Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN) Demonstration Projects

The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), incollaboration with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), U.S.Department of Labor (DOL, the Department, or we), and the Social SecurityAdministration (SSA) announce the availability of approximately $20,000,000 infunds authorized by Section 169, subsection (b)(5), of the Workforce Innovationand Opportunity Act (WIOA), Section 1110 of the Social Security Act, andConsolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 to plan and conduct pilot demonstrationprojects in Phase 1 of RETAIN – the Retaining Employment and Talent afterInjury/Illness Network. A subset of Phase 1 RETAIN awardees will competitivelyreceive Phase 2 RETAIN cooperative agreements and funds to implement projectsat full scale. DOL will award all funds and administer all cooperativeagreements in both phases of RETAIN.

The RETAIN Demonstration Projects will be funded in two (2)phases. This FOA covers Phase 1. The initial period of performance (Phase 1) iseighteen (18) months and includes planning and start-up activities, includingthe launch of a small pilot demonstration. The small pilot demonstration mustbegin within nine (9) months of the award or immediately after the Office ofManagement and Budget (OMB) provides Paperwork Reduction Act approval for theproject’s information collection, whichever occurs later. We expect to provideapproximately $2,500,000 each to up to eight (8) state workforce agencies inthe form of cooperative agreements for Phase 1. The state workforce agenciesmust partner with the State Health Departments, or equivalent entitiesgenerally responsible for managing, regulating, or influencing the provision ofhealth services; health care systems practicing coordinated care and populationhealth management; and the State Workforce Development Board. Expenditures forplanning activities are limited to $1,000,000, leaving a minimum of $1,500,000for pilot implementation.

At the conclusion of the initial period of performance, upto four (4) Phase 1 awardees will be awarded supplemental funding of up to$19,750,000 each to implement the demonstration projects during Phase 2 througha separate competition. Awardees will continue receiving support from theRETAIN Program TA Provider. If funds are available in future years, DOL mayaward additional Phase 2 cooperative agreements to Phase 1 awardees notinitially selected for Phase 2. More information on the two-phased fundingprocess is in Section II.A and II.B.

DOL will host a prospective applicant webinar for thiscompetition. The date, time, and other logistical information will be posted onODEP’s website at https://www.dol.gov/odep.