Frequently Asked Questions

Addition of New Healthcare Occupational Trainings

Background: The healthcare occupations that were proposed in the grant application documents, and agreed upon by OFA, are the occupations that are considered approved for training participants. Programs are only allowed to train those healthcare occupations. Programs are allowed to add other healthcare occupational trainings as new labor market needs are identified, as long as those occupations are part of an articulated career pathway. Programs can add those healthcare occupational trainings, and offer training, after receiving approval from OFA.

Approval Process: Before the organization can train for a new healthcare occupation, the grantee will upload a justification containing the following items to GrantSolutions as a Grant Note using the naming convention Add Occ NAME MM YYYY Proposed (e.g. Add Occ Surgical Tech 11 2015 Proposed)

• The most pertinent Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code for the healthcare occupational training and a description of the new occupational training.
• How the proposed healthcare occupation training is preparing students for one or more specific employer or industry recognized credential or degree (which can include a license, third-party certification, postsecondary educational certificate or degree, or a Registered Apprenticeship certificate).
• A description, narrative or diagram, of the career pathway for the healthcare occupation.
• Labor market information, including employment rates, projected employment rates, and number of job openings.
• Real-time labor market trends, including job posting volume, and educational or experience requirements.
• Occupational wage data, including the median wage and wage ranges.
• Estimated average starting wages within the proposed service area.
• Verification from local employers regarding their needs and expectations.
• Local training capacity including the provider and length of training.
• Estimated number of participants that will begin the occupational training and an indication of if this addition would require other workplan projection changes.

OFA will note approval for the new healthcare occupation in GrantSolutions. Once OFA has done this, the new occupation with vendor information can be input into PAGES and training can be offered to participants for that occupation.

In general, grantees are allowed a certain degree of latitude to re-budget within and between budget categories to meet unanticipated needs and to make other types of post-award changes; provided the budget changes are for activities detailed in the approved program narrative for that budget period and do not meet one or more of the below prior approval requirements:

The 45 CFR Part 75.308 states that written approval is required from ACF prior to grantees implementing a budget modification for any of the following:

1. Change in scope or objective of the project or program (even if there is no associated budget revision requiring prior written approval).
2. Change in key personnel (This would include the Program Director (PD) or Authorized Official (AO) named in the notice of grant award.)
3. The absence/disengagement from the project of key personnel for more than 3 months or 25% of his/her time
4. The inclusion, unless waived by the HHS awarding agency, of costs that require prior approval in accordance with subpart E of 45 CFR 75, or 45 CFR 75 Appendix IX of this part, or 48 CFR part 31, as applicable. (This would include items such as alternation and renovation of real property and equipment not previously approved.)
5. The transfer of funds budgeted for participant support costs as defined in 45 CFR 75.2 to other categories of expense.
6. Transfer or contracting out work not approved in application
7. Changes in the amount of approved cost-sharing or matching provided by the non-Federal entity.
8. The need arises for additional Federal funds to complete the project.
9. The inclusion of research patient care costs in research awards made for the performance of research work.
10. The provision of subawards by a pass-through entity on fixed amounts up to the Simplified Acquisition Threshold, provided that the subawards meet the requirements for fixed amount awards in 45 CFR 75.201. See 45 CFR 75.353.
11. The recipient wishes to dispose of, replace, or encumber title to real property, equipment, or intangible property that are acquired or improved with a Federal award. See 45 CFR 75.318, 75.320, 75.322, and 75.323.
12. Significant Rebudgeting — Transfer of direct costs of 25% or more of total costs of the last approved award is considered significant rebudgeting.
13. Carryover of Unobligated Balances

Please contact your program specialist if you have any questions about this.

HPOG provides responsive technical assistance (TA) to grantees across a number of topics and in a number of formats.  You can select from a menu of Technical Assistance topics, but please keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list.  We can provide Technical Assistance to respond to your unique needs.  TA can take the form of phone calls, webinars, site exchanges with a peer grantee, or on-site training.  Contact your Program Specialist to discuss further or if you wish to put in a formal request for TA.

The HPOG team hosted Orientation Webinars for HPOG program directors on October 14th and 16th, 2015. During this webinar, Stan Koutstaal, OFA Program Manager for HPOG, discussed program requirements and items that require prior approval from the HPOG program office. The Orientation Webinar Video and Transcript are now available.

OFA has outlined below its positions and related policies for both Enrolling Existing Students and Providing ABE services.

Online versions of the Standard Forms can be found at Grants.gov.

Grantees should first login to their PAGES account and bring up their homepage. On the top blue bar, click the down arrow to the right of the word PAGES. Then navigate to Resources, listed under Help. Be sure to view ALL Resources as there are guides, glossaries, slides, etc. For webinar links, find the document titled Links to PAGES Training Webinars.

The ACF Waiver Release Form needs to be completed by the subject of each success story, promising practice, picture, or other document possessing the name or likeness of an individual that is submitted to OFA. If you have any questions about this requirement, please contact your program specialist.