Partnership for Disaster Health Response Cooperative Agreement 

A committee of experts will review your application and evaluate it based on the components of your proposal, which are summarized below. For full details, please review the full Partnership for Disaster Health Response Cooperative Agreement Notice of Funding Opportunity and Application Instructions.

Required Components [Maximum 100 Points]:

• Approach [5 points]: Does the applicant provide the required MOA or MOU from partnership members and required letters of support (and any required assurances) from State Offices of Public Health/Health, health care coalition leaders (or points of contact) in the State, the State Trauma Advisory Council (or equivalent), and State Office of Emergency Medical Services?
• Organizational Capacity:
  
• [10 points total: 5 points for Executive Director qualifications and 5 points for Medical Director qualifications]: Do the applicant’s key personnel (e.g., Executive Director and Medical Director) have the capability and prior experience listed in the eligibility information/special requirements section reflected in their CV?
• [15 points] Does the partnership demonstrate organizational capability and prior experience as described in sub-bullets 1-5 (shown below)?
• Demonstrated past performance of coordinating with health care organizations and health care coalitions across the state;
• Developing and maintaining a relationship among the required partners listed in Capability 1;
• Performing the functions required of the Partnership and described in Capabilities 2-4;
• Establishing performance metrics as required under Capability 5; and
• Conducting a statewide or regional (i.e. multi-state) level exercise as required under Capability 5?
• [6 points] Does the primary recipient in the partnership have experience with direct patient care and sharing of clinical expertise across the state and/or region? Does the primary recipient demonstrate capability for the ongoing, complex clinical management of patients requiring specialty expertise in (1) chemical, (2) radiation, (3) burn, (4) trauma, (5) high consequence infectious disease, and/or (6) pediatric care?
• [5 points] Does the applicant include a clear delineation of the roles and responsibilities of project staff (e.g., Executive Director, Medical Director, and any program or technical staff), consultants and partner organizations, and how they will contribute to achieving the project’s objectives and outcomes?
• Budget [2 points]: Does the applicant provide additional information about any contractual organization(s) that will have a significant role(s) in implementing the project and achieving project goals?
• Work Plan: Does the applicant describe in the work plan and timeline a clear technical approach for each objective and activity listed in:

1. [4 points] Capability 1: Build a Partnership for Disaster Health Response;
2. [12 points] Capability 2: Align Plans, Policies, Processes, and Procedures Related to Clinical Excellence in Disasters;
3. [12 points] Capability 3: Increase Statewide and Regional Medical Surge Capacity;
4. [12 points] Capability 4: Improve Statewide and Regional Situational Awareness; and
5. ​[12 points] Capability 5: Develop Readiness Metrics and Conduct an Exercise to Test Capabilities?

• Project Relevance and Evaluation [5 points]: Does the applicant address how the required objectives, activities, and tasks will be monitored and reported on in the evaluation and performance measurement plan?  

Funding Priorities

A funding priority is defined as the favorable adjustment of combined review scores of individually approved applications when applications meet specified criteria. This adjustment shall be up to a total of 5 possible points, with points assigned as listed below. Eligibility for the adjustment will be determined by ASPR staff and will be based on information included in the additional letters of support from the desired partners listed below:

1. ​[.5 point] Deployable State Medical Teams;
2. [.5 point] State Office of Emergency Management;
3. [.5 point] State Children’s Hospital Network (or equivalent);
4. [.5 point] Radiation Injury Treatment Network centers; and
5. [.5 point for each, up to 3 total points] Acute Care Hospitals/Medical Centers.

Note: In the table provided in Attachment I of the NOFO, please clearly signify which, if any, letters of support in the desired letters of support attachment should be taken into account when evaluating funding priorities and denote the name of each entity and the relevant page number within the application.

Funding Preferences

Statutory funding preferences are available to applicants. A funding preference is defined as the funding of a specific category or group of approved applications ahead of other categories or groups of approved application that do not carry a preference. Applicants receiving the preference will be placed in a more competitive position among applicants that can be funded. Applications that do not receive a funding preference will be given full and equitable consideration during the review process. Qualification for the preference will be determined by ASPR staff. To receive a funding preference, include a statement that you are eligible for a funding preference and identify and request the applicable preference, using the template provided in Attachment J of the NOFO. Documentation must be enclosed or clearly signified as Funding Preference documentation in other components of the application.

Funding preferences are available to qualified applicants that specifically request and demonstrate that they meet the criteria for the preference(s) as follows:

Qualification 1: Regional Coordination

The partnership demonstrates how it will enhance coordination among the hospitals and designated trauma center and between other local health care facilities, including clinics, health centers, community health centers, primary care facilities, mental health centers, mobile medical assets, or long-term care facilities, and includes a significant percentage (greater than 51 percent) of the hospitals and health care facilities within the geographic area served by such partnership.

This qualification may be demonstrated, for example, by the submission of letters of support from a majority or all of the health care coalition leaders [or point of contact (POC)] in the state and/or by the inclusion of documentation to show the applicant has existing partnerships with these facilities through other means. Applicants must provide enough documentation for ASPR staff to easily discern the percentage of hospitals and health care facilities included in the partnership to be considered for this statutory preference.

​Qualification 2: National Disaster Medical System (NDMS)

The partnership includes facilities participating in the National Disaster Medical System. These hospitals must be clearly identified as NDMS participating facilities in the application and in their submitted letters of support (if applicable).

Qualification 3: Degree of Risk

Partnerships are in a geographic area that faces a high degree of risk. This should be based on the most recent state Joint Risk Assessment (within the last five years), which must be enclosed to be considered for this statutory preference.

Qualification 4: Significant Need

Application clearly demonstrates a significant need for funds to achieve the medical preparedness goals described in this guidance. Applications should clearly delineate whether the partnership receives funds from the Hospital Preparedness Program, CDC Public Health Emergency Preparedness grants, or other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grants and how these funds will be used to complement and/or leverage other preparedness funding for partnership activities.​​