TAG & Contract Criteria Plan Implementation Projects

The Upper Delaware Council intends to achieve many of its goals in direct and active cooperation with local governments, and through the use of technical assistance grants to expand and improve the ability of local governments and the UDC to develop information and programs for the achievement of the River Management Plan. The following criteria are the factors that will be used by the Upper Delaware Council for the allocation and commitment of UDC funds to member towns, townships and to other entities in furtherance of the plan. The criteria consist of three sections:

  1. Qualifications and Restrictions — The qualifications and restrictions are conditions that must be satisfied by any proposal, project, grant, contract, and by each applicant for proposals, projects, grants or contracts.
  2. Purposes — A project must fulfill or be designed to meet at least one of the conditions listed in the purposes section to merit consideration by the UDC. The UDC may use these purposes as preliminary ranking factors for determining the relative merit of competing proposals.
  3. Procedures — These are the actual guidelines that the UDC will follow in order to decide upon the awarding of grants, and provide procedures for public notification, application, review, decision making, contract supervision, and final review and reporting.

Qualifications and Restrictions

Grants must adhere to the following qualifications in order to be considered for award:

  1. Grants to governments are limited to UDC member governments and affected counties.
    Grants from the UDC to local governments, agencies, or other governmental bodies will be limited to such local governments, agencies, and other governmental bodies that are members of the UDC. Any town or township that is not a member of the UDC shall not be eligible for grants or contracts from the UDC.
  2. Grants must be for research, planning, or other assistance in plan implementation, not for capital projects.
    These grants and contracts shall be for planning, study, legal research and drafting, and other research related to the UDC River Management Plan. These funds are intended to assist in the efficient governmental implementation of the UDC River Management Plan. No funds may be granted or contracts undertaken for such activities as land acquisition, construction, or other "brick and mortar" capital improvements.
  3. Proposals must relate to the Upper Delaware River Management plan.
    All proposals must relate directly to and support the implementation of the Upper Delaware River Management Plan, including the assistance of UDC member towns and townships to reach substantial conformance requirements with or in furtherance of the plan.
  4. Deadline for Agreements.
    All contracts or grants under this section for Fiscal Year 2024 must be agreed to and work started no later than October 1, 2023 (the beginning of Fiscal Year 2024). All legal commitments for Fiscal Year 2024 between the UDC and the grantees must be completed within 10 months by August 16, 2024.

Purposes

There are three categories of purposes for which grants, awards and contracts may be considered by the Upper Delaware Council.

  1. Projects or issues specifically targeted for study in the River Management Plan, which is available online at: https://upperdelawarecouncil.org/publications/.
  2. Projects for the preparation, revision, or publication of rules, laws, plans, maps, or ordinances for the implementation of the Upper Delaware River Management Plan by participating town and township governments.
  3. Other projects that relate to or will further the implementation of the Management Plan.

Contract and Grant Procedures

I.  Statement of Procedures

So that all eligible towns and townships may understand the purposes and procedures to be used by the UDC in awarding grants, the UDC shall provide to all member towns and townships, a statement of procedures that will detail the process for the application, review and award of grants by the UDC. This Statement of Procedures shall consist of the Upper Delaware Council Technical Assistance Grant and Contract Criteria, together with any further explanatory material that the UDC may develop. The UDC may choose to provide the Statement of Procedures as well to non-member towns and townships located in the UDC region in order to familiarize them with the purposes and procedures of grant awards under the UDC plan.

II.  Notice of Availability, Statement of Purposes

When the UDC is prepared to begin the process for the review and awarding of grants, the Council shall send to each eligible town and township a notice of availability and shall publish by press release such notice of availability in the Council's official newspapers of general circulation in the UDC region. The Notice of Availability shall contain:

Statement of Eligibility and Purposes
This statement shall briefly describe what kind of grant is available, what entities are eligible for consideration (i.e. town and township governments, planning boards, county agencies, consultants) and what specific purposes or parts of the UDC management plan the grants or awards are intended to support.

Notice of Procedures
This statement shall provide information on where to get further application information, forms, and what dates or deadlines have been set for the completion of applications, review, and decision by the UDC.

Qualifications for Grantees, Ranking Factors
In order to ensure that grant funds are directed toward organizations and individuals who will efficiently and professionally accomplish the purposes of a grant proposal, the UDC and its Project Review Committee shall apply the following factors to its decision making process:

  1. Is the town or township a member of the UDC?
  2. Does the town or township have the ability to staff, supervise, and complete the project based upon the budget submitted, and have other resources available for the project?
  3. If a private consultant is applying, or if the work is ultimately to be done by consultants working for the applicant, are the experience, staff size, and professional reputation of the consultants such that the UDC can be confident of the successful completion of the project?

III.  Qualifications of Projects and Proposals, Ranking Factors

The UDC and its Project Review Committee shall consider the following factors in ranking project applications for funding by the UDC:

  1. Does the applicant lack the resources to accomplish this project without the assistance of the UDC?
  2. Is the project crucial to the accomplishment of the goals of the UDC?
  3. Is the project crucial to the accomplishment of the goals of the UDC this year?
  4. Is the project one that will be applicable in more than one jurisdiction. Will the results be transferable and potentially applicable to other towns, townships, or situations?

IV.  Application Procedures

Applicants shall complete the UDC TAG Application Form and submit it to the UDC office by the application deadline. Each application shall contain:

  1. The name, address, and e-mail address of the town, township, or government body applying for funds. Including the name of the contact person, telephone number, and e-mail address.
  2. The purpose and goals of the proposed project, and how it relates to River Management Plan goals and objectives. (NOTE: the River Management Plan is also available online at: https://upperdelawarecouncil.org/publications/.
  3. The project work plan, including time table.
  4. The expected results of the project.
  5. The total cost of the project and how much funding is being requested from the UDC.
  6. Whether the full project would be undertaken if the UDC funds only a portion of the project.
  7. The Project Budget, including a description of costs for each budget item. (Note any other sources of funding and/or in-kind services, if applicable.)
  8. The name, qualifications, and experience of any staff, subcontractors, consultants or individuals who will be working on the project for the applicant.

V.  Procedures for Review of Proposals

The UDC Project Review Committee will review grant applications.

The committee shall examine applications before it for basic eligibility, priority of purpose, and qualifications of the proposed agency or contractor. The committee shall review the budget for the proposed project. The committee may contact and question applicants directly, and the committee may seek references and other information in the case of applications from private individuals and consultants, or from government agencies when the actual project will be completed by private individuals or consultants.

When the committee has completed its review of an application it will report its findings and recommendations to the Upper Delaware Council. The committee may vote to recommend acceptance, rejection, or acceptance with conditions of an application.

VI.  Award Decisions, Notification of Awards

The Project Review Committee shall present its recommendations to the Upper Delaware Council for decision. The UDC shall discuss the applications, recommendations, and upon motion of the Project Review Committee or any UDC member, shall vote on each application. A simple majority of the full UDC is sufficient to agree to award a grant. The UDC may vote to accept, reject, or accept with conditions any application presented to it by the committee. The Chairperson shall notify the applicant by letter of the result of the vote of the UDC. This letter shall be for informational purposes only and shall not be legally binding upon the UDC.

VII.  Drafting and Review of Grants and Contracts

Upon the decision of the UDC to award a grant, the resolution by which the UDC decision was made will be forwarded to the UDC Legal Counsel, together with copies of the grant application and other documents that may be required by Counsel. The contract or other document shall then be submitted to the grantee.

VIII.  Amendments to Established Procedures

These procedures may be modified by the Council as circumstances warrant. Where modifications to the granting procedures are made, these modifications shall apply only to new projects reviewed under these criteria and shall not affect ongoing projects.

IX.  Contract Supervision

The Project Review Committee shall supervise the execution of the grant contract. The grantee must submit a mid-term progress report. The Project Review Committee may require other interim reporting by the grantee as they deem necessary.

X.  Project Evaluation

At the conclusion of the work by a grantee, the supervising UDC staff shall prepare a report to the Project Review Committee on the results of the project. The report shall include an assessment of the conclusions, results, or product of the project, a budgetary assessment, and an assessment of the need and benefit of the continuation of the project, or the initiation of similar projects in other jurisdictions, or within the entire UDC management region.

XI.  Public Reporting of Project Evaluation

The UDC shall make available to the public and the local media a summary and evaluation of the results of each grant awarded by the UDC at the conclusion of the work by the grantee. The purpose of this section is to make available to other governments and citizens the results and conclusions that are developed by any single grantee, in order that the benefits of the award may be disseminated as widely as possible.