Notice Number: NOT-ES-09-004
Key Dates
Release Date: March 6, 2009
Issued by
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) (http://www.niehs.nih.gov)
National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) (http://www.epa.gov/ncer)
On January 21, 2009, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued two funding opportunity announcements, RFA-ES-08-002, entitled “Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers (P01),” and RFA-ES-08-004, entitled “Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers: Formative Centers (P20).” This Notice is to inform the scientific community that the NIH and the EPA are amending RFA-ES-08-002, “Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers (P01)” as follows:
1. In Section I. Funding Opportunity Description, under the heading “1. Research Objectives,” under the subheading “Research Objectives, Results and Outcomes,” in the section beginning “NIEHS and EPA expect a variety of possible results and outcomes may result from this joint program including but not limited to the following: ” delete the last bullet point in the list and insert the following:
Delete:
- Development of new partnerships with concerned communities in basic and/or population-based research.
Insert:
- Active engagement of a community of concern in basic and/or population-based research.
2. In Section I. Funding Opportunity Description, under the heading “1. Research Objectives,” under the subheading “Detailed Description of Required Components in the Application,” under the subheading “C. Core(s):”, under the subheading “2. Community Outreach and Translation Core (COTC) (optional),” delete the last sentence in the paragraph and replace it with the following:
Delete:
The Center PI may request up to $100,000 in direct costs to support a COTC within the Center program.
Replace with:
The Center PI may request up to $100,000 in direct costs per year to support a COTC within the Center program.
3. In Section II. Award Information, under the heading “2. Funds Available,” under the last bullet point “Funding in subsequent years is contingent upon satisfactory progress during the preceding year and availability of funds,” an additional bullet point should be added.
Insert:
- Both NIEHS and EPA reserve the right to reject all applications and make no awards, or make fewer awards than anticipated, or to make additional awards consistent with the policies of the Agencies, if additional funding becomes available after the original selections are made.
4. In Section III. Eligibility Information, under the heading “1.A. Eligible Institutions,” should include the following:
Insert:
The applicant institution may enter into an agreement with a Federal Agency to purchase or utilize unique supplies or services unavailable in the private sector. Examples are purchase of satellite data, census data tapes, chemical reference standards, analyses, or use of instrumentation or other facilities not available elsewhere. A written justification for federal involvement must be included in the application. In addition, an appropriate form of assurance that documents the commitment, such as a letter of intent from the Federal Agency involved, should be included.
5. In Section III. Eligibility Information, under the heading “3. Other-Special Eligibility Criteria” should contain the following:
Insert:
To be eligible for EPA funding consideration, a project’s focus must consist of activities within the statutory terms of EPA’s financial assistance authorities; specifically, the statute(s) listed in Section VIII. Other Information - Required Federal Citations, “EPA Authorities and Regulations.” Generally, a project must address the causes, effects, extent, prevention, reduction, and elimination of air pollution, water pollution, solid/hazardous waste pollution, toxic substances control, or pesticide control depending on which statute(s) is/are listed in the portion of Section VIII referenced above. These activities should relate to the gathering or transferring of information or advancing the state of knowledge. Proposals should emphasize this “learning” concept, as opposed to “fixing” an environmental problem via a well-established method. Proposals relating to other topics which are sometimes included within the term “environment” such as recreation, conservation, restoration, protection of wildlife habitats, etc., must describe the relationship of these topics to the statutorily required purpose of pollution prevention and/or control. Further, applications that fail to demonstrate a public purpose of support or stimulation (e.g., by proposing research which primarily benefits a Federal program or provides a service for a Federal agency) will not be funded.
6. In Section IV. Application and Submission Information, under the heading “2. Content and Form of Application Submission,” in “Section VI – Community Outreach and Translation Core (optional),” delete the fourth sentence and insert the following:
Delete:
Describe plans of how the COTC investigators will be able to access the effectiveness of their developed products and whenever possible.
Insert:
Describe plans of how the COTC investigators will be able to assess the effectiveness of their developed products.
7. In Section IV. Application and Submission Information, under the heading “2. Content and Form of Application Submission,” after “Section VI – Community Outreach and Translation Core (optional),” insert the following:
Insert:
Supplemental Information:
Agency policy prevents EPA technical staff and managers from providing individual applicants with information that may create an unfair competitive advantage. Consequently, EPA employees will not review, comment, advise, and/or provide technical assistance to applicants preparing applications in response to EPA RFAs, nor will they endorse an application or discuss in any manner how the Agency will apply the published evaluation criteria for this competition.
Multiple Investigator applications may be submitted as: (1) a single Lead Principal Investigator (PI) application with Co-PI(s) or (2) a Multiple PI application (with a single Contact PI). If you choose to submit a Multiple PI application, you must follow the specific instructions provided in the Implementation Plan for Policy on Multiple Principal Investigators (http://rbm.nih.gov/toolkit.htm).
8. In Section IV. Application and Submission Information, under the heading “5. Funding Restrictions,” under the subheading “EPA Supplemental Information:” insert the following:
Insert:
Section V of the announcement describes the evaluation criteria and evaluation process that will be used by EPA to make selections under this announcement. During this evaluation, except for those criteria that relate to the applicant's own qualifications, past performance, and reporting history, the review panel will consider, if appropriate and relevant, the qualifications, expertise, and experience of:
(i) an applicant's named subawardees/subgrantees identified in the proposal/application if the applicant demonstrates in the proposal/application that if it receives an award that the subaward/subgrant will be properly awarded consistent with the applicable regulations in 40 CFR Parts 30 or 31. For example, applicants must not use subawards/subgrants to obtain commercial services or products from for profit firms or individual consultants.
(ii) an applicant's named contractor(s), including consultants, identified in the proposal/application if the applicant demonstrates in its proposal/application that the contractor(s) was selected in compliance with the competitive procurement standards in 40 CFR Part 30 or 40 CFR 31.36 as appropriate. For example, an applicant must demonstrate that it selected the contractor(s) competitively or that a proper non-competitive sole-source award consistent with the regulations will be made to the contractor(s), that efforts were made to provide small and disadvantaged businesses with opportunities to compete, and that some form of cost or price analysis was conducted. EPA may not accept sole source justifications for contracts for services or products that are otherwise readily available in the commercial marketplace.
9. In Section IV. Application and Submission Information, under the heading “6. Other Submission Requirements and Information,” under the subheading “NIH Requirements and/or Expectations,” under the subheading “Resource Sharing Plan(s),” under the subheading “EPA Confidentiality of Submitted Application,” delete the last paragraph and substitute the following:
Delete:
In accordance with 40 CFR 2.203, applicants may claim all or a portion of the application as confidential business information (for example, hypotheses or methodologies contained in the research narrative that the applicant wishes to protect from possible public disclosure). EPA will evaluate confidentiality claims in accordance with 40 CFR Part 2. Applicants must clearly mark applications or portions of applications they claim as confidential. If no claim of confidentiality is made, EPA is not required to make an inquiry to the applicant as otherwise required by 40 CFR 2.204(c) (2) prior to disclosure.
Insert:
In accordance with 40 CFR 2.203, applicants may claim all or a portion of the application/proposal package as confidential business information. EPA will evaluate confidentiality claims in accordance with 40 CFR Part 2. Applicants must clearly mark applications/proposals or portions thereof that they claim as confidential. If no claim of confidentiality is made, EPA is not required to make an inquiry to the applicant as otherwise required by 40 CFR 2.204(c) (2) prior to disclosure. However, competitive proposals/applications are considered confidential and protected from disclosure prior to the completion of the competitive selection process.
10. In Section V. Application Review Information, under the heading “2.B. Additional Review Considerations,” under the subheading “EPA Internal Review Criteria for all applications under consideration for EPA support,” in the third paragraph, the first sentence should be deleted and replaced with the following:
Delete:
The specific information required for each agreement is shown below, and must be provided within two weeks of EPA’s request.
Replace with:
The specific information required for each agreement is shown below, and must be provided within three weeks of EPA’s request.
11. In Section V. Application Review Information, under the heading “2.B. Additional Review Considerations,” the following should be inserted after the last paragraph:
Insert:
Final funding decisions are made by the Director of the National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) at EPA based on the results of the peer review and internal programmatic review. In addition, in making the final funding decisions, the NCER Director may also consider program balance and available funds. Applicants selected for funding will be required to provide additional information listed below under “Award Notices.” The application will then be forwarded to EPA’s Grants and Interagency Agreement Management Division for award in accordance with the EPA’s procedures.
12. In Section VIII. Other Information - Required Federal Citations, in the last set of paragraphs under the subheading “EPA Authority and Regulations,” the following paragraph should be deleted.
Delete:
To be eligible for EPA funding consideration, a project must address the causes, effects, extent, prevention, reduction, and elimination of air pollution, water pollution, solid/hazardous waste pollution, toxic substances control, or pesticide control depending on which statute(s) is/are listed in the section referenced above. These activities should relate to the gathering or transferring of information or advancing the state of knowledge. Proposals should emphasize this “learning” concept, as opposed to “fixing” an environmental problem via a well-established method. Further, applications that fail to demonstrate a public purpose of support or stimulation (e.g., by proposing research which primarily benefits a Federal program or provides a service for a Federal agency) will not be funded.
Inquiries
Direct inquiries regarding this Notice to:
EPA:
Nigel Fields, MSPH
National Center for Environmental Research
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania, Ave., NW (8723F)
Washington, DC 20460-0001
Telephone: (202) 343-9767
FAX: (202) 233-0677
Email: [email protected]
NIEHS:
Kimberly A. Gray, PhD
Division of Extramural Training and Science
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
PO Box 12233, K3-12
111 T.W. Alexander Drive
Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709
Telephone: (919) 541-0293
FAX: (919) 316-4606
Email: [email protected]
and Human Services (HHS)
