EECBG Grant Application Process Presentation (Text Version)
Below is a text version of the May 20, 2009 EECBG Grant Application Process. This presentation focuses on grant processing and the speakers were Sue Mitltenberger, Lisa Kuzniar and Ralph Nine.
Announcer:
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Department of Energy EECBG grant application process conference call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. If at any time during the conference you need to reach an operator, please press star zero. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Wednesday, May 20, 2009. I would now like to turn the conference over to Charlie Emiline. Go ahead.
The EECBG Grant Application Process
Charlie Emiline:
Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. Thanks a lot for joining us today. Welcome to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Application Process Webinar. My name is Charlie Emiline. I'm with the US Department of Energy. I think we've got a really great presentation for you today on a topic that I know is near and dear to all of our hearts; how to actually apply for and receive the EECBG money, very important.
This is one of a series of webinars we're doing on various EECBG topics, including Planning and Strategy Development and an upcoming session we have on Innovative Financing. You can register for those webinars in the same place on our website as you registered for this one. I also want to draw your attention to our new solution center, which is linked from that webpage where we posted archived webinars materials and a lot of good substantive resources for assembling your block grant plans.
And to save you from seriously scribbling here today, every word that comes out in the presentation, the slides from this webinars will be available online on the website and also, via email to everyone who registered. And again, that's www.eecbg.energy.gov. We're going to leave a fair amount of time at the end of the presentation for questions, so please do write them in the Q&A window on your webinars screen during the presentation whenever you have them, and we'll queue them up at the end. Since today's presentation is primarily focused on the application process, we're mainly going to focus on those questions that deal with the process.
Program-related questions about what activities are eligible, the application content and the strategy development, those will be addressed in the Planning and Strategy Development webinars that we have. And again, you can find the archives of those that we've already done on the webpage, so I encourage you to look at those, and also visit the frequently asked questions page on the website that addresses a lot of those questions.
So without further ado, I'd like to introduce our speakers today: Sue Miltenberger and Lisa Kuzniar from the National Energy Technology Laboratory are here with us to take you through the application process and everything you'll need to do to apply. Also joining them is Ralph Nine, also with NETL. So Sue, take it away.
Sue Miltenberger:
Thanks, Charlie. Hi everyone. I hope you can hear me loud and clear. My kids tell me I have a big mouth and a loud voice, so maybe all of you will agree with that. As Charlie said, my name is Sue Miltenberger, and I am a contract specialist with the US Department of Energy at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in beautiful Morgantown, West Virginia. We are a national lab, and we are part of DOE. And we are running this funding opportunity announcement for the department.
Lisa Kuzniar is here also. Lisa is the contracting officer. When you email eecbg@netl.doe.gov,that's me. So be patient. Some of you may not be happy with that because I get a lot of emails and I don't always get to them, but we're doing our best.
As Charlie said, this PowerPoint as well as, I believe, a recording, will be available. So please don't panic if you miss something. It'll be available and I will try to take my time and be as clear and precise as I can. I know this is difficult. This is like learning another language and sometimes we in the government forget that because we speak government speak and it's different, but I will try to be as clear as I can to help you all out.
Next Slide: EECBG Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Information
Okay, the first slide we have is just sort of a summary about the program. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program was issued under a funding opportunity announcement. Sometimes we call that a FOA. We use the term FOA. So you might hear me say FOA; it slips out. That's what I mean; that's the actual announcement. It has a number on it and that's here. And it has — amendments have come out. Since the FOA was issued in March, we have amended it to make changes. There are only three amendments out there.
Now, it has come to our attention that grants.gov — and we'll get into that more later — shows a differing number of amendments. Please don't let that confuse you. If we have to go into grants.gov and make a sort a sort of minor system type change, it calls that an amendment. So please don't be confused. There are only three amendments to the announcement and they are all located on FedConnect.net, and we'll get into that more later also.
But these are the amendments, the dates they were issued and the closing dates for the announcement. Please note the closing date right now is the same for all applicants. When the announcement was first issued, the closing date for state was in May. That has since been changed, and the date for all applicants is June 25, 2009.
Next Slide: Registration Requirements
Okay, this part is very important. We have a number of registration requirements that must take place. Applicants have to have a DUN number. This is the Data Universal Numbering system. Attaining this is pretty simple from what I understand. The website is here for you to do so if you don't already have one.
Applicants must also register with CCR. That is the Central Contractor Registry. This one can be a little more complicated because it's quite large. CCR is very important and everyone needs to be in there because our system uses the CCR contact information. You must be sure that your information in CCR is current and updated. A lot of applicants are finding out, yes, I'm registered with CCR, but then they realize that their registration is not updated. And I believe it must be updated yearly. When you get on the website, there is a process to update.
Also, applicants must register with FedConnect.net. This is where your application will be submitted, and we'll touch more on that later. When you go to FedConnect — well, first of all, let me say this has to be done in order. Your FedConnect registration is based on your CCR registration. So get CCR taken care of first, then move on to FedConnect.
The FedConnect registration has two parts to it. Once you are registered in FedConnect, you must also register interest in the opportunity by joining the team; very important that you do so. Two layers to FedConnect registration, signing in, being actually able to sign in, and then joining the opportunity that you're interested in.
All of these systems are not DOE systems. They are maintained by other organizations. So because of that, if you have a problem with one of these systems, unfortunately, I can't help you. I can point you in the right direction for contact information and things like that, but I can't help you. My advice, based on what I've seen and with talking with applicants, is you have got to be proactive.
If FedConnect tells you they'll get back to you in four days, well, call them back in two. Use the — and use the phone when you can. Try to get to them as quickly as you can. They are — I understand they're frustrating, but there's only so much I can do to help with that.
So summary: Three systems, very important — register in all three as soon as possible if you have not done so. Once you are registered in FedConnect, be sure to join the opportunity.
Next Slide: Do I Access the FOA at Grants.gov or at FedConnect?
Okay, so going on here, I based this presentation on a lot of the questions that I've heard. So you'll see kind of a question/answer-type feature. Question 1, where's the FOA. Remember that's the funding opportunity announcement. Do I get it at grants.gov or do I get it at FedConnect? The answer is access the FOA at FedConnect.net.
And I'd like to point out the FOA itself is also available on the EECBG website, and that website is really, really great. You need to go there and really explore. There's a lot of excellent information. And while it's fine for you to access the FOA at the EECBG website, it's important that you also learn how to use FedConnect.net. So please go to FedConnect and get the FOA. And we'll get more into that also.
So that leads to the next question. What do I need to do at grants.gov? Well, there's really only one step that needs to be done. And at grants.gov you need to get what's called the application package. When you're on grants.gov, over on the left, there's going to be a selection that says, "Apply for grants." You can click on that and then you'll see "Download a grant application package." And you have to get the right package because each package for each opportunity is different.
So to get to our package you use the CFDA number. Now, CFDA is Code of Federal Domestic Assistance. Each program area has a very specific CFDA. For the block grants we have our very own CFDA. So all you have to do is put in CFDA 81.128, and it will bring up the proper application package. Save it to your computer, and that's all you need to do at grants.gov.
Have a lot of applicants who are saying, "I can't register at grants.gov," and my response is, "You don't need to register at grants.gov." And I apologize. I know that's very confusing, but there's one step and one step only at grants.gov; that is to get the application package. Please notice also that this package requires you to have Adobe Reader 9. The grants.gov website is very helpful. It has a place where you can check your computer to see if you have the proper version of Adobe Reader 9. And if you don't, you can download it from grants.gov.
How do I know this? Well, when we started this process, I didn't have the right version of Adobe Reader 9, and I got it from grants.gov. So please check, make sure you have the right version, okay.
Next Slide: How do I find the FOA in FedConnect?
Let's go to the next slide. Okay, how do I find the FOA in FedConnect? I know Sue told me don't get it anywhere else. Just go to FedConnect. So I'm going to give you some slides here now that are going to take you through each step at FedConnect. But before we do that, I want to point out on the lower part of this slide. FedConnect has a PDF that is very helpful. It's called, Ready, Set, Go." And everybody, I encourage you, please get that PDF. I learned a lot from FedConnect — from that PDF.
First thing you should do if you're just getting onto FedConnect, or even if you have gotten on and you know, you're not real comfortable with it yet, go to the bottom where it says, "Have questions, need help getting started, click here." Click on that and it's going to bring up the Ready, Set, Go PDF. It's about 18 or 20 pages, very helpful. Print yourself off a copy. You will not regret that. So when you get to the main page on FedConnect, you click on "Search public opportunities and awards."
Next Slide: Under Search Criteria, select Issuing Office and type in NETL. Click on Search
Okay now, on the next page you're going to see a lot of opportunities. DOE is not the only agency using FedConnect.net. So you need to narrow your search criteria. My suggestion is, on the drop box select "Issuing Office." Right next to that, type in NETL, National Energy Technology Laboratory, and then click "Search."
Next Slide: Click on Recovery Act — EECBG Program to access the FOA and all attachments
That's going to bring up a list of opportunities that have been published by NETL. You will then look along the titles and look for the title, "Recovery Act EECBG Program." I checked earlier today. I think we're now on Page 2. As more get added, we will get pushed lower, so you might need to go to Page 2 or even Page 3 of the NETL opportunities before you can get there.
Next Slide: Slide Number 8
Once you click on that, you're going to bring up the opportunity page. And on this slide, I'm trying to help you focus on what you need to see because when you first see this page you are going to see a boatload of information. And you can hit overload in your brain because it's just a lot. Along the right-hand column there's going to be a list of documents. These are the announcement documents and accompanying attachments. Look at them very carefully because remember I said we had three amendments.
The announcement in each amendment is there. They're clearly labeled. Start with solicitation; underneath that Amendment 1; underneath that Amendment 2 and so on. So always make sure you're looking at the latest amendment. They put those at the bottom.
Now, I'd like to point something else out here. When the announcement was first amended, we made changes to Attachment A, and I chose to repost all of the attachments because I wanted them to be all in one place. Well, then Amendment 2 came out, and in Amendment 2 we revised A again, and B1 and C. Well, I chose to repost them all again. Now, this has caused some confusion.
The question has come up, "How do I know what attachment has changed?" Well, if you look very closely at the titles of the attachment, if it changed, I put Amendment 2, or 3, or whatever in the title itself. So if you look at the title you will see what — which one has changed, just wanted to point that out. Regardless, if you want to see the most current set of documents, both the amendment and the attachment, look under the latest amendment, Amendment 3.
Next Slide: Is the application package from grants.gov all I need to submit as my EECBG application?
Well, unfortunately, no. The term application package is a misnomer. It's not really the package. It's more of a template or a skeleton. It's a start. It's part of what you need and it is very important. But there are other documents that must go with your application.
Next Slide: Where do I find the remainder of the application documents?
Okay, where do I find the rest of the documents? Well, they're grouped in different ways. Some of them, you're going to have to have to create yourself. Some of them are attachments to the FOA, the Funding Opportunity Announcements. And one of them, the SF424A — that's the budget form — is located on the DOE website.
Next Slide: Slide Number 11
Okay, so we're going to talk about each one just briefly so you know where it is. The application package in grants.gov has the SF424. That's your Application For Federal Assistance. It has the project performance by location form also.
A note on that form: The Project Performance Site Location form limits you to only seven sites. I've been told that they're working on the form and they're going to make it larger, but I don't know when that's going to happen. So if you have a project, you know where you are going to have more than seven sites, you need to make a determination how are you going to handle this form. I'm advising people — and there's a number of different ways.
First of all, the important part of this form is the congressional district, okay. So if you have a number of sites that are all in the same congressional district, like maybe you have a county building on this street, and a county building on this street and something like that sort of situation, you could conceivably list the main office and we would go with that. Other applicants are taking the tact of fill out the form with my seven sites, and if I have more sites, I'm going to put them on just another document, maybe a Word document. And I'm going to submit that as an optional other attachment.
Either way is fine. Let's do what makes sense. What we need here is congressional district. If you county falls over two congressional districts, then it's important that you do note both of them on this form. So be aware you're limited to seven sites.
Let's continue on down the forms that we have here. The Project Activity File: That is on Attachment B1 and it is located in FedConnect with the announcements. Again, make sure you go down to Amendment 3 to always get the most current version of this form. I just want to point out, oh, a couple of weeks ago, we found out there was a mistake in this form that whatever number you put in the budget line, well, that number jumped into this jobs retained line. Now, we corrected this with Amendment 2 and we put out a corrected form. However, some of you might not have received that. So if you're working with the activity form and you're having trouble with that line, well, you probably don't have the most current version.
Okay, the SF424A, Status of Budget file. If you recall, that is the one form that I said is on the DOE website. If you go to Google and type in SF424A, I'm sure you're going to find it in a multitude of places because it is a standard form, federal form, nut just DOE.
Budget Justification file. This is created by the applicant. We'll talk more a little bit about what goes in that. It could be in Excel. It could be in a Word document. Just whatever words best for the applicant.
Next Slide: Slide Number 12
Same with the Sub-award Budget File, which you might not need in your package. That is also created by the applicant. The Financial Management Assessment: This is Attachment B2 to the announcement, so you will have retrieved it from FedConnect and saved it to your computer. Attachment D and Attachment E, those are the Strategy formants, also available in FedConnect.
The Assurances, which are created by the applicants — and let me touch on those for a minute. There are two assurances that must be done. One is the Davis Bacon Assurance, and I believe it's on Page 17 of the announcement. It's under the title of ARRA 2009 Additional Budget Justification Information. Everyone should submit the Davis Bacon Assurance, even if you don't believe it will apply to your project. Submit it anyhow because once a project starts, sometimes things can change. It's just good to have it from the start. It's merely to be a letter, on letterhead, signed by your authorized representative stating that you will comply.
The other Assurance is actually two different ways. If you're a tribe or if you're a unit of local government — I call it the Authorized Applicant Assurance. We need an assurance from highest elected official stating that the applicant is the proper entity within the eligible organization to apply.
Let me give you an example. Say the city of Pittsburgh, I get an application from the transportation department. But then the next day I get from the city of Pittsburgh an application from the housing department. Well, who am I to say which one is supposed to apply? Okay, the mayor of Pittsburgh is the one who says, "Housing department, I want you to apply." And so he would have a letter. He would write a letter and that would come with an application. So the purpose of the authorized applicant assurance is to let DOA know, hey, this is who should be applying.
Now, I know for a lot of smaller entities, it really doesn't make sense. But, you know, if you're — you know imagine it's New York City or someplace really large, it does factor in. So that is the point of that Assurance.
Okay, the SF-LLL. That is the Lobbying form. This is where you need to disclose if your entity used the service of a lobbyist. And the final form is the NEPA form. NEPA is the National Environmental Protect Act, all right. This is required if you have activities under a certain area.
Next Slide: Slide Number 11 (repeated).
Now, I want to go back to one form on the page prior because I thought of something I forgot to say. Imagine that! The Project Activity File is a fillable PDF and it has drop-down menus. So if someone out there is not aware of that, please, you need to be. So this form was structured very carefully and with a very specific purpose. So when you — it's come to my attention that maybe the directions are confusing, and some applicants are having trouble saving the form with multiple pages, okay. You know, say you have three activities and you're trying to save your file with — have one file but with three pages.
If that causes problems with the form, just don't do it. The fallibility — if that's a word — of the form is very important. So if you have to save it as three separate files, that's fine. What's important is that we maintain the fallibility. And so let me give you an example. If you take that form, and you fill it out, and then you scan it and you send me a scanned copy, well that doesn't work because the form is structured to grab the information and move it into a database. So I home I'm not making this more confusing than it needs to be. But the form is a fillable PDF and it needs to be maintained as such.
Next Slide: Where do I find the Attachments?
Okay, let's move on. Okay, so I've been talking a lot about these attachments and some of you are probably saying, "Well, where are they?" Let's go back. You're in FedConnect, right. The attachments are all there. Go to Amendment 3, though in the picture I'm not showing you Amendment 3. And they're all there. You click on it and you save it to your computer.
Next Slide: How do I submit a question in FedConnect?
Well, before you can submit a question, you have to sign in, okay. So if you haven't done so, when you're on this page click Sign In. Now, if you're still having trouble and you can't see the Question and Answer feature, that's because you haven't joined the Response Team for the announcement.
Next Slide: Slide Number 15
Remember I talked about that at the beginning. I said the FedConnect piece has two parts. Number One is you have to be registered. Number 2 is you have to join the Response Team. So if you're having problems and you can't see the message center, look for the "Join the Response Team" over on the right.
Next Slide: Slide Number 16
Once you've done that and you've joined the team, you're going to see the Inbox, and you're going to see questions that have been submitted and answered. If you want to submit a question, you can click on "New," and it almost works like an email program.
About the questions: When we started on this process we were answering questions one by one. You know, the city of Morgantown would submit a question, and I would send an answer. And unless it was something private, which very little of it is, I would post the answer so that everyone could see it.
Well, as time went on, we realized that that was becoming extremely cumbersome because the number of pages of questions was getting too huge for any applicant to really benefit from it. So what we started doing now, and I wish we had thought of it earlier, is we are once a day or every other day, I am posting a PDF with questions and answers.
So instead of you, as an applicant, having to go through individual responses to questions to see if they even apply to what you’re doing, there will be a PDF. So you know, if you're looking for an answer to something specific, like revolving loans, you can open the PDF and you can use the "Find" feature to see if the word, loan, is even in there. So it's very helpful. I hope that it helps you. I'm sorry we didn't start it sooner but we're doing our best.
Let me also point out, while I'm talking about questions and answers, that Q&A, questions and answers are also posted now on the EECBG website, so you can go there and look at the FAQS. So that's another avenue. Please try to do that. We're finding a lot of the questions are being answered — or I'm sorry, are being asked again and again. So I urge you to look at what's out there already because chances are it might be answered.
The other thing I want to point out is once you're signed in and you have joined the team, this page will alert you — you can see in the red — that net documents have arrived. So if another amendment comes out and you've already acknowledged the existing amendments — and I'll talk about that in a minute — then this new document has arrived will appear.
You can acknowledge the existing amendments by clicking in the little check box right next to Amendment 1. And then down at the bottom — it's not pictured here — you can click on the "Acknowledge" button. That is not necessary by the way, but you can do that.
Next Slide: My Outbox shows my question as “queuedâ€. Why hasn't it gotten to DOE?
Well, it's just a terminology issue. You know in my mind, if my email is queued, it hasn't gone anyway. But in FedConnect that's not the case. Queued means that it's in my queue, DOE's queue. It's not stuck in your Outbox. So please don't be disturbed if it says queued and you're worried that it hasn't come.
Next Slide: What documents should be in my application?
Okay, let's talk now about your application. We already talked about various documents and where they're located. Remember you have your application package, you have your attachments that are in FedConnect, you have some self-created documents and you have the SF424A. Let's talk about what do you need to submit, and here's the first list. If you are not submitting a strategy with your application, this is what you would be submitting with your initial application.
Your 424, that's the Application you got from FedConnect, which includes the Project Performance Site Location Form. You are going to have an Activity under Area 1. Remember, Area 1 is the development of the strategy itself. You will submit the Financial Management Assessment. You will submit your two Assurances and the SF LLL if it's applicable. This is the list that you would submit if you are not submitting your Strategy with your initial application.
Next Slide: I'm ready to submit my EECS now, but I'd like to review some samples first
Like Charlie said at the beginning, go to the Solution Center on the EECBG website. Each of the eligible activity areas are here, and there are samples given. And if you click on the "Development of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy," you will see some samples. This is very helpful. Please go there and look at all of these choices.
Next Slide: What documents do I submit with my application if my EECS is ready?
Okay, here's the list if you are ready to submit your strategy. Okay, you'll have your 424, the Project Performance Site Location form. You will have multiple Activity files unless you're only doing one activity, which could be possible. You will have your 424A, your Budget Information. You would have a Budget Justification File. You might have a Sub-award Budget File; I should have put if applicable there, but you might have it. You would submit your Financial Management Assessment. You would submit your EECS, your Strategy, your two Assurances, the LLL if applicable and the NEPA Form if applicable.
Let me just talk real briefly on the Strategy. You're probably wondering, "What's the difference? Why should I submit it now? What good is now? What good is later?" Let me give you an example. A lot of larger cities or eligible entities might already have a strategy in place. It just depends on your situation. So you could already have a strategy in place, you could already have planned Activities. In that case, you could submit your Strategy immediately with your Activities. Some of you, however, might not know what you want to do as your Activity. So if you choose the earlier option and not submit your Strategy, give you some additional time to think about what you want to do for your Activity.
Next Slide: What goes in the Budget Justification File?
Budget Justification File: I get a lot of questions about this one. Budget Justification File, if you recall, is self-created. There is not a form for this. It has to contain the supporting documentation for the cost, so this can be maybe a quote from the manufacturer, maybe a catalog price, a labor rate, something that gives the rationale behind the number. And I gave you some examples here to try to give you an idea.
Next Slide: How do I submit my application?
Okay, wrapping up here. How do I submit my application? Let's review. You're already signed into FedConnect, you've joined the team, your ducks are in a row. To submit your application, you have to talk FedConnect language again. You have to create a response. When you go to the bottom right corner in the announcement in FedConnect, there is "Responses" and there is a "Create" button.
You click on the "Create" button and it'll bring up a screen with just some contact information that's based on your registration. And then it will continue to another screen that you will allow you to upload — browse from your computer and upload your application file. So when you're ready to submit, create/response.
Next Slide: I've submitted my application. What do I do now?
Final page here: I've submitted my application. What do I do now? FedConnect will give you a Confirmation Page. Print and save that Confirmation Page. You're going to see two dates and times on it. Number one is the date that you click "Send." Number two is the date that we received. Number one is the date of record, so don't panic if they're different. Two dates — Number one is the important one. Print and save that.
Okay, that's then end of my presentation here, so we're going to try to look at a couple of questions that have come in.
First one I have is on the SF424, which is the Application for Federal Assistance. A lot of individuals have been asking about, I believe it's Block 5A and 5B. 5A is the Federal Entity Identifier. 5B is the Federal Award Identifier. Those can be left blank. They don't apply to what we're doing in the Block Grant program. So on the SF424, Application for Federal Assistance, just leave 5A and 5B blank.
Other questions we've had on the 424: When you get to Block 18, some individuals, myself included, have had trouble with the various blocks, and you go to save and one of those nasty grams pops up and tells you need to fill out this block. I had to put zeros in 18B and 18C, so just be aware that you might need to do that. 18A would be your allocation amount as would 18G, the total, okay. It's not your $250,000 if you are not submitting your EECS. It should be your total allocation amount.
The other point on the 424, Application for Federal Assistance, is Block 19. This is in the announcement but you probably missed it because it's not a big deal. The program is not covered by Executive Order 12372, so Block 19 your choice is C. It is not covered by EO 12372.
Okay, we have some other questions here, one of which was about the revolving loan funds and NEPA. The question was, if I am submitting an Activity on your Area 5 and I am establishing a Revolving Loan Fund, what do I do for NEPA? Now, let's back up a minute. In the announcement there is a table that tells you if you're applying under certain activity areas, you have to do a NEPA form. It's on Pages 19 to 21, okay. Activity Area 5 — I'm sorry, 4. Revolving loans are under Area 4. Activity Area 4 is noted as requiring a NEPA form. Well, with the Revolving Loan Fund, you don't know the location. So the answer is, for this one, you don't need to submit the NEPA form with your application, but the form will need to be submitted when the location is determined. So I hope that helps.
Okay, Administrative Costs, that's another one that caused a lot of conversation among people, applicants. If you recall, there is a limit on the use of funds for administrative costs, 10 percent or $75,000.00, whichever is greater, can be used for administrative expenses, excluding for units of local government and tribal, excluding the cost of meeting the reporting requirements. Now, I'm pointing that out because it's different for state applicants, okay. So for units of local government, 10 percent or $75,000.00, whichever is greater, used for administrative costs.
Well, the question is, what are administrative costs? These are generally the things — the items that are needed for the day-to-day operation and management of the organization. DOE is not going to give out a list of what an administrative cost is. We are leaving it up to the entities to define the cost in accordance with their standard processes and procedures. They could be direct; they could be indirect, but we are not going to give a list published saying, "This is it everybody. You have to make these your administrative costs." We want you to operate in the manner that you are typically operating.
Okay, let me see if I can get another question here. Is there a way to submit the NEPA form early? I see a question on that. It qualifies for an exemption. Unfortunately, no, the NEPA form is tied to the project itself so we can't — we can't operate in that fashion.
Here's another question. For two steps to middle — which I believe the questioner means they're not submitting their EECS, their Strategy with their initial application — do we prepare one Activity sheet for the EECS and then a separate sheet for the Project we intend to do? Yes, that's a very good question. Let me talk about that. If you are not submitting your Strategy with your initial application, you will operate as follows: With the initial application you will prepare one Activity worksheet. It will have an activity under Area 1, which is defined as the development of the strategy.
When you submit your full application, which will be 120 days after the effective date of the award — and I'll get back to that in a minute — you will give us — you will also submit your full portfolio of activities. So in other words, you will have developed your strategy and you will have determined that, hey, "In my city, we've decided we want to use some of our finds to put in LED traffic lights. And the remainder of the funds we want to use to retrofit the county seat." So you would submit two activity forms: One for the country seat retrofit and the other for the lights, in addition to the budget information that would go along with those. So yes, your application process is split into two.
Let me just say — the effective date of the award. That's another thing that's caused a lot of questions. The effective date of the award is the date that the contracting officer signs the award obligating the government's fund. It's not June 25. It is the date the award is actually effective. So then you say, "Well, when's that going to be?" Well, you have to estimate at this point of time. I would say 60 to 90 days maybe after your application is submitted, and that is an estimate. Please don't hold me to that because we are dealing with a scope that is quite large. So we are trying to make that as soon as possible, but it is an estimate.
Okay, here's a question. Can some part of this grant be used to leverage other funds, including federal funds? Yes, you want to use it to leverage funds. Including federal funds — I'm going to look to the contacting officer for that one.
Ralph Nine:
We encourage you to leverage the program funds as much as possible, but the question is whether you can leverage them against other federal funds.
Lisa Kuzniar:
No. Simple and sweet, no.
Sue Miltenberger:
Okay, I hope you all heard that. And there may have been some confusion on that one, and that might have been — was that Geraldine asking that — that might have been part of my issue. Yeah, Geraldine — not other federal funds, okay. So we'll try to clarify that. The third party funds, most definitely.
Okay, let's see if we can get another question up. I've had a number of questions about payment. How are we going to get payment. Well, payment happens as advance through what we call ASAP. That's the Automated Standard Application for Payment system, and this is a system run by the US Treasury Department. And it's almost like direct deposit, okay. Not quite, but you will have an ASAP account set up. Now, some of you might already have one.
We cannot do this prior to the award, but after the award we will be contacted to have the account sent up. And it might take a month to have that happen, so when you do get that information be sure to pay attention to it. The account will be set up and you will be able to draw down funds directly from the Treasury in advance of your need for them.
Okay, let me get you another question here. I have a question here. Are the EECBG funds one time only? As far as I know, yes.
There's a question about will sample activity worksheets be released, and I believe the answer is yes, but they are not available yet, okay.
And I have a question here: Please restate locals can or cannot count reporting costs as admin. Okay, this is on Page 23 of the announcement. For units of local government and Indian tribes, reporting costs are excluded. That means they do not count under the administrative expenses.
Okay, here's another question. If we experience technical difficulties, whom should we contact, Grants.gov or FedConnect? I guess it depends on the system that you are experiencing difficulties in. Most likely it's going to be FedConnect. If you're having issues with CCR, please contact them. They have an 800 number; use that please. FedConnect also has an 800 number. Let me give that to you because I guess people aren't finding it. FedConnect, here's their support number: 800-899-6665.
Okay, here's a question. If we are proposing a construction project, should we use SF424C instead of SF424A? We've pretty much been saying stick with the A. However, you know if I got one with a C, I certainly wouldn't disallow it, but we've been saying stick with the A.
Where have you posted the PDF of the questions and answers? Okay, these are on FedConnect. Now, if you cannot see the Message Center on FedConnect, that is because you have not signed in and you haven't joined the Team.
Can a company submit an application on behalf of a tribe? Okay, we've just been talking about this. The FOA has very specific language on this. An organization, whether it's a unit of the tribe or an association, may submit an application on behalf of an eligible tribe or a group of eligible tribes, provided that the eligible tribe or tribes submit a resolution saying that they approve of this entity submitting on their behalf. This is on Page 13 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement. So the answer is yes.
Let's see if I can get you a couple of more here. Is there a sample application package, a mock up that shows all of the forms filled out? I will look into that. I think one might be in the works.
Exactly what forms do states have to turn in with the application? It's exactly the forms that I have laid out for every other applicant, except states must submit their strategy with their initial application, and states must use Attachment E for their strategy format. Everyone else uses Attachment D.
Does an entity need to register with ASAP to receive funds? Yes, you will, but not yet. Please don't try to do that yet because the system is not structured for that to happen just yet. Yeah, the grant has to be made for that to happen.
It's getting closer. Let me see if I can get you one or two — one or two more questions. I had a question a lot — also, here's one. Entities have asked, well, you know I have two activities and what if I find out that on my first activity I don't need all the funds. You know I estimated I was going to use $50,000.00 but I didn't. And then can I use that leftover fund for this activity? And so, the short answer is yes, you can. Now there are some provisos that apply to this. But if you have an under run in one activity and you wanted to use those funds in another, that can happen. But again, this is after the award is made.
Pre-award costs, let me cover that real quickly because we are — we're getting a lot of questions on that too, and we're running out of time. Pre-award costs may be allowable. What you need to do is you need to ask for them in your application. So in other words, as part of your application you might include a letter and say you know, we the city have expended approximately X amount of dollars for doing XYZ, and they — you know, this supports Activity 4 that what we are doing — tie them in. I mean we have to know that they are allowable costs — and we would like to be reimbursed for them. Those will be reviewed during the review process and then potentially approved. So pre-award cost, it can happen, but you need to ask to be reimbursed. You need to submit with your application more information on pre-award costs.
Okay, let me do one more and then I think we're going to have to stop. The job, a lot of questions about how do I calculate jobs. The formula DOE put out was use 92,000, divide it by your allocation amount and that will give you the jobs created. However, if you have a better way to estimate, a better figure, a better guideline that you believe is more appropriate for your area, then please use it. We are open to that. When the first quarter of your project comes to an end and you are reporting, you will report on actual jobs. So it's okay if, on your initial application, you want to use a different estimate.
I've got 4:30 on my clock and I think I need to go drink a big glass of water. So I hope this has helped you. I want to conclude by saying DOE — you know this is a great bunch of people. We're all trying very hard. We believe in this program. We believe it's going to make a difference and we want you to succeed. We're doing our best to help you and answer your questions. Be patient with us; we stumble now and then, and we don't always get it right or get back to you as quick as you'd like. But we're doing our best and we hope that you all will have some really exciting projects out there that will not only create some jobs but make a more energy-efficient country for all of us. So thank you, and I hope this helps.
Announcer:
Ladies and gentlemen, that does it for the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines.