7 CFR § 2500.012 - Requests for proposals.

(a) General. For each competitive grant or cooperative agreement, OAO will prepare a program solicitation (also called a request for proposals (RFP)). The RFP may include all or a portion of the following items:

(1) Contact information.

(2) Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number.

(3) Legislative authority and background information.

(4) Purpose, priorities, and fund availability.

(5) Program-specific eligibility requirements.

(6) Program-specific restrictions on the use of funds, if applicable.

(7) Matching requirements, if applicable.

(8) Acceptable types of proposals.

(9) Types of projects to be given priority consideration, including maximum anticipated awards and maximum project lengths, if applicable.

(10) Program areas, if applicable.

(11) Funding restrictions, if applicable.

(12) Directions for obtaining additional requests for proposals and proposal forms.

(13) Information about how to obtain proposal forms and the instructions for completing such forms.

(14) Instructions and requirements for submitting proposals, including submission deadline(s).

(15) Explanation of the proposal evaluation process.

(16) Specific evaluation criteria used in the review process.

(17) Type of Federal assistance awards (i.e., grants or cooperative agreements).

(b) RFP variations. Where program-specific requirements differ from the requirements established in this part, program solicitations will also address any such variation(s). Variations may occur in the following:

(1) Award management guidelines.

(2) Restrictions on the delegation of fiscal responsibility.

(3) Required approval for changes to project plans.

(4) Expected program outputs and reporting requirements, if applicable.

(5) Applicable Federal statutes and regulations.

(6) Confidential aspects of proposals and awards, if applicable.

(7) Regulatory information.

(8) Definitions.

(9) Minimum and maximum budget requests and whether proposals outside of these limits will be returned without further review.

(c) Program announcements. Occasionally, OAO will issue a program announcement (PA) to alert potential applicants and the public about new and ongoing funding opportunities. These PAs may provide tentative due dates and are released without associated proposal packages. No proposals are solicited under a PA. PAs will be announced in the Federal Register or on the OAO Web site.