Milk and Shellfish Grant
Changes and cancellations to milk & shellfish grant travel due to COVID-19
UPDATE: August 3, 2020
With the cancellation of most of the 2020 training funded by the Milk and Shellfish Training Subawards, and now that both FDA and other food safety partners are making the decision not to reschedule most live training courses during Calendar Year 2020, the following are the procedures on how and when to cancel or update your CY 2020 Training Subawards:
- For canceled trips, please check to be sure that all reservations have been canceled (Hotels, Airfare, Registration Fees, etc.).
- For costs already incurred for funded travel that was canceled, please submit for reimbursement at this time. Please make every effort to have charges refunded before seeking reimbursement; we will then make every effort to reimburse all costs that were not refunded. Remember to include dated documentation (emails, cancellation announcements, notices of jurisdictional travel bans, etc.) regarding cancellations and refunds (or problems getting refunds), to support your reimbursement request.
- FDA is open to considering alternative web-based training for CY 2020 (reimbursement of materials and registration fees only) for technical training in support of National Grade “A” Milk Safety and National Shellfish Sanitation (NSSP) Programs.
- Requests for in-state training or staff training meetings, university-based online courses, and other types of training will be considered, when adequate justification is provided describing how the alternate training(s) will support Grade “A” Milk or NSSP Program needs.
- Alternative training(s) must be completed during CY 2020.
- If you have any other ideas, or would like to submit an official subaward change request, please do so at this time (send as an email to msgrants@afdo.org).
- Remember that any changes to your subaward must be approved in writing by AFDO in advance of any expenditures.
- FDA has recently decided to allow Jurisdictions to use remaining funds from their CY 2020 Training Subawards for Training Equipment purchases – Prior Approval is Required. Following is the relevant guidance:
- The amount requested cannot exceed the remaining value of your CY 2020 Training Subaward.
- Permissible requests must fit into one or more of the following Training Equipment categories:
- Distance Learning Equipment (for individual training – cameras, microphones, lights, headsets, etc.).
- Software Licenses (max of 1-year duration) to allow agencies to deliver Distance Learning Courses.
- Training Room Enhancements (for group training offered by agencies – monitors, sound systems, projectors, etc.).
- Laptop Purchases may be permissible but will require a strong justification on why they are needed specifically to enable staff training.
- Change requests must be sent as an email to msgrants@afdo.org, and must provide an explanation on who will be trained using the equipment (names and titles/positions) and how the training will support Grade “A” Milk or NSSP Program needs. Changes are not approved until you receive confirmation in writing from AFDO.
- If you will not be able to use the funding from your CY 2020 Training Subaward(s), due to changes in workload or other reasons, please reach out to AFDO and cancel your open CY 2020 Training Subaward(s) at this time. The Joint Advisory Group has decided that unused funding from CY 2020 Training Subawards will not roll over for use into CY 2021. All jurisdictions will, however, can apply again for training funds for CY 2021, with the grant application portal scheduled to open in late September 2020.
- Finally, please reach out to the AFDO Grants Team as often as needed for assistance. We can be reached at (717) 814-9873 or msgrants@afdo.org.