Working with your AoA Project Officer

Grants vs Cooperative Agreements In a cooperative agreement, the funding agency remains involved in the research or project during its performance by the receiving agency. The federal government offers cooperative agreements to provide goods or services to many recipients via an intermediary. The receiving entity must provide the deliverable services specified in its application. Pro-active partnership

“Original” and Expansion/Capacity http://www.aoa.gov/ click on “funding opportunities”

Specifics on the “Original SMP” Cooperative Agreement The Grantee agrees to carry out the objectives and activities of the project announced as the SMP. The Grantee will develop the capacity to effectively recruit, screen, train, and manage a volunteer workforce to carry out activities that will achieve SMP program objectives.

The Grantee will provide a work plan which includes appropriate strategies and activities to achieve the SMP Program Objectives: Foster National and Statewide Program Coverage. Improve beneficiary education and inquiry resolution. Foster national program visibility and consistency. Improve the efficiency of the SMP Program while increasing results for both operational and quality measures.

Grantees will ensure program efforts are focused toward increasing program results as reflected in the following measures: a. Volunteer involvement measures, including the numbers of active volunteers, volunteer training hours and volunteer work hours; b. The numbers of elderly beneficiaries educated (group education and one-on-one counseling); c. The numbers of simple inquiries and complex issues addressed; and d. Dollar amount of issues referred for further action.

Target training and education to better serve priority populations, as identified by the Grantee.   In addition to ensuring the Grantee’s plan and activities address the SMP program objectives and priorities, it is further agreed that: The Grantee will form a consortium of community-based organizations.

2. In addition the Grantee must coordinate with AoA’s National Consumer Protection Technical Resource Center “the Center” for assistance regarding: Complex issues and referrals; Sharing of successful products and practices; Volunteer management and training support; SMART FACTS reporting; and Mentoring new SMP project directors.  

3. The Grantee will develop the capacity to effectively recruit, screen, train, and manage a volunteer workforce 4. The Grantee will develop a plan for assessing and mitigating the risks within their volunteer programs, 4 to include at a minimum, procedures for ensuring potential SMP volunteers are adequately screened, trained and supervised.

5. The Grantee will ensure that volunteers have demonstrated mastery of basic information 6. The Grantee will budget yearly conference participation.

The Grantee will record project activities related to program outreach and media events. Key activity data may be included in semiannual progress reports to the Administration on Aging. The Grantee will collect and input project performance data into the SMP SMART FACTS system in a timely basis.   The Grantee will participate in a variety of project evaluations.

The Grantee will work with the AoA project officer to review and evaluate performance results reported semiannually in both the AoA grants report and the OIG Performance Report and jointly develop strategies to address those areas requiring improvement. The Grantee will submit materials developed through the project to the SMP Resource Center for posting in the website resource library (http://www.smpresource.org) in order to facilitate the sharing of resources throughout the SMP network.   The Grantee will comply with SMP Program Guidance issued by the Administration on Aging to ensure quality, effectiveness and consistency of program implementation.

Specifics on the Expansion/Capacity Cooperative Agreement AoA will be substantially involved in the grantee’s activities by reviewing technical assistance products and participating in planning and training activities, which will be determined by the project’s expansion and capacity building efforts detailed in the approved application. The terms and conditions for this cooperative agreement are as follows and will be incorporated by reference in the Notice of Award (NoA). The AoA will carry out the following activities for the cooperative agreement, as follows:

AoA Project Officer will perform the day-to-day Federal responsibilities of managing a grant initiative and will work with the grantee to ensure that the minimum requirements for the grant are met. AoA will assist the grantee project leadership in understanding the policy concerns and/or priorities of AoA by conducting periodic briefings and by carrying out ongoing consultations.

AoA and the grantee will work cooperatively to clarify the programmatic and budgetary issues to be addressed by the project. Based on these negotiations, if necessary, the grantee will revise the project work plan detailing expectations for major activities and products during the 12 month grant period. Provide technical advice to the grantee on the provision of technical support and associated tasks related to the fulfillment of the goals and objectives of this grant. Review and provide technical advice on grantee work products. Provide consultation to the grantee in identifying emerging issues as they relate to the goals and objectives of this grant program.

AoA will work with the grantee on the development and implementation of evaluation and quality assurance systems to ensure that performance is measured and continuous improvement occurs. Attend and participate in major project events as appropriate.