1

5600 Fishers Lane • Rockville, MD 

20857 www.samhsa.gov • 1-877-

SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727)

FY 2024 Provider’s Clinical Support System Universities 

(Short Title: PCSS-U) NOFO (TI-24-001) 

Frequently Asked Questions https://www.samhsa.gov/grants/grant-announcements/ti-24-001

Eligibility

1. Who is eligible to apply? 

This NOFO is seeking to fund graduate-level academic institutions. 

Examples of eligible entities that may apply include, but are not limited to, the 

following: 

• Medical schools, physician associate schools, and advanced practice 

nursing schools, 

• Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), 

• Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCUs), 

• Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI), 

• Asian American or Native American Pacific Islander (AANAPI)-serving 

institutions, and

• Urban Indian Organizations (UIO) and consortia of tribes or tribal 

organizations. 

Please refer to pages 17 – 18 of the NOFO for detailed eligibility information. 

For general information on eligibility for federal awards, see

https://www.grants.gov/learn-grants/grant-eligibility . 

2. Are graduate medical education programs eligible, i.e., can the curriculum 

be targeted toward medical residents?

Yes, since medical residents are connected to graduate medical education 

programs, these education programs are eligible to apply. 
2

3. Are undergraduate programs eligible to apply? 

No, the purpose of this program is to ensure that graduate-level healthcare 

students receive substance use disorder (SUD) education early in their 

academic careers and prepare them to identify and treat SUD in mainstream 

healthcare upon graduation.

4. Can a social work/counseling program take the lead in building a program 

in response to the NOFO?

No, the populations of focus include students in medical, physician associate 

(PA), and nursing programs, and those academic learning programs can serve 

as the lead applicant. However, it is expected that these schools work in 

collaboration with local social work, public health, and counselor academic 

programs.

5. Are Schools of Pharmacy eligible to apply for the grant?

Yes, they are eligible. The Eligibility information on pages 17-18 indicates that 

Schools of Pharmacy are an eligible applicant and can consider applying for 

grant funding.

6. Can a dental school be a primary applicant with Nurse Practitioner and 

PA programs as collaborators?

Yes, the NOFO indicates that a dental school is an eligible applicant entity and 

can consider applying as the lead applicant for grant funding. 

7. Can individuals apply for and receive funding through the PCSS-U Grant 

program? 

No, individuals cannot apply for this grant. Individuals can find

resources for treatment or assistance at SAMHSA’s Behavioral 

Health Treatment Services Locator (https://www.findtreatment.gov)

or contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800- 662-HELP 

(4357). 

8. Does the applicant have to be a non-profit organization to apply for the 

grant? 

No, applicants do not need to have non-profit status to apply for this grant. 

However, if they are a non-profit organization, the documentation in Attachment 

8 of the application must be submitted. Please Note: For-profit organizations

are not permitted to apply for this grant funding opportunity.
3

9. Can previously funded PCSSU FY2021 or FY2022 grantees apply to this

NOFO?

Yes, previously funded recipients may apply as per the NOFO. Although

recipients who received funding under the PCSS-University NOFO in FY 2021

(TI-21- 003) or FY 2022 (TI-22-011) may apply only if they propose to address

a population of focus or geographic catchment area(s) different from their

current award.

Key Personnel

10. What are the minimum qualifications and the level of effort (LOE) for the

Project Director?

Key Personnel for this program are the Project Director and the Project

Coordinator (if the LOE of the Project Director alone is not 100 percent).

The two options for the Key Personnel are as follows:

• The Project Director has a LOE at 100 percent, OR

• The Project Director and a Project Coordinator have a combined LOE for the

two (2) positions of at least 100 percent FTE (1.0). The Project Director must

have a LOE of a minimum of 20 percent FTE (.20).

Applicants must show that the proposed Project Director is able to support the 

goals and objectives of their program based on their experience in the field. The 

Project Director will be responsible for oversight of the project and is considered 

the lead point person regarding accountability for project deliverables. The 

credentials of the proposed individual will have to show that the candidate is able 

to fulfill these responsibilities. 

In addition, key personnel and staff selected for the project should reflect the 

diversity in the catchment area and qualifications should be indicated that 

support your specific project’s goals and objectives. If you are an awardee, you 

will be notified if the individual(s) designated for this/these positions has/have 

been approved.

Required/Allowable Activities

11. Do projects have to implement all the required activities or select from

those listed in the NOFO?

Yes, projects must implement all required activities listed in Section I.3 of the

NOFO, pages 9-11.

12. Regarding the required activity, as stated in the NOFO, of partnering with

other academic institutions that have or are affiliated with programs for
4

medical students, psychologists, pharmacists, dentists, physician 

associates, nurses, social workers, and/or counselors, can affiliate 

institutions be regional locations of the same university, or should the 

partnering institutions be outside of our institution?

Yes, that is acceptable. The partnering organization can either be a different 

academic institution or can be within the same academic institution. The 

purpose of establishing partnerships with other programs is to further the reach 

of the training curriculum and clinical experiential programming across 

academic learning specialties. 

13. Can grant funding be used to offset student tuition? 

No, this is not an allowable cost. The purpose of this program is to ensure that 

graduate-level healthcare students receive SUD education early in their 

academic careers and prepare them to identify and treat SUD in mainstream 

healthcare upon graduation. 

The focus is delivering training content and clinical experiential learning. Please 

also see the required and allowable activities of the grant outlined on pages 9-

12.

14. What are the curriculum content and hourly requirement as well as the 

clinical time requirement? 

The recommended content of the curriculum should be informed by SAMHSA 

guidance on the recommended topics which should be included as part of core 

curriculum on SUD. SAMHSA will soon release a report on recommended 

elements or categories for inclusion in core curriculum on SUDr for integration 

into graduate healthcare education programs. There is no curriculum hourly or 

clinical time requirement. Training/curriculum hours and clinical experiential 

hours determination is informed by the applicant’s population of focus and 

student education needs in relation to SUD learning. Please see the required 

activities on pages 9-11 for more detailed information.
5

15. Can the training that the students receive be applied to the 8-hour 

minimum required practitioner training per the Medication Access and 

Training Expansion (MATE) Act? 

Yes, any developed training and curriculum that is acceptable by your institution

can meet the MATE Act requirement. The MATE Act requires new or renewing 

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registrants, as of June 27, 2023, to 

have completed a total of at least 8 hours of training on opioid or other SUDs, as 

well as the safe pharmacological management of dental pain. 

Graduation of practitioners within 5 years and in good standing from a medical, 

advanced practice nursing, or physician associate school in the United States 

which included successful completion of an opioid or SUD curriculum of at least 

8 hours meet this requirement. Curriculum must include teaching on the 

treatment and management of patients with opioid and other SUDs, including 

the appropriate use of all drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration 

(FDA) for the treatment of a SUD. 

16. Is there an optimal number of hours that each SUD training program 

should provide? 

The purpose of the PCSS-U program is to ensure that graduate-level students in 

physical and behavioral health professions receive SUD education early in their 

academic careers and upon graduation have the basic knowledge of strategies 

to prepare them to identify, assess, intervene, and treat SUD, as well as support 

recovery and address stigma. Your population of focus will help determine the 

optimal number of training hours to adequately address the aforementioned 

areas of focus. 

Refer to Question #14 regarding referring to SAMHSA guidance on developing 

SUD curriculum. 

Please note: There is no limit on how many training sessions and/or hours are 

provided. The goal is to ensure your students are receiving adequate training to 

screen, assess and treat SUDs. 

17. What type of clinical/practicum experiences are acceptable? 

Clinical experiential programming can be in-person, fully virtual, or a hybrid. 

Prospective applicants should determine what is the best way to provide 

trainings to ensure ease of accessibility and broadest reach to the most 

students. Please note that there are no minimum hourly training requirements.
6

Data Collection/Reporting

18.How often will the recipient collect Government Performance and Results 

Modernization Act (GPRA) data? 

Data must be entered into SAMHSA’s Performance Accountability and 

Reporting System (SPARS) 120 days after the event. Recipients are required to 

report aggregate performance on the following measures: 

• Number and type of training events provided directly by the recipient, 

• Number of students and any other providers participating in each event, 

• Number of students who complete didactic training, 

• Number of students who participated in clinical observation/practicum 

opportunities, 

• Percentage of students satisfied with didactic training, and 

• Percentage of students satisfied with the clinical observation/practicum 

opportunities. 

Please note: SAMHSA will provide training and technical assistance on SPARS 

data collection and reporting once grantees have been selected. 

For more information, see the Application Guide, Section D - Developing Goals 

and Measurable Objectives and Section E - Developing the Plan for Data 

Collection and Performance Measurement.

Program Contact:

Fola Kayode

Phone: 240-276- 1910

Email: fola.kayode@samhsa.hhs.gov