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Notice of Funding Opportunity PS22-2211: Frequently Asked Questions
How does this funding opportunity relate to the previously announced NOFO, PS22-2202, “Enhanced surveillance of persons with early and late HIV diagnosis to understand system and individual factors associated with new infection and delayed testing”?
This funding opportunity is a re-announcement of PS22-2202, which was cancelled. For PS22-2211, up to 10 awards are anticipated with an average award amount of $200,000 per year (contingent upon the availability of funding).
I already submitted an application for PS22-2202. Do I have to apply to PS22-2211 to be considered?
PS22-2202 applications will not be reviewed or considered in funding decisions for PS22-2211. PS22-2202 applicants who wish to be considered for the current funding opportunity must submit an application by the due date of April 26, 2022.
Who is eligible to apply for this funding opportunity? Can local health departments apply?
Based on the statutory authority for this funding opportunity, only the following entities are eligible to apply:
- All US state health departments
- The six local health departments with independent HIV surveillance programs
- City of Chicago Department of Public Health
- Houston Department of Health and Human Services
- Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
- City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- San Francisco Department of Public Health
- District of Columbia Department of Health
- Territorial health departments
Can jurisdictions be funded even if they do not meet the prioritization criteria of at least 40 annual stage 0 diagnoses or at least 8% of all annual diagnoses occurring at stage 0? If so, will jurisdictions that meet those criteria be prioritized?
Yes. Eligibility is not dependent on the occurrence of stage 0 diagnoses. However, applicants that meet one or both of these criteria may be prioritized in funding decisions.
How many awards are anticipated? How many years will be funded?
Up to 10 awards are anticipated. The period of performance is four years. However, the number of awards and length of the performance period are contingent on the availability of funds.
What is the average award amount per year?
The average award amount is $200,000 per year (contingent upon the availability of funding). This is an estimated average, not a maximum amount, and will vary based on the anticipated annual number of persons who receive an HIV diagnosis at stage 0 and stage 3 in the jurisdiction.
How will the funding amount awarded to each recipient reflect the difference in the anticipated number of stage 0 and stage 3 diagnoses across jurisdictions?
Individual award amounts are expected to be based in part on the anticipated number of eligible persons with a diagnosis at stage 0 or stage 3 in the past 12 months.
The anticipated annual number and percentage of stage 0 diagnoses will be considered in funding decisions. What about stage 3 diagnoses?
The occurrence of stage 3 diagnoses will not influence funding decisions.
What expenses are allowed and disallowed? Is there a budget limit?
Please refer to the NOFO for general budget guidance. The estimated average award amount is $200,000 per year (contingent on the availability of funds and the number of awards). This average amount indicates an amount for applicants to aim for in their proposed budgets, given the potential local context for cost and the number of individuals to be recruited. Applicants should budget based on their anticipated level of effort to recruit all persons in their jurisdiction with a stage 0 or stage 3 diagnosis in the past 12 months. Personnel costs should be comparable to a typical surveillance project. Because the survey and interviews will be conducted by a CDC contractor, personnel expenses related to the conduct of interviews are not necessary to estimate.
Approximately what proportion of the estimated average award of $200,000 will need to be allocated to personnel costs?
Recipients should budget according to the expected level of effort needed to carry out the required strategies and activities of the NOFO. Please refer to the below budget elements as an example.
Personnel
Principal Investigator (5%)
Project Coordinator/Recruiter (50-100%)
Data analyst (during year 4 of NOFO only) (10%)
In-state Travel
Sufficient mileage/public transportation costs for Recruiter (if applicable)
Supplies
Office supplies
Laptop or tablet
Encryption software
SAS or other software to extract data from local case surveillance and to analyze data
Other
Telephone
Printing
Staff identification
Advisory group incentives (if applicable)
Cell phone minutes (if applicable, e.g., to recruit persons without reliable access to phone or internet)
Will funding for participant incentives be included in the award amount?
The CDC contractor will be responsible for participant incentives. Applicants should not include incentives in their proposed budgets.
What is the anticipated incentive amount provided to participants for completing the quantitative survey and qualitative in-depth interview? Is there a limit on the incentive amounts?
This has not been determined yet. At this time, CDC anticipates $50 incentives for the quantitative survey and $50 for the qualitative in-depth interview. Incentives should not be included in applicants’ budgets as the CDC contractor will be responsible for incentives.
If the contractor provides incentives to participants, will recipients have to provide the contractor with personally identifying information (PII)?
We are currently exploring ways that we can do this without sharing PII with the contractor. The contractor will not receive any identifying information from recipients. The contractor will provide a scheduling system where recipients will schedule participant interviews or provide a link to access the web-based survey. The contractor will provide recipients with a unique identifier for each participant, and recipients will securely maintain the link between PII and this unique identifier.
What methodology will be used to define stage 0 and stage 3 diagnoses?
Recipients will identify stage 0 and stage 3 diagnoses according to the CDC/CSTE surveillance case definitions available here: https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance/vol-32/content/technical-notes.html (link retired).
Should recipients use the stage 0 calculated variable in eHARS to identify eligible persons who received a stage 0 diagnosis in the past year? Should recipients include both category A and category B in the eligible case list for stage 0?
Yes, recipients may use the eHARS stage 0 calculated variable. This project defines stage 0 diagnoses as those in both category A and category B. Refer to the CDC/CSTE surveillance case definitions for more information.
Will medical charts need to be abstracted? Will medical chart data be included in the final local dataset shared with each recipient?
Data from medical charts will not be collected as part of this NOFO.
Will the CDC contractor receive name-based data?
No, neither CDC nor the contractor will have access to personally identifying information (PII).
What are recipients’ main activities related to recruitment for the quantitative survey and qualitative interviews?
Recipients will identify, recruit, and schedule/reschedule all eligible participants for the quantitative survey and a small subset of participants for qualitative in-depth interviews. CDC will provide both instruments to recipients before implementation, but all data collection activities will be conducted by a third-party contractor.
What is the target number of participants that recipients will be expected to recruit?
Recipients will generate a list of all eligible adults who received an HIV diagnosis at stage 0 or stage 3 in the jurisdiction in the past 12 months. Recipients will be required to attempt to locate, contact, and recruit all persons on the eligible case list. Since this activity constitutes a census and not a sample, there is no target sample size for recipients. The number of eligible persons will vary by jurisdiction based on the number of new HIV diagnoses.
Will recipients only be expected to recruit people who received a diagnosis in the past 12 months, regardless of diagnosis at stage 0 or stage 3?
Recipients will generate a list of eligible cases that includes only those diagnosed in the past 12 months, as well as new eligible diagnoses as they are reported throughout the data collection period.
Will people without reliable access to a phone or the internet (for example, people experiencing homelessness) be able to participate in the survey?
Only phone-based and web-based interviews will be conducted under this NOFO. Since the CDC contractor conducting the interviews cannot have access to participants’ personally identifying information (PII), in-person interviews cannot be conducted. In Year 1, recipients are expected to work with community partners to discuss and refine recruitment approaches. This process could include consideration of strategies to recruit persons experiencing homelessness or other populations with special circumstances. For example, a recipient could propose strategies such as providing cell phone minutes or burner phones to facilitate participation in the phone-based survey. If such strategies are proposed in the application, they should be reflected in the budget submitted by the applicant.
Will all recruited participants receive both a quantitative survey and a qualitative interview?
No. All eligible persons identified in the case list will be recruited for the quantitative survey. Only a small subset will be recruited for the qualitative in-depth interview. Participating in the qualitative interview will not preclude participants from participating in the quantitative survey.
What is the process for rescheduling participants who do not show up for their initial scheduled interview?
The CDC contractor will provide a scheduling system or portal that recipients will use to schedule a telephone interview or provide a link to access the web-based survey. Once a participant has been scheduled for an interview or provided a link to the web-based survey, recipients will use the contractor-provided system to ensure that the participant completed their interview or web-based survey. If the participant missed their scheduled interview or needs to be rescheduled, recipients will attempt to recontact that person to reschedule.
How does this project comply with state laws that prevent health departments from sharing personally identifying information (PII) of people with diagnosed HIV?
Recipients of this funding opportunity will not share any participant PII or contact information with the third-party contractor conducting the survey. Survey participants will be given a unique ID and a phone number or unique web link to initiate contact with the survey interviewer or access the web-based survey, respectively. Recipients, not the third-party contractor, will be responsible for monitoring survey completion and attempting to recontact or reschedule recruited participants who do not complete their survey.
What are the community engagement requirements of the NOFO?
Recipients are required to engage with community partners and/or community advisory boards (CAB) throughout the project. In Year 1, prior to data collection, recipients will work alongside their respective community partners to identify and refine locally appropriate recruitment strategies for persons with a recent HIV diagnosis at stage 0 or stage 3. In addition, in Year 1, recipients and their community partners will have an opportunity to review the quantitative survey instrument to provide feedback. In Year 4, each recipient will receive their final local dataset and will work with their respective community partners identify the best way(s) to share data findings to better reach community stakeholders and to help inform HIV program planning in their respective jurisdictions. Examples of dissemination activities include community fact sheets, webinars, and data-to-action workshops with community stakeholders. The goal of the data dissemination activities is to work alongside community partners to translate data findings into prioritized and actionable next steps.
Are letters of support required for this NOFO?
Letters of support are not required but encouraged if the applicant proposes to collaborate with other organizations to conduct the required strategies and activities. No standard template will be provided for letters of support. Letters of support should be addressed to the Grants Management Specialist listed in the NOFO and submitted through grants.gov along with the NOFO application.
What data will be shared with the recipients, and how will it be shared?
CDC or the CDC contractor will securely share with each recipient their own line-listed local dataset from the quantitative survey after the conclusion of data collection. Data from the qualitative in-depth interviews will also be shared with recipients.
Will recipients need to obtain IRB approval for this project as research or non-research?
CDC anticipates that this project will be determined to be surveillance, not research. However, CDC project determination has not yet taken place. Furthermore, the CDC determination does not preclude any required local processes for project determination or approval. The NOFO requires recipients to obtain local regulatory approvals as necessary (including but not limited to IRB approval, authority to conduct surveillance, etc.).
Will a template for the Evaluation and Performance Measurement Plan be provided, or should applicants develop their own?
No, a template will not be provided, and it is suggested that applicants create their own. Applicants can refer to the NOFO for illustrative examples of performance measures; applicants may include these measures or develop their own measures. CDC will work with funded recipients during the first six months of the award to refine and finalize the evaluation plan.
When is the due date for applications?
Applications must be submitted by Tuesday, April 26, 2022, at 11:59 PM U.S. Eastern Standard Time at www.grants.gov. Earlier submissions are welcomed. For assistance with submission difficulties related to www.grants.gov, contact the Contact Center by phone at 1-800-518-4726.
Where can I find Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) PS22-2211: Enhanced Surveillance of Persons with Early and Late HIV Diagnosis?
To access the application package for PS22-2211:
- Go to: grants.gov.
- Select: “Search Grants” from the top menu.
- In the “Opportunity Number” box, type: CDC-RFA-PS22-2211.
What are the key dates for this funding opportunity?
- Informational webinar: March 2, 2022
- Letters of Intent due (optional): April 1, 2022
- Applications due: April 26, 2022
- Award date: August 1, 2022
- Project Period: August 1, 2022 – July 31, 2026