information on them in its response.

(2) The applicant has sufficient personnel, or will be able to quickly access qualified experts or professionals, to deliver the proposed activities in each proposed service area in a timely and effective fashion, including the readiness and ability of the applicant to immediately begin the proposed work program.

Rating Factor 2: Need/Extent of the Problem (20 Points)

This factor addresses the extent to which there is a need for funding the proposed program activities to address a documented problem. In responding to this factor, applicants will be evaluated on:

(1) The extent to which they document a critical level of need for the proposed activities. The documentation of need may include, but is not limited to, HUD reports and analyses, relevant economic and/or demographic data, government or foundation reports and studies, news articles, and other information which relate to the proposed project activities.

(2) To the extent possible, the documented need is specific to the area where the project activity will be carried out. Specific attention must be paid to documenting need as it applies to the area where activities will be targeted, rather than the entire locality or State. If the target area is an entire locality or State, then documenting need at this level is appropriate. The applicant must demonstrate how specific community or neighborhood needs can be resolved through the activities proposed. The applicant should discuss how it took into account existing and planned efforts of government agencies, community-based organizations, faith-based institutions, for-profit firms, and other entities to address such needs in the community(ies) to be served, how the proposed program compliments or supplements existing efforts and why additional funds are being requested.

Rating Factor 3: Soundness of Approach (40 Points)

This factor addresses the quality and cost-effectiveness of the applicant's proposed statement of work. In evaluating this factor, HUD will consider the extent to which:

(1) Proposed activities will coordinate with private and public sector organizations to deliver products and messages which will increase lead poisoning prevention awareness. Specifically, the applicant must describe the proposed activities that will reach and benefit members of the public, especially in high-risk communities and other identified audiences in Section I.(B) of this program section of the SuperNOFA.

(2) Projects may be replicated in other communities. In responding to this subfactor, the applicant should describe the extent to which the proposed activities will yield long-term results and innovative strategies or "best practices" that can be readily disseminated to other organizations and State and local governments.

(3) The proposed Statement of Work should address the following:

(a) Clearly describes the specific tasks and subtasks to be performed and how feasibly they can be completed within the grant period;

(b) Describes the immediate benefits of the project and indicators by which the benefits will be measured. Applicants must describe the methods they will use to determine the effectiveness of their local marketing strategies;

(c) Provides for proposed tasks and sub-tasks that clearly provide technically competent methods for conducting the work;

(d) Describes the extent to which the proposed design and size of the project or activity is appropriate to the achievement of the program funding purposes articulated in this program section of the SuperNOFA;

HUD also will measure the soundness of the applicant's approach by assessing the following:

(4) The cost estimates provided are reasonable and thorough and the program is cost effective in achieving the anticipated results of the proposed activities as well as in achieving significant impact; and

(5) The applicant demonstrates capability in handling financial resources with adequate financial control procedures and accounting procedures. In addition, considerations will include findings identified in their most recent audits, internal consistency in the application of numeric quantities, accuracy of mathematical calculations and other available information on financial management capability.

In the event of a tie between two proposals, the applicant with the highest score in Rating Factor 3 will be the successful grantee.

Rating Factor 4: Leveraging Resources (10 Points)

This factor addresses the ability of the applicant to secure other resources which can be combined with HUD's program resources to achieve program purposes. In evaluating this factor HUD will consider the extent to which the applicant is partnering with other organizations to secure additional resources, including financial resources, to increase the effectiveness of the proposed program activities. (However, a match-in-kind funding is not required for this program.) If applicable, resources may include funding or in-kind contributions, such as services or equipment, allocated to the purpose(s) of the award the applicant is seeking. Resources may be provided by public or private nonprofit organizations, for-profit private organizations, or other entities willing to partner with the applicant. Applicants may also partner with other program funding recipients to coordinate the use of resources in the identified target area.

Applicants shall provide evidence of leveraging/partnerships by including in the application letters of firm commitments, memoranda of understanding, or agreements to participate from those entities identified as partners in the application. Each letter of commitment, memoranda of understanding, or agreement to participate should include the organization's name, proposed level of commitment and responsibilities as they relate to the proposed program. The commitment must also be signed by an official of the organization legally able to make commitments on behalf of the organization.

Rating Factor 5: Comprehensiveness and Coordination (10 Points)

This factor addresses the extent to which the applicant's program reflects a coordinated process of identifying needs and building a system to address those needs by using available HUD funding resources and other available resources. In evaluating this factor, HUD will consider:

(1) The extent to which the application demonstrates that project activities will reach the targeted audience. This includes discussion of the applicant's analysis of the most appropriate forums, approaches and other factors to ensure that activities reach the broadest spectrum of intended beneficiaries. Additionally, the application should discuss procedures to be used to promote awareness of the services provided by the proposed project.

(2) The extent to which the application demonstrates that the applicant will develop linkages with:

(a) Other HUD funded program activities proposed or on-going; or

(b) Other proposed or on-going State, Federal, local or privately funded activities which taken as a whole, support and sustain a comprehensive system to address the purposes of this program.

(3) Documentation of the extent to which policy priorities of the Department are furthered by the proposed activities. Examples of such policy priority areas that may be addressed are:

(a) Increasing awareness among real estate agents about the importance of disclosing known lead-based paint hazards before they rent or sell property and

(b) Increasing awareness to promote healthy homes;

(C) Applicant Notification and Award Procedures.

(1) Notification. No information will be available to applicants during the period of HUD evaluation of proposals, approximately 90 days, except for HUD notification in writing or by telephone to those applicants that are determined to be ineligible or that have technical deficiencies in their applications that may be corrected. Selectees will be announced by HUD upon completion of the evaluation process, subject to final negotiations and award.

(2) Funding Instrument. HUD expects to award a cost reimbursable or fixed price grant or cooperative agreement to each successful applicant. HUD reserves the right, however, to use the form of assistance agreement determined to be most appropriate after negotiation with the applicant.

(3) Performance Sanctions. A recipient failing to comply with the procedures set forth in its grant agreement will be liable for such sanctions as may be authorized by law, including repayment of improperly used funds, termination of further participation in the Local Lead Hazard Awareness Campaign, and denial of further participation in programs of the Department or of any Federal agency.

IV. Application Submission Requirements.

In addition to the forms, certifications and assurances listed in Section II(G) of the General Section of this SuperNOFA, all applications must, at a minimum, contain the following items:

(A) Transmittal Letter which identifies thus SuperNOFA, the program under the SuperNOFA for which funds are requested and the dollar amount requested for each program, and the applicant submitting the application.

(B) Summary Budget identifying costs by cost category in accordance with the following:

(1) Direct Labor by position or individual, indicating the estimated hours per position, the rate per hour, estimated cost per staff position and the total estimated direct labor costs;

(2) Fringe Benefits by staff position identifying the rate, the salary base the rate was computed on, estimated cost per position, and the total estimated fringe benefit cost;

(3) Material Costs indicating the item, unit cost per item, the number of items to be purchased, estimated cost per item, and the total estimated material costs;

(4) Transportation Costs, as applicable. Where a local private vehicle is proposed to be used, costs should indicate the proposed number of miles, rate per mile of travel identified by item, and estimated total private vehicle costs. Where air transportation is proposed, costs should identify the destination(s), number of trips per destination, estimated air fare and total estimated air transportation costs. If other transportation costs are listed, the applicant should identify the other method of transportation selected, the number of trips to be made and destination(s), the estimated cost, and the total estimated costs for other transportation costs. In addition, applicants should identify per diem or subsistence costs per travel day and the number of travel days included, the estimated costs for per diem/subsistence and the total estimated transportation costs;

(5) Equipment Charges, if any. Equipment charges should identify the type of equipment, quantity, unit costs and total estimated equipment costs;

(6) Consultant Costs, if applicable. Indicate the type, estimated number of consultant hours, rate per hour, total estimated consultant costs per consultant and total estimated costs for all consultants;

(7) Subcontract Costs, if applicable. Indicate each individual subcontract and amount. For each proposed subcontract that is in excess of 10% of the grant amount, a separate budget which identifies costs by cost categories should be included;

(8) Other Direct Costs listed by item, quantity, unit cost, total for each item listed, and total direct costs for the award;

(9) Indirect Costs should identify the type, approved indirect cost rate, base to which the rate applies and total indirect costs. The submission should include the rationale used to determine costs and validation of fringe and indirect cost rates, if the applicant is not using an accepted, Federally negotiated indirect cost rate.

(C) Financial Management and Audit Information. Each applicant must submit a certification from an Independent Public Accountant or the cognizant government auditor, stating that the financial management system employed by the applicant meets proscribed standards for fund control and accountability required by: OMB Circular A-133, Audits of States, Local Governments and Non-Profit Organizations; OMB Circular A-110 (as codified at 24 CFR Part 84), Grants and Agreements With Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and other Non-Profit Organizations; and/or OMB Circular A-102 (as codified at 24 CFR Part 85) Administrative Requirements for Grants and Cooperative Agreements to State, Local and Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments. This information should contain the name and telephone number of the Independent Auditor, cognizant Federal auditor, or other audit agency, as applicable. Copies of the OMB Circulars may be obtained from EOP Publications, Room 2200, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 10503, telephone (202) 395-7332 (this is not a toll free number).

(D) Narrative statement addressing the Factors for Award in Section III.(B) of this program section of the SuperNOFA. Your narrative response should be numbered in accordance with each factor for award identified under Section III.(B), Items III.(B)(1) through III.(B)(4).

The General Section of this SuperNOFA provides the procedures for corrections to deficient applications.

VI. Environmental Requirements.

In accordance with 24 CFR 50.19(b)(2) and (4), the assistance provided under this program relates only to the provision of information services and public services concerned with health and therefore is categorically excluded from the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and is not subject to environmental review under the related laws and authorities.

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