Is non-COVID-related work eligible under this award?
No. EMPG-S is only approved for COVID-19-related activities. The federal EMPG-S Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) can be found here for further clarification. Otherwise please refer to the Scope of Work for allowable activity.
Can an RPC only apply for EMPG20 and invoice COVID-19 work to that award instead?
No. Any EMPG-eligible COVID-19-related work must be tracked and invoiced under the EMPG-S award. COVID-19-related work will not be eligible under EMPG20 unless the EMPG-S award is spent down and prior justification and subsequent VEM approval is obtained by the RPC.
Is there a match requirement for the EMPG-S award?
Yes. There is a 50% non-federal match requirement for this award. All match activities must be COVID-19-related work as outlined in the NOFO. This narrows the scope of allowable match. Effective September 4th, the use of Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) dollars as match for EMPG/EMPG-S has been approved. We are reopening the application window to allow for this change benefit your applications since match options were more limited previously.
Does an RPC have to apply for the full amount allocated to their region?
No. These allocations serve as maximum amounts for the region. An RPC could choose to apply for less based on their circumstances.
It looks like the Period of Performance starts on July 1, 2020. Can I apply for activities that occurred between July 1 and September 30, 2020?
No. This application should cover activities from October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021. The reason the Period of Performance started in July was for the first round WiFi project that was expedited to allow work to start early.