[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 213 (Monday, November 6, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51418-51419]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-24124]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
[CFDA Numbers: 93.581, 93.587, 93.612]
Notice of Final Issuance Adopting Administration for Native
Americans Program Policies and Procedures
AGENCY: Administration for Native Americans, ACF, HHS.
ACTION: Issuance of final policies.
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SUMMARY: Administration for Native Americans (ANA) is issuing final
interpretive rules, general statements of policy and rules of agency
organization, procedure, or practice relating to the following six
proposed FY2018 Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs): Environmental
Regulatory Enhancement (HHS-2018-ACF-ANA-NR-1344); Native American
Language Preservation and Maintenance--Esther Martinez Immersion (HHS-
2018-ACF-ANA-NB-1343); Native American Language Preservation and
Maintenance (HHS-2018-ACF-NA-NL-1342); Social and Economic Development
Strategies (HHS-2018-ACF-ANA-NA-1339); Social and Economic Development
Strategies--Alaska (HHS-2018-ACF-ANA-NK-1340); and Native Youth
Initiative for Leadership, Empowerment, and Development (HHS-2018-ACF-
ANA-NC-1341).
DATES: The policies described in the Notice for Public Comment (NOPC),
as amended in this notice if applicable, are effective immediately upon
publication of this notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carmelia Strickland, Director,
Division of Program Operations, Administration for Native Americans,
(877) 922-9262, [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 814 of the Native American Programs
Act of 1974 (NAPA), as amended, requires ANA to provide notice and
allow for comment on its proposed interpretive rules and general
statements of policy. On August 14, 2017, ANA published a NOPC with
proposed policy and program clarifications for the FY 2018 FOAs. ANA
also follows the ACF Tribal Consultation Policy, and sent a Dear Tribal
Leader letter informing tribes of the NOPC and made them aware of the
September 15 deadline for comment submission. This Notice responds to
comments regarding ANA's August 14, 2017, NOPC (82 FR 37861) and the
tribal consultation afforded through the Dear Tribal Leader letter
issued August 14, 2017. In addition, this notification includes a
clarification in a new administrative policy, a modification to the
project start date for Native Language programs, and a notification
regarding the application period for FY 2018 FOAs.
A. Comments and Responses to the August 14, 2017, NOPC
ANA published a NOPC in the Federal Register on August 14, 2017,
with proposed policy and program clarifications, modifications, and
activities for the FY 2018 FOAs. ANA sent a Dear Tribal Leader letter
electronically and via U.S. mail the same day with the NOPC attached.
The NOPC provided proposed clarifications, modifications, and new text
for six proposed FY 2018 FOAs. The FY 2018 FOAs are based on the FY
2017 FOAs, previously published as: Environmental Regulatory
Enhancement (HHS-2017-ACF-ANA-NR-1221); Native American Language
Preservation and Maintenance--Esther Martinez Immersion (HHS-2017-ACF-
ANA-NB-1226); Native American Language Preservation and Maintenance
(HHS- 2017-ACF-ANA-NL-1235); Social and Economic Development Strategies
(HHS-2017-ACF-ANA-NA-1236); Social and Economic Development
Strategies--Alaska (HHS-2015-ACF-ANA-NK- 0960); and Native Youth
Initiative for Leadership, Empowerment, and Development (HHS-2017-ACF-
ANA-NC-1263). The public comment period was open for 30 days. ANA also
publicized a background call on the NOPC for August 23, 2017, and had
14 callers on the line.
ANA did not receive any feedback on the FOA changes from tribal
governments. ANA received one response to the NOPC from the Sisseton-
Wahpeton Oyate Dakotah Language Institute. Comments expressed concerns
or made suggestions about some of the changes. ANA considered the
comments and determined there to be none that required changes to any
of the FOAs. The following includes comments from the Sisseton-Wahpeton
Oyate Dakotah Language Institute and responses provided by ANA:
Comment:
When changing the application criteria, please make the changes
effective two grant cycles from the adoption date. Sometimes the
application due dates are changed because there are upcoming changes
to the Funding Opportunity Announcement and a comment period has to
be allowed. And then, the grant start dates are pushed back and then
the entire timeline developed in the project planning is no longer
applicable.
Response: The FOAs, which contain the application criteria specific
to each program area, are published on an annual basis. Through the
NOPC, ANA provided advance notice to applicants about the proposed
changes in FY 2018 to its six FOAs. ANA is unable to provide specific
language until the publication of the actual FOAs. Therefore, ANA is
not able to make changes to the application criteria prior to the
effective date.
Comment: Regarding the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) Notice
inaccurately reflecting the amount of time it takes to file an ANA
application:
Each hour spent on a grant application is one less hour that can
be spent working on our endangered language, especially for a small
program like ours. A more accurate Paperwork Reduction Notice may
have weight in deciding whether it is actually worth it to invest
the amount of time it takes to complete the process with very little
chance of success.
Response: ANA's FOAs are drafted within the context of a Uniform
Project Description (UPD), which serves to provide the overall
structure for all applications submitted to the Administration for
Children and Families (ACF). The UPD includes specific standard text
that applies to all ACF programs, in combination with program-specific
text that is added by individual program offices. The PRA notice is
part of the ACF UPD, which is managed ACF-wide, and determined based on
the average amount of time it takes to complete the project description
and the budget and budget justification for ACF programs as a whole.
The estimated burden of 60 hours does not include supplementary
information that an applicant may want to include. While there is
likely to be variation among different programs and applicants, the
average estimated time to complete an application for ACF programs is
60 hours. ANA will forward the comment to the ACF branch that handles
the UPD to be considered upon the renewal of the PRA clearance for the
UPD.
Comment:
If you are putting in new terms that are common terms to those
working in a federal program accepting grant applications, please
make sure the new terms are adequately explained. How can a person
comment about changing from ``results'' and ``benefits'' to
[[Page 51419]]
``outcomes'' and ``outputs'' if I don't know what they mean to you?
Or are they the same meaning to you and it's just a change in the
words that are going to be used?
Response: ANA's intent is to provide more universally accepted
terminology, especially for evaluation requirements and criteria.
Definitions and examples of all new terms will be provided in each of
the FY 2018 FOAs. Any new terminology will be addressed in Section I.
Program Description of the FOA. ANA will explain each term and include
examples of each. Definitions will be included in the appendix of each
FOA.
B. ANA Administrative Policy Regarding Prioritized Funding for Local,
Community-Based, Native American Organizations as Described in the
August 14, 2017, NOPC (82 FR 37861)
ANA has edited the description of this policy since it was
published in the Federal Register, to further clarify the requirements
for non-local, national, and regional organizations. If approved, ANA
intends to include this policy in all FY 2018 FOAs as stated below:
Prioritized Funding for Community-based Native American
Organizations:
ANA reserves the right to prioritize funding to community-based
Native American organizations serving their local communities and
populations. Applications from non-local, national, and regional
organizations that propose projects to serve multiple communities,
or to be performed in a different geographic location, must clearly
demonstrate that the need for the project was originated by the each
community being served, and that the community and/or tribal
government supports the proposed project. They must also describe
how each community was selected, identify and describe the intended
beneficiaries, demonstrate community involvement in the development
of the project, and discuss a community-based delivery strategy for
the project. The proposed project goals, objectives, and outcomes
must address goals of the community being served. National and
regional organizations must describe their membership, and define
how the organization operates. The type of community to be served
will determine the type of documentation necessary to support the
project.
C. Additional Information Regarding Project Start Dates for Language
Preservation and Maintenance, and Native Language Esther Martinez
Immersion Grants
Through continued discussions with ANA grantees and stakeholders,
ANA has determined that moving the start date from August 1 to July 1
for projects funded under the Native Language Preservation and
Maintenance and the Native Language Esther Martinez Immersion programs
will align reporting requirements to reduce the number of required
federal financial reports, thereby reducing the reporting burden for
grantees. In addition, an earlier start date will provide projects with
additional time for planning and start up prior to the start of the
school year, which marks the beginning of instruction for many Native
Language projects. Therefore, ANA intends to implement a July 1 start
date for all projects funded under the Native Language Preservation and
Maintenance and Native Language Esther Martinez Immersion FOAs for FY
2018.
D. Application Period Notification
ANA would like to notify potential applicants that the open
application period to respond to FOAs has been updated to a minimum of
60 days to support the timely award of new grants.
E. Funding Opportunity Announcements
For information on the types of projects funded by ANA, please
refer to ANA's Web site for information on our program areas and FOAs:
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ana. Pre-publication information on
ANA's FOAs will be available at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html by clicking on `Forecasted'' under Opportunity
Status and ``Administration for Children and Families--ANA [HHS-ACF-
ANA]'' on the left side of the page. Synopses and application forms
will be available on www.Grants.gov.
Stacey Ecoffey,
Acting Commissioner, Administration for Native American, ACF, Acting
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Affairs, Department of
Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2017-24124 Filed 11-3-17; 8:45 am]
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