[Federal Register: September 30, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 189)]
[Notices]
[Page 56271-56272]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30se03-52]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[CFDA No. 84.116N]
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education--Special
Focus Competition (Institutional Cooperation and Student Mobility in
Postsecondary Education Among the United States, Canada and Mexico);
Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2004
Purpose of Program: To provide grants or enter into cooperative
agreements to improve postsecondary education opportunities by focusing
on problem areas or improvement approaches in postsecondary education.
Eligible Applicants: Institutions of higher education or
combinations of institutions of higher education and other public and
private nonprofit institutions and agencies.
Applications Available: December 10, 2003.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 16, 2004.
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: July 15, 2004.
Estimated Available Funds: $300,000.
Estimated Range of Awards: $30,000. $200,000--$215,000 for four-
year duration of grant.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $30,000 for FY 2004. $210,000 for
four-year duration of grant.
Estimated Number of Awards: 10.
Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this
notice.
Project Period: Up to 48 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 your narrative to the equivalent of no more
than twenty (20) double-spaced 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, as well as 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).
The page limit does not apply to the title page, the budget
section, including the narrative budget justification, the assurances
and certifications, the resumes, the bibliography, or the letters of
support.
Our reviewers will not read any pages of your application narrative
that--
[sbull] Exceed the page limit if you apply these standards; or
[sbull] Exceed the equivalent of the page limit if you apply other
standards.
Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80,
82, 85, 86, 97, 98, and 99.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This program is a Special Focus Competition
to support projects addressing a particular problem area or improvement
approach in postsecondary education. The competition also includes an
invitational priority to encourage proposals designed to support the
formation of educational consortia of American, Canadian, and Mexican
institutions of higher education to encourage cooperation in the
coordination of curricula, the exchange of students and the opening of
educational opportunities throughout North America. The invitational
priority is issued in cooperation with Canada and Mexico. Canadian and
Mexican institutions of higher education participating in any
consortium proposal responding to the invitational priority may apply,
respectively, to Human Resources Development Canada and the Mexican
Department of Public Education for additional funding under separate
Canadian and Mexican competitions.
Priority
We are particularly interested in applications that meet the
following invitational priority.
Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1) we do not give an application that meets
the invitational priority a competitive or absolute preference over
other applications.
Invitational Priority: Projects that support consortia of
institutions of higher education that promote institutional cooperation
and student mobility among the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Aligning Your Proposal to the Review Criteria
The success of this Special Focus Competition depends upon (1) the
extent to which funded projects are being replicated--i.e., adopted or
adapted by others; and (2) the manner in which projects are being
institutionalized and continued after grant funding. These two results
constitute FIPSE's indicators of the success of our program.
If funded, you will be asked to collect and report data from your
project on steps taken toward these goals. Consequently, applicants are
advised to include these two outcomes in conceptualizing the design,
implementation, and evaluation of the proposed project. Consideration
of FIPSE's two performance outcomes is an important part of many of the
review criteria discussed below. Thus, it is important to the success
of your application that you include these objectives. Their measure
should be a part of the project evaluation plan, along with measures of
objectives specific to your project.
Methods for Applying Selection Criteria
We give equal weight to the listed criteria. Within each of the
criteria, we give equal weight to each of the factors.
Selection Criteria
In evaluating applications for grants under this program
competition, we use selection criteria chosen from those listed in 34
CFR 75.210 of EDGAR.
Application Procedures
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.
Pilot Project for Electronic Submission of Applications
In FY 2004, the Department is continuing to expand its pilot
project for electronic submission of applications to include additional
formula grant programs and additional discretionary grant competitions.
The Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education [84.116N]
is one of the programs included in the pilot project. If you are an
applicant under the Program for North American Mobility in Higher
Education, you may submit your application to us in either electronic
or paper format.
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. If you participate in
[[Page 56272]]
this voluntary pilot project by submitting an application
electronically, the data you enter on-line will be saved into a
database. We request your participation in e-Application. We shall
continue to evaluate its success and solicit suggestions for its
improvement.
If you participate in e-Application, please note the following:
[sbull] Your participation is voluntary.
[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 may submit all documents electronically, including the
Title Page which substitutes for ED 424 in the Program for North
American Mobility in Higher Education, the Budget Summary Sheet which
substitutes for ED 524 in the Program for North American Mobility in
Higher Education, and all necessary assurances and certifications.
[sbull] Your e-Application must comply with any page limit
requirements 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 Title Page, which substitutes for
ED 424 in the Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education,
to the Application Control Center after following these steps:
1. Print the Title Page, which substitutes for ED 424, from e-
Application.
2. The institution's Authorizing Representative must sign the Title
Page, which substitutes for ED 424.
3. Place the PR/Award number in the upper right hand corner of the
hard copy signature page of the Title Page, which substitutes for ED
424.
4. Fax the signed Title Page, which substitutes for ED 424, to the
Application Control Center at (202) 260-1349.
[sbull] We may request that you give us original signatures on
other forms at a later date.
[sbull] Application Deadline Date Extension in Case of System
Unavailability: If you elect to participate in the e-Application pilot
for the Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education and 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 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
unavailability, you may 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 Program for
North American Mobility in Higher Education at: http://e-grants.ed.gov.
For Applications Contact: Education Publications Center (ED Pubs),
PO Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398. Telephone (toll free): 1-877-433-
7827. FAX: (301) 470-1244. If you use a telecommunications device for
the deaf (TDD), you may call (toll free) 1-877-576-7734.
You may also contact ED Pubs at its Web site: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/edpubs.html
.
Or you may contact ED Pubs at its e-mail address: edpubs@inet.ed.gov.
If you request an application from ED Pubs, be sure to identify
this competition as follows: CFDA number 84.116N.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Fund for the Improvement of
Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K
Street, NW., 8th Floor, Washington, DC 20006-8544. Telephone: (202)
502-7500 or via Internet: http://www.ed.gov/FIPSE.
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 contact number listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
Individuals with disabilities also may obtain a copy of the
application package in an alternative format by contacting that number.
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/news/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.
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. 1138-1138d.
Dated: September 25, 2003.
Sally Stroup,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 03-24794 Filed 9-29-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P