Issuance of Three-year Cooperative Agreements for Planning, Training, and Exercises
AT#: OHSEPR-AT-2022-01
DATE: September 2, 2022
To: Arizona, California, Virginia, Washington, Massachusetts, and Oregon
SUBJECT: Issuance of Three-year Cooperative Agreements for Planning, Training, and Exercises Purpose:
- To alert Arizona, California, Virginia, Washington, Massachusetts, and Oregon that OHSEPR is issuing three-year cooperative agreements for FY23-25 for planning, training, and exercises (PTE) and emergency repatriation.
- To request an application including an annual workplan and budget for planning, training, and exercises (PTE) from these six states in order to award the cooperative agreements.
- To provide a deadline of Friday, September 16, 2022, for submission of application for the cooperative agreement award.
Background: OHSEPR administers the U.S. Repatriation Program (Program) and leads the planning, coordination, and execution of all domestic repatriation plans and operations conducted as part of the Program. OHSEPR has agreements with states and territories (hereinafter referred to as “states”) regarding repatriation, coordination on emergency preparedness and operations, and reimbursement for allowable costs. OHSEPR is converting the agreements into non-competitive cooperative agreements to align with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services policy and practice in governing financial assistance. The designated state authority and the federal government are the only entities that can execute emergency repatriation operations at a port of entry. Additionally, states act on OHSEPR’s behalf in providing temporary assistance to repatriates.
The purpose of planning, training, and exercises is to test and validate plans, policies, procedures, and capabilities of the states. Additionally, planning, training, and exercise activities will help identify resource requirements, capability gaps, strengths, areas for improvement, and potential best practices.
Project Period: September 30, 2022 — September 29, 2025
Budget Period: September 30, 2022 — September 29, 2025
Reporting Requirements: Quarterly, annual, and final performance and financial reports are required using SF-PPR and SF-425
Application documents to submit:
- SF-424M Mandatory, Application for Federal Assistance (PDF)
- SF-424A, Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs (PDF)
- SF-424B Mandatory, Assurances for Non-Construction Programs (PDF)
- SF-LLL, Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (PDF)
- Certification Regarding Lobbying (PDF)
- Project Performance Site Location Form (PDF)
- Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (if applicable)
- Cover Letter
- Project Narrative
- Annual Workplan
- Budget and Budget Narrative
Project Narrative: The project narrative must include a brief, general overview of the state’s planned PTE activities for FY23-25.
Annual Workplan: The annual work plan must include planned PTE activities for FY23. For each proposed activity for FY23, the state must include the following:
- description of the activity
- deliverables (e.g., products, documents) Types of activities may include:
Planning: Planning activities may include activities such as meetings, exercise planning, and updating the state emergency repatriation plan (SERP).
Training: For trainings, provide the topic(s), format (e.g., in person, webinar), and type of audience (e.g., state staff persons, NGOs).
Exercises: Exercises may be discussion-based seminars or tabletop exercises, functional exercises, and/or full-scale exercises.
All exercise activities must be Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) compliant. States must coordinate with OHSEPR on the schedule for and execution of full-scale exercises.
States must conduct an after-action meeting and write an HSEEP-compliant after-action report (AAR) following all exercises and submit the draft AAR to OHSEPR within 90 days and the final AAR within 180 days.
State Emergency Repatriation Plan (SERP): States must revise the SERP as needed based on PTE. States must validate the SERP via HSEEP- compliant test following SERP revision. States must submit a final revised SERP within the three- year project period.
Budget and Budget Narrative:
States must submit a budget of up to $200,000. The budget categories in the budget and budget narrative must align with the SF-424A. The budget narrative must show how costs are derived and how costs support specific annual workplan activities.
All grant award funding is contingent on the availability of funding.
States may use funding for full-time employee(s) (FTE) for project activities. Since federal funding is not guaranteed, states are responsible for any employment situations resulting from OHSEPR not issuing the grant for any reason.
Due Date: Each state must submit an application to OHSEPR no later than September 16, 2022.
Where to submit: Please submit all documents to OHSEPR-Repatriation@acf.hhs.gov and OHSEPR-AF@acf.hhs.gov
How Workplan and Budget will be Reviewed
OHSEPR will review each state’s project narrative, annual workplan, budget and budget narrative for completeness, clarity, compliance with statutes and regulations, and allowability and reasonableness of activities and costs.