Arizona Budget Justification

Transcription

1 Detailed Budget Justification. In addition to the Standard Form 424A Budget Information form, applicants must include a detailed budget justification. All budget information submitted with the application should match the dollar amounts on required Standard Form 424 and Standard Form424A forms. Further information on preparation of the Budget Justification will be found below in Section E.4. (Not to exceed five pages in length, not counting spreadsheets). E.4. Detailed Budget Justification. The budget narrative must provide sufficient explanation of each budget category in order to establish the need for the funds in each category, and the basis for figures used. The budget narrative must be accompanied by a spreadsheet listing itemized costs by category (e.g., salary, supplies, equipment, travel, contractual, indirect) supporting how the budget request was calculated. Spreadsheets must be formatted to fit letter-sized paper (8.5" x 11"). A budget justification in narrative form must also be provided to explain and justify all project costs, including contractual costs. This narrative must be organized to clearly correspond to the information provided in the budget table or spreadsheet. Detail provided in the spreadsheet and/or the narrative must also be sufficient so that reviewers can interpret how costs were estimated or calculated, especially for costs over $5,000 (including any contractual costs). The budget narrative (and the Standard Form 424A form) and spreadsheet must clearly distinguish those costs proposed to be supported with federal funds as well as those costs contributed by the applicant as the nonfederal match. The following three spreadsheets for the Arizona application are being provided to support our Budget estimates: AZ_Budget_Info.xlsx - provides a high level overview of the project s budget. AZ_Detailed_Budget_Estimates.xlsx - provides detailed budget estimates for the following categories: Travel category (c) Equipment category (d) Supplies category (e) Contractual category (f) AZ_In_Kind.xlsx provides detailed budget estimates for in-kind services to be provided to the project as part of the State s required match in the following categories: Personnel category (a) Fringe Benefits category (b) Other category (h) Note: No funds are being requested for Construction (g) and Indirect (j). AZ_Budget_Info.xlsx The AZ_Budget_Info.xlsx spreadsheet provides a high level overview of the project s budget across the appropriate categories outlined in SECTION B BUDGET CATEGORIES form of the Budget information for Non- Construction Program. This spreadsheet provides the Phase I & II breakdown and category totals. Details on how these estimates were determined are provided in the AZ_Detailed_Budget_Estimates.xlsx and the AZ_In_Kind.xlsx spreadsheets. The allotment of In Kind contribution in the Personnel, Fringe Benefits and Other categories are color coded as Arizona Brown. The Personnel category (a) consists of the PSIC Office staff (SWIC, PSIC Project Manager and Finance & Planning staff at 25% each and Deputy SWIC at 33%) for management of the SLIGP program and oversight of contract and vendor personnel. These individuals will be providing management, integration and logistical support. They will also be instrumental in the development of the Education & Outreach (E&O) materials and Page 1 of 5

2 provide management and promotional support for the Data Collection and Coverage (DCC) effort and responsible to get the attention of non-responsive agencies. This category also consists of the time that State and local personnel will spend in filling out the Office of Emergency Communications Broadband Technical Assistance survey (Survey), Arizona Public Safety Broadband Network (AZPSBN) workgroup meetings, Public Safety Communications Advisory Commission/Statewide Interoperable Executive Committee (PSCC/SIEC) meetings (the portion focused on AZPSBN and NPSBN), E&O meetings, providing data and support for the DCC validation efforts and NPSBN related national meetings. The total of all subcategories results in a significant amount of In-Kind contributions detailed in the AZ_In_Kind.xlsx spreadsheet, however, only the required amount ($745,250) will be counted as part of the applicant s non-federal match. The Fringe Benefits category (b) was calculated at 35% of the Personnel category (a). This category is composed entirely of in kind contributions which will be counted as part of the applicant s non-federal match (AZ_In_Kind.xlsx). The estimated funds required for the Travel category (c) consists of: - E&O travel - DCC travel - Special meetings (Risk/Regional/Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)) - National meetings (NPSTC, APCO, FirstNet, etc.) The section for overhead for E&O covers the anticipated 145 meetings and the section for DCC travel is factored over the 2.5 year period that those activities are anticipated to occur. We have included a section for special meeting overhead costs, such meetings to cover risk mitigation, regional travel, MOU development and follow-up meetings. The section covering National travel includes bi-annual meetings for NPSTC and APCO and quarterly meetings for the SWBCWG, NTIA and FirstNet. The Equipment category (d) covers equipment for the E&O and DCC activities. Examples of equipment include computers, tablets, GPS equipment, smart phones, projectors, portable screens, interactive presentation tools, digital cameras, etc. We will, wherever possible, emphasize web-based promotion, information sharing and reporting. The Supplies category (e) covers Media/Promotional materials, office supplies, and specialty software. Examples of supplies include fliers, brochures, handouts, sign-in sheets, etc. This category also includes software license fees for specialty software such as a contact management system, GIS/Mapping applications, RF coverage prediction software, online collaboration software, etc. The supplies category also covers office supplies over the three year period of performance. The Contractual category (f) will be used for the Core Program Team, Education and Outreach staff, Data Collection and Coverage staff, specialized Vendor support, Program Support Services and Web Development. Contractual services will provide the manpower to plan, develop training material, present training material, gather agency information and collect infrastructure details. The funds will also be used for professional Page 2 of 5

3 services regarding infrastructure and coverage data collection tools design, GIS skills for documenting data and tracking progress, and finally for assisting in developing our MOU and Permit processes. No funds are being requested in the Construction category (g). The Other category (h) will provide for meeting space using State and local governmental meeting rooms. This category is composed entirely of in kind contributions which will be counted as part of the applicant s nonfederal match (In_Kind.xlsx). No funds are being requested in the Indirect category (j). AZ_Detailed_Budget_Estimates.xlsx The AZ_Detailed_Budget_Estimates.xlsx spreadsheet provides detailed budget estimates for the Federal portion of the budget: $2,981,000. The totals for each section are apportioned appropriately to either Phase I, Phase II or both. The estimated funds required for Travel category (c) will provide for the Education & Outreach meetings of sufficient density to assure rural and Tribal coverage (145 meetings), Data Collection and Coverage site visits for every identified public safety facility (approximately 1400 site locations; multiple sites per day; over 2.5 years). We have included a section for special meeting overhead costs to cover MOU development, risk mitigation, regional and follow-up meetings (20 meetings). Finally, this figure also includes funds for National Travel with bi-annual meetings for NPSTC and APCO, and quarterly meetings for the SWBCWG, NTIA and FirstNet, with the number of participants projected for each meeting. Attendees to the meetings will be a mix of Project Staff and State/ local stakeholders. The average travel costs were calculated based on the average round trip mileage to the 15 county seats from Phoenix (home base) at 44.5 cents per mile the average trip per car being $138. The State default rate is $60 per night for lodging and $34 per day for food resulting in an average of rate of $94 per person per day. We plan on 2 cars and 3 staff per Education and Outreach session resulting in an average cost of $558 per session. We will, of course, combine trips and ride-share, wherever possible, to reduce costs. The E&O meetings are categorized (with parenthetical counts) as: County (15), Urban (33), Rural (35), Sparse (10), Tribal (22) and Association (30) for a total of 145 sessions/meetings. When spread over a 30 month (2.5 year) period, this results in approximately 4.3 meetings per month which seems reasonable. The current plan has one FTE dedicated to the administration of meetings and two Core Team members who will rotate E&O responsibilities. For the Data Collection and Coverage (DCC) validation efforts for Phase II, we plan dividing the State into north, central and south regions and hiring personnel in those regions to perform the DCC activity. As a result we calculated the overhead for weekly trips covering approximately 300 miles with four nights worth of lodging and five days worth of meals. This results in an average of weekly travel expense of $544. For the Data Collection and Coverage (DCC) efforts there are approximately 1400 local public safety facilities covering Police, Fire, EMS, PSAP and secondary public safety (Transportation, Public Works, etc.). When spread over a 30 Month (2.5 year) period, this results in approximately 48 visits per month and when staffing at 1.5 FTE results in 32 visits per month or 8 visits per week or 1.6 sites per day. The DCC efforts involving high-sites Page 3 of 5

4 will definitely take longer but many visits will cover multiple agencies in a small radius. For example, many Public Safety facilities are shared with Law Enforcement in the same building as the local PSAP. The Equipment category (d) covers equipment for the E&O and DCC activities. Examples of equipment include computers, tablets, GPS equipment, smart phones, projectors, portable screens, interactive presentation tools, digital cameras, etc. We will, wherever possible, emphasize web-based promotion, information sharing and reporting. The Supplies category (e) covers Media/Promotional materials, office supplies, and specialty software. Examples of supplies include fliers, brochures, handouts, sign-in sheets, etc. This category also includes software license fees for specialty software such as a contact management system, GIS/Mapping applications, RF coverage prediction software, online collaboration software, etc. The supplies category also covers office supplies over the three year period of performance. The Contractual category (f) includes: Core Team Staffing which covers the burdened rates of contractor staff over the program duration of three years at full-time: - Program Manager - Project Manager - Administrative Support Vendor personnel which covers the burdened rates of contractor staff over the program duration of three years at 1/4 time: - Policy/Regulatory SME - DCC SME - GIS SME Education & Outreach (E&O) and Data Collection & Coverage (DCC) Contractors cover the E&O and DCC field resources for the 2.5 years they will be active. Program Support Services consists of grants management, tribal outreach, and other review and consulting services. Web Development will be required to enable our E&O and DCC efforts and is estimated as an annual charge. AZ_In_Kind.xlsx The total of all subcategories for In-Kind contributions far exceeds the number required for the State match. For the purposes of our overall budget, only the required $745,250 was used from AZ_In_Kind.xlsx. The Personnel (a) category consists of time estimates for the Survey, AZPSBN WG, PSCC & SIEC, E&O meetings, Data Collection, National Meetings and ADOA-ASET employee categories which are aggregated and a portion of which are used to comprise the Personnel (a) and Fringe Benefits (b) categories on the main AZ_Budget_Info.xlsx spreadsheet. The Survey section of the In Kind spreadsheet represents the State and Local staff time required to review and complete the Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) Interoperable Communications Technical Assistance Program (ICTAP) Broadband Technical Assistance survey (Survey) with an 8% response rate and taking 45- Page 4 of 5

5 minutes to gather appropriate date and fill out the survey. The salary rates are burdened rates from Bureau of Labor Statistics - - Occupational Employment Statistics for the appropriate job categories. The AZPSBN WG section covers the volunteer efforts of the 18 members of the AZPSBN Workgroup. For purposes of estimating the In-Kind contribution of workgroup meetings we conservatively estimated 10 members would attend hour long bi-weekly meetings over the three year period. The PSCC & SIEC section covers 25% of the time at each Statewide Interoperable Governance Body (SIGB) meeting that will be dedicated to NPSBN/SLIGP related issues. Since the PSCC has 15 members and the SIEC has 5 members, 20 total attendees at each meeting is a conservative estimate on attendance. The E&O meeting section covers 100% of the time spent by an average of 30 participants at 145 E&O meetings 100% of which will be dedicated to NPSBN/SLIGP and AZPSBN. A conservative rate of $33 per hour was used for this category. The Data Collection section captures the time to be donated by local resources in providing information and access for the DCC activities. We estimate 6 hours per visit of local staff time. This time includes both the amount of time spent accompanying project staff members through secure facilities, gathering data collection information beforehand, and a conservative estimate of two staff members participating in on-site data collection interviews. Given the broad range of occupational types that may be involved (Administrative, Sworn Officers, Communications Supervisors, Wireless Engineers, etc.), a conservative rate of $33 per hour was used for this category. The National Meetings section covers the in-kind staff time of local stakeholders to attend national meetings. The staff time for Project Staff to participate in these meetings is not included in this section, nor is the staff time of In-kind ADOA-ASET employees. The ADOA-ASET employees section covers the SWIC, Deputy SWIC, PSIC Project Manager and Finance & Planning staff at 1/4, 1/3, 1/4 and 1/4 time, respectively. The Other (h) category will provide for Meeting Space using State and local governmental meeting rooms with large and small meeting space at differing rates. Page 5 of 5