One final project report and one final expenditure report will be required, both at the end of the grant period. See Section II.H of the RFP.
No. Faculty and staff may be paid a maximum of 25% of regular salary from the Rapid Response Workforce Development subprogram, and release from regular duties equivalent to the salary requested from Rapid Response must be guaranteed and documented by the institution. Any faculty or staff member working on the project, whether new or already employed, may receive up to 25% of regular salary, to be calculated as the amount of time dedicated to the project and with appropriate release. Under no circumstances may any faculty or staff receive additional compensation through the grant, even if work is performed outside of regular business hours.
Funds must be fully expended and all project activity conducted during the contract term. It is not permissible for contract activities (e.g., travel, salary support) to be completed outside the contract period.
Yes, though any subscription and/or token must be both paid for and used during the contract period and prior to termination. Payment for a service period that extends beyond the contract term is not permitted.
No – see Section VII of the RFP.
No – see Section V of the RFP.
No. The Rapid Response Workforce Development subprogram is open to all public postsecondary institutions (including two-year, four-year, and special purpose). See Section II.C.2 of the RFP.
The RFP sets no limit on the number of proposals a PI may submit. It is a good idea for a PI submitting across multiple programs/units to disclose all proposals for which he/she is serving as PI. Staff will be reviewing budgets as well to assess requests for salary support, and the PI will be limited to a maximum of 25% of regular salary across all submissions, which is consistent with the intent of the salary limitation in the RFP.
Staff are planning for a turnaround to a funding decision of three to four weeks. Of course this is a new initiative, so projections are difficult. Building out a project timeline that starts around a month after submission is reasonable, and we will keep applicants posted as staff get a better sense of the timing.
RRWD is an acronym of the subprogram’s name, Rapid Response Workforce Development.
No. Under no circumstances may Support Fund dollars provided through this program be used to provide additional compensation to faculty or staff. If the project includes any direct payment to faculty or staff, it can be provided only as a percentage of salary granted as release from regular duties by the institution.
Students may receive stipends for training as long as the activities for which they are receiving the stipend are not part of their regular work. They may not receive both payment for work performed and a stipend for the same activities.
All institutional actions to purchase the equipment requested and approved in the proposal should begin as soon as possible after award, so the purchase order should be in place well in advance of the contract termination date. The purpose of this provision is to allow a limited contract extension in the event that the ordered equipment is delayed or vendor’s confirmed delivery date is outside the contract term. All institutional actions to purchase equipment, including the purchase order, should be in place well before the two-week window, which is specified as the time at which the extension should be requested, with documentation of the delay required.
Projects can pay students and other training participants, though cannot pay faculty or staff of LA higher education institutions, or of any state agency (this counts as additional compensation). Training materials and consumables (such as PPE) are allowable, though nothing purchased with state funds can given as personal property. Travel costs for participants are permissible within PPM49.
Yes, travel expenses are permitted, including to appropriate conferences. All travel paid via BoRSF must comply with PPM49, the state’s travel policy, and must take place – not just be reserved and/or paid for – before contract termination. The only restriction is that any travel must be fully aligned with the purposes of the funded project and the Rapid Response Workforce Development subprogram.
Yes, RRWD funds can be used to cover release time to conduct project activities, up to 25% of AY salary. If additional time is needed, the institution can provide as match, but may not request from BoRSF. Time tracking should be via pay period timesheets that show actual time spent on the activities/funding sources that comprise the faculty/staff member’s base salary. Since BoRSF awards are not cost-reimbursable, the documentation will not be submitted to Regents to process payment, but must be retained in contract files in case of audit.
Salary support may be funded via the grant as release, but cannot be directly paid by BoRSF. Salary support may be requested – it is not required – to cover release, or the institution may cover participating faculty/staff project work as part of their regular duties. The amount provided through Rapid Response cannot exceed 25%.
The RFP references $2.6B in new investment, but the total is much higher. What is the discrepancy?
The reference to $2.6B was a typographical error and has been corrected.
No. The eligible categories align with LA Works’ workforce priority areas, which can be accessed at https://www.laworks.net/WORKSTraining/. It is projected that thousands of jobs will be created, so it will be up to the applicant to show how the specific workforce need to be addressed fits within the urgent new opportunities coming online.
Yes. This is specified in Section II.C.2 of the RFP.