ALO's
Cycle 2002 Request for Applications
Institutional
Partnership RFA Frequently Asked Questions
Q.
What
is the relationship between the Association Liaison Office for University
Cooperation in Development (ALO) and the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID)?
A.
ALO
oversees and administers a cooperative agreement between USAID and six
higher education associations. USAID provides funding to ALO through
the American Council on Education (ACE) to coordinate the efforts of
these associations in building their partnership with USAID and to help
their member institutions plan and implement development programs with
colleges and universities in USAID-assisted countries.
Q.
Must my institution be a member of one of the six associations before
I submit an application?
A.
Any regionally accredited higher education institution may apply.
Q.What
is the role of the lead institution? Can a non-U.S. institution be the
lead institution for a project?
A.
The lead institution must be a U.S. college, university, community college
or consortium made up of higher education institutions. Responsibility
for all financial and narrative reporting, disseminating information,
coordinating with cooperating institutions, and all other program tasks
rests with the lead U.S. institution. Non-lead institutions report to
lead institutions by individual arrangement.
Q.
Are institutions that already have an Institutional Partnership or Workforce
Development Partnership award permitted to submit applications?
A.
Yes, if the application is for a new project. Unless otherwise specified
in a Special Solicitation, ALO provides “seed” funding, not sustaining
funds for ongoing programs.
Q.When
was the 2002 Request for Applications (RFA) issued and what is the closing
date?
A.
The 2002 RFA was issued on January 31, 2002. The deadline for receipt
of applications is March 15, 2002.
Q.How
many awards will be granted in 2002?
A.
The number of awards will depend on USAID funding for ALO’s Institutional
Partnerships Program. Core funding is expected to permit ten awards
in Cycle 2002. Individual USAID missions or regional bureaus may choose
to provide funding for highly ranked applications beyond the core awards.
Q.How
much are the grants? Are they renewable every year?
A.
The Cycle 1998 through Cycle 2001 grants provided funds of up to $100,000
for a duration of two to three years. The 2002 grants will be for up
to $100,000 for a duration of two years.
Q.
Are the Cycle 2002 grants also for up to three years?
A.
The 2002 grants will provide funding of up to $100,000 for up to two
years (until Sept. 30, 2004).
Q.
May any portion of grant funds be used for indirect costs?
A.
Although there is no technical restriction on use of grants to cover
indirect costs, most of the institutions receiving previous awards proposed
to cover some or all of their indirect costs as part or all of their
contributions to cost-sharing. The actual range of grant funds used
for indirect costs by winning institutions has varied from 0 percent
to about 30 percent.
Q.
What is the definition of cost-share?
A.
Both cash and in-kind contributions will be accepted as part of the
applicant’s cost-sharing when such contributions (a) are verifiable
from the applicant’s records; (b) are not included as contributions
for any other federally-assisted program; (c) are reasonable for the
accomplishment of project objectives; and (d) are not paid by the federal
government under another grant. In-kind contributions may include waivers
of tuition, fees, and indirect costs.
Q.
What
kind of cost-share is required?
A.
The U.S. cooperating institutions together must match a total of at
least 25 percent of the requested grant amount. Contributions may be
in-kind. The average cost-share of the funded applications from the
1998-2001 competitions was over 50 percent. The match is to be calculated
on the total amount of the grant requested; it can be provided by the
lead institution or shared in any proportion by the U.S. cooperating
institution(s).
Q.
Who selects the applications to be funded?
A.
Panels of independent peer reviewers, who are staff members at U.S.
colleges, community colleges, and universities, evaluate the applications
based on the criteria listed in the RFA. ALO makes the final selection
of peer reviewers to provide a mix of appropriate development sector
and world region expertise, as well as balance among institutional types.
Q.
Am I at a disadvantage because my institution is small?
A.
No. Projects are selected on their merits, not on the size or reputation
of proposing institutions.
Q.
Would it be useful for me to meet with or speak to ALO staff before
I submit a application?
A.
No. Although ALO welcomes visitors, a panel of independent peer reviewers
rates the applications. A visit to the ALO office will have no impact
on the evaluation of a particular application. Moreover, due to the
increased activity generated by the upcoming round of competition, it
is likely that scheduling a visit immediately before or during the RFA
cycle will be difficult. ALO invites inquirers to visit the USAID (http://www.info.usaid.gov)
and ALO (http://www.aascu.org/alo)
web sites, contact USAID mission staff, or e-mail questions to alo@aascu.org.
Q.
Can the project be in any country I choose? Are “graduated” USAID countries
included?
A.
Partnerships should be proposed in cooperation with institutions in
countries currently supported by USAID. Graduated USAID countries are
not included.
Q.
Can the partnership be with a ministry or government department in the
host country?
A.
Our program is intended to support the USAID Center for Human Capacity
Development objective to increase the contributions of higher education
institutions in USAID-assisted countries to development. Hence, partnerships
must be with a developing country university. A government agency could
be an additional partner.
Q.
How can I find out what the goals of a particular USAID mission are?
A.
USAID’s web site at http://www.usaid.gov/pubs/cbj2002
gives details of mission goals. Consult this site to identify USAID
strategic objectives for the country or region in which your partnering
institution is located. After conducting this initial research, contact
a USAID Mission (or regional office or bureau in cases where there is
no USAID mission presence) to find out if your application addresses
one of its strategic objectives. Applications should include a Mission
concurrence form, found on pages 7-9 of the 2002 RFA. Send this form
to the Mission for concurrence, and ask the Mission to return it directly
to you. Upon receipt of the completed concurrence form, submit it along
with the full application to ALO.
Q.
What does the Mission concurrence form require?
A.
The Mission concurrence form that accompanies the ALO RFA is meant to
ensure congruence between ALO partnerships and USAID objectives. USAID
Mission staff are requested to review a summary of the proposed partnership
(not the entire application) and indicate general concurrence, or not,
with the application’s intent. It is important to get the form, with
accompanying information, to the pertinent USAID Mission in adequate
time for their review and response. Applications which do not clearly
address USAID goal(s) and strategic objective(s) for a specific country
may not receive Mission concurrence.
Q.
What if my partnership involves multiple countries? Do I have to have
a Mission concurrence form for each country?
A.
The Mission concurrence form is required only for the primary country
or countries involved. In cases of countries where USAID has programs
but no Mission presence, a USAID regional office or regional bureau
may provide concurrence.
Q.
Can Missions fund partnerships that were not selected for awards?
A.
Abstracts of highly rated partnership applications for which funding
is not available are often shared with appropriate units of USAID (e.g.,
Missions, Regional Bureaus, offices in central Bureaus) which may be
able to fund partnerships. In the past, nine Missions and Regional Bureaus
have funded partnerships (highly rated but not funded by ALO) and provided
funds to ALO to increase the scope of other partnerships.
Q.
How do Missions fund partnerships?
A.
Missions can provide funding for partnerships and networks through an
operating year budget (OYB) transfer or a Modified Acquisition and Assistance
Request Document (MAARD) to the Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture,
and Trade (EGAT)/Office of Human Capacity Development (HCD), or through
a direct agreement with the ALO.
Q.
Can a Mission request specific types of partnerships to be included
in an ALO RFA?
A.
ALO can work with a USAID Mission to design an RFA for higher education
partnerships specific to the host country’s needs. In 1999, ALO worked
with the USAID Mission in El Salvador to design and implement a solicitation
for Early Childhood Education. In 2000, ALO developed a special solicitation
with USAID/Rwanda for a partnership to focus on developing human capacity
in the agriculture sector. Also in 2000, ALO conducted a special solicitation
for partnerships designed to address the strategic objectives of the
USAID Mission in West Bank/Gaza. In 2001, ALO released two RFAs developed
in conjunction with USAID/Ethiopia to support a law school linkage program
and a training program in journalism, and one with USAID/Macedonia to
support institutional development at the new South East European University
in Tetovo, Macedonia.
Q.How
soon after our project is selected can we start spending the money?
A.
Selected partnerships may not obligate ALO funds until the final agreement
has been vetted and signed by the winning U.S. institution(s) and the
American Council on Education (on behalf of ALO). ALO expects this process
to take approximately three months.
Q.
How do I get the most up-to-date information on ALO and its programs?
Q.
How competitive is the solicitation?
A.
In 1998, the inaugural year of the Institutional Partnerships Program,
ALO received 100 applications. Core and supplemental Mission funding
enabled 14 partnership awards. In 1999, ALO received 55 applications;
core and supplemental Mission funding enabled 23 partnership awards.
Core and supplemental Mission funding enabled 24 partnership awards
in 2000, out of the 77 applications received. ALO’s last competition,
in 2001, garnered 75 applications, 15 of which were funded, once again
from a combination of core and supplemental Mission funding.
Q.Who
is the contact at USAID?
A.
Gary
Bittner, Supervisory Education Program Specialist, EGAT/HCD, at (202)
712-1556 or gbittner@usaid.gov.
Q.
Can partnership projects in Pakistan now be funded through USAID?
A.
At present, USAID has a program in Pakistan without direct-hire staff.
Partnerships with higher education institutions in Pakistan would thus
be eligible for funding. The following website address concerns a USAID
call for a Personal Services Contractor to serve in Pakistan as Senior
Education Program Manager: http://www.usaid.gov/ftp_data/pub/OP/PSC/39102001.html.
The description notes some current USAID priorities in their assistance
to Pakistan.
Q.
Would
a university in a developed country other than the U.S. be eligible
for a grant?
A.
No. Monies made available by USAID for the partnerships are for U.S.
higher education institution(s) and their collaborating developing country
partner(s) only. However, a non U.S. entity that is interested in working
in the host country with a U.S. partner institution may be written in
a proposal as a potential partner as long as it would be contributing
its own resources to the project effort.
Q.
If we are interested in funding for a project with a Mexican institution,
should we apply to ALO or to the USAID/Mexico TIES program?
A.
We would strongly urge you to submit your application to the TIES program
given that this USAID/Mexico initiative specifically targets U.S.-Mexico
higher education partnerships and has essentially the same application
procedures and programmatic and financial requirements as the ALO program.
Q.
May
we submit the same application to both the USAID/Mexico TIES program
and the ALO Institutional Partnerships Program?
A.
ALO’s RFA states that applications must “have not obtained federally
sponsored grants for a similar proposal involving the partners,” and
this includes applications that currently are in the review process.
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