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DRA consultant outlines step-by-step guidance for SF-424, SF-424A and budget narratives for WORK Round 6
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Summary
Nicole Dunn of Chamberlain Dunn LLC summarized how applicants should complete SF-424 and SF-424A forms, structure a budget narrative, and avoid common errors for the Delta Regional Authority’s WORK Round 6 (CFDA 17.278); she reiterated registration and deadline requirements.
Nicole Dunn, a consultant with Chamberlain Dunn LLC, released a Delta Regional Authority video walkthrough explaining how applicants should fill out the SF-424, SF-424A and the budget narrative for the Department of Labor-funded WORK Round 6 grant program. The video covers form fields, allowable cost principles, distinctions between contracts and subawards, indirect-cost options and common application mistakes.
Dunn described the budget as "the financial plan for achieving your objectives," and warned that federal project officers review spend-down as a performance measure: "If you're not spending money, they're going to assume you're not doing anything." She told applicants to align budgets, activities and timelines so reviewers can clearly see how planned spending supports proposed outcomes.
The presentation lists specific form and FOA details applicants must enter. For SF-424 she advised checking submission type (application), selecting "new" for application type, and ensuring applicant information matches SAM.gov registration. She said the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration should be entered as the name of the federal agency, and cited CFDA number 17.278 for the WIOA Dislocated Worker National Reserve Demonstration Grants tied to WORK Round 6. The presenter gave the FOA identifier verbally as "ETA-248" and the FOA title as "Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities Work Round 6." She recommended retrieving current forms from the FOA link on Grants.gov.
On timing, Dunn recommended a proposed start date of Sept. 30, 2024, with a period of performance no longer than 36 months. She advised applicants who prefer shorter projects to end at a quarter boundary to avoid extra quarterly reporting.
Dunn walked through SF-424A structure and emphasized that the WORK grant should be reported as a single activity on line 1; applicants should not split years across separate columns. She explained the object cost categories that must be included in the SF-424A and in the budget narrative: personnel, fringe benefits, travel, equipment (unit cost $5,000 or more and useful life greater than one year), supplies, contractual (contracts and subawards), other and indirect.
The video distinguishes contracts from subawards: contractors are vendors providing goods or services under procurement, while subrecipients carry out programmatic work and have performance measures that roll up into the lead applicant’s project performance. Dunn urged applicants to document procurement decisions and to be prepared to monitor subrecipients, noting the FOA "strongly discourages" arrangements where an applicant passes through a majority of funds and operational responsibility.
On indirect costs, Dunn explained applicants may use a negotiated indirect cost rate or the de minimis rate of 10% of modified total direct costs, and cautioned that MTDC excludes certain categories such as equipment, participant support costs and portions of large subawards. She recommended documenting how indirects are calculated and ensuring internal systems can track indirect cost recovery.
Dunn also covered program income (allowed but must be used for project activities and not added to the overall SF-424 total), caps on strategic planning and equipment per the FOA, and key compliance points such as not budgeting new construction (construction is not an allowable cost under WORK).
To avoid common application errors, she urged double-checking calculations, keeping the same totals across forms, avoiding misclassification of costs, and consulting finance staff when available. She recommended including job titles, annual salary, percent of salary charged to the grant and total compensation for personnel line items in the narrative, and providing the basis for travel estimates (historical costs, mileage, number of trips).
Dunn closed by reminding applicants to start SAM.gov and Grants.gov registrations early, to reference the FOA, and to submit technical questions to the email provided in the video. She announced the application deadline: "Your application is due by Thursday, 06/20/2024 at 11:59PM eastern time, submitted only in electronic format through grants.gov." She gave her contact as nd@chamberlaindunn.com and spelled Chamberlain Dunn for clarity.
The video is intended as practical guidance; Dunn recommended watching the longer Department of Labor WorkforceGPS training for more extensive FOA explanations and checklists.
