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“Provide project details in 500 characters or less”

Today I was working on a foundation proposal submission and came across one of my favorite questions ever: “What are you requesting? Provide details (500 characters).”

Right. You, the funder, are going to get TONS of detail in. . . 500 characters. This post, up to the preceding sentence, is about 250 characters, or half the length of the possible answer. Twitter has recently shocked the media world by shifting from its 140-character standard to its 280-character long-form. So the applicant is to “provide details” in the space of two tweets.

I think whoever wrote that question wasn’t thinking about what they were writing or was thinking about it and decided, “Whatever, I’m going to have some fun with this.” It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen an Easter Egg in an RFP.

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HRSA makes it hard to target Ryan White Part C EIS “New Geographic Service Areas” applications

FQHCs and other HIV services providers have likely seen the recently issued HRSA “Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part C HIV Early Intervention Services Program: New Geographic Service Areas” NOFO and thought, “looks promising.” As usual, though, a potential applicant ought to first check the eligibility criteria. In this case, on page 3 the NOFO cryptically says, “[See Section III-1 of this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), formerly known as the funding opportunity announcement (FOA), for complete eligibility information.]” Okay. That section says:

Newly proposed service areas must not geographically overlap with existing RWHAP Part C EIS service areas as defined in Appendix B in NOFO HRSA-18-001, HRSA-18-004, and HRSA-18-005.

Okay. So if you up those other NOFOs you’ll find a long table of current providers; the table isn’t organized in a coherent fashion, except by state. There’s no map or list of potentially qualifying zip codes, only a list of current providers and some poorly described service areas for their Ryan White Part C EIS grants. In many places, like big cities, it’s hard to tell which areas/neighborhoods might qualify as new service areas.

Still, the NOFO also listed a webinar, which occurred today. Despite knowing that bidders conferences are a usually waste of time, I participated anyway, and when the presenters finally finish regurgitating the NOFO I asked, “Will HRSA produce a map of areas that it currently considers underserved? That would help a lot, especially in dense urban areas like New York City.” The leader said, “No. The NOFA does not identify specific areas that are underserved. It’s up to the applicant to demonstrate need in a particular service area.” HRSA won’t produce a map showing allowed areas or even a map of currently served areas. Applicants just have to guess. Thanks, HRSA. Helpful as usual.

If you’re interested in the New Geographic Service Areas program and you read the Q & A when it’s released, you may find the question from yours truly. I sometimes tell students that formulating good questions can be as hard as giving good answers. In this case, the answer would’ve been more useful than the question—had it been forthcoming.