Collapse to view only § 50.406 - What are the steps in the process?

§ 50.401 - What is the purpose of this subpart?

This subpart establishes an informal procedure for the resolution of certain postaward grant and cooperative agreement disputes within the agencies and offices identified in § 50.402.

[63 FR 66062, Dec. 1, 1998]

§ 50.402 - To what program do these regulations apply?

This subpart applies to all grant and cooperative agreement programs, except block grants, which are administered by the National Institutes of Health; The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry; the Food and Drug Administration; and the Office of Public Health and Science. For purposes of this subpart, these entities are hereinafter referred to as “agencies.”

[70 FR 76175, Dec. 23, 2005]

§ 50.403 - What is the policy basis for these procedures?

The Secretary of Health and Human Services has established a Departmental Appeals Board for the purpose of providing a fair and flexible process for the appeal of written final decisions involving certain grant and cooperative agreement programs administered by constituent agencies of the Department. The regulatory provision which establishes the circumstances under which the Board will accept an appeal (45 CFR 16.3) provides, among other things, that the appellant must have exhausted any preliminary appeal process required by regulation before a formal appeal to the Departmental Board will be allowed. This subpart provides such an informal preliminary procedure for resolution of disputes in order to preclude submission of cases to the Departmental Appeals Board before an agency identified in § 50.402 has had an opportunity to review decisions of its officials and to settle disputes with grantees.

[54 FR 34770, Aug. 22, 1989, as amended at 63 FR 66062, Dec. 1, 1998]

§ 50.404 - What disputes are covered by these procedures?

(a) These procedures are applicable to the following adverse determinations under discretionary project grants and cooperative agreements (both referred to in this subpart as grants) issued by the agencies identified at § 50.402;

(1) Termination, in whole or in part, of a grant for failure of the grantee to carry out its approved project in accordance with the applicable law and the terms and conditions of such assistance or for failure of the grantee otherwise to comply with any law, regulation, assurance, term, or condition applicable to the grant.

(2) A determination that an expenditure not allowable under the grant has been charged to the grant or that the grantee has otherwise failed to discharge its obligation to account for grant funds.

(3) A determination that a grant is void.

(4) A denial of a noncompeting continuation award under the project period system of funding where the denial is for failure to comply with the terms of a previous award.

(b) A determination subject to this subpart may not be reviewed by the review committee described in § 50.405 unless an officer or employee of the agency has notified the grantee in writing of the adverse determination. The notification must set forth the reasons for the determination in sufficient detail to enable the grantee to respond and must inform the grantee of the opportunity for review under this subpart.

[54 FR 34770, Aug. 22, 1989, as amended at 63 FR 66062, Dec. 1, 1998]

§ 50.405 - What is the structure of review committees?

The head of the agency, or his or her designee, shall appoint review committees to review adverse determinations made by officials for programs under their jurisdiction. A minimum of three employees shall be appointed (one of whom shall be designated as chairperson) either on an ad hoc, case-by-case basis, or as regular members of review committees for such terms as may be designated. None of the members of the review committee reviewing any given appeal may be from the office of the responsible official whose adverse determination is being appealed (e.g., project officer, grants specialist, program manager, grants management officer).

[54 FR 34770, Aug. 22, 1989, as amended at 63 FR 66062, Dec. 1, 1998]

§ 50.406 - What are the steps in the process?

(a) A grantee with respect to whom an adverse determination described in § 50.404(a) above has been made and who desires a review of that determination must submit a request for such review to the head of the appropriate agency or his or her designee no later than 30 days after the written notification of the determination is received, except that if the grantee shows good cause why an extension of time should be granted, the head of the appropriate agency or his or her designee may grant an extension of time.

(b) The request for review must include a copy of the adverse determination, must identify the issue(s) in dispute, and must contain a full statement of the grantee's position with respect to such issue(s) and the pertinent facts and reasons in support of the grantee's position. In addition to the required written statement, the grantee shall provide copies of any documents supporting its claim.

(c) When a request for review has been filed under this subpart with respect to an adverse determination, no action may be taken by the awarding agency pursuant to such determination until the request has been disposed of, except that the filing of the request shall not affect any authority which the agency may have to suspend assistance or otherwise to withhold or defer payments under the grant during proceedings under this subpart. This paragraph does not require the awarding agency to provide continuation funding during the appeal process to a grantee whose noncompeting continuation award has been denied.

(d) Upon receipt of a request for review, the head of the agency or his or her designee will make a decision as to whether the dispute is reviewable under this subpart and will promptly notify the grantee and the office responsible for the adverse determination of this decision. If the head of the agency or his or her designee determines that the dispute is reviewable, he or she will forward the matter to the review committee appointed under § 50.405.

(e) The agency involved will provide the review committee appointed under § 50.405 with copies of all relevant background materials (including applications(s), award(s), summary statement(s), and correspondence) and any additional pertinent information available. These materials must be tabbed and organized chronologically and accompanied by an indexed list identifying each document.

(f) The grantee shall be given an opportunity to provide the review committee with additional statements and documentation not provided in the request for review described in paragraph (b) of this section. This additional submission, which must be organized and indexed as indicated under paragraph (e) of this section, should provide only material that is relevant to the review committee's deliberation of the issues in the case.

(g) The review committee may, at its discretion, invite the grantee and/or the agency staff to discuss the pertinent issues with the committee and to submit such additional information as the committee deems appropriate.

(h) Based on its review, the review committee will prepare a written decision to be signed by the chairperson and each of the other committee members. The review committee shall send the written decision with a transmittal letter to the grantee and shall send a copy of both to the official responsible for the adverse determination. If the decision is adverse to the grantee's position, the transmittal letter must state the grantee's right to appeal to the Departmental Appeals Board under 45 CFR part 16.

[54 FR 34770, Aug. 22, 1989, as amended at 63 FR 66063, Dec. 1, 1998]