AF4Q Proposal & Budget Guidance Fiscal Year: September 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015
All proposals must include the following documents:
o Proposal / Scope of Work (SOW): The proposal and SOW should be submitted in a MS-Word Document; the limit is five pages (1 inch Margin with 12 point font). The SOW should explain in detail your proposed work with the AF4Q Alliances and the National Program Office (NPO). The proposal can be split into the following sections:
o How will your technical assistance help Alliances improve quality, reduce costs, and/or ensure that AF4Q goals are sustainable? Describe the direct technical assistance that you could provide to the Alliances. Do you know which Alliances may be interested in your TA?
o Describe any global TA (webinars or written products) that you would be helpful to the Alliances; also describe any strategic consultation or TA you would provide to the NPO.
o Outline the deliverables and their relevant value that you will be producing from this sub- contract. These deliverables should be tangible and quantifiable products, tools, events, or outcomes that will be provided as a result of the contract. Examples are white papers, journal articles, toolkits for performance improvement, or training sessions put on for various stakeholders.
o If you have been a TA provider in the past, please describe how your current proposal represents a change from previous TA offerings, moving more toward capacity-building technical assistance at the Alliance level [i.e., teaching them to do, rather than doing for them] and will contribute to their sustainability.
o Budget: Budgets should be submitted in a MS-Excel file; any other type of e-files will not be accepted. A detailed guidance for budget is provided in Appendix A. A sample budget is also provided in Appendix B.
o Budget Justification: Budget Justification should explain each budget line item in detail. A budget justification should be submitted only as a MS-Word document; other types of e-files will not be accepted. If the budget and its justification do not match, the proposal will not be considered or the processing time will be longer. A sample budget is provided in Appendix C.
o Copy of your most recent audit statement and either your negotiated fringe rate agreement or a memorandum outlining the calculation for your budgeted fringe rate should be submitted.
Appendix A: Guidance for Budget and Justification
Personnel
- The Salary line item should include both the base salaries and percent effort charged to this RWJF AF4Q contract. The base salary should be shown as if the employee is 1.0 Full Time Equivalent (FTE). For example, for an employee whose salary is $100,000, and works 60% of their time in this AF4Q contract, his or her FTE will be 0.6.
- Your organization’s policy for salary increases must be provided. This should include the percent increase budgeted per year and which month this will take effect.
- A written justification must be provided for all salary increases that are greater than 4%. In your justification, explain how the employee’s responsibility has changed from the previous year.
- Detailed descriptions for all personnel must be provided which outline what each budgeted staff member will be doing on the project. If new positions are being requested, or if budgeted effort for a position is increasing by more than 25% of the previous years approved amount an additional explanation will need to be provided outlining what has changed in the scope of work that justifies this increase.
- Personnel related to finance, accounting, or human resources are not allowable. These tasks are part of the indirect cost rate.
Office Operations
- All office operations cost categories (phone lines, printer/copier charges, IT support costs, office supplies, office space, etc.) must be shown separately. The costs must be reasonable in nature and related to work on the project. For example, if the budget line item includes postage and mail, there needs to be a good reason to use an Express Mail or FedEx if a less expensive option such as USPS is available. A calculation or explanation for how you come up with the figure budgeted must be shown.
- For office space cost, the calculation should be based on the percent effort of the staff working on this AF4Q Project. An example is shown in Appendix C. Office space can be budgeted only for the staff working on the AF4Q project. In addition, the number of sq/ft budgeted per person must be shown in the justification. If the amount is more than 230 sq/ft, an additional explanation will be required to outline what type of space is included.
- No more than $60 per month is allowed for cell phone costs. This line item will only be considered in rare occasions when a specific need is clearly outlined and justified.
Communications & Marketing
- For this line item the budget must be broken out into the various categories. For example, categories such as print advertising, radio advertising, printing, billboards, or other similar categories must be shown in as much detail as possible. A detailed explanation for each category must be provided showing why the funds are needed to support the goals of AF4Q. Travel
- All overnight trips must be budgeted at no more than the RWJF guidelines of $975 per one night trip and an additional $325 for each extra night. If the grantee has been involved with AF4Q for multiple years then overnight trips must be budgeted based on the historical average costs from the previous year.
- The travel budget line must be broken out to the different types of travel (travel to national meeting, travel to other meetings, local travel/mileage reimbursement).
- For trips to the AF4Q national meetings, the total number of travelers must be shown as well as who they will be (staff, consultants, stakeholders, etc).
- For all the trips, justify why more than one person has to travel.
- For other overnight trips and staff travel budgeted a clear justification must be shown which outlines what the travel is for and how it relates to the project.
Meeting Costs
- Each meeting must be listed separately within the budget line with a total cost per meeting shown. A description for each meeting must be provided outlining the details of the meeting and how it relates to AF4Q.
- For each meeting the number of anticipated participants must be shown as well as the estimated cost for food per person, amount needed for meeting specific supplies, and meeting space rental.
- All costs related to speaker fees, and any other services provided by outside vendors, must be budgeted under purchased services.
- Costs related to travel for a meeting must be budgeted under the travel line.
- Only meeting costs specifically related to AF4Q are allowable. Costs related to general institutional board meetings or staff meetings are unallowable.
Equipment
- Computers can be budgeted up to a maximum for $1,500 for a laptop and $2,500 for a desktop. A need for the computers must be explained (new staff member, or computers purchased in the earlier years on the RWJF grant must be replaced). Computers are unallowable in the final year of a project unless extenuating circumstances can be shown.
- General office equipment such as mailing machines, scanners, copiers are unallowable. Other
- Costs such as computer software, participant incentives, professional memberships, or other costs not outlined in previous categories are allowable under this line item. A detailed explanation must be shown for each item separately outlining why the cost is necessary for the AF4Q project.
Purchased Services
- Purchased services consist of the consultant and contract categories. Consultants are costs related to services provided by an outside vendor or individual for a specific SOW at an agreed upon hourly or per diem rate. Contracts are costs related to services provided, which are related to detailed scopes of work that are outlined in official contractual agreements and where deliverables or products are provided, which directly support the AF4Q project.
- Consultant costs must be budgeted at a maximum rate of $66 an hour or $500 per day. For a rate above this amount, a detailed justification must be provided. This explanation must show why this cost is appropriate and why a less costly consultant cannot be used. Your justification can also be based on the market value for a similar scope of work. The total budgeted cost must be shown for each consultant and the number of hours budgeted must be shown as well (both in the budget and in the budget justification).
- For each contract, the organization the contract will be issued to must be listed as well as the dates of the contract, the scope of work, deliverables, and the contract amount. The dates of the contract must be within the timeframe of the RWJF award. Costs for work completed outside the timeframe of the award are unallowable.
- Deliverables must be a tangible report or product that is produced as a result of the scope of work.
- For each sub-contract, the personnel charged to the contract must be shown with their base salaries and percent effort.
- If contracts are not final, a contract budget fact chart can be submitted outlining these details. See below.
Contract Budget and Fact Chart
Name
Start Date
End Date
Scope of Work
Deliverables
Total Cost
Cost Justification Indirect Costs
- These are overhead costs incurred by the institution as a result of the project but which are not easily identifiable or quantifiable. These consist of administrative expenses that are shared among projects (HR, Accounting, Legal, utilities, facility maintenance, etc.).
- The allowable indirect cost rate is 12% of direct project costs. If the purchased services line is more than 33% of your overall direct project costs in any given year of the grant award, then only 4% can be charged on the purchased services line during that specific budget year. Appendix B: Sample Budget
Project Budget
Personnel
Percent Project Fringe Name Title Effort Base Salary Salary Benefits Total
Project Joan Smith Director 25% $220,000 $56,100 $13,632 $69,732 Project Stephen Jones Manager 100% $80,000 $81,600 $19,829 $101,429 Lindsay Davis Data Analyst 50% $60,000 $30,600 $7,436 $38,036 Research Shannon Bartlett Assistant 100% $32,000 $32,640 $7,932 $40,572
Totals $200,940 $48,828 $249,768
Other Direct Costs
Office Operations
Category Total
Supplies $1,980 Phone $3,300 Printing $2,970 Office Space $29,744
Total $37,994
Communications & Marketing
Radio Advertising $8,000 Mailings $3,000 Online Advertising $4,000
Total $15,000
Meetings
Stakeholder Meeting $23,600 Steering Committee meetings $3,600
Total $27,200
Travel
National Meeting Travel $13,000 Consultant Travel $9,750 Conference Travel $2,600 Site Visit Travel $14,625
Total $39,975
Equipment
Computers $3,000
Other
Participant Incentives $5,000 Registration Fees $1,000 Memberships $500
Total $6,500
Other Direct Cost Total $129,669
Purchased Services
Consultants $25,000 Contracts - Wowza $294,000
Purchased Services Total $319,000
Indirect Costs
12% for Other Direct Costs & Personnel $45,532 4% on purchased services $12,760
Total $58,784
Project Total $761,316 Appendix C: Sample Budget Justification
Personnel
Dr. Joan Smith, MD, Project Director – Dr. Smith is a nationally known expert in healthcare communications and she will oversee the project. She will be responsible for overall project strategy and execution. She will lead the writing of the white papers related to the project as well as lead dissemination efforts. Dr. Smith will lead a majority of the site visits and work directly with alliance leadership to provide expert assistance. She will devote 25 percent effort to the project at a base salary of $220,000.
Stephen Jones, MPH, Project Manager – Mr. Jones will lead the day to day aspects of the project. He will serve as the primary liaison between RWJF, the NPO, and project staff. He will work to implement project strategy in AF4Q communities and he will be the primary liaison with Wowza to coordinate the efforts surrounding the development of the website. Mr. Jones will devote 100 percent effort to the project at a base salary of $80,000
Lindsay Davis, Data Analyst – Ms. Davis will be in charge of analyzing consumer data provided by the AF4Q alliances. She will work to analyze trends in the data which will help predict patient outcomes and help identify areas to focus on in terms of consumer engagement strategy. She will devote 50% effort to the project at a base salary of $60,000.
Shannon Bartlett, Research Assistant – Ms. Bartlett will work on literature reviews and background research for written materials related to the project. She will assist with initial reviews and analysis related to project data and she will work to prepare materials for the project meetings. She will devote 100% effort to the project at a base salary of $32,000.
Fringe Benefits: Our fringe benefits are calculated at 24.3% of salaries per our agreement with the DCAA dated April 19, 2007.
Salary increases are budgeted at 3% per year and are effective January 1 each year.
Office Operations
It is our policy to budget office operations costs on a per project FTE basis which is based on historical data on actual costs which are reviewed by management every 2 years.
Project Supplies – We budget project supplies costs at $60 per month per FTE and $1,980 total. This covers general office supplies such as pens, paper, notebooks, etc.
Phone Costs – We budget phone costs at $100 per month per FTE for $3,300 total. This covers the cost of land line office phones.
Printing – We budget printing costs at $90 per month per FTE for $2,970 total. This covers the cost of project relating printing which includes copier maintenance costs as well as ink and toner for our copier. Office Space
It is our policy to budget space costs at a rate of $5.20 per project labor hour per year. This is based on our historical space costs per project labor hour. The total space cost budget is $29,744 which is based on 5720 hour of project work. Our office space allocations for project staff are 215/sq at our current location.
Communication & Marketing
$15,000 is budgeted for Communications and Marketing costs. This is $8,000 to buy radio advertising for our consumer engagement campaign at various AF4Q communities, $3,000 covers the cost of postage for mailings to recruit participants for website usability testing, and $4,000 is for additional online ad buys related to our consumer engagement campaign.
Meetings
We plan to hold one major meeting in this project period to bring together consumer engagement stakeholders throughout AF4Q communities. This will give us a great platform to disseminate the progress of the program to various groups and receive feedback about how to improve our consumer engagement activities. We plan to have approximately 130 participants at this meeting which will consist of 6-7 speakers, 120 stakeholders from AF4Q communities, and 3 project staff. Food costs for the 2 day meeting will be $120 per person which will total $15,600, Audio visual costs for the meeting will be $4,000, meeting related supplies will be $2,000, and meeting room rental will be $2,000. Total budget cost for the meeting is $23,600.
We plan to hold two steering committee meetings per year to meet with NPO, consultants/experts, and RWJF staff to develop a strategy surrounding our consumer engagement efforts. This will consist of 3 project staff, 3 RWJF staff, and 5 consultants/experts and 5 NPO staff. Costs for these meetings will be $50 per person for food for $800 total, $500 to prepare binders and supplies for the meeting, and $500 for meeting space rental. We will have this meeting offsite as our offices do not have the large conference room space necessary to host a meeting like this where we feel a comfortable working environment is necessary to have a productive meeting. Total costs for the two meetings will be $3,600.
Travel
We are budgeting ten 2 night trips to the 2 AF4Q national meetings in the budget year. This will be for 3 project staff and two expert consultants. We feel that involving our project experts in these meetings is extremely helpful for them to understand the AF4Q project as a whole. This will greatly improve the assistance that they provide to our program. Total budgeted cost for the AF4Q national meetings are $13,000.
We are budgeting 10 one night trips for 5 expert consultants to attend the two steering committee meetings in this budget year. This will total $9,750.
We are budgeting two 2 night trips for project staff to attend a national conference to present results from the project. We feel that having presentations at national meetings is a great way to disseminate results to a wider audience and raise awareness about our work in the healthcare community. Total budgeted cost for this item is $2,600. Fifteen one night trips are budgeted for project staff to conduct site visits to 5 of the AF4Q communities. These are beneficial events during which project staff can meet with community stakeholders and assess the needs of the various communities. These trips are budgeted at a total of $14,625.
Equipment
We are budgeting $3,000 to cover 2 desktop computers for new staff hired for this project.
Other
We are budgeting $50 per person as a participant incentive to take a survey surrounding how user friendly our AF4Q website is. We are budgeting 100 incentives for a total of $5,000.
We are budgeting $1,000 to cover registration fees for a national healthcare conference to help with dissemination efforts.
We are budgeting $500 to cover academy health memberships for the project manager and research assistant. We feel that this membership is beneficial to the project staff as it allows them to access training materials and other literature which are useful in their AF4Q efforts.
Consultants
We plan to hire 5 expert consultants to help us plan strategy for our consumer engagement efforts. These will be experienced professionals in the field, most likely at the PhD level. In our past experience, to hire expert consultants in this area we need to offer a rate of $100/hr to attract qualified individuals. We understand this is above the RWJF approved rate but in order to obtain the necessary feedback for our program we need to offer this higher rate due to the market which dictates a rate of $100/hr for this type of work. We will budget 50 hours per consultant and $25,000 total for this line item.
Contracts
We plan to enter into a contract with Wowza to build an online website portal for consumers in AF4Q communities to post feedback regarding experiences at different physician practices and for this feedback to be viewable by other users. We feel that having a portal like this will improve the information that consumers receive when making healthcare choices which will, in turn, improve health care quality. The deliverable for this contract will be a functioning website portal which will be available for use in communities by August 2012. The total budget for this contract will be $294,000 and the project dates are 9/1/11 – 8/31/12. The budget is outlined below. Percent Project Fringe Benefits at Effort Base Salary Salary 25% Total
Project Manager 75% 120000 90000 22500 112500
Analyst 100% 60000 60000 15000 75000
Analyst 100% 60000 60000 15000 75000
Total 262500
Indirect Costs 31500
Overall Total 294000