Correspondence Request for BPHC SAC and RD Applicants

This page provides instructions on how BPHC SAC and RD applicants can use the Correspondence Request functionality within the EHBs.

Correspondence Request Overview

The Correspondence Request functionality within the Electronic Handbooks (EHB) allows HRSA Reviewers to communicate with a Health Center Program Applicant’s Authorizing Official through the HRSA EHBs to request more information on potential areas of non-compliance identified through the review of certain Service Area Competition (SAC) or look-alike Renewal of Designation (RD) applications.

For those areas of preliminary non-compliance, the HRSA Reviewer initiates a Correspondence Request (CR) request to the applicant’s Authorizing Official (AO) for clarification.
The AO can access and respond to the Correspondence Request via EHB and provide details to address the non-compliant element. The applicant can also attach documents to support their response.

The applicant has 14 calendar days from the time of receiving the first request to submit the required information. Upon receiving a response, the HRSA Reviewer may send additional correspondence requests for the same preliminary non-compliant areas for various reasons (e.g., the responses or attachments are unclear). In these circumstances, the original 14-calendar day due date applies to the additional requests as well.

Table of Contents

Prerequisites

The correspondence requests are emailed to an Authorizing Official, typically the same AO who submitted the application. You must ensure that an AO (preferably the one who submitted the application) is registered and active within EHB.

How to Complete the Correspondence Request

This section will show you how to access, complete, and submit the Correspondence Request.

Accessing the Correspondence Request

1.

From the EHB homepage, click on the Tasks tab to view all the pending tasks.

2.

You will be navigated to the pending tasks list page.

Deadline (Due)	This is the date by when the response must be submitted to HRSA
Task Category	Tasks are categorized as "Correspondence Request" for easy classification
Tracking #	Unique identification number to track the request
Task	The task name under the "Correspondence Request" task category
Start	Will display "Start" until first accessed; once accessed, it will change to "Edit"

Screenshot of accessing the Pending Tasks list

Completing the Correspondence Request

3.

Click on the “Start” link on the Correspondence Request pending task to open the Correspondence Request page, “Correspondence Response”.

The Correspondence Request Header lists all the important elements related to the Correspondence Request.

Due Date	This is the date by when the response must be submitted to HRSA
Announcement Number	The announcement number associated with this application
Announcement Name	The name associated with the announcement number
Activity Code	The program activity code for which the application was submitted
Application Type	The application type (e.g., “Competing Continuation”)
Grant Number	The grant number associated with the application
Application Tracking Number	The application tracking number associated with the application and Correspondence Request

Screenshot of the Correspondence Response Header

Resources

In the Resources section, you can find helpful information related to the Correspondence Request.

Application	The PDF version of the application related to this Correspondence Request
Compliance Manual	The Health Center Program Compliance Manual webpage

Screenshot of the Correspondence Response Resources

Non-Compliant Elements

This section lists the non-compliant elements identified by the HRSA Reviewer and is where you provide your response and attachments.

Element Title - 1	This is the title of the non-compliant element, which matches the elements in the Health Center Program Compliance Manual
Reason	The reason for requesting correspondence; initial requests always are marked as “Initial Request for Clarifying Information”
Details	Details provided by the HRSA reviewer corresponding to a non-compliant element will be displayed here
Narrative Response	This is a required text field (maximum of 5,000 characters) used to provide a narrative response to address the non-compliant element
Attachments	Optional section to attach any files to address the non-compliant element(s)
Supporting Attachments	Allows a maximum of 10 files of the following formats: doc, docx, rtf, txt, wpd, pdf, xls, xlsx, msg, jpg, jpeg, tif, xfd, ppt, and pptx
Drag or Upload Files	Files can be attached either by “drag and drop” or “search and upload”

Screenshot of Non-Compliant Elements

4.

A narrative response is required for every non-compliant element identified by the HRSA Reviewer.

5.

Provide supporting attachments (if applicable) for each non-compliant element.

6.

You will receive an error message when you have not completed any required information.

Action Buttons

This last area of the page allows the AO to navigate to the tasks page, save the data, and submit it to HRSA

Go Back	Click this button to navigate back to the pending tasks list page
Save	Click this button to save the content on this page and stay on this page
Submit to HRSA	Click this button to submit the Correspondence Request response to HRSA

Submit to HRSA

1.

Upon completing all the responses to the non-compliant elements, click on the “Submit to HRSA” button to submit to HRSA.

2.

Click “Confirm” in the confirmation overlay to submit your response to HRSA.

Screenshot of Confirmation Overlay

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