(a) Application for grants. An applicant may submit, on or before the submission deadline date established in a NOFA, an application in accordance with the instructions in the NOFA and including the forms specified in the NOFA. Such application must be signed by the applicant or an official or representative of the applicant duly authorized to make such application and to assume on behalf of the applicant the obligations imposed by law, applicable regulations, and any additional terms and conditions of the grant. VA may require in the NOFA for applicants to submit a pre-application for review and approval prior to the submission of an application.

(b) Partnerships.

(1) Eligible entities may enter into partnerships with other eligible entities, including those in other States, and submit joint applications for adaptive sports grants.

(2) A joint application made by two or more applicants may have separate budgets corresponding to the programs, services and activities performed by each of the joint applicants or may have a combined budget. If a joint application presents separate budgets, VA may make separate awards, or may award a single award authorizing separate amounts for each joint applicant.

(c) Evaluation of applications submitted. All applications submitted shall be evaluated. After the initial internal or peer review, additional internal evaluations and/or peer reviews may be used.

(d) Applicant's performance on prior award. When the applicant has previously received an award from VA or another Federal agency, the applicant's noncompliance with requirements applicable to such prior award as reflected in past written evaluation reports and memoranda on performance, and the completeness of required prior submissions, may be considered by VA. In any case where VA proposes to deny a grant based upon the applicant's noncompliance with requirements applicable to the prior award, VA shall do so only after affording the applicant notice and a reasonable opportunity to rebut the proposed basis for denial of a grant.

(e) Applicant's fiscal integrity. Applicants must meet and maintain standards of fiscal integrity for participation in Federal grant programs as reflected in 2 CFR part 200.

(f) Disposition of applications. Upon review of an application and dependent on availability of funds, VA will:

(1) Approve the application for funding, in whole or in part, for such amount of funds, and subject to such conditions that VA deems necessary or desirable;

(2) Determine that the application is of acceptable quality for funding, in that it meets minimum criteria, but disapprove the application for funding because it did not rank sufficiently high in relation to other applications to qualify for an award based on the level of funding available;

(3) Disapprove the application for failure to meet the applicable selection criteria at a sufficiently high level in comparison to other applications to justify an award of funds, or for another reason as provided in the documentation of the decision; or

(4) Defer action on the application for such reasons as lack of funds or a need for further review.

(g) Notification of disposition. VA will notify the applicant in writing of the disposition of the application. A signed grant agreement form will be issued to the applicant of an approved application.

(h) Availability of grant funds. Federal financial assistance is normally available only with respect to obligations incurred subsequent to the effective date of the grant. The effective date of grant will be set forth in the grant agreement. Recipients may be reimbursed for costs resulting from obligations incurred before the effective date of the grant, if such costs are authorized by VA in the NOFA, the grant agreement or subsequently by VA in writing, and otherwise would be allowable as costs of the grant under applicable guidelines, regulations, and terms and conditions of the grant agreement.

(OMB has approved the information collection requirements in this section under control number 2900-0820)

[79 FR 37217, July 1, 2014, as amended at 80 FR 25235, May 4, 2015]