Pre-application Webinar for Recovery Support Services Program NOFO TI-26-003

Welcome to SAMHSA's Recovery Support Services Program FY 2026 Pre-Application Webinar. My name is Timothy Jean, and I serve as a public health advisor and government project officer with SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. I'm joined today by my colleague, Gianne Amboise, also a public health advisor, and by Lachelle Brown from SAMHSA's Division of Grants Management. Today's webinar is designed to walk prospective applicants through key information they will need as they prepare their applications. Please keep in mind that this recording is only a guide. Applicants remain responsible for reviewing the full Notice of Funding Opportunity and the FY 2026 Application Guide, and for ensuring that all applications meet the requirements and eligibility. Today's webinar will cover the NOFO overview, application submission, purpose of the program, eligibility, cost sharing, and matching requirements, required activities, allowable activities, data collection and performance measurement, application evaluation criteria, and required application components. The Recovery Community Service Program NOFO launched on SAMHSA's website on July 1, 2026. Applications are due July 27, 2026. SAMHSA anticipates making up to five awards with an anticipated award amount of up to $300,000 per year. The project period is up to five years, and the anticipated award date is no later than September 29, 2026, with an anticipated project start date of September 30, 2026. There is no cost sharing or match requirement to this program. Page 3 of the NOFO contains a link to the 2026 Application Guide, where applicants should use the Application Guide for detailed instructions on preparing and submitting the application. The purpose of this program is to provide recovery support services to individuals who have substance use disorder and co-occurring disorder, including individuals in recovery from these disorders. The program recognizes that the value of peers with lived experience who provide guidance and support to others on their recovery journey. These services, combined with clinical treatment, are essential components of a comprehensive approach to recovery. This program is also consistent with SAMHSA's strategic priorities, including improving access to evidence-based treatment for substance use disorder and co-occurring disorder, and helping people achieve long-term recovery. Eligible applicants include states and territories, including the District of Columbia, political subdivisions of states, Indian tribes and tribal organizations, health facilities or programs operated by or in accordance with a contract or award with the Indian Health Service, non-profit, public or private institutions of higher education, and other public or private non-profit organizations, including faith-based organizations. Non-profit organizations must provide documentation of non-profit status in Attachment 8 of the application. Again, cost sharing or match is not required for this program. Funds for this program are primarily for providing services to clients. These services must begin by the end of the fourth month after receiving the award. Organizations are required to implement all required activities listed in the NOFA. Under recovery and peer recovery support service delivery, recipients must provide peer recovery support services to individuals with substance use disorder and co-occurring disorders. These services must be delivered by a certified or trained peer support specialist. Individuals seeking a peer support credential must be actively working toward completing the supervised hours required by the state credential authority. Recipients must also provide peer recovery support services within integrated care models, including emergency departments, physical health care settings, and community-based substance use disorder or co-occurring disorder programs to support the follow-up and care coordination. Recipients must provide recovery support services, which may include employment and education resources linked to stable housing, trauma-informed care navigation, and care navigation services. Recipients must also provide safe recovery spaces where people can get support as they work toward or maintain recovery from substance use disorder. Under training, education, and workforce development, recipients must provide supervision, training, and mentorship for individuals delivering peer recovery support services, including peer specialists and peer supervisors. Supervision must be provided by individuals with peer specialist certification or equivalent credentials, at least two years of recovery support service delivery experience, and training in clinical supervision or peer supervision. Under outreach engagement, including families and coordination, recipients must consider the communities affected by the project and engage them in overall program planning. This includes engaging communities during the design phase when practical, developing programs in consultation with communities benefiting from or impacted by the program, and considering available data, evidence, and evaluation results from the past programs. Recipients must provide support to families of individuals with substance use disorder or co-occurring disorders through support groups, education, and linkages to recovery services. Recipients must also conduct outreach to individuals and community organizations to raise awareness of peer recovery support services and increase engagement in recovery support services. Finally, recipients must provide opioid overdose prevention services directly or work with partners who deliver recovery support services, consistent with SAMHSA's Dear Colleague Letter. Recipients are required to participate in quarterly virtual collaborative sessions led and facilitated by SAMHSA with fellow grant recipients from SAMHSA's recovery portfolio. These sessions are intended to share best practices, address emerging trends in substance use disorder and co-occurring disorder, and strengthen recovery community partnerships and network. Under outreach engagement and coordination, allowable activities include conducting on-site or referral-based prevention, education, screening, case management, and testing for infectious diseases associated with substance use disorders. These include HIV, viral hepatitis, bacterial sexually transmitted infections, and latent tuberculosis infection, following clinical guidelines. For individuals who test positive, recipients must provide or refer and confirm linkage to the treatment services. For individuals who test negative for HIV but are at increased risk, recipients may provide education and referral to PrEP and PEP as necessary. Recipients may also provide hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccinations as medically necessary. Under sober and recovery housing, recipients may provide sober and recovery housing consistent with SAMHSA's best practices for recovery housing. Sober or recovery housing must allow for FDA-approved medications, including medications for opioid use disorders and alcohol use disorders. Recipients may also identify and respond to the housing needs of individuals and families served by the program who are at risk of homelessness or are currently homeless. This may include addressing housing status, determining eligibility for housing assistance, and working with local housing and homeless service providers to make referrals and coordinate services. Under stigma reduction, prevention, and education, recipients may carry out activities that reduce stigma and discrimination towards people who have substance use disorder and recurring co-occurring disorders, including people in recovery. These activities may increase awareness and understanding of substance use disorder and recovery, including how to identify signs of substance use disorder and what resources are available for individuals, people in recovery, and families. Recipients may also provide information on possible medical complications for those with substance use disorder, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, neonatal absence syndrome, and risk of infection with HIV, AIDS, and viral hepatitis. Recipients may also support activities that strengthen community support for people in recovery and use approaches that meet the needs of the people served. Recipients may develop and carry out tobacco cessation programs and activities, including partnerships or referrals for cessation medication when needed. They may provide activities that support behavioral health and help reduce barriers to recovery. They may also provide training to the behavioral health workforce on evidence-based psychiatric medication management, including safe tapering, describing practices, and review of polypharmacy. This training should include strategies to support shared decision-making by ensuring patients and families are fully informed on the risks and benefits of psychiatric medications at initiation, maintenance, and discontinuation. Training must also ensure providers educate individuals about and facilitate access to appropriate evidence-based non-pharmacological interventions, including dietary modification, lifestyle changes, and psychotherapy. Now I'll turn it over to my colleague, Jihan. Thank you, Tim. If you could move us to the next slide when possible. Thank you. So, I'll now cover data collection, performance measurement, and performance assessment. You must report client-level data in SAMHSA's Performance, Accountability, and Reporting System, SPARS, using SAMHSA's performance measurement tool. Data must be entered in SPARS no later than 30 days after collection and must be collected at the following points, intake to SAMHSA-funded services, six months post-intake reassessment for active clients, 12 months post-intakes and annual, therefore, for active clients, and administrative closeout from grant-funded services. You must collect and report selected program-level indicators on a quarterly basis. The data collection and reporting tool and related guidance will be provided post-award. The following grantee-level indicators have been selected for this project, and they include training and workforce development, outreach, screening, referral, and access. You can visit SAMHSA's performance measure webpage to view the performance measurement tool. For performance assessment, your discretionary awards should include clear benchmarks, objectives for measuring success and progress towards relevant goals. You are required to submit programmatic progress reports that demonstrate if you are meeting the objectives you selected for this project and achieving the outcomes you anticipated and if any changes need to be made. You must review your performance data to find out if you are making progress and improving project management. Refer to SAMHSA's reporting requirements for information on submitting these reports. Now for your application evaluation criteria, Section A must cover population of focus and need statement. That section is worth 10 points and should be approximately one page. For Section B, proposed implementation approach, that section is worth 30 points, approximately five pages, should describe the goals and measurable objectives of your proposed project, C, developing goals and measurable objective hyperlink for additional information. They must align with the statement of need in 8.3 and provide the following table. Number of unduplicated individuals to be served with awarded funds. So, you must provide a number for each year of the grant and a total for cumulative number of individuals to be served. Section C, proposed evidence-based practices, EBP, and or evidence-informed practice, EIP. That section is worth 25 points and should be approximately two pages. Section D, organizational experience and staffing is worth 15 points and should be approximately one page. In that area, you will provide a complete list of all significant staff positions for the project, including the key personnel, which is the project director. For each, describe their role, their level of effort, stated as a percentage of employment. For example, 1.0 FTE is a full-time employee, including also their qualifications, including their experience providing services to the individuals to be served. Section E, data collection and performance measurement is worth 20 points and should be approximately one page. In that area, you will describe how you will collect the performance measures and measurable objective data for this project, which will measure the success and progress towards your goals. Describe how you will use the data to manage, monitor, and enhance the program. You can visit the hyperlink provided developing the plan for data collection and performance measurement for additional information and guidance. These are the required application components that should be completed and submitted. That includes your SF-424, your SF-424A, and both of those will be covered in more details, your project narrative, your budget certification and narrative, and attachments A1 through 10. In the next slide, we have a complete list of the attachments. So, here are a list of all of the attachments that must accompany your applications. Additional information can be found in your notebook. I will now transition it to my colleague, Lachelle Brown, from the Division of Grants Management. Thank you. Greetings, everyone. My name is Lachelle Brown, and I'm a Grants Management Officer here at SAMHSA. I'm so excited to be in your presence, knowing that you support our mission. So, thank you. Today, I support a program with a focus on guiding you through the process of successfully submitting your application for the RCSP program funded by SAMHSA. Next slide, please. Today, we'll go over the following objectives, how to apply for a grant and the available resources to support that, applicable policies and regulations, factors affecting allowability of costs, budget narrative and justification, a sample budget template, the SF-424A, key personnel, indirect cost rate, and funding limitations. Next slide, please. I think throughout our presentation, I'll give you a few tips as we go through as well. So, take notes. To start, we need to make sure that we familiarize you with the resources on Grants.gov. And in this link here, there are quite a few webinars that you can watch on how to apply, how to review the NOFO. And you'll hear me say NOFO a lot, which is the Notice of Funding Opportunity. So, this link is—these links are very helpful. They also give you some information on the Grants.gov user roles and also generally how to register for Grants.gov. This interface is very important in navigating the systems here. Next slide. So, let's get started. So, if you have not already registered in SAM.gov, you should do that today. This is very, very important. You will not be able to submit an application without being properly registered. Additionally, registration in eRA Commons is also necessary. So, you want to make sure that you are registered there as well. You need to make sure that you have a unique entity identifier, which is your UEI number. This is different from your EIN, which you should have on hand when you are completing these registrations. Next slide. Here, we have Grants.gov and eRA Commons. You do have to register for both systems. So, make sure that you are prepared to do so. Oftentimes, you know, you're able to go through the process in Grants.gov, not realizing that the roles and the system has to be completed in eRA Commons as well. So, we've supplied a few links to help you establish these accounts, which are prerequisites for submitting the application. Within eRA, it is important to identify the roles that you need. Like the PD, which is the project director. You may see PI, but PIs are identified for research grants, and because these are service grants, we go by PD. So, if you see PD slash PI, it is only because eRA is an NIH system that has been repurposed for our use. You will also need to have an authorized official representative, which is the AOR, and that is often also addressed as the signing official. Some say business official. So, I would like for you to get very much acquainted with the roles by going to some of these links that are provided in this slide, and just, you know, peruse through SAMHSA's website so that you have a very strong understanding of what needs to be set up. Next slide. So, here we are at our admin and national policy requirements. Here's another helpful tip. Generally, when you are preparing your application, you have your NOFO in hand. My suggestion and a helpful tip is to take that NOFO and print it out into a Word document and start delegating the task to who is going to be in charge of the different components. This will help you set up a very good structure in how you apply, and then if you're funded, everyone is aware of the roles that they have. This will help you to be successful in the application and in also executing the award. Again, once your registrations are complete, it's crucial to understand the administrative and national policy requirements. Our website includes links to standard terms and conditions. We operate under the regulations of 2 CFR 200. So, please bookmark that if you can. Review and print these regulations before applying. They will guide your roles, responsibilities, audit requirements, and cost principles, which are a vital part of the budget preparation and also the management of your award if you're funded. The Grants Policy Statement, which is available on the HHS website, is also very helpful and addresses unique costs associated with HHS awards. Next slide. This link also discusses some of the other policies that we have to consider when we are applying for the awards. Federal statutes and relevant financial assistance highlighted here in the NOFO and application guide must be followed closely. It is imperative that your award aligns with the SAMHSA and presidential priorities as SAMHSA retains the authority to terminate the awards that do not support agency goals. What this means is you may be strongly considered for funding and you may get a call from either our review team or program staff asking for clarity. And if you fail to do so, we may decide to not fund or terminate if you are not able to address the concerns that we propose. So, please understand that as well. Next slide. So, there are several factors that affect the allowability of costs. Please reference 2 CFR 200.403, 404, and 405. These tests for allowability are standard for federal grants and it will help you in determining what costs are allowable when you prepare your budget. We have fully adopted 2 CFR 200. You may see some non-discretionary awards that are still using a different statute. But for us, we are currently using 2 CFR 200. Next slide. Other factors that may affect the allowability of your costs, as Tim mentioned earlier, the SAMHSA Dear Colleague Letter for Harm Reduction is important. Please redo that as you prepare your award, your application. Also, executive orders also influence funding parameters. We recommend bookmarking the White House website to stay informed and conduct searches as questions arise during your application process. Consider SAMHSA's strategic priorities and review the Dear Colleague Letter again. If you need clarification on the NOFO, there are contacts in the NOFO that are included for you to reach out to program, DGR, which is the review team, or DGM, which is grants management. Next slide. So, for this NOFO, there are some funding restrictions and limitations. Again, that tip to print out that NOFO and break it down to a checklist can come quite in handy. We want to make sure that you are not including anything that is restricted and that you are following the limitation goals. Here, it is just a reiteration of some of the overall requirements. For this program, the capitalizable infrastructure has a 15 percent, can only be included in the 15 percent de minimis rate. Next slide. Some of the other funding restrictions include sober recovery housing as an allowable cost. However, the funds may not be used to pay for non-recovery housing, housing application fees, or housing security deposits. Sober recovery housing must allow for U.S. FDA-approved medications, and discretionary awards should not be used to fund, promote, or encourage, subsidize, or facilitate the following bullets, which include racial preferences or other forms of racial discrimination by the recipient, including activities where race or intentional proxies for race will be used as a selection criterion for employment or program participation, denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the belief that sex is a chosen or mutual characteristic, illegal immigration, or any other initiatives that compromise public safety. Next slide. Again, we discussed this a little bit earlier. Tim touched on this about the funds that may not be used for purchase and also taking into consideration the Dear Colleague letter when you're preparing your budget. This information is also found in the NOFO in Section G, so you can use that as well as your resource in preparing the budget. Next slide. So now let's talk about the budget narrative. So all budget—all narratives must include very detailed information to support the work that you're doing. So we also have created a budget template that will help to guide you. It is not a required document. However, it is very helpful in preparing your budget, so we're going to go to the next slide to talk about that. So the detailed breakdowns are included. So let me give you an example. Often in the budgets that we receive, we get lump sum. For instance, a category for contractual costs may be for $25,000, and then the narrative will be to support the goals of this application. And we all know that that's not, you know, enough information for us to make a very good sound decision about your cost. So if you are working with a contractor, for instance, you would be able to reach out to the contractor and ask them, how did they compose this figure? And so they may have personnel included. They may have friends included. They may have travel included. And those details should be outlined. And then when it comes to the narrative, again, please be very precise. Provide granular details about how this cost and how this work allows you to fully execute the goals that you set in your application. Next slide. Again, for the sample budget template, we provided a link here. Again, it is not a requirement, but it is extremely helpful. It will guide you step by step on how to extract the granular information needed to submit a successful budget. When it comes to personnel, it even calculates the amount of effort based on the salary and how much you will be requesting in salary. Same for fringe, fringe cost, fringe benefit cost, and also, again, in a contractual area. It will allow you to put in the direct details of each of those subrecipient requests, and it will populate the composed amount for the subcontractual requests. Next slide. Again, here are a few extra links that will help you. Not only do we give you the budget template, but we give you a budget template user guide, which is very helpful. Next slide. We'll talk about the SF-424 forms, which are standard forms on most HHS awards. These are some common issues that happen. There is a reconciliation that needs to occur for each section, so you not only want to make sure that the amount is reconciling to your budget justification, but they must reconcile to each one of the SF-424 forms. Next slide. We have an example here of an SF-424 that does not require match, and as you can see in section D, there is a full amount that is being requested in year one, in line 13, but then is broken down by quarter. So, you want to make sure that when you're requesting the funds, you're looking at a timeline of, you know, if you're doing a startup and you need a little bit of extra funds in the first quarter, that number may be higher than the second quarter or the third, and in the fourth quarter, you may be doing more data analysis, so it might be a little bit higher. And just make sure that all four quarters equal the amount that you're putting in your total, as your total. So, we want to make sure that those amounts always reconcile. Also, an error you may run into is not being consistent in your data input. So, if you put an amount in one area and then you leave one area blank, second quarter, for instance, you leave blank, and then third quarter, you have an amount, fourth quarter, you have an amount, you're going to run an error, and it may be very painstaking when you are, you know, running up to the wire trying to submit this. So, if you have an amount in any of those areas, you want to make sure that you put a zero in a blank area to resolve that error. Next slide, please. We talked about key personnel a little bit earlier. Again, a good tip is printing out that NOFO. This would be a good area to have a checklist. You want to make sure that you not only have a PD, but have a contingency plan, too. In case one of your PD is not available at any given time, think about how you would mitigate that if the PD is not available. Who would be your backup? Next slide. Also, your indirect cost rate agreement. The de minimis has been increased from 10 to 15 percent. So, make sure you include that if you are using your de minimis rate and that you're calculating it against your modified total direct cost, not the full cost. So, it's very important for you to check the 2 CFR 200 and also your federally negotiated rate if you have one to make sure that you're capturing the correct calculation that you apply to your indirect cost. Next slide. Here are just a few reminders on the funding restrictions for this project. Next slide. And here are some of our grants management systems that I mentioned earlier and some of their point of contacts. So, for financial and budget questions, our Office of Financial Resources phone number and also email address is here, as well as our review group, our Division of Grant Review. Their email address is available to you. SAM.gov is also here, as well as grants.gov and eRA Commons. So, one tip for using eRA Commons, submit a tip. That way you have on record a very detailed description of your issue. And then if you have an issue or they haven't responded quickly enough, give them a call. You'll already have a web ticket generated, and this will help expedite your response. Next slide. Although you'll use payment management system to draw down funds if you're awarded, it's very important for you to get it set up before you're awarded. So, this would be a good opportunity to, again, talk about the roles that everyone will play and be delegated to in the award and if you are funded, and also make sure that PMS is set up. So, once you're awarded, you'll be able to draw down funds with ease. So, you will have to do a new user access request. You need to make sure that your banking information is uploaded. They will need that UEI that I mentioned earlier in your EIN number. So, and also how to do a payment request. There's a link here on how to do that, as well. And they're getting in contact with your PMS liaison and introducing yourself beforehand is also quite helpful. And lastly, they have some grant recipient training on their website. So, you will find that to be very helpful in managing the award after you're funded. Next slide. Thank you so much, everyone. And Tim, I'll kick it back to you. Great. Thank you, Lachelle. This concludes the pre-application webinar for the Recovery Community Services Program. We encourage all applicants to review the full NOFO and the FY 2026 Application Guide carefully before submitting an application. For program and eligibility questions, please submit them to the RCSP resource mailbox at rcsp.samhsa.hhs.gov. Again, rcsp.samhsa.hhs.gov. For budget-related questions, please use nofobudget.csat at samhsa.hhs.gov. Again, nofobudget.csat at samhsa.hhs.gov. Thank you very much, and best of luck.