Understanding ELC Processes and Decision Making for State and Local Applicants

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1 Understanding ELC Processes and Decision Making for State and Local Applicants Brought to you by The Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Disease Cooperative Agreement Alvin Shultz & Angelica 0 Connor May 18, 2015 ELC Purpose Build and strengthen epidemiologic, laboratory, and information systems capacity in public health departments to: o identify and monitor occurrence of known infectious diseases o detect new emerging infectious disease threats o identify and respond to disease outbreaks o develop and evaluate public health interventions 1

2 ELC Structure o Cooperative Agreement between CDC and 50 states, 6 local health departments & 8 territories and affiliates o Platform that supports multiple infectious diseases simultaneously o Flexible program for addressing urgent infectious disease needs (e.g. SARS, posthurricane mosquito abatement, Influenza supplement, Recovery Act, Affordable Care Act) o Non-Research o Customer Driven FY 2014 ELC Funding Total Funding = $97.2 Million Program Component Funding Cross-Cutting Epi, Lab and HIT Capacity $50.9 Healthcare-Associated Infections / Antimicrobial Resistance $11.7 Foodborne Diseases / OutbreakNet Sentinel Sites $11.7 Arboviral (primarily WNV) $9.2 Influenza Surveillance and Response $6.8 Vaccine Preventable Diseases $1.8 Lyme Disease $0.7 Border Infectious Disease Surveillance (BIDS) $0.6 Prion Disease $0.3 Other (respiratory diseases, administrative, evaluation, mycotics, waterborne, non-lyme tickborne, parasitic) $3.0 2

3 After you Submit your application Applicant Grants.gov ELC Mailbox Sent to CDC SMEs Categorical Projects + AMD +LEI ELC Staff with SME input Cross-Cutting Epi, Lab, Health IT + Evaluation Applications Sent to SMEs 34 Projects with reviews and funding recommendations due back to ELC approximately 4 weeks after application due date Most of these projects have their own separate funding stream outside of ELC base funding Although ELC supplements foodborne and provides resources for waterborne, tick-borne, mycotics and rabies ELC then provides QA/QC, recommendations for changes, targeted funding (usually one-time) and bundles information together for PGO to make awards by August 1 st 3

4 Cross-Cutting Projects ELC staff review with input from SMEs as needed Funding Decisions (discussion focuses on lab) 1 st priority is to maintain existing staff where there is good performance 2 nd priority to provide resources for laboratory supplies, maintenance agreements, courier services, etc. (amount will fluctuate annually but will try to not deviate radically from the mean) 3 rd priority is new enhancements if funding allows Importance of prioritizing your requests for enhancements Includes raises, cost-of-living adjustments ELC has operated under fixed budget since 2011; making enhancements difficult ELC High-Level Principles Ask for what you need, but have reasonable expectations on what you might received based upon level ELC budget Prioritize your enhanced requests Talk to your ELC Program Advisor about your needs throughout the year. Ideally, you do not want the first time we learn about a major need to be when reading your application. 4

5 Post Award Information Shared with Grantee Notice of Grant Award ELC PI; Financial Office Budgets Governance Team Technical Reviews Governance Team Funding Overview Spreadsheets Governance Team Application Tips Planning your Application Carefully read and review differences between current year project description and last year s Review technical review comments from last year s proposal Discuss any weaknesses and mitigation strategies with ELC Program Advisor If you weren t awarded funding for a priority project last year and you want to request the funds again this year you should inquire about why you were not funded last year. Due to lack of program funds? Problems with your narrative/proposal? 5

6 ELC Workplan Milestone/Output E.g. staff hired, deliverable provided, project completion, system implemented, analysis performed, certification obtained Tangible and identifiable Person Responsible Existing staff (provide name and position) TBN staff (provide position or functional role) Timeframe Start and end date Don t just use the budget period Rare that new staff are on board the day the award is received ELC Lab TAT Measure Year 1 Most grantees targeted reductions in analytic phase of TAT Most chose enteric organisms Years 1-2 Data validation indicated that grantees chose to reduce the analytic phase because they felt more control over that segment Many grantees had not regularly calculated pre-analytic phase Pre-analytic phase noted as significant factor in delaying the time to result. Two key steps to mitigate this delay: Outreach to problem labs that chronically delayed submission regardless of courier service Implementation or expansion of existing courier service in grantee state/jurisdiction (ELC apps) 6

7 ELC Lab TAT Measure Year 2 (to present) Data validation to be conducted Will investments in outreach activities and expanded courier service result in reduced TAT? Future TAT measure may help illustrate the story of the implementation of advanced laboratory methods (e.g., WGS, MALDI-TOF) Short term impact on TAT: increase because of change in sampletype primary specimens requiring additional work up prior to testing Medium to long term (depending on state/jurisdiction): Reduced TAT Of note: Progress on this measure reported up to CDC leadership (TF) Application Tips Things that make reviewing an application difficult Application is disjointed (overtly compiled from various authors) Each component should be able to reviewed by itself but the application as a whole should still be unified and clear Reviewer must hunt for the required information Background information not clear in the Background section but perhaps included in the Operational plan section Absence of sections altogether (such as Background) 7

8 Application Tips Things that make reviewing an application difficult Applicant follows no discernable format for the Project Narrative and/or the Budget Narrative When in doubt, follow the format of the FOA ELC has a preferred Budget Template Application has grammatical, punctuation, or mathematical errors 8