[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 104 (Friday, May 30, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29373-29376]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-14169]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Directorate of Construction
AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Notice of availability of funds and Solicitation for Grant
Applications (SGA).
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SUMMARY: All information required to submit a grant application by
eligible applicants is contained in this announcement. The U. S.
Department of Labor (DOL), Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA), announces the availability of $2.0 million in
funds for a three-pronged training effort on the standards applicable
to the residential construction industry.
DATES: The closing date for receipt of proposals is August 1, 1997, at
4:30 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time).
ADDRESSES: Applications shall be mailed to: Directorate of
Construction, Attention: H. Berrien Zettler, Deputy Director,
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U. S. Department of
Labor, Room N-3603, 200 Constitution Avenue, N. W., Washington, DC
20210.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: H. Berrien Zettler, Directorate of
Construction, Telephone: (202) 219-8071, Extension 122. (This is not a
toll free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: U. S. Department of Labor, Occupational
Safety and Health Administration, is soliciting proposals on a
competitive basis to conduct a series of training seminars directed to
three separate target groups; viz., (1) non-union residential
contractors/subcontractors, including their supervisors and their
workers; (2) union residential contractors/subcontractors, their
supervisors and their workers; and (3) OSHA (Federal and State Plan)
compliance safety and health officers. Conduct of the training series
will include developing a course syllabus, recruiting employers and
workers for the training, delivering the training, and performing
appropriate follow-up. Multiple training sessions, lasting from eight
(8) to ten (10) hours each for target groups (1) and (2) above and ten
(10) to sixteen (16) hours each for target group (3) above, will be
held in different locations around the country. This does not prohibit
a bidder from designing and submitting a program for a specific portion
of the training, or for a specific geographical location or for a
subgroup of trainees. Indeed, OSHA anticipates awarding multiple grants
under this Federal Register notice. Such grants might address all or
any of the different training series or even subordinate parts of one
training series (such as training of non-union contractors in a
particular Federal or State plan State or a particular region of the
country). Selection of multiple grantees will not compromise the
Agency's desire for nationwide coverage. Applicants for training of
target groups (1) or (2) are expected to specify the approximate number
of students they plan to train, e.g., 500-1000 organized contractor/
subcontractor employees in the Southwest, or 400-800 non-union
residential contractors in the six (6) Midwestern states listed
herewith.
Part I. Application Process
A. Eligibility
Applicants eligible to apply for grants under this announcement are
non-profit organizations which are currently administering or who have
had experience in administering training programs involving a wide
variety of OSHA's construction standards. Institutions of higher
education which are supported by State or local governments are
eligible to apply. Applicants other than State or local government-
supported institutions of higher education will be required to submit
evidence of their non-profit status, preferably from the Internal
Revenue Service. (Applicants shall indicate their IRS status on the
Standard Form 424) which is included in the application package. A
consortium of two or more eligible applicants is also eligible to
apply. Each consortium must have a written agreement spelling out the
roles and responsibilities for each consortium member and naming one
member as the lead agency. The lead agency will receive the grant and
will be responsible for grant administration and primary contact with
the Department of Labor Representative.
B. Period of Performance
The performance period for these grants will be twenty-four (24)
months from the date of execution.
[[Page 29374]]
C. Submission of Proposal
Applicants may apply for all aspects of this solicitation or for
any subpart. They may design a program that is nationwide or that
limits consideration to one geographical region. Grant application
packages may be obtained from the OSHA Office of Program Budgeting and
Financial Management, Division of Grants Management, 200 Constitution
Avenue, Room N-3419, Washington, D.C. 20210. All of the forms necessary
for a complete application are included with the grant application
package. A proposal shall consist of two (2) separate and distinct
parts: Part I, the Financial Proposal and Part II, the Technical
Proposal. Part I, the Financial Proposal, shall contain the Application
for Financial Assistance (SF-424); the Budget Information Sheet (SF-
424b); and the OSHA Grant Agreement (OSHA Form 110). The budget shall
include (on separate pages) detailed breakouts of each proposed budget
line item, including detailed administrative costs and program costs.
Grant funds cannot be used to (1) support lobbying activities, (2)
provide training that would be provided in the absence of the requested
grant, (3) provide salaries for program participants or (4) acquire
production equipment. Part II shall contain the Technical Proposal that
demonstrates the applicant's capabilities in accordance with the
Statement of Work in Part II of this solicitation. No cost data or
reference to costs shall be included in the Technical Proposal.
D. Hand Delivered Proposals
Proposals may be mailed or delivered by hand. A mailed proposal
should be mailed no later than five (5) calendar days prior to the
closing date for the receipt of applications. Hand-delivered grant
applications must be received at the designated place by 4:30 p.m.
(Eastern Time) by August 1, 1997. Overnight mail shall be considered to
be hand-delivered and must be received at the designated place by the
specified time on the closing date. Grant applications transmitted by
electronic mail, telegraph, or fax will not be considered.
E. Late Proposals
A proposal received at the office designated in the solicitation
after the exact time specified for receipt will not be considered.
F. Withdrawal of Proposals
A grant application may be with-drawn by written notice or telegram
(including mailgram) received at any time before the awarding of a
grant based on that application. An application may be withdrawn in
person by the grant applicant or by an authorized representative of the
grant applicant if the representative's identity is documented and the
representative signs a receipt acknowledging withdrawal of the
proposal.
Part II. Government Requirement/Statement of Work
A. Purpose
The purpose of this solicitation is to announce that funds are
available for grants. Grant applications must address one or more of
the target groups:
1. Training of non-union residential construction contractors and
subcontractors, their supervisors and their workers;
2. Training of union residential contractors and subcontractors,
their supervisors and their workers;
3. Training for OSHA (Federal and State Plan) compliance officers
(CSHO) who conduct or may conduct residential inspections.
The subject of all phases of the training will be effective safety
and health practices in construction with particular reference to the
OSHA construction standards applicable to home building. OSHA will
develop and provide to grantees a publication containing those
construction safety and health standards most commonly applicable to
residential construction. Appendices may be developed, as appropriate,
for State Plan State standards when different from Federal standards.
This publication will serve as the basis for development of the
training seminars. Training that is directed toward contractors,
subcontractors, supervisors, and workers in States that operate OSHA-
approved State plans must be coordinated with and have the concurrence
of the responsible State plan official. The training must also include
appropriate reference to State plan standards and requirements where
they differ from the Federal standards. Separate training will be
designed for each target group and will be carried out in a series of
seminars conducted at multiple locations throughout the country to
ensure nationwide availability. A minimum of forty (40) seminars for
employers and employees will be conducted. Each seminar will last from
eight (8) to ten (10) hours and will be provided at no cost to the
participants. Training for Federal and State CSHOs may be given to as
many as seven hundred (700) persons and may be located in Regional
Office cities, other centrally located cities or at the OSHA Training
Institute in Des Plaines, IL. OSHA's Office of Training and Education
will: (a) supervise the development of training materials by grantees
selected for training of CSHOs, (b) provide guidance on policy and
procedural matters applicable to the identified standards, (c)
coordinate the program planning for that target group and (d)
participate in the delivery of training. These latter training sessions
(for CSHOs) may last as long as sixteen (16) hours.
B. Project Summary
Each grant application shall follow the format outlined below:
1. Target Population
As indicated in the purpose section there are three target groups
for training: non-union contractors/sub contractors and their
employees; union contractors/subcontractors and their employees; and
OSHA compliance personnel.
2. Project Design
(a) Outreach and recruitment. The grantee(s) will develop and
deliver a series of training courses addressing hazards regularly found
on residential construction sites, based on the OSHA construction
standards identified as commonly applicable to residential construction
sites in a publication to be provided to the grantee(s) by OSHA at the
time the grant is awarded or as soon thereafter as it is available.
Each session for the first two training target groups will last a
minimum of eight and a maximum of ten hours to be given in one to one
and one-half days and will focus on effective safety and health
practices to ensure employee safety. Separate training seminars will be
set up for each of the target groups at multiple locations throughout
the country to ensure nationwide availability. OSHA anticipates that a
minimum of forty (40) such sessions will be conducted. The training
sessions for CSHOs will also focus on hazards regularly found on
residential construction sites and will be based on the OSHA
construction standards identified as commonly applicable to residential
construction sites in a publication to be provided to the grantee(s) by
OSHA as soon as it is available but not later than prior to the start
of the training. CSHO training will also address compliance-related
policies and procedures applicable to these standards. The sessions for
target group (3) may last as long as sixteen hours, may include as many
as seven hundred (700) trainees and may be located in Regional Office
cities, other centrally located cities or at the OSHA Training
Institute in Des Plaines, IL. Grant
[[Page 29375]]
applications may target training courses for one or all of the
identified target groups or any subpart(s) thereof. The grantee(s) will
be expected to: (a) develop and conduct training outreach or publicity
programs; (b) arrange for and obtain an adequate meeting site for each
seminar; (c) determine the number of attendees; (d) develop course
content appropriate to the audience, including printed handouts and
audio-visual materials; and with appropriate reference to the
applicable OSHA-approved State plan requirements; (e) deliver the
training; (f) obtain feedback from participants on the success of the
seminar; (g) cycle improvements into the training course content as
appropriate; and (h) develop a report at the end of the series of
seminars evaluating its effectiveness.
Training directed at audiences from any target group in States that
operate OSHA-approved State plans must be coordinated with and have the
concurrence of the responsible State plan official. The training must
also include appropriate reference to State plan standards and
requirements where they differ from the Federal standards. Course
evaluations by students will be collected at the end of each session
and forwarded to OSHA's Directorate of Construction, Attention: H.
Berrien Zettler, Deputy Director.
(b) Eligibility and selection criteria. The grantee(s) must:
(1) Demonstrate a working knowledge of the residential construction
industry;
(2) Demonstrate a working knowledge of OSHA's construction
standards (29 CFR 1926) and interpretations and, where appropriate, of
State plan State construction standards;
(3) Demonstrate expertise in developing safety and health training
programs and outreach materials, both computer-based and audio-visual,
as well as familiarity with OSHA's Computerized Information System
(OCIS).
(4) Demonstrate expertise in the development and evaluation of the
effectiveness of safety and health programs and plans for employers,
especially small business construction employers, and employees engaged
in residential construction.
(c) Program experience. The grantee(s) will demonstrate experience
with occupational safety and health programs in construction; with
setting up training seminars and recruiting appropriate attendees, with
training adults in work-related subjects; with developing computer-
based, audio-visual and written materials to be used in training and
with evaluating the success and effectiveness of training sessions.
3. Evaluation
Applicants may apply for any or all aspects of this solicitation or
for any subpart. In either case the contents of the technical proposal
must address each of the categories outlined in Part III in the order
presented there. Each technical proposal will be scored on the basis of
possible points. The parenthetical points shown below beside each of
the evaluation factors indicate the relative importance of those
factors. Applicants for the entire project will be evaluated against
all factors. Those submitting proposals only for parts of the project
will be evaluated against only those factors applying to the part(s)
applied for. The parenthetical points shown below beside each
evaluation subfactor indicate the rela-tive importance of the
subfactors.
4. Innovation
Describe any innovation in proposed training methods.
5. Project Management
(a) Structure. Describe the management structure proposed for the
project, including a staffing plan that describes each position and the
percentage of its time to be assigned to this project. Provide an
organizational chart showing the relationship among project management
and operational components, including those at multiple sites of the
project.
(b) Program integrity. Describe the mechanisms to ensure financial
accountability for grant funds and performance accountability relative
to training. Explain the basis for the applicant's administrative
authority over the management and operational components.
(c) Previous project management experience. Provide an objective
demonstration of the grant applicant's ability to manage the project
based on the applicant's past experience in the design and delivery of
training.
C. Financial Reporting Requirements
Grantees will be required to submit quarterly and final financial
and program reports. Detailed requirements for submitting these reports
will be included in the grant award package. There are restrictions on
the use of grant funds. OSHA will not provide funding for the following
activities:
Any activity inconsistent with the goals and objectives of
the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.
Training of employers or employees not covered by the
Occupational Safety and Health Act. Examples include State and local
government workers in non-State Plan States and workers excluded from
coverage under Section 4(b)(1) of the Act.
Production, publication, reproduction or use of training
and educational materials, including newsletters and instructional
programs, that have not been reviewed by OSHA for technical accuracy.
Activities that address issues other than recognition,
avoidance, and prevention of unsafe or unhealthful working conditions.
Examples include workers' compensation and materials prejudicial to
labor or management.
Activities that provide assistance to workers in
arbitration cases or other actions against employers or that provide
assistance to employers and/or workers in the prosecution of claims
against Federal, State or local governments.
Activities that directly duplicate services offered by
OSHA, a State under a State Plan or Consultation programs provided by
State-designated agencies under Section 7(c)(1) of the Occupational
Safety and Health Act.
Activities intended to generate membership in the
grantee's organization, including activities to acquaint nonmembers
with the benefits of membership, inclusion of membership appeals in
materials produced with grant funds and member-ship drives.
D. Additional Grant Requirements
Educational materials produced by the grantee will be reviewed by
OSHA for technical accuracy during development and before delivery or
final publication. OSHA will also review curriculums and purchased
training materials for accuracy before they are used. When grant
recipients produce training materials, they shall provide copies of
completed materials to OSHA before the end of the grant period. OSHA
has a lending library program that circulates grant-produced
audiovisual and written materials. Grant recipients' audiovisual and
written materials will be included in this program.
E. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Regulatory Requirements
Grantees will be required to comply with the following regulatory
requirements:
29 CFR Part 95, which covers grant requirements for non-
profit organizations, including universities and hospitals. These are
the Department of Labor regulations implementing OMB Circular A-110.
OMB Circular A-21, which describes allowable and
unallowable costs for educational institutions.
[[Page 29376]]
OMB Circular A-122, which describes allowable and
unallowable costs for other non-profit organizations.
29 CFR Part 96 and OMB Circular A-133, which provide
information about audit requirements.
All applicants will be required to certify to a drug-free
workplace in accordance with 29 CFR Part 98, to comply with the New
Restrictions on Lobbying published at 29 CFR Part 93.
Part III. Selection/Evaluation Criteria
Selection of the grantee(s) for award will be made after careful
evaluation of grant applicants by a panel selected for that purpose by
DOL. Panel results shall be advisory in nature and not binding on the
Assistant Secretary. Panelists shall evaluate applications for
acceptability based upon overall responsiveness to the Statement of
Work, with emphasis on the factors enumerated below.
Section A: Technical Approach to Fulfilling the Statement of Work:
Maximum (425 Points)
(a) Demonstrate expert working knowledge of the residential
construction industry. (100 points)
(b) Demonstrate expert working knowledge of OSHA's construction
standards and interpretations and, where appropriate, of State plan
State construction standards. (100 points)
(c) Demonstrate expertise in developing training and outreach
materials, both computer-based and audio-visual, as well as familiarity
with OSHA's Computerized Information System (OCIS). (75 points)
(d) Demonstrate expertise in implementing training seminars or
workshops to be attended by employers or employees of the residential
construction industry or others as appropriate. (75 points)
(e) Demonstrate expertise in the development and evaluation of
safety and health programs, including construction safety and health
programs and plans, for employers, especially small business
construction employers and employees engaged in residential
construction. (75 points)
Section B: Offeror's Experience and Qualifications: Maximum (300
Points)
(a) Identification of clients for whom similar work has been
performed, for example, EPA, DOE, NIOSH, etc. (75 points)
(b) Technical synopses of past, similar or related work experience.
(75 points)
(c) Experience in the management of subcontractors and consultants.
(75 points)
(d) Personnel qualifications. (75 points)
Section C: Project Management: Maximum (125 Points)
(a) Project plans. (50 points)
(b) Methods of operation. (30 points)
(c) Methods of control, including financial. (45 points)
Maximum Score: The maximum possible score is 850 points.
Applicants are advised that, if any inconsistencies are found in an
application, OSHA will make every effort to resolve them without
contacting the applicant. Applications should be carefully screened to
ensure that the proposal is clear and all elements are consistent. The
final decision on awards will be based on what is most advantageous to
the Federal Government as determined by the Assistant Secretary. The
Government may elect to award grant(s) without discussion with the
applicant(s). Such awards would be based on the applicant's proposal
without alteration. The applicant's signature on the Application for
Financial Assistance constitutes a binding offer.
Award Announcements
Winners under this competition will be announced on or before
September 15, 1997.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 27th day of May, 1997.
Gregory Watchman,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Occupational Safety and Health
Administration.
[FR Doc. 97-14169 Filed 5-29-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-26-P
