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Standard Grant Announcement: INF |
Department of Health and Human Services
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Infrastructure Grants - INF 05 PA
I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION1. INTRODUCTIONThe Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announces its intent to solicit applications for Infrastructure Grants. This program announcement must be considered in conjunction with a full Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), this specifies the grant program’s purpose, the target population, and other requirements of the program. These grants will increase the capacity of mental health and/or substance abuse service systems to support effective programs and services. Applicants who seek Federal support to develop or enhance their service system infrastructure in order to support effective substance abuse and/or mental health services should apply for awards under this announcement. SAMHSA also funds grants under three other standard grant announcements:
This announcement describes the general program design and provides application instructions for all SAMHSA Infrastructure Grants. The availability of funds for specific Infrastructure Grants will be announced in supplementary Notices of Funding Availability (NOFAs) in the Federal Register and at www.grants.gov - the Federal grant announcement web page. SAMHSA’s Infrastructure Grants are authorized under Section 509, 516 and/or 520A of the Public Health Service Act, unless otherwise specified in a NOFA in the Federal Register and on www.grants.gov. Typically, funding for Infrastructure Grants will be targeted to specific populations and/or issue areas, which will be specified in the NOFAs. The NOFAs will also:
End of 2. EXPECTATIONSSAMHSA’s Infrastructure Grants support an array of activities to help the grantee build a solid foundation for delivering and sustaining effective substance abuse prevention and/or treatment and/or mental health services. SAMHSA recognizes that each applicant will start from a unique point in developing infrastructure and will serve populations/communities with specific needs. Awardees may pursue diverse strategies and methods to achieve their infrastructure development and capacity expansion goals. Successful applicants will provide a coherent and detailed conceptual “roadmap” of the process by which they have assessed or intend to assess service system needs and plan/implement infrastructure development strategies that meet those needs. The plan put forward in the grant application must show the linkages among needs, the proposed infrastructure development strategy, and increased system capacity that will enhance and sustain effective programs and services. 2.1 Allowable Activities SAMHSA’s Infrastructure Grants will support the following types of activities. Applicants must refer to the NOFA for required activities and exceptions to allowable activities. Infrastructure Development Infrastructure Grant funds must be used primarily to support infrastructure development, including the following types of activities:
Implementation Pilots (maximum 15 percent of total grant award) Depending on the scope of the project (see description of award categories below), up to 15 percent of the total grant award may be used for “implementation pilots” to test the effectiveness of the infrastructure changes on services delivery. Funds may not be used to provide direct services except in the context of an implementation pilot. 2.2 Data and Performance Measurement The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (P.L.103-62, or “GPRA”) requires all Federal agencies to set program performance targets and report annually on the degree to which the previous year’s targets were met. Agencies are expected to evaluate their programs regularly and to use results of these evaluations to explain their successes and failures and justify requests for funding. To meet the GPRA requirements, SAMHSA must collect performance data (i.e., “GPRA data”) from grantees. Grantees are required to report these GPRA data to SAMHSA on a timely basis. Specifically, grantees will be required to provide data on a set of required measures, as specified in the NOFA. The data collection tools to be used for reporting the required data will be provided in the application kits distributed by SAMHSA’s clearinghouses and posted on SAMHSA’s website along with each NOFA. In your application, you must demonstrate your ability to collect and report on these measures, and you may be required to provide some baseline data. The terms and conditions of the grant award also will specify the data to be submitted and the schedule for submission. Grantees will be required to adhere to these terms and conditions of award. Applicants should be aware that SAMHSA is working to develop a set of required core performance measures for each of SAMHSA’s standard grants (i.e., Services Grants, Infrastructure Grants, Best Practices Planning and Implementation Grants, and Service-to-Science Grants). As this effort proceeds, some of the data collection and reporting requirements included in SAMHSA’s NOFAs may change. All grantees will be expected to comply with any changes in data collection requirements that occur during the grantee’s project period. 2.3 Grantee Meetings You must plan to send a minimum of two people (including the Project Director) to at least one joint grantee meeting in each year of the grant, and you must include funding for this travel in your budget. At these meetings, grantees will present the results of their projects and Federal staff will provide technical assistance. Each meeting will be 3 days. These meetings will usually be held in the Washington, D.C., area and attendance is mandatory. 2.4 Evaluation Grantees must evaluate their projects, and applicants are required to describe their evaluation plans in their applications. The evaluation should be designed to provide regular feedback to the project to improve services. The evaluation must include both process and outcome components. Process and outcome evaluations must measure change relating to project goals and objectives over time compared to baseline information. Control or comparison groups are not required. You must consider your evaluation plan when preparing the project budget. Process components should address issues such as:
Outcome components should address issues such as:
If the project includes an implementation pilot involving services delivery, the evaluation should include client and system outcomes. No more than 20% of the total grant award may be used for evaluation and data collection. The evaluation and data collection may be considered “Infrastructure” and/or “Implementation Pilots” expenditures, depending on their purpose. |