Guardianship and Alternatives for People with Developmental Disabilities Report | NCD 18 04

Opportunity Information: Apply for NCD 18 04

The National Council on Disability (NCD) announced a pre-solicitation notice for a cooperative agreement project to produce a report focused on guardianship and alternatives for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD). The central purpose of the project is to take a close look at how guardianship and supported decision making operate in real life for adults with ID/DD, and to identify the broader systems and policies that either support or undermine a person s ability to make their own choices. A major theme is self-determination, including the idea sometimes described as the dignity of risk, meaning that adults with disabilities should have the same opportunity as others to make choices, learn from mistakes, and direct their own lives rather than having decisions routinely made for them by someone else.

The report NCD intends to commission is expected to examine whether guardianship practices align with or conflict with major disability rights laws and policy goals, specifically the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (DD Act). In practice, this means evaluating whether the way guardianship is used promotes full inclusion, equal opportunity, and independence, or whether it can function in ways that unnecessarily restrict civil rights and personal autonomy. The project also calls for an examination of systemic issues that make it harder for adults with disabilities to exercise decision making authority, such as procedural barriers, limited access to supports, professional or institutional bias toward substitute decision making, and uneven implementation of less restrictive options.

Another key piece of the work is a state law comparison element. NCD wants the report to explore whether people with developmental disabilities are treated differently under state guardianship laws compared to other adults who may also need decision making assistance (for example, older adults with age-related cognitive changes or people with brain injuries). This includes looking at whether standards, court practices, or typical outcomes differ depending on disability label, and whether people with ID/DD are more likely to be placed under broad or plenary guardianship rather than more tailored, limited arrangements. The report is also expected to assess how common guardianship is among adults with developmental disabilities, which implies gathering and synthesizing available data on prevalence and patterns, even though data quality and consistency can vary significantly across states.

The opportunity specifically asks the report to connect guardianship outcomes to the school-to-adulthood transition process required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). NCD is interested in whether the transition planning period tends to steer families toward guardianship as the default outcome when a student reaches the age of majority, or whether it supports awareness and use of alternatives such as supported decision making. In other words, the report should not only describe guardianship and alternatives in the abstract, but also analyze how institutions and transition systems influence what actually happens to young adults with ID/DD as they move into adulthood.

NCD also signals that it wants the report to address outcome comparisons. It expects discussion of whether alternatives to guardianship, including supported decision making, produce better overall outcomes for people with ID/DD than traditional surrogate decision making models like guardianship. This could include outcomes related to autonomy, community participation, health and safety, service access, rights protection, and quality of life. The notice also points toward a policy-oriented conclusion: whether increasing the use of alternatives can realistically lead to better outcomes at a broader scale, which implies identifying barriers to adoption and the conditions needed for alternatives to work well.

Administratively, the project is framed as a cooperative agreement with an estimated performance period of seven months, and NCD expected to make one award. The notice states that the formal Notice of Funding Opportunity was expected to be posted on May 31, 2018, with responses due by close of business on June 21, 2018, and that the official materials would be available through grants.gov and ncd.gov. The listing shows the opportunity number as NCD 18 04, identifies it as a discretionary opportunity with an other type funding instrument, and notes eligibility as unrestricted, meaning it is broadly open to applicant types unless the final announcement adds additional limits or clarifications. It also lists a CFDA number of 92.002 and categorizes the activity area as food and nutrition in the source data, which appears inconsistent with the substance of the project and may reflect a classification or data-entry quirk rather than the actual subject matter.

Finally, the document repeatedly emphasizes that this was only a pre-solicitation notice issued for planning purposes. It explicitly states it was not the actual funding announcement, did not obligate the government to fund anything, and that NCD was not accepting proposals at the time of the notice. It also warns that the U.S. Government would not reimburse any costs incurred in responding to the pre-solicitation and that any responses would not create a binding agreement. Interested parties were instructed to monitor grants.gov and ncd.gov for the official announcement and any updates.

• The National Council on Disability in the food and nutrition sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Guardianship and Alternatives for People with Developmental Disabilities Report" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 92.002.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 17, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 31, 2018. (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 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for NCD 18 04

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