Family Planning Special Projects
Request for proposal materials
Proposal Deadline: March 20, 2018
Family Planning Special Projects Request for Proposal Materials
Gary Greenfield
Minnesota Department of Health
Family Planning Special Projects Coordinator
Community and Family Health Division
Maternal and Child Health Section
PO Box 64882
St. Paul, MN 55164-0882
651-201-3743
www.health.state.mn.us
Upon request, this material will be made available in an alternative format such as large print, Braille or audio recording. Printed on recycled paper.
Contents
Program Overview 4
Introduction 4
Program Description 6
Project Narrative and Work Plan 10
I. Agency Information and Capacity 10
II. Linkages and Collaborations 11
III. Statement of Need 12
IV. Work Plan 13
Budget Section 18
Introduction 18
Food and Beverage Costs 18
Incentives 19
Special Situations 19
Required Budget Forms 19
Budget Scoring 20
Submission Requirements 20
Application Checklist 20
Forms 21
Form A: Application Face Sheet 22
Form B: Work Plan – Public Information Component 23
Form B: Work Plan – Outreach Component 24
Form B: Work Plan – Counseling Component 25
Form B: Work Plan – Method Component 26
Form B: Work Plan – Referral Component 27
Form B: Work Plan – Follow Up Component 28
Instructions for Budget Justification 29
Form C: Budget Justification 33
Form D: Budget Summary 35
Form E: Indirect Cost Questionnaire 37
Form F: Due Diligence Review 38
Form G: Application for Greater Minnesota Need Funds 41
Form H: Community Health Board Notification 42
Appendices 43
Appendix A: Criteria for Scoring Applications 44
Appendix B: Map of Minnesota Family Planning Regions 46
Appendix C: Grant Agreement Sample 47
Appendix D: Evidence Based Practices in Sexual and Reproductive Health 48
Appendix E: Information and Data for Conducting a Needs Assessment 49
Appendix F: 2018 HHS Poverty Guidelines 52
Appendix G: Sample Work Plan 53
Program Overview
Introduction
This Request for Proposal (RFP) document provides the instructions, forms and information needed to complete the Family Planning Special Projects (FPSP) grant application. Reading the instructions and a copy of the Criteria for Grant Review Score Sheet (Appendix A), is recommended prior to writing the application.
MDH staff will be available to answer questions during the application process. For assistance, please contact Gary Greenfield, Family Planning Special Projects Coordinator, at 651-201-3743 or . In addition, MDH will maintain a Frequently Asked Questions website at the MDH Family Planning website (http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/cfh/program/familyplanning) which will be updated regularly. Please note that MDH staff will not be able to help with writing the application.
Questions and Information Sessions
There will be two technical assistance workshops to assist you in writing your application. You do not need to attend the workshop to submit an application. However, if you are new to the FPSP grant application process or you have questions about the grant application, you may find it helpful.
The workshops will be held using WebEx technology so that you can participate online and/or with phone line.
The training dates will be:
· Thursday, February 8th from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
· Wednesday, February 14th from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Applicants are welcome to attend either event. Registration is required. Please send your name, your organization’s name and contact phone number, the date of the event you will attend, and your email address to . Technical instructions on how to connect to the WebEx session will be provided upon registration.
Application Review, Scoring, and Funding Recommendations
This is a competitive grant application. Only complete and eligible applications will be reviewed and scored according to the Criteria for Scoring Applications (Appendix A).
Reviewers may include MDH staff, staff from other state agencies, and individuals from other organizations that represent a broad range of professionals with experience in program planning and project management, knowledge of family planning and other reproductive health issues, clinic experience, and experience with grant writing and reviewing grants. Reviewers will be required to identify any conflicts of interest and will not review an application if a conflict is identified.
Final funding recommendations within each of the eight regions will be based on the scores and comments from reviewers. It is anticipated that grant award decisions will be made in May 2018. Applicants will be notified whether or not their grant application is selected for funding.
Awarded applicants that are not current vendors in the State’s SWIFT system will need to get set up as vendors before a grant agreement can be created. Instructions on how to do that will be sent out to awarded applicants after the awards are announced.
A grant agreement will then be executed with the applicant agency being awarded the funds. The effective date of the agreement will be July 1, 2018, or the date upon which all signatures to the agreement are obtained, whichever is later. The grant agreement will be in effect until December 31, 2022. There may be negotiations to finalize the work plan, grantee’s duties, and/or budgets before a grant agreement can be fully executed. If the grant agreement is not fully executed in a timely manner, the award funded may be pro-rated to reflect the actual time frame the grant is in effect.
The grantee will be legally responsible for assuring the implementation of the work plan, compliance with all state and federal requirements, including worker’s compensation, nondiscrimination, data privacy, budget compliance, and reporting requirements.
Applications and Data Privacy
In accordance with Minnesota Statutes section §13.59, applications are nonpublic until opened. Once opened, the name of the applicant, the address of the applicant, and the amount the applicant requested is public. All other data in an application is nonpublic data until the grant agreement is signed by all parties. Once signed, all data submitted by the applicant is public.
If the applicant submits information in response to this RFP that it believes to be trade secret materials, as defined by the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, Minnesota Statute §13.37, the applicant must:
· Clearly mark all trade secret materials in its response at the time the response is submitted;
· Include a statement with its response justifying the trade secret designation for each item; and,
· Defend any action seeking release of the materials it believes to be trade secret, and indemnify and hold harmless the State, its agents and employees, from any judgements or damages awarded against the State in favor of the party requesting the materials, and any and all costs connected with that defense. This indemnification survives the State’s award of a grant contract. In submitting a response to this RFP, the applicant agrees that this indemnification survives as long as the trade secret materials are in possession of the State.
Program Description
Background
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) implemented the Family Planning Special Projects (FPSP) in 1979 as authorized by the 1978 Minnesota Legislature. Minnesota Statute 145.925. authorizes the Commissioner of Health to award grants to eligible organizations to reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancy and increase the number of low-income, high-risk individuals having access to family planning services. Minnesota Rule 4700.1900 to 4700.2500 provides guidance for how family planning services are carried out. It is important to review these documents for complete information.
Purpose of the Funding
FPSP funds can only be used to provide effective pre-pregnancy family planning services to populations that are at greater risk of unintended pregnancy due to non-use or inconsistent use of family planning methods. High risk populations include individuals who have difficulty accessing family planning services because of barriers such as poverty, race, ethnicity, age, culture, lack of insurance, lack of transportation, or concerns about confidentiality.
Minnesota Rule 4700.1900 to 4700.2500 dictates that FPSP funds can be used for six purposes related to family planning for high-risk populations including:
- Public information activities
- Outreach
- Counseling
- Method provision
- Referral
- Follow-up
For the remainder of this document these services will be referred to as the “family planning components.” The Rule states that an applicant is not required to provide all six components to be eligible for funding.
Minnesota Statute 145.925 states FPSP Funds cannot be used for:
· Abortion services
· To provide any family planning services to un-emancipated minors in a school building
The Importance of Family Planning
Family planning information and services help individuals maintain their overall health and improve family and community health by supporting men and women having children when they are ready. The availability of family planning services allows individuals to achieve desired birth spacing and family size, and contributes to improved health outcomes for infants, children, women, and families. Research indicates approximately 45% of all pregnancies are unintended at the time of conception. Unintended pregnancy is increasingly regarded as a critical public health problem with serious consequences for children, families, and communities. Unintended pregnancy is related to a woman’s level of risk for pregnancy, her choice of methods, the strength of her motivation to avoid pregnancy, and her pattern of contraceptive use.
These factors, in turn, are often associated with a woman’s demographic and socioeconomic background, characteristics of her sexual partnerships, and her experiences with, and attitudes toward, pregnancy and contraception. As with many other health indicators, there are major health disparities in the rates of unintended pregnancy. For example, according to MN Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data from 2012-2014, the unintended pregnancy rate for U.S. born African American women in Minnesota was double that of non-Hispanic white women.
Improving Family Planning Effectiveness
While slightly more than half of unintended pregnancies occur among women who were not using any method of contraception in the month they conceived; more than four in 10 occur among women who were using a contraceptive method the month they conceived. Issues related to inconsistent or incorrect use of method were the primary reason they conceived.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have ranked current contraceptive methods by tiers based on research measuring method effectiveness.
Tier 1 methods have the highest effectiveness with failure rates of less than one percent. Tier 1 methods include intrauterine devices (IUDs), implants, and sterilization. IUDs and implants, the reversible Tier 1 methods, are also referred to as LARCs – long-acting reversible contraception.
Tier 2 methods are moderately effective, with failure rates between six to 12 percent. Tier 2 methods include the pill, patch, ring, injectable, or diaphragm. This chart from the CDC shows the tiers of contraceptive methods. https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/UnintendedPregnancy/PDF/Contraceptive_methods_508.pdf.
Providing Quality Family Planning Services
Within the last several years, the CDC has released three guidance documents on family planning to help promote high quality contraceptive care:
Providing Quality Family Planning Services: Recommendations of CDC and the U.S. Office of Population Affairs (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/rr/rr6304.pdf).
U.S. Selected Practice Recommendations (US SPR) for Contraceptive Use, 2016 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/rr/rr6504a1.htm. This document is a companion document to the United State Medical Eligibility Criteria (US MEC) for Contraceptive use first published in 2010. You can find this document at the CDC Web site at https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/rr/rr59e0528.pdf.
Page 2 of the Providing Quality Family Planning Services highlights key recommendations to improve the quality of family planning services which will lead to improved reproductive health outcomes. They include:
· Safety: Utilizing CDC Medical Eligibility Criteria about which methods can be provided safely to women with various medical conditions and integrating CDC and U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations on STD, preconception, and related preventive health services.
· Effectiveness: Support offering the full range of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved contraceptive methods as well as counseling that highlights the effectiveness of contraceptive methods overall. Having access to a wide range of methods is important because contraception is not one size fits all.
· Client-centered approach: Providers should take a “client-centered” approach by:
- Respecting the client’s primary purpose for the visit
- Noting the importance of confidential services
- Encouraging the availability of a broad range of contraceptive methods so that clients can make a selection based on their individual needs and preferences
- Reinforcing the need to deliver services in a culturally competent manner to meet the needs of all clients including adolescents, those with limited English proficiency, those with disabilities, and those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning their sexual identity.
· Timeliness: Make sure services are provided to clients in a timely manner
Page 4 of the Providing Quality Family Planning Services document highlights other preventive services that are part of Quality Family Planning Services such as screening for sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) and other preconception health services (for example screening for obesity, smoking, and mental health). These are family planning services “because they improve women’s and men’s health and can influence a person’s ability to conceive or to have a healthy birth outcome.”
It is important to integrate elements of preconception care when they are part of a visit for family planning services for women of reproductive age. This document also encourages providers to assess the client’s reproductive life plan. A reproductive life plan is a set of goals and action steps based on personal values and resources about whether and when to become pregnant and have (or not have) children. See Box 2 on page 7 of Providing Quality Family Planning Services for questions to ask.
Healthy People 2020
Healthy People 2020 is a national 10-year agenda for improving the health of all Americans. Its purpose is to identify nationwide health improvement priorities, and provide measurable objectives and goals that are applicable at the national, State, and local levels. Healthy People 2020 identifies Family Planning as a key area to improve the health of Americans, with the following goal: Improve pregnancy planning and spacing, and prevent unintended pregnancy.
To achieve this goal, Healthy People 2020 identifies 16 separate objectives with measurable targets for improvements. All agencies interested in providing family planning services should review these objectives. The FPSP program is highlighting two of these objectives in particular as goals to improve family planning services in Minnesota: