Child IC-HBCU

OMB Number: 2501-0044

Expiration Date: 02/28/2027

Link to Parent Supporting Statement

Request for Approval under the Generic Solution for Solicitation for Competitive Discretionary Funding Opportunity Announcements

Funding Opportunity Announcement Title: PDR - HBCU Research Center of Excellence

HUD Program Office/Agency:

Other:      

HUD Program Office/Agency Point of Contact (person completing this form):

Leea Thornton, Kinnard Wright, Pam Blumenthal 

Alignment with Information Collection Package: (Check one)

Funding Opportunity for Existing Program.

Funding Opportunity for New Program.

Purpose

Briefly describe the program. Include specific statutes and regulations. Explain the information to be collected to clearly describe to OMB the requirements and burden on the respondents. The description must align with and provide detail on the information included in the parent supporting statement. For example, if the respondent burden table below shows 50 burden hours for project summary, provide additional detail elaborating on what the respondents are required to provide to meet that requirement. For existing programs, the information included here may resemble the information you would have submitted in question number 1 in your existing/previously approved ICR. Also, include and clearly label any exceptions to the activities described in the parent supporting statement. If revising an approved collection, highlight key changes to the collection.

The U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) intends to fund research at one or more research Centers of Excellence (Centers or COEs, COE when singular) at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The Centers will conduct research projects on topics of strategic interest to HUD and produce research that provides evidence-based solutions to housing, community development, economic development, or built environment challenges in underserved communities. Applicants must clearly specify proposed research projects and how they fill key knowledge and evidence gaps, describe their capacity to successfully conduct the proposed research and disseminate their findings to policymakers and other key stakeholders, and detail plans for developing and sustaining a Center of Excellence. HUD will issue a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) describing the cooperative research program and the criteria for applying for awards.

HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research is authorized to conduct Housing and Community Development research through its authorizing legislation. The statutory authority for PD&R' s research activities is found in Title V of the 1970 Housing Act, which authorizes programs of "research, studies, testing, and demonstrations relating to the missions and programs of the Department." This authority is codified in the U.S. Code at 12 U.S.C. 1701z -1 (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:12%20section:1701z-1%20edition:prelim). HUD will continue to use the IC for future NOFOs provided Congress appropriates and authorizes the program.

Applicants for cooperative agreements will respond to the NOFO published in the Federal Register to receive an award. They must, prior to award, complete the following submissions:

Electronic Submission

Applicants submit their applications electronically through Grants.gov. Electronic submission eliminates the burden on applicants to print, organize and ship multiple copies of their application. Additionally, Grants.gov automtically populates common elements of many forms, so standard information about the applicant that appears on several forms only needs to be entered once. To use Grants.gov, applicants are required to submit organization information, certifications, and assurances via sam.gov. HUD uses the interface between Grants.gov and GrantSolutions to retrieve applications.

No PII is included in this data collection. HUD stores the information collected via applicants' narrative responses, which do not contain PII, in its own HUD Sharepoint site on its HUD servers and takes all necessary steps to safeguard the information while complying with federal mandates, guidance, and HUD security policies and procedures.

Pre-Award Data Collection - Application Forms

PDR anticipates 20 grant applications for this NOFO. Applicant must be a Historically Black College or University. Each applicant submits a detailed proposal addressing the particular requirements of the NOFO. The information is used by HUD PDR staff to evaluate NOFO applicants and determine eligibilty to receive award funds. The HUD NOFO team leads develop scoring criteria and train HUD staff on how to conduct scoring of applications. Applicants are scored by teams using a process that ensures fairness and confidentiality. The main component of this analysis is the Rating Narrative, described below. Additional materials, such as resumes and organizational charts, are submitted in support of the content of the Rating Narrative.

The following materials are part of the application:

a. Application Abstract, which provides an overview of the research, staff, organizations, and requested funds (two-page maximum). The abstract is not used in rating the application but is important for managing the review process.

b. Narrative Response to Rating Factors (25-page maximum). The narratives are scored using the following four rating factors:

Rating Factor 1: Research Design, which is similar to the HUD standard factor "Soundness of Approach"

Rating Factor 2: Impact, which is similar to the HUD standard factor "Achieving Results"

Rating Factor 3: Capacity of the Applicant and Past Experience

Rating Factor 4: Sustainability, Resources, and Partnerships, which is simlar to the HUD standard factor "Leveraging Resources"

c. Additional Materials. These materials, which cannot exceed 30 pages, consist of two categories: materials that are needed to support the applicant's responses to the rating factors and narratives to address the Racial Equity and Civil Rights requirements.

d. Budget, using form HUD 424CBW, with supporting cost justification of up to four pages.

See the table for the respondent burden hours and frequency and the narrative and non-form attachments.

Standard application forms are included in the table below.

Curables

The Program lead conducts a preliminary review using the Threshold Review Checklist to determine if an applicant is compliant with the Eligibility Threshold requirements. The Program lead completes the TechReview Curable Deficiency Letter template, which identifies any curable deficiency and includes instructions on how to cure the deficiency, and emails it to the applicant POC. The instructions ask the response to be emailed to applicantsupport@hud.gov. If no response is received within five days, the application is considered ineligible.

Negotiation

Applicants are notified that they have been selected for an award by use of a congratulatory email accompanied by a congratulatory letter that identifes information needed for completing negotiations and the award. During negotiation, applicants are given an opportunity to make technical updates to their application before signing the cooperative agreement.

Changes Since Previous Approval (include changes since OMB previous approval):

If programs, the information included here may resemble the information in question 5 in your existing/previously approved ICR.

 The application requires narratives addressing racial equity and civil rights.     

Announcement Dates (Start and End Dates for Applications): April 1, 2024 publication date and July 9, 2024 Due Date

Type of Collection (Federal Award Instrument): (Check all that apply)

Grant

Cooperative agreement

Other:      

How will information collected be submitted to the HUD Office/Agency? (Check all that apply)
Grants.gov

esnaps.hud.gov

Other:      

Does the HUD Office/Agency need to collect information beyond the scope of the supporting statement for the generic ICR? Yes No

If yes, will the HUD Office/Agency submit a regular ICR package?

Yes No

     

How does this collection minimize the burden on small businesses/entities, if applicable?

For existing programs, the information included here may resemble the information in question 5 in your existing/previously approved ICR.

Applicants are HBCUs. The information collection is the same for all HBCUs, regardless of size, but is considered to be the minimal information needed for HUD to effectively administer this program. The electronic grant application process eliminates the burden on applicants to print, organize, and mail multiple copies of their application. Grants.gov automatically populates common elements of many forms, so that standard information about the applicant that appears on several forms only needs to be entered once.

If the collection requires a systems of records notice (SORN) or privacy impact assessment (PIA), those should be cited and described here.

Consult your Privacy Act Officer before responding to this item. The information included here may resemble the information in question 10 in your existing/previously approved ICR.

There are no PII collected.



Sensitive Information:

Is the agency asking any questions of a sensitive nature? If yes, provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private. Include the reasons justifying why the agency considers the questions necessary, the specific uses to be made of the information, the explanation to be given to persons from whom the information is requested, and any steps to be taken to obtain their consent.

Consult your Privacy Act Officer and the FHEO before responding to this item. For existing programs, the information included here may resemble the information in question 11 in your existing/previously approved ICR.

Yes No

If yes, additional information: There are no questions of a sensitive nature. 

Certification:

I certify the information contained in this document to be true and accurate:

Yes No

Respondent Burden Hours, Formats, and Reporting

Include in the table the collection items and burden amounts associated with responding to a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) and other pre-award activities. The burden included in this chart must align with the parent supporting statement. If preparing a new form, indicate “new” under the Form Number column. Existing forms number can remain unchanged, but the actual forms need to be updated with the OMB approval number for this generic collection. Also include the burden associated with responding to the rating factors and completing other narratives requested via the NOFO or other pre-award activities.

For existing programs, the information added here may resemble the information you would have submitted in question number 12 in your existing/previously approved ICR. All forms must accompany this Template for submission to OMB for approval. Do not list the required standard forms from the generic support statement; however, please list optional standard forms from the parent supporting statement. For the optional standard forms, do not include burden information, unless the burden is unique to the program.

As the Narratives and Non-Forms Attachments are used to collect sufficient information to determine threshold eligibility, meaningfully rate and rank applicants, and ensure sufficient expertise in equity and fair housing areas, a significant amount of information is requested through the NOFO. However, the NOFO has been revised over the last two years to be clearer on the information requested in the rating factor narrative to reduce respondent burden.

Each Narrative and Non-Forms Attachments submission is expected to be prepared by a social scientist at the cost of $45.50 per hour, based on the Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent data (May 2022) on the State and local government workers by occupational and industry group (https://www.bls.gov/oes/2022/may/oes_nat.htm), for Social Scientists and Related Management, professional series (average hourly rate of $45.46 rounded to $45.50).

Thus applicants' burdens are expected to cost 20 respondents x 25 hours x $45.50/hr = $22,750.

Awardees will incur an additional cost for 5 hours, 4 respondents x 4 hours x $45.50/hr = $728.

The total burden cost is estimated at $22,750 + $728 = $23,478. 

Brief description of information being collected (project summary, charts, narrative response)	Forms number	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses per respondent	Total Annual Responses	Burden hours per responses
Narratives and Non-Forms Attachments	     	20	1	20	25
Grant Application Detailed Budget Worksheet (OMB No: 2501-0044) 	HUD-424-CBW	0	0	0	0
Application for Federal Assistance 	SF-424	0	0	0	0
Applicant and Recipient Assurances and Certifications OMB No: 2501-0044)	HUD 424-B	0	0	0	0
Applicant/Recipient Disclosure/Update Report (OMB No: 2501-0044) 	HUD 2880	0	 0	0	0
Certification of Lobbying Activities (OMB No: 4040-0013)	     	0	0	0	0
Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (OMB No: 4040-0013)	SF-LLL	0	0	0	0
     	     	     	     	     	     
Curing Deficiencies	     	4	1	4	1
Submissions related to Negotiations	     	4	1	4	4
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
TOTAL				28

     

Federal Burden Hours, Formats, and Reporting

Include in the table the collection items and burden amounts associated with HUD’s review of the collected item for NOFOs and other pre-award activities. Include burden associated with reviewing eligibility as well as rating factors. For existing programs, the information added here may resemble the information you would have submitted in question number 14 in your existing/previously approved ICR.

HUD has a two tier estimated annualized cost to the Federal government with hourly burden hours and hourly costs per proposal review and an hourly cost burden for agreement negotiation. Costs are determined from 2024 OMB Salary Table , https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/pdf/2024/DCB.pdf

Approximately 20 applications are expected to be received for the NOFO. Each application will be reviewed by three people (average grade GS14 step 5, 2024 at $75.70/hr x 1.46 (wage rate multiplier) = $110.52/hr in the Washington area).

Each full proposal requires the individual reviewers to expend approximately 8 labor hours to process and review. The cost to the Federal government is: 20 full proposals * 8 hours/application * 3 readers =480 labor hours

480 labor hours * $110.52 per hour = $ 53,050.56

HUD expects to award 4 cooperative agreements. Negotiations for the 4 cooperative agreements will be conducted by the HUD technical monitor (average grade GS14 step 1, at $66.79/hr x 1.46 (wage rate multiplier) = $97.51/hr in the Washington area). Each negotiation is expected to require 4 labor hours to process and complete. The cost to the Federal government is:

4 agreements * 4 hours* 1 negotiatior = 16 labor hours

16 labor hours * $97.51 per hour = $1560.21

The total hours expended by Federal government employees for the review of the proposal and negotiation of the awards are estimated to be 496 hours, and the total cost for review is $53,050.56 and the total cost for negotiation is estimated to be $1560.21, totaling a cost of $54,610.77 to the Federal government.



Brief description of information being collected (project summary, charts, narrative responses, etc.)	Forms number	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses per respondent	Total Annual Responses	Burden hours per responses
Application reviews	     	20	1	20	8.00 
Negotiation of Agreements	     	4	1	4	4.00
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
     	     	     	     	     	     
TOTAL				24

     

2/2024