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Notice of Funding Opportunity FAQ

The standard that our office advises to apply in this case is whether there was agency mishandling of the application. That is a fairly high bar to overcome and not usually met if the applicant has failed to take the administrative steps necessary to submit through Grant.gov. GMD has a contact person responsible for dealing with Grants.gov. We suggest that you talk with them about this question. We’ll be happy to talk about this further with you, if you wish.

The LOI process is not a mandatory process. Therefore, you are still eligible to submit a full application. If you have other questions, please feel free to contact us.

Your non-federal Co-PIs will need to submit their proposal via grants.gov, which will include filling out all the required federal forms (which feds don’t need to complete).

Your non-federal Co-PIs will receive funding directly to their institution’s grant office. The funding for Feds will not include the non-Fed funding. The money for the Fed will be sent via interagency transfer as where the non-fed will receive their funding separately.

For the Fed Co-PI, the proposal should be emailed directly to the program manager. Only non-feds submit via grants.gov.

No, you do have to observe the page limits to comply with the FFO. The rules in the FFO are legally reviewed and approved, so we have to follow them. Our recommendation for the CVs and C+P is that those materials should be (a) shortened, and (b) provided only for individuals receiving funding or who have core roles in the project. For C+P, only relevant (as opposed to all) projects should be listed. These two recommendations should help you dramatically shorten those sections. You may also be able to shorten other sections, such as the budget justification/narrative.

Yes, it’s acceptable to embed the figures within the narrative, even if it makes the total page count a bit longer. It can be your preference if you want them at the end or within the proposal.

Purchasing gift cards to use as incentives for participants is allowable, as long as it passes the reasonability test. (The UG doesn’t prohibit this as an unallowable cost and doesn’t require agency prior approval.) In this case it sounds like the incentives are going to increase the participation rate in their social research project, so the incentives would be contributing to the success of the project.

The Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP) is a completely electronic system that federal agencies use to quickly and securely transfer money to recipient organizations. Federal agencies enroll recipient organizations, authorize their payments, and manage their accounts. Recipient organizations then request payments from these pre-authorized accounts. Recipient organizations include state and local governments, educational and financial institutions, vendors and contractors, profit and non-profit entities and Indian tribal organizations.  ASAP is free for both federal agencies and recipient organizations.  The link is https://fiscal.treasury.gov/asap/.  This system is managed by the Department of Treasury.  Generally, this system is used by all grant awarding agencies.  If you are unable to sign up for ASAP, you can accept a check by mail.  However, you must have a US bank account and EIN number.

The 10% de minimis rule of modified total direct costs (MTDC) which may be used indefinitely and no documentation is required to justify the 10% de minimis indirect cost rate. It is important to note that per §200.68, MTDC means all direct salaries and wages, applicable fringe benefits, materials and supplies, services, travel, and up to the first $25,000 of each subaward (regardless of the period of performance of the subawards under the award). MTDC excludes equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, rental costs, tuition remission, scholarships and fellowships, participant support costs and the portion of each subaward in excess of $25,000. Other items may only be excluded when necessary to avoid a serious inequity in the distribution of indirect costs, and with the approval of the cognizant agency for indirect costs. In regards to the fringe benefits question, the Grants Management Division requires the recipient to separate personnel costs from fringe benefits. The recipient must show a calculation and provide adequate justification as to how the cost is represented based on their internal policy for computing these fringe benefits.

They will need to provide a SF424 (signed by the authorized representative) and an SF424a along with the budget.

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