U.S.
Department of Labor
Employment
& Training Administration
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ADVISORY : Older Worker Bulletin No. 03-05 TO : State Senior
Community Service Employment Program Grantees FROM : _____________________ ___________________ John R.
Beverly, III Ria
Moore Benedict
Administrator Chief
Office of National Programs Division
of Older Worker Programs _________________________ Lorraine Saunders Grant Officer SUBJECT : PROGRAM
YEAR 2003 PLANNING INSTRUCTIONS AND ALLOTMENTS FOR STATES 1.
Purpose: This bulletin provides SCSEP state grantees with grant
application instructions and procedures for Program Year (PY) 2003 beginning
July 1, 2003 and instructions for extensions of the current grant. NOTE: The past
practice of using general SCSEP funds to operate a section 502(e) program will
not be permitted this year. Plans for competition under the special private
sector set-aside under Section 506(a)(1) will be issued in a separate
bulletin. Section 506(a)(1), states
“the Secretary shall first reserve not more than 1.5 percent of the total
amount of such sums for the purpose of entering into agreements under section
502(e), relating to improved transition to private employment.” Therefore, the Department of Labor will use
up to 1.5 percent of the total appropriation to fund the selected 502(e)
projects. Also, the past practice of
excluding $500.00 of an individual’s income will not be permitted this
year. The income threshold is
established under section 516(2), which defines low-income as “not more than
125 percent of the poverty guidelines . . . .” 2. References: Title
V of the Older American Act Amendments of 2000, Pub. L. 106-501; and the SCSEP
regulations at 20 CFR Part 641. 3.
Background: The Fiscal Year 2003 appropriation for title V of
the OAA is $442,306,200, which is a
reduction of approximately .0065 from Fiscal year 2002.
This funding will be used to
support over 61,000 authorized SCSEP community service positions and will
result in approximately 100,000 people being served during the program year
beginning July 1, 2003. 4. The PY
2003 Program Allotments: Please
see the Attachments for the State funding level and authorized positions. 5. Grant
Application Procedures: All SCSEP grantees, except the State unified plan
participants, must submit a grant application package in order to be funded.
Regular grant application packages must include a SF- 424, Application for
Federal Assistance, an SF-424A, project budget including a detailed cost
breakout, a project narrative, assurances, special clauses and conditions. Due to the enactment of
the 2000 Amendments to the Older Americans Act, the requirements in the Final
Unified Planning Guidance (65 FR 2464) have been superceded by the provisions
of the new law. Thus, States submitting
Unified Plans must modify any package to include the information required under
this planning guidance. 6. Grant
Application Intergovernmental Reviews: Grantees should share applications on an intra-State basis, Agencies
on Aging (AAA) should be provided with a copy of the SF-424, Application for
Federal Assistance. In addition,
procedures established by Executive Order 12372 which implements the Single
Point of Contact (SPOC) system should be followed, unless the State SPOC has
waived this requirement. Any comments
received should be sent to the Division of Older Worker Programs. All SCSEP grantees must prepare and submit
one (1) original with original signature and two (2) copies of the SF-424 and
SF- 424A utilizing the forms and instructions in the Attachments. 7. Methods
of Submission: In addition to using the U.S. Postal Service or
overnight delivery, applicant may also submit their applications via
e-mail. If submitting by e-mail, the
return receipt option must be used in order to verify receipt of the
applications (see instructions below).
In addition an originally signed signature sheet, along with a copy of
the grantee’s e-mail/written verification of receipt must follow via overnight
mail. E-mailed applications will be
accepted in Microsoft Word only. The
respective Federal Representatives and e-mail addresses are listed in the
Attachments. 8. Contents
of the Grant Application Package: A complete grant application package must contain
an original and 2 copies of the following:
*Clean copies of the forms
may be obtained from the SCSEP Website:
http://wdsc.doleta.gov/seniors/. Click on “Bulletins and Memos” and look for
Government Forms. 9. Distribution of SCSEP positions: To
the extent possible, grantees will
be expected to decrease the number of
positions in over-served areas and increase the number of positions that are in
under-served areas. For this purpose, the most recent equitable distribution
report and any known changes should be considered. To the extent feasible, no current participant should be
adversely impacted by shifts in locations of positions As vacancies occur, new
positions should be placed in under-served areas. Note: Census 2000 information on eligible persons
by county will soon be available for SCSEP grantees. This information must be
used to develop new equitable distribution reports and it will impact the State
Senior Employment Coordination Plans. (Please see OW Bulletin 03-3) While it may be too late for grantees to
incorporate the new information into their PY 2003 applications they are
encouraged to describe any plans they have to accommodate the new information
and the impact it may have on the distribution of positions in their
State. 10.
Eligibility Review/Responsibility Review/Grant Application Review: The
Department will conduct a pre-award eligibility review, responsibility review
and a grant application review under 20 CFR 641.206 and 514(c) – (d). Applicants will not be designated as grantees for
PY 2003 if:
Where appropriate,
applicants will be advised of the Department’s concerns by letter which will
include corrective action(s) specified as a funding condition, and a time frame
for the completion of the corrective action(s). 11. Extension of Current Grant: Grantees
that anticipate having funds available at the conclusion of the present grant
period may apply for an extension for up to 60 days. Under these circumstances, there will be two grants in operation
at the same time – the extended PY 2002 grant and the new PY 2003 grant. To apply for an extension,
grantees should submit the following documents:
12. Unified
Plan: Due to the enactment of the 2000 Amendments to the
Older Americans Act, the requirements in the Final Unified Planning Guidance
(65 FR 2464) have been superceded by the provisions of the new law. Thus, States submitting Unified Plans must
modify any package to include the information required under this planning
guidance. 13. SCSEP
Regulations: The final SCSEP Regulations dated May 17, 1995
apply unless superseded by new final regulations or by a provision in the 2000
Amendments to the Older Americans Act. 14.
Performance Goals: The current SCSEP Government Performance and
Results Act (GPRA) goal is 37 percent.
The unsubsidized placements continue to be an important program
objective. During the last complete
program year, over 21,000 SCSEP participants were placed into unsubsidized
jobs. Both outcomes exceeded national goals with a rate in excess of 34
percent. In addition, the program and
GPRA performance indicator for persons served exceed the 140 percent customer
service target level. More than 110,000
people were served. For the upcoming program
year, grantees are advised the overall SCSEP GPRA goal will continue to be
thirty-seven (37) percent. The GPRA measures are used for all Federal programs
and are intended to improve the performance of federally funded programs. When
preparing PY 2003 grant applications, all applicants should carefully consider approaches that will
improve their unsubsidized placement rates. To further enhance the overall
performance of the program the Department will negotiate the unsubsidized goal
of each grantee. All performance results will be posted on the website.
In the aggregate, failure
by the SCSEP program to meet the GPRA goal of 37 percent will result in the
Department implementing a corrective action plan. While it may not be possible
for every grantee to achieve 37 percent, small improvements by all grantees can
help meet this challenge. 15.
Administrative Costs: Administrative
costs are limited to 13.5 percent under the 2000 Amendments to the Older
Americans Act at section 502(c)(3). The limit may be raised to 15 percent of
the Federal share if it can be justified. Such request should be based on the legislative provisions of the
2000 Amendments to the Older American Act.
General statements that costs have increased are not adequate justifications.
The applicant must identify which costs have increased, why they have
increased, and how these costs relate to program operations. For instance, it
would be appropriate to identify increased administrative costs that are due to
serving non-English speaking individuals as justification. We are also aware that implementing programs
in rural areas or increased administrative cost. Grantees should not assume that Federal reviewers will be aware
of these circumstances. The requests
should explain how such activities affect costs. 16.
Schedule: Grantees should
comply with the following timetable:
Please mail or deliver the
completed application packages to: Ms. Ria Moore Benedict Chief,
Division of Older Workers Program U.S.
Department of Labor/ETA 200
Constitution Ave., N.W. Room
N-4641 Washington,
D.C. 20210 17.Inquiries: Questions
may be directed to your respective Federal representative at (202) 693-3842.
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