Item 20 - On-Call Grant Writing Services

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Proposal to Provide Water, Sewer, and Public Works Grant Writing Services 9 We will evaluate the projects, review eligibility and potential project ranking, and provide recommendations to the City Project Manager, so that all relevant information is easily available to choose which grants to pursue.  Our analysis of the unfunded plans of a project for the City of Palm Springs allowed us to recommend alternative grant opportunities that resulted in submittal of two additional successful grant applications, with $5.1 million awarded.  Review of City of Downey CIP program and unfunded list of projects resulted in identification of a grant programs for the City for up to $8 million in funding. Deliverable(s): • Funding Matrix identifying all available funding for the City’s Projects • Updated Funding Matrix on monthly or as-needed basis 2. Grant Writing Assistance Once a funding source and a pursuit have been identified, ESS will arrange for a meeting and will come prepared with a Work Plan Structure (WPS), which is a matrix of the fund parameters. ESS prepares a WPS for all funding pursuits based on the detailed analysis of the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The WPS identifies detailed grant fund requirements and populating it will help identify the necessary documents and resources and areas of responsibilities between team members and internal deadlines. The WPS will also serve as a tool for both the City staff and ESS team members to track the project progress and alignment with the funding. When developing the WPS, ESS will also note the implementation constraints that may have an impact on selection of the project elements. For example, most funding sources require that a grant agreement be in place prior to the start of construction. ESS will work with the City Project Manager to identify solutions and/or assist with reprioritization of the grant applications to meet the requirements. Topics commonly found in the WPS include: • Eligibility criteria • Matching funds • Budget needs • Maps and pictures • Project programming requirements • the City’s prior grant management record • Submittal requirements • Evaluation criteria • Resolutions and approval letters required from the Board of Directors • Technical reports: Benefit Cost Analysis, Environmental Reports, Life Cycle Analysis • Project readiness: CEQA status, Feasibility studies, Project design reports • Support documentations: certifications, forms, project reports A sample segment of a WPS appears below. It is organized for clarity and is an invaluable reference tool that is used throughout every project. Deliverable(s): • Work Plan Structure for the identified grant pursuit, such as the example below: that support IRWM. conveyance; Watershed restoration/prot ection implementati on grants April 8, 2016