On September 4, 2018, eXtension Foundation announced the second year of funding from EPA cooperative agreement, to establish and administer a national sub-award program in support of pesticide applicator education, and training for certified applicators of restricted used pesticides. An online application process was utilized in order for PSEP coordinators to submit applications, provide review of those applications, award applications, and provide post award services including ongoing communication with awardees and submission of progress reports.
Approximately 90% (51/57) of all eligible PSEPs submitted applications by the December 1, 2018 deadline. This is an increase of almost 7% over the applications received for the 2018 funding opportunity. Out of the applications received 50 were funded. This is an increase of four applications over last year.
● Fifty (50) states/territories applied and received funds: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, American Samoa, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
● Six eligible PSEPs did not apply for this funding opportunity: Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, District of Columbia, Indiana, Michigan, Micronesia, and Wisconsin.
● At this time it is unknown why the six eligible programs did not apply for these funds. Follow up will occur with these programs to determine their reasons for not applying, and solicit feedback on changes we can implement to encourage them to apply for next year.
● Institutional indirect cost rates ranged from 0 – 52%. More than half of the sub-awardees’ indirect rates were 26% or less. Each university has a “College and Universities rate agreement.” Neither the eXtension Foundation nor the EPA can override a cost rate agreement a university has negotiated with another federal agency. That rate must be used with all federal agencies. It was at the PSEP’s discretion to request a lower institutional indirect cost rate with their Contract Office.
● Average time for PSEPs to complete the online application was 45 minutes. This is a decrease of eleven minutes from the previous year.
eXtension Foundation funded 50 subrecipients, distributing a total of $983,856.90. Within 30 days of the advisory committee’s decision, 90% of the funds were distributed to sub-awardees. To reach a funding formula for subawards, a base figure representing approximately 95% of the total funding received for Year 1 was established. The Advisory Committee decided that each subrecipient, regardless of the number of applicators present in the state/territory, would receive this base amount. The remaining 5% was prorated on the percentage of each sub-recipient’s average applicator count of the total (data provided by EPA). The final amounts available to each sub-recipient ranged from the $18,750.00 to $22,775.00. The average sub-award was $19,400.00. Any unawarded funds are added to the funding available for fiscal year 2020.
We look forward to the products that are slated to be produced from these programs for this year of funding.
- 2 with the focus of Application Technology
- 11 with the focus of Applicator Safety
- 18 with the focus of Certification and Training – General
- 1 with the focus of Pollinator Protection
- 4 with the focus of Re-certification
- 10 with the focus of Specific Product Use or Category Training
- 4 with the focus area of Other
The topic of Certification and Training – General remains our largest topic area with 18 programs using this as their primary focus, with a Powerpoint presentation provided as the shareable deliverable.