Page 38

36 c. Staff Experience. Management Staff, Key Personnel and other key roles are experienced and have the qualifications needed to oversee the TCE Program. (0–3 points) d. Partnerships/Collaborations with Community Organizations. Organization partners/collaborates with community-based organizations and other service providers. (0–2 points) e. Financial Operations. Organization detailed Financial and Accounting Operations including procedures for monitoring and evaluating program expenses. (0–19 points) f. Target Audience (for Age 60 and Over). Organization’s target audience throughout site locations are for providing services to those taxpayers that are age 60 and older. Secondary Focus may be identified if the taxpayers age 60 and older are the primary target focus. (0–25 points) g. Site Accessibility (Accommodate Persons with Disabilities). Organization’s includes plans to accommodate persons with disabilities at site locations. (0–5 points) h. Training Plan for Staff/Volunteers. Detailed training plan in place for staff and volunteers. (0–3 points) i. Volunteer Recruitment & Retention Plan. Volunteer Recruitment and Retention Plan in place. (0–3 points) j. Quality Control/Services. Organization has quality and return processes in place and a plan to protect taxpayer privacy, security, and confidentiality of taxpayer data. (0–5 points) k. Publicity Plan. Detailed publicity plan for publicizing the TCE Program and recruiting volunteers. (0–2 points) l. Monitoring Process. Organization has strategy in place for monitoring work and evaluating program results. (0–5 points) m. Growth – E-file (for taxpayers 60 and older). Returning grant recipient’s prior year e-file volume will be reviewed and new applicants proposed e-file projections will be utilized. (0–18 points) 2. TCE Grant Program Office Evaluation Concurrently with the technical evaluation, each application will undergo a review by the Grant Program Office. This evaluation includes a thorough review of the entire application and program/budget plan to ensure that the applicant can meet the TCE Program requirements, and that the technical evaluation did not raise any significant concerns. 3. Guiding Principle Grant partners are expected to show incremental increases in return preparation each year. 4. Measures of Success • Grant recipients are expected to achieve 100% of the Minimum Federal Returns (MRE) specified in their cooperative agreement (Form 9661). • Returning applicants and/or multi-year applicants must address prior award cycle MRE results (met/not met). If the MRE was not met, the application must explain why and describe corrective actions and/or program changes. • Grant recipients are expected to become more efficient each year with grant funds provided for their program. Any organization that received a grant in a prior year should prepare more returns with a similar amount of funding in the current year, reducing their cost per return. Notification of Award Decisions The TCE Grant Program Office will notify applicants of the acceptance or rejection of their grant application, by email using the email address provided by your organization on Form 14204, TCE Program Application Checklist and Contact Sheet. The TCE Program is categorized as a Discretionary Grant Program, therefore the decisions made by the IRS whether to make or not make an award based on the programmatic or technical content of an application are not subject to appeal. The names, addresses, and telephone numbers of an IRS contact person will be provided to the grant recipients after the Cooperative Agreement is enacted, meaning signed and agreed upon by both the IRS and grant recipient.