[Federal Register: August 27, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 166)]
[Notices]
[Page 51566-51568]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27au03-53]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[CFDA No. 84.153A]
Business and International Education Program; Notice Inviting
Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2004
AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.
Purpose of Program: The Business and International Education (BIE)
Program provides grants to institutions of higher education to enhance
international business education programs and to expand the capacity of
the business community to engage in international economic activities.
Eligible Applicants: Institutions of higher education that enter
into agreements with trade associations, business enterprises, or trade
organizations that are engaged in international economic activity.
Applications Available: August 27, 2003.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: November 7, 2003.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: January 7, 2004.
Estimated Available Funds: The Administration has requested
$2,531,000 for the BIE Program new awards for FY 2004. The actual level
of funding, if any, depends on final congressional action. However, we
are inviting applications to allow enough time to complete the grant
process, if Congress appropriates funds for this program.
Estimated range of awards: $50,000-$95,000.
Estimated average size of awards: $76,697.
Estimated number of awards: 33.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project Period: Up to 24 months.
Page Limit: The application narrative is where you, the applicant,
address the selection criteria that reviewers use to evaluate your
application. You must limit the narrative to the equivalent of no more
than 40 pages, using the following standards:
[sbull] A ``page'' is 8.5'' x 11'', on one side only, with 1''
margins at the top, bottom, and both sides.
[sbull] Double space (no more than three lines per vertical inch)
all text in the application narrative, including titles, headings,
footnotes, quotations, references, and captions. However, you may
single space all text in charts, tables, figures and graphs.
[sbull] Use a font that is either 12-point or larger or no smaller
than 10 pitch (characters per inch). However, you may use a 10-point
font in charts, tables, figures, and graphs. The page limit does not
apply to the cover sheet; the budget section, including the narrative
budget justification; the assurances and certifications; or the one-
page abstract or the appendices. However, you must include your
complete response to the selection criteria in the application
narrative.
We will reject your application if--
[sbull] You apply these standards and exceed the page limit; or
[sbull] You apply other standards and exceed the equivalent of the
page limit.
Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80,
81, 82, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99; and (b) The regulations for this
program in 34 CFR parts 655 and 661.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Matching requirement: Under title VI, part
B, section 613(d) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, a
BIE Program grantee must provide no less than 50 percent of the total
cost of the project in each fiscal year. Example: The institution's
total costs of the proposed project will be $140,000 per year. The
institution may request a grant in the amount of $70,000 or less. The
institution must provide the remaining $70,000 in cash or in-kind
contributions.
Priorities
Invitational Priorities
We are particularly interested in applications that meet the
following invitational priorities.
Invitational Priority 1
Applications from institutions of higher education that propose
educational projects that include activities that promote an
understanding of economic education for K-12 educators.
Invitational Priority 2
Applications from institutions of higher education that propose
educational projects that include activities focused on the targeted
world areas of Central and South Asia, the Middle East, Russia, the
Independent States of the former Soviet Union, and Africa. These
projects should be integrated into the curricula of the home
institution or institutions.
Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1) we do not give an application that meets
the invitational priorities a competitive or absolute preference over
other applications.
Application Procedures
The Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) of 1998, (Pub. L.
105-277) and the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement
Act of 1999 (Pub. L. 106-107) encourage us to undertake initiatives to
improve our grant processes. Enhancing the ability of individuals and
entities to conduct business with us electronically is a major part of
our response to these Acts. Therefore, we are taking steps to adopt the
Internet as our chief means of conducting transactions in order to
improve services to our customers and to simplify and expedite our
business processes.
Note: Some of the procedures in these instructions for
transmitting applications differ from those in the Education
Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) (34 CFR
75.102). Under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) the
Department generally offers interested parties the opportunity to
comment on proposed regulations. However, these amendments make
procedural changes only and do not establish new substantive policy.
Therefore, under 5 U.S.C. 553(b) (A), the Secretary has determined
that proposed rulemaking is not required.
[[Page 51567]]
We are requiring that applications for grants for FY 2004 under the
BIE Program be submitted electronically using e-Application available
through the Department's e-GRANTS system. The e-GRANTS system is
accessible through its portal page at: http://e-grants.ed.gov.
An applicant who is unable to submit an application through the e-
GRANTS system may submit a written request for a waiver of the
electronic submission requirement. In the request, the applicant should
explain the reason or reasons that prevent the applicant from using the
Internet to submit the application. The request should be addressed to:
Tanyelle Richardson, U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K Street, NW.,
Suite 6017, Washington, DC 20006-8521. Please submit your request no
later than two weeks before the application deadline date.
If, within two weeks of the application deadline date, an applicant
is unable to submit an application electronically, the applicant must
submit a paper application by the application deadline date in
accordance with the transmittal instructions in the application
package. The paper application must include a written request for a
waiver documenting the reasons that prevented the applicant from using
the Internet to submit the application.
Pilot Project for Electronic Submission of Applications
In FY 2004, the Department is continuing to expand its pilot
project of electronic submission of applications to include additional
formula grant programs and additional discretionary grant competitions.
The BIE Program--CFDA 84.153 is one of the programs included in the
pilot project. If you are an applicant under the BIE Program, you must
submit your application to us in electronic format or receive a waiver.
The pilot project involves the use of the Electronic Grant
Application System (e-Application). Users of e-Application will be
entering data on-line while completing their applications. You may not
e-mail a soft copy of a grant application to us. The data you enter on-
line will be saved into a database. We request your participation in e-
Application. We shall continue to evaluate the success of e-Application
and solicit suggestions for its improvement.
If you participate in e-Application, please note the following:
[sbull] When you enter the e-Application system, you will find
information about its hours of operation. We strongly recommend that
you do not wait until the application deadline date to initiate an e-
Application package.
[sbull] You will not receive additional point value because you
submit a grant application in electronic format, nor will we penalize
you if you submit an application in paper format.
[sbull] You must submit all documents electronically, including the
Application for Federal Education Assistance (ED 424), Budget
Information--Non-Construction Programs (ED 524), and all necessary
assurances and certifications.
[sbull] Your e-Application must comply with any page limit
requirement described in this notice.
[sbull] After you electronically submit your application, you will
receive an automatic acknowledgement, which will include a PR/Award
number (an identifying number unique to your application).
[sbull] Within three working days after submitting your electronic
application, fax a signed copy of the Application for Federal Education
Assistance (ED 424) to the Application Control Center after following
these steps:
1. Print ED 424 from e-Application.
2. The institution's Authorizing Representative must sign this
form.
3. Place the PR/Award number in the upper right hand corner of the
hard copy signature page of the ED 424.
4. Fax the signed ED 424 to the Application Control Center at (202)
260-1349.
[sbull] We may request that you give us original signatures on all
other forms at a later date.
[sbull] Application Deadline Date Extension in Case of System
Unavailability: If you are prevented from submitting your application
on the application deadline date because the e-Application system is
unavailable, we will grant you an extension of one business day in
order to transmit your application electronically, by mail, or by hand
delivery. For us to grant this extension--
1. You must be a registered user of e-Application, and have
initiated an e-Application for this competition; and
2. (a) The e-Application system must be unavailable for 60 minutes
or more between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Washington, DC
time, on the application deadline date; or
(b) The e-Application system must be unavailable for any period of
time during the last hour of operation (that is, for any period of time
between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m., Washington, DC time) on the application
deadline date.
The Department must acknowledge and confirm these periods of
unavailability before granting you an extension. To request this
extension or to confirm the Department's acknowledgement of any system
availability, you must contact either (1) the person listed elsewhere
in this notice under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT or (2) the e-
GRANTS help desk at 1-888-336-8930.
You may access the electronic grant application for the GPA Program
at: http://e-grants.ed.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tanyelle Richardson, U.S. Department
of Education, International Education and Graduate Programs Service,
1990 K Street NW., Suite 6066, Washington, DC 20006-8521. Telephone:
(202) 502-7626 or via Internet: tanyelle.richardson@ed.gov. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the program contact person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application
package in an alternative format by contacting that person. However,
the Department is not able to reproduce in an alternative format the
standard forms included in the application package.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may view this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site:
http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister.
To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available
free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S.
Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in
the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.
You may also view this document in PDF at the following site:
http://www.ed.gov/offices/HEP/iegps/.
Note: The official version of this document is the document
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal
Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html
.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1130a-1130b.
[[Page 51568]]
Dated: August 21, 2003.
Sally L. Stroup,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 03-21950 Filed 8-26-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P