NYS Office of Homeland Security

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NYS Office of Homeland Security
E-Grants Tutorial Creating an Application for the
HazMat RFA
To access OHS E-Grants you must have a Username
and Password. Please contact OHS at
grants_at_security.state.ny.us if you need to
request a username and password.
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When you first access OHS E-Grants, the Access
Notice page will be displayed. This page
notifies the user that a secure system is being
accessed. Click on the Electronic Submission
Notice button to proceed.
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The Electronic Submission Notice must be read and
acknowledged before accessing the system. Once
you have read the notice, please click the Accept
button and the login screen will appear. GENERAL
HINT FOR WORKING IN E-GRANTS Since this is a web
based system you will be timed out after 30
minutes of inactivity. Hit SAVE often. Also if
you have a lot of narrative to enter into
E-Grants, type the information into a word file
and then copy and paste the verbiage into
E-Grants.
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Enter your Login Name, Password and click on the
Submit button.
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Once you have logged in, the Welcome to OHS
E-Grants page will be displayed. Select Project
from the left menu frame to open the list of
projects that match the access rights of the user
or to create a new project.
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A list of currently active projects will be
displayed. The grid will be empty if there are
no projects associated with the user. Click New
to begin entering a new project.
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It is VERY IMPORTANT that you select the correct
Funding Program.

• Select the HazMat funding program from the drop
  down list and click Create Project. Click OK in
  the pop-up box.

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• This is the General Project Screen. Enter the
  following mandatory fields
• Project title HazMat RFA
• Project start and end dates 8/1/2009
  7/31/2012
• County should be the county that the submitting
  partner is located in
• Summary Description of the Project
• When completed, click on the Save button at the
  bottom of the page or the Save option in the left
  frame.

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Now click on the Participants tab (along the top
tool bar of tabs) Participants are Grantees
and/or Implementing Agencies. The submitting
partner should be listed as the grantee (i.e.
xyz county) and the participating partner(s)
should be listed as the implementing agency (i.e.
county hazmat team, town hazmat team).
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Click Add Participant. A search screen will open
to search for an existing Participant. (If you
are entering the County as the participant they
will already be in the database.) Enter full or
partial name and click OK to search the
database. Hint This search engine looks for
matches so dont be too detailed with inputting
data in these search screens.
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In this example, Orleans was input into the
search window, providing the above list. Choose
the Participant you wish to add from the returned
list by clicking on the next to it. If the
Participant is not in the database click New to
enter a new Participant.
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Select the appropriate participant type (Grantee,
Implementing Agency or Other). The screen will
refresh and click on the Add button.
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The screen will refresh again. Click OK. The
Participant has then been added to the Project.
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If the participant is not in the database, you
may add them by clicking the New button. However,
please ENSURE the participant is not already in
the database to prevent duplicate entries. Note
ALL New York counties are already in the database.
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Enter the information to add a new Participant.
Required fields are Participant Name, Address,
City, State, Zip, and Employee Identification
Number. Mandatory data must be entered before
the record can be saved.
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To add Contacts to the Participants is a similar
process. OHS E-Grants requires a Primary,
Signatory (i.e. County Executive or Mayor) and
Fiscal Contact s(i.e. Treasurer) for the Grantee
(submitting partner). A Primary Contact is also
required for each Implementing Agency
(participating partner). Use the drop-down box
Contacts for Participant to select the correct
participant, then click Add Contact to..
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A search screen will open to search for an
existing contact. Enter full or partial name and
click OK to search the database. Hint This
search engine looks for matches so dont be too
detailed with inputting data in these search
screens. Just use a last name to see if the
contact is already in the database.
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In this example, Test was input into the search
window, providing the above list. Choose the
Contact you wish to add from the returned list by
clicking on the next to it. If the Contact is
not in the database click New to enter a new
Contact.
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You will be asked to select the Contact Type. A
pop up box will appear letting you know the
contact has been added. Continue selecting and
adding contacts until you are finished. Remember
a Primary, Signatory and Fiscal contact must be
chosen.
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If the Signatory Contact you are trying to add is
not a registered user of OHS E-Grants, you will
get the above error message and you will not be
able to add that person until they are an OHS
E-Grants user. Please contact grants_at_security.sta
te.ny.us if you need help registering someone as
a signatory. You can continue working on other
parts of your application while awaiting
registration but a signatory is a required item
so dont forget it.
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If you need to add a new contact, click New and
the screen will refresh. Select the Contact type
drop down box(circled in red). Required fields
are First Name, Last Name, Address, City, State,
Zip and Phone Number. Mandatory data must be
entered before the record can be saved. Add a new
contact only after first verifying the person is
not already in the system.
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This is an example of a completed Participant
Tab screen with one participating partner.
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Now click the Work Plan Tab and enter the Project
Goal verbatim To promote the development of
regional partnerships among the State HazMat
community to build sustainable WMD/HazMat
Response and Decontamination Capabilities and to
enhance the standing of the States HazMat teams
within FEMAs typing system. Click Save. Then
continue with your Work Plan by selecting Create
New Objective. (Circled in red)
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A new screen will be generated with several
pick-list boxes. Click on the G T Work Plan
Code pick-list box and select the appropriate
HazMat RFP Priority Project.(Starting at 42 on
the drop down list). Please prioritize the
objectives of the workplan by selecting 1 for
your highest priority project, 2 for your second
highest priority project, and so on. If you
would like to implement more than five projects,
please contact OHS. All tasks related to the
objective will be entered in the next steps.
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Next click on the Investment Justification
pick-list box and select the WMD/HazMat Response
and Decontamination Investment (default entry).
Enter a description of the Objective. The text
above is provided as an example and should be
completed with the priority. For additional
objectives/priorities repeat these steps to
create another objective. When completed, click
on the Save button at the bottom of the page or
the Save option in the left frame.
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Click Add Primary Target Capability to add
WMD/HazMat Response and Decontamination (default
entry) as the primary target capability for this
Objective.
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Click on Add Task to this Objective when you have
finished the Target Capabilities.
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Enter the task you will complete to accomplish
this project. The text above is provided as an
example. Click Save and then click Add
Performance Measure to this Task.
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Describe the Performance Measure and Save. The
text above is provided as an example.
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This is an example of a completed work plan.
Remember you may have several tasks for each
objective (prioritized project) and each task
must have at least one performance measure. To
add another objective (priority project), click
Create New Objective.
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• The workplan requires a minimum of one goal,
  one objective, one task and one performance
  measure. It is suggested you use the provided
  examples in the previous slides verbatim. You MAY
  add additional objectives, but for E-Grants
  requirements, you have achieved the minimum (one
  goal, objective, task, performance measure) to
  submit without error in the workplan section.

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Click the Budget tab. You must have at least one
participant and a completed Work Plan before you
can enter a budget. Click on Create new Budget
Version for Participant. The created version is
the only budget version necessary. (It should
be for the submitting partner) .
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Each budget item is input separately. Choose the
category of the budget item you are entering from
the pick-list box. As you can see there are nine
budget categories. Mandatory fields for a
budget item are Description, Number, Unit Cost
and Justification. If entering an Equipment
item, an AEL Number is also mandatory. A
detailed description of the AEL list is available
at http//www.security.state.ny.us/Grant-Guidance/
documents/HMRFP/index.html however, Appendix A,
Allowable Cost Matrix is a good starting point.
When finished with the item click Save.
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Once you have saved a budget item, the screen
will refresh and the Add Funding Allocation for
this Budget item icon will appear. Click Add
Funding Allocation for this Budget item. Screen
will advance to the Funding Allocation Tab. You
must enter a budget item before you can enter
funding allocation data. The Funding Allocation
Tab will link each budget item to one of the
prioritized objectives of the workplan. You do
not need a separate objective for each budget
item.
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Click on the pick-list box to choose the GT Work
Plan Code (prioritized objective) that this
budget item is associated with. Only the GT Work
Plan Codes that you selected on the Work Plan tab
will appear. Click Add G and T Workplan
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Click on the pick-list box to choose a National
Priority that best describes the budgeted item
(i.e., Strengthen CBRNE Detection, Response, and
Decontamination Capabilities or Expanded Regional
Collaboration). Click Add National Priority
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Click on the Priority Project pick-list box and
choose 75) Not Applicable. Click Add Project
Priority
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Now you select a Spending Subcategory/Solution
Area. Only the Solution Areas that match the
HazMat funding program will be listed (See
Section IV. Of the RFA and Appendix A for the
list of allowable expenses). Select the Solution
Area (Planning, Equipment, Training, or
Exercises) that appears in the red or blue
letters. Note Organization personnel and M
A costs are not allowable under FY 09 HazMat
funding.
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Once you select a category, the screen will
refresh and the selected item will appear in red.
Items related to the selected category will
appear in the pick-list drop down box. Select
the appropriate Subcategory.
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After selecting the subcategory, enter the dollar
amount being allocated to that Subcategory
and click Add Spending Subcategory. You may
select multiple Solution Areas/Subcategories per
budget item, but only one GT Work Plan Code,
National Priority, and Priority Project per
budget item. Note Screen refreshes to top of
screen with each entry in Funding Allocation
table. Annoying but has to be lived with.

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The total dollar amount of the subcategory MUST
equal the budget item. Example above shows
selecting two subcategories (Planning and
Training) totaling 4.00. Budgeted item was
5.00. Notice there is still a field Enter a
value of 1.00 or less. Note Screen refreshes
to top of screen with each entry in Funding
Allocation table. Annoying but has to be lived
with.

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Notice in the example above that the Spending
Subcategories match the budgeted item. There is
no longer a field Enter a value of or less.
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Now enter the Spending Discipline for each
Solution Area (Planning, Equipment, Training, and
Exercise) that you choose previously. Select the
Solution Area (POETE) that appears in red or blue
lettering. Note Screen refreshes to top of
screen with each entry.
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Once you select a category, the screen will
refresh and the selected item will appear in red.
Items related to the selected category will
appear in the pick-list box. Select the
appropriate Discipline (HazMat).
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After selecting the Discipline, enter the dollar
amount being allocated to that Discipline and
click on Add Spending Discipline. You must
select the same Solution Areas (Planning,
Equipment, Training, and Exercise) for both the
Spending Subcategory and Spending Discipline.
(See next slide)
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In regards to the above example, you must choose
an Exercise Discipline for 1.00 Training
Discipline for 2.00 and Planning Discipline for
2.00.
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In regards to the above example, you allocated
2.00 for Training Subcategory, but for Training
Discipline you chose 3.00 so you received an
error message when you clicked Finished with this
Item.
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This is how the Funding Discipline tab should
look when everything matches. Click on Finished
with this item. The screen will refresh back to
the budget tab to add additional budget items.
You need to complete the Budget and Funding
Allocations Tabs for each budget item.
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Your completed budget will look like this.
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Questions Tab

• For the FY 09 HazMat RFA, this section of
  E-Grants is a list of reminder questions to
  ensure you uploaded the required attachments (See
  next slide for attachment module). At most you
  need merely to click in the blue section of a
  question, which will open a text box. You can
  simply write yes when the reminder question is
  completed as an internal checklist for you to
  ensure you havent forgotten anything.

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• The next step is to attach the following
  documents to your application
• 2009 HazMat RFA Worksheet
• Notice of Endorsement from County Fire
  Coordinators (Appendix B of RFA)
• FEMA and NYS NIMS Typing Worksheets from each
  partner (if this information has already not been
  submitted to OFPC)
• Click Attachment on the left frame. NOTE Also
  see questions tab referred to in last slide at
  upper right. For informational purposes only on
  this slide.

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Click on New to attach a file to your
application. Please note the appropriate file
types that can be uploaded. See list of file
types immediately above Click on .download
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Click Browse to navigate to the file location and
select the appropriate file. Once the file is
selected, click Upload to send the file. Click
Browse to add another file, or click Go Back to
List to view the list of files that have been
attached to the application.
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The list of files that have been attached to the
application appears. You may click on the file
name to view the file. NOTE Once a file has been
attached, it CANNOT be removed or deleted.
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The final step before submitting your application
is to certify the Federal Assurances. Click the
Acceptance Tab. Click Assurance 1 (or anywhere
in the blue text of Assurance 1). The screen
will refresh. Click the Certify button on the
bottom of the screen after you have finished
reading the information thoroughly. The screen
will refresh again and the name of the E-Grants
User signed on at the time will appear in the
Certified by box with the current date. Note
Clicking acceptance does NOT submit your
application. See next slides to complete
submission.
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Now you are ready to submit your application. In
the left frame click on the word Submit. (See
arrow above) A pop-up box will appear asking if
you are sure you want to submit this project.
Click OK.
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If the application fails to submit, OHS E-Grants
will generate a printable Required Fields Report
(above) to guide you in finishing your
application. Return to your application to enter
the missing information and submit again.
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You will see the following message when your
application is successfully submitted. OHS will
be notified that an application was submitted.
The primary and signatory contacts will also
receive an e-mail that an application was
submitted.
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View and print your entire application.
Once submitted your application will be locked
but you may still view your information. Notice
the Locked indicator in the left frame. Also
notice that the project status has changed to
Application Received. You may view and print
your entire application by clicking Application
from the left frame under Reports.
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REMEMBER

• OHS Staff will be available to assist with
  E-Grants up to 430 PM on the due date so dont
  wait until that last night to try and submit. If
  you must, and have trouble, submit an e-mail
  explaining your problems. OHS will review the
  e-mail to determine if it is a legitimate
  issue(s) and act accordingly. Waiting until the
  last moment to submit may ultimately invalidate
  your application if your issues are deemed
  innapropriate, so dont wait.