Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE): Performance Partnership Pilots (P3) CFDA Number 84.420A | ED GRANTS 081516 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for ED GRANTS 081516 001

The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) Performance Partnership Pilots (P3) grant opportunity (CFDA 84.420A) is a discretionary federal funding competition run by the U.S. Department of Education that supports selected pilot sites in testing new, results-driven approaches to better serve "disconnected youth." In this context, the core idea is to help communities improve real-world outcomes for young people who are not successfully connected to school and/or work by allowing pilot sites to rethink how existing supports are coordinated and delivered, rather than forcing programs to operate in separate, rigid funding and compliance lanes.

The purpose of P3, as described in the Federal Register synopsis, is to let participating sites pursue innovative strategies that measurably improve education, employment, and other key outcomes for disconnected youth. What makes P3 distinct from many other grants is its emphasis on flexibility: pilot sites may be able to blend existing federal funds across programs and request waivers of certain associated program requirements. The intent behind that flexibility is practical: communities often have multiple funding streams that are individually well-meaning but hard to align, and P3 was designed to let local leaders test whether removing some of those barriers leads to better, faster, or more sustainable results for youth.

This program was initially authorized by Congress for fiscal year 2014 under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, and then reauthorized for fiscal years 2015 and 2016 through subsequent appropriations acts (the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016). In other words, the opportunity sits within a multi-year federal effort to encourage cross-system collaboration and outcome-focused experimentation, rather than one-off, isolated interventions.

The eligible applicant for the lead role must be a governmental entity at the state, local, or tribal level. The notice specifies that the lead applicant must be represented by a Chief Executive (for example, a governor or mayor or other elected leader) or by the head of a state, local, or tribal agency. The listing of eligible applicants also includes state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, and federally recognized tribal governments, with an "others" category also shown in the opportunity metadata. The key constraint is that the lead must be a government entity with appropriate executive-level representation, reflecting the program's expectation that pilots require high-level authority to coordinate across agencies, funding streams, and regulatory requirements.

From an administrative and application standpoint, submissions had to be made electronically through Grants.gov using the "Apply" function. Applicants were instructed to locate the application package by searching the CFDA number without the alpha suffix, meaning applicants should search for "84.420" rather than "84.420A." The notice also makes clear that applications could not be submitted by emailing an electronic copy to the Department; Grants.gov was the required submission channel. The opportunity number listed for this competition is ED GRANTS 081516 001, and the funding instrument type is a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates that the federal agency expects to have substantial involvement during the project period compared with a standard grant.

In terms of timing and scale as reflected in the posting metadata, the original closing date for applications was October 31, 2016, and the agency anticipated making about 10 awards. The synopsis notes that the funding opportunity description provided is not the full authoritative guidance, and that applicants needed to consult the official Federal Register notice for the complete set of requirements. That official notice would contain the detailed eligibility rules, any pre-application steps, required forms and narratives, submission procedures, program priorities, performance measures, and the appropriate program contacts.

Overall, this P3 competition is best understood as a structured pilot initiative that tries to help communities build stronger pathways for disconnected youth by encouraging local innovation, coordination across systems, and accountability for outcomes, while also offering a mechanism to reduce red tape through blending funds and seeking waivers when appropriate. For anyone preparing an application, the most important practical takeaway from the synopsis is that the Federal Register notice governs the competition details, and Grants.gov (searching CFDA 84.420) is the required route for accessing and submitting the application package.

• The Department of Education in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE): Performance Partnership Pilots (P3) CFDA Number 84.420A" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 84.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-08-15.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-10-31. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Others.

Apply for ED GRANTS 081516 001

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